Day 5: Un Reunion Para Recordar

Josey: 

T-8 hours

I woke up early this morning to go to the Cinta Costera to watch the sunrise, something Kiki had recommended I do. Although it was a little cloudy, it was still beautiful to see the bright orange color illuminate the water and reflect on the shiny buildings of the city. After the sun had risen, I returned to the apartment to get ready to finish up my first week of classes. 

T-7 hours

I arrived at class and we got right to work with reviewing and continuing to practice por vs. para. Héctor had prepared many online quizzes to help us differentiate and walked us through many more examples. While it was still a little confusing to differentiate between reasons and objectives, two hours later I was feeling much more confident than I had before. 

T-5 hours

After we had done sufficient review, we moved on to a new topic: preterito indefinido. This is something that I have learned in the past, so it wasn’t too difficult for me to understand, I just had to remember all the irregular verbs and their proper conjugations. We did some worksheets to practice this, then started learning about one of the uses for this tense. Biographies is where this tense is commonly found, so we first practiced coming up with a story following a picture, then creating our own life biographies. This is rather challenging for me because I haven’t gotten to the part of my life where I get married, have kids, buy a house, or die, but I tried my best to work with what I have done. To finish up the morning we started talking about famous people or people who are important to us and talking about their lives. It was fun to learn new words and get to practice with real people. 

T-3 hours

After our class finished and we received our homework for the weekend, I headed back to the apartment to get lunch and prepare to be Casco Viejos best tour guide. 

T-2 hours

I spent the first part of the afternoon walking around Casco Viejo, looking at the vendors in the plazas, looking at the churches, and watching the bikers and walkers on the Cinta Costera. The walk gave me something to do and a great way to use up my anxious energy. 

T-30 minutes

I got back to the apartment with just a few minutes to rest and finish up some journaling. I wasn’t very focused because then my BFF walked through the door…

Sutton:

I have waited for SO long to say this but…

It’s Sutton and I have FINALLY made it to Panama! Fortunately, my flight was relatively uneventful and my driver helped point out important landmarks and outline the current “Panama” situation (politics, covid, etc). After a grand reunion with Josey and a tour of La Isabela Suites, Josey led me on an extensive walk around Casco Viejo. I learned that I should always stay on the red brick roads to “be safe” and not get lost. We walked past some of the most prominent churches, lots of vendors, the French Embassy, and made a stop for gelato. We also walked past our school, Casco Antiguo, which we will attend next week. Of course, all of our conversations were in Spanish and our impressive language skills even caught the eye of two of the many police officers. Before dinner, we went to the grocery store (only a block away!) and picked up some traditional tortillas, fruits, and other forms of Panamanian calories. It was definitely a lot different from Whole Foods back at home, but there is beauty in simplicity. We ate at Casa Casco for dinner, which is a rooftop restaurant featuring a 15 page menu with 8 point font. We enjoyed an assortment of elaborate foods ranging from sushi to crostini. At one point I was trying to find the bathroom and I ran into…. Miss Venezuela?!? Turns out all of the “Misses” of Latin American countries were partying at Casa Casco that night. We tried to barge through the mosh pit and snap some photos without looking like psycho paparazzi. Despite the exhilarating evening, we are going to head to bed early because we have a very early morning tomorrow for a special tour. Details will be revealed in tomorrow’s blog, so stay tuned!