"Oh DARIO"

From reading the many postings on our blog, I realized that the one person who has yet to be mentioned, but who fills a very important role during our time here in Panama, is our wonderful bus driver DARIO! Wells it’s pretty obvious that without him, our destinations would be extremely hard to get to, but the few things that stand out are, regardless of how crazy we “Americans” act on the bus, how long are clinics take to get to, or the fact that he sits and waits on the bus with no AC while we are busy at work during the day, he always has a smile on his face. Dario makes sure to count everyone before departing each and everyday, and I must add that he knows NO ENGLISH, but somehow with the very little Spanish we all know, we manage to communicate with him and he always makes sure to provide a very safe ride regardless of how chaotic and crazy the Panamian’s drive. Ms. Gottel was kind enough to present Dario with a Tampa Bay Devil Rays hat, which he wears everyday, and all of the students presented him with a key chain of his name bought in El Valle. As the title states, “Oh Dario” is our famous way of greeting him, which we like to say with a crazy Spanish accent. A sentence doesn’t do it justice, it’s actually quite hilarious. We did happen to gather some information on his life; apparently Dario only gets to see his family once a week, which is a two hour drive away from where he resides during the time he works as a bus driver. Overall, we couldn’t have asked for a better bus driver; he has made our trip very special and will always be remembered.