One intestinal infection later...

Hi everyone! So the last couple of weeks have really taken a toll on me! The last 2 weeks involve eating lunch in Costa Rica, milking a cow and getting shit on, touring a coffee finca (farm) getting an intestinal infection and spending the night in the hospital, many many stomach problems, throwing up a couple times, drudging over an hour through knee deep mud to go fishing, traveling all over Panama meeting all kinds of wonderful people and teaching Junior Achievement to young kids, learning to dance Tipico which is the popular dance here and going to "relax" at the beach with friends (thats all I can remember for now but here are some pics to illustrate). Love you guys and again, I am so sorry that I have been in and out of reception so it´s not the easiest to communicate but pretty soon I will have somewhat of a routine.

(above) My host sister and I pose for a pic after I give her this blow up globe for her birthday. She absolutely loved it (Thanks Mom!)
(Above) My friend Andrea and I who got up early to enjoy the sunrise.

(above) After a long 2 weeks of traveling and surving on not the greatest food, we all decided to meet up at a beach. Beautiful, huh? This is Las Lajas in the province of Chiriqui.

(above) So this is my host family and I about 2 days ago. We were celebrating the oldest girls 12th birthday for which they waited 3 days after the birthday for me to be able to celebrate with them as well. I couldnt have asked for a better host family. Love them to death.

(above) Im on the left if you cant tell. This was on a hike in a coffee finca (farm) but at this point we stopped for a second in a bamboo forest.

(above) So Ive seen (up to this point) 5 chickens being killed and have helped take the guts out and separate the chicken parts. I dont look at chickens the same anymore. Dont know if Ive mentioned that chickens are everywhere and at one point, the house where I was staying had a dirt floor kitchen (eating/cooking area) where the chickens came in and out and at any given meal I had at least a couple of pollos staring up at me as I ate their friends...sad.

(above) Check out this cutie. Right by my right elbow is where we are cooking sancocho (chicken and ñame soup) while in the mean time I had a dancing partner to help pass the time. The bench on the left of the picture is a tree trunk split in half.

(above) Is this not the funniest thing youve ever seen? Ok prob not the funniest but it was worth the pic. This is in David.

(above) First time that I milked a cow. It actually pretty gross and wouldnt mind if I never had to do it again. This was also only a few minutes before it shit on me and I took off running!

(above) This is my attempt at being artistic with my picture taking. I was sitting on a bus on the way to a city on the Costa Rican border at a bus stop. Pretty rustic.

Hurricane Ike

Now is a time when I feel a little homesick. Not because I am having a bad time or can´t hande Panama, but because I feel like I should be home with all my fellow Houstonians going through everything their going though before/during/aftermath of Hurricane Ike. I know that me being home wouldn´t exactly accomplish anything for the city per se but I want to be with the people I love during this time. I feel pretty helpless from Panama and I absolutely cling to all world news I can get (not much) to keep me updated. For all Houstonians out there, know that you´re getting prayers from Panama and I´m glad that from what I hear, my friends and family are safe. Talk to you soon.

Host Family

Here are my host sisters (11, 9, and 6). I absolutely love them to death and they are really getting attached to me. Makes me miss my twin cousins at home. I don´t really have much time to write a lot but I will say that I am slowly but surely introducing them to American food. This past week I made tacos which they had no idea what they were but absolutely loved them after some hesitation in trying them and this morning I made french toast. I don´t really think they liked it but were trying to be nice to me anyway. Thats ok, its not like all the Panamanian food I´ve eated has sit well with me. Till next time!

Hi everyone!

So here are some pics of my time here in Panama. Hope you enjoy! I'm adjusting better and better everyday and I will let you know that I am slowly but surely becoming a better packer than I have ever been. I traveled to another community in Panama for 4 days with nothing but a backpack. For those of of you who are familiar with my packing strategies, you know that it was a small step for mankind but a HUGE one for me. I'm learning more and more about the culture and definitely practicing my spanish but each time I learn a new Panamanian word, I think to myself that all my spanish speaking family and friends are going to laugh when I come back with this vocab! Start preparing, guys!

I love you and miss you all. Enjoy the pics and please keep me updated on your lives back home! Just bc I'm out of the country doesn´t mean I don't think about y'all all the time!

Chao, pues.

This is the house that I live in with my host family (above). The grass is called grama. There are dirt spots because people dig it up and sell it. I makes for a pretty bumpy/hilly walk to the house.

This is the view from my front porch (above). The thatch roof is called a rancho. These neighbors have a hammock hanging under there. Check out the rain clouds in the back. It rains everyday.

This is what packing for 2 years looks like! I actually managed! (above)

(above) We hiked to a waterfall in our community. As you can tell, living in Panama has resulted to me wearing glasses all over again. Feels just like 7th grade again ;)

This is a couple of us with kids from a youth cooperative (above). We took them to a national park where they learned about conservation and protecting the environment. We hiked up to this place where you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Here is a shot of one the oceans, not sure which one but beautiful anyway (below). You can see where its raining.



(above) Don't worry, this tarantula was a lot bigger in real life than in actually looks in the picture. I took this pic just seconds before a Panamanian hacked it to pieces with his machete.