Friday was quite packed. We started out in the morning going down to the river to capture insects, test the water, etc in a fashion I thought was horrendous for collecting data, but great for learning. The downside about going to the river was that it was one heck of a hike. We were all fairly wiped by the time we got back up. After lunch and a bit of class, it was clean up time. We did our best to clean up everything, and after dinner we were waiting for the bus. It was funny. On the 2+ hour bus ride to Penonome, Becky, Becca, Brooks, and Andrea were singing English songs in Spanish... translating as they went. Aly was very amused. We got checked in to the Guacamole (Whack-a-mole) hotel and walked over to this huge "Baile Tipico" that was going on. (--edit-- 10/14: Originally we were going to go to Chitre, but we detoured to Penenome and then to the city since we were all going to the Juanes concert.) We had to wait a while, but then it got started and we were off to being gringos trying to do the Panamanian Dance. Twas fun, but after sweating three buckets still decked out in our hiking clothes (it was crazy packed and thus crazy hot) and almost going deaf from the volume of it all (w/ the sponsor phrase "Cerveza Panama" being blared through the speakers every five seconds), I headed back for some sorely needed rest. The next morning we headed for home (in the city).
Saturday afternoon was spent getting to know my pillow better, washing clothes, and repacking for the next excursion, b/c that night we had the JUANES concert! Now, I'd actually never been to a pop-style megatheatre type concert before and I will say that I was adequately impressed. Juanes lived up to his popularity. Aside from being an outstanding guitarist, he sang his songs pretty dang near CD quality in a way that couldn't be lip-sung (if that's what you were thinking) and sang fairly non-stop for 2 hours. Oh and the entire thing was sponsored by Canada Dry (my favorite soda) and if you bought two sodas, you got a free t-shirt. Wicked, ne?
After the concert, it took a long time to find a taxi out of there but I made it back to the house around 12:30... just to go back out. Elssie and Joana (friends of my friend from Emory) took me to their friend's house where I semi-learned to salsa, meringue, and some other whose names I can't remember. After we grabbed a bite of Niko's 24 hr Cafe, I went to sleep around 4 AM.... rest would have to wait though, b/c the next morning at 7 I was up and ready to leave the city again. Well I was up at least. After class in the morning, the 9 of us headed to the Bus terminal to catch a public bus to Chitre... and I forgot my phone charger.. and camera battery... meaning no pictures from me (for a while)... I tried buying a new one at the terminal, but it seems my camera is outdated.
Anyways, off to Chitre, checked in, short lecture with a sociology professor, dinner, and sleep. Today we headed to Isla Ca~na. It was a 2+ hour ride, from which we then took a short boat ride to the Island. My Isla Cana mom's name is Delfina, and we're just started the day. I'll keep you posted.
--Edit-- 10/14
It's almost painful not to correct the English in my journal entries... and leaving them as if they were written by a middle school version of myself. The more I type today, the more I can feel some English returning to me, and transcribing the poor vocabulary and simple phrasing of my past entries is a humbling task.
By the way, if anyone was wondering what I've been eating, it's mainly been a similar diet, which is why I haven't mentioned it. Everywhere I'd been up to this point served generally rice, chicken, and plantains. Occasionally there were a few veggies or beans of some sort, but the diet has been similar, and continued to be through our time in Isla Cana. :) It's quite tasty though.
Advice to future study-abroaders, find people outside your group... natives to befriend. They say the best way to learn a language is to date a native of that language... but if you can't do that, make friends. It's easy to stay within the confines of a group.. and battle the awkwardities of a new culture together... but bite the bullet and do it.
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