Lo siento, hay muchos fotos para ti

Finished my 14 page paper yesterday, so I'm not studying until tomorrow, so here's photos from the last... month or so haha

Nope

So I promised a crazy intense post, but I can't deliver. I simply don't have enough time left here. I tried to toss up some photos, but we've been bumming internet because ours has been down for a month now, and the weak connection won't support photo upload.  I have a 14 page paper to write, and only 3 weeks left to spend with some amazing people, so I'm un poquito busy at the moment. Can't wait to see you guys, but leaving is going to be crazy tough.

Lo siento

I´ve gotten a few angry emails about how I haven´t updated my blog recently, sorry guys. I´m alive haha.

I´m on vacation right now. Panama has a handful of independence days and flag days and whatnot off at the beginning of November, so Lauren and I bailed for the full two weeks. Legit, right? Last week we were in Bocas del Toro (mouth of the bull) and this week we´re in Cerro Punta (Mountain Peak), Vulcan, and Boquete (gap). Bocas is beachy (and super hot), the rest are a lot cooler because they´re up in the mountains (about 9000 feet.) In other words, I´m freezing right now, but it´s really pretty. Y hay muchas panaderias, so lots of sweets I don´t need haha.

I´ll post a legit full blog when we get back, but Lauren has all of our pictures, so I´ll keep this short. We´re trying to do some hiking this week, but I fell of a dock last week and banged up my knee, so I´m not in hill shape. Probably going to hit up the horses instead.

Take care, hasta luego :)

Cantame

We went to the bilingual school today to help the kids again. The older kids I'm usually with were taking a test, so I jumped down to the younger kids, who speak less English than I do Spanish. But these kids tienen 2-4 anos, entonce they speak baby Spanish. I still didn't understand everything but it felt a lot better, especially because they didn't care that I couldn't always say what I wanted to or that I said it incorrectly. I need people to correct me so that I will learn, but sometimes I need the unconditional acceptance only a two year old can give.

Oh hey reality check, haven't seen you in a while.

Dear Carolyn, quit complaining and appreciate the little things. Sincerely, stop overthinking everything.

"Cantame"- sing to me. I love the simplicity. I hope she gets everything she wants out of life.

Fin de la Semana- Azueran

This weekend we went to the Azueran Peninsula, Chitre specifically. We visited a rum factory, built an adobe house, and went to a festival.

 Haha so we started "modeling," too bad I'm wearing a t-shirt and shorts

 The founder

 Sugar cane fields. There's a picture of us all chewing on the leaves because one of the guys was unfamiliar with the properties of sugar cane and tried it.

 We decided we had to give buildering a try. Would have gone higher, but we were afraid someone would see us and yell at us :)

I don't believe the rum is ever gone here

 Pottery wheel that you had to turn by foot. So cool. Want one.

 Gary made a little clay guy to smash Peatree. He's jealous.

 We had to make an ice cream run because they fed us so much fried food that weekend, that McDonald's was the "healthy" alternative. Detoxing this week.

 First you stomp through the mud, then you add grass, then you stomp through it some more.

 Then you kick together a brick

 Then you do summersaults in the mud- oh wait, that wasn't really a step, we just did it for fun

 Gary eats more than David and Cody combined. If you don't know David and Cody, that's a lot. This is not even close to his entire meal.

This weekend was exciting. It was more of a true cultural immersion than anything else we've experienced so far. Now I want an adobe house of my own. It was fun to make and it's honestly something to be proud of. Plus, it's a party. There was a band playing and we were dancing in the mud. And throwing it at each other :) We went to the rum factory, but afterward we all still had no idea how rum was made, only that it's stored in barrels, which gives it its color, that it's made from sugar cane, and that it plays a major role in the Panamanian economy. Lauren and Grant got sick after today. It seems like every time we go on a trip, everyone comes back sick (I'm sure they'll spread it around.) We all got food poisoning after San Blas, we were sick the week after my birthday, and now another one is going around. It's like our bodies can't handle Panama.  Maybe I'll be used to it by the time I leave. Other than that, I'm having a blast. Still really excited to be here, and can't believe I'm signing up for classes in two weeks. I definitely miss you guys though, no worries on that front.