Día 4: Prometo no robar ninguna aguti

Josey:

This morning started out with beautiful weather, a tasty breakfast, and a pleasant walk to school. Once I arrived, we got straight to work by reviewing reflexivos a little bit, then combining them with imperativos. It didn’t take us too long to review this, and afterwards we moved on to the negative form and looked at how the conjugations change. We finished our practice with a quick worksheet, then took a short break before moving on to our next, and possibly most challenging topic so far: por vs. para. 

I thought this was straightforward. I was wrong. To start, there are about a million different uses for each word, and many of them seemingly overlap but then turns out they don’t actually??? For example, por is used for a general place or time, while para is used for something more specific. Of course though, as with any Spanish rule, it seems like there are more exceptions than words that actually follow the rule! The most confusing differentiation for me, though, was the difference between por, when it is used for reasons or causes, and para when it is used for purposes. ¡Estaba muy confundido! We spent about an hour trying to differentiate between the two and went over many worksheets and online activities. Ervan, my classmate, was also struggling with when to use which word, which helped me to feel slightly better about myself. 

After four hours of extremely challenging work, I thanked Héctor and headed back to the apartment for a quick lunch. My initial plan for the afternoon included meeting with Victor, a teacher at a local school, so I could set up some volunteering. Unfortunately, he had a family emergency and was unable to meet so we had to find a time to reschedule. I was a little disappointed to not be able to make this connection, but since it was out of my control I decided to make the best of my now free afternoon. 

After my lunch, I decided to take a hike to Cerro Ancón, the highest point in the city. After a short uber ride where I got to put my listening skills to the test, I arrived at the base of the hill. About 20 stairs later and I was amazed at the complete change of scenery that had occurred while still being in the city. All of a sudden, I found myself surrounded by huge jungle trees. The hike was short and only about a mile up on the paved path, so I arrived at the top quickly and took in the vast views of the landscape. From the summit, I could see the huge skyscrapers towering over the city, Casco viejo, and La Cinta Costera, and many other bright colored buildings in the caribbean architecture style. On the other side of the hill, the view was much more industrial with shipping containers as far as I could see leading in the direction of the canal. It was a very different perspective to see the city from above, but it was also fascinating to be able to identify all the different neighborhoods I have become familiar with. 

As much as I had enjoyed the hike so far, on the way down is when things really got exciting. I had barely started back on the trail when I spotted a hawk. Well really I think it spotted me. The hawk flew from one tree to another, landing on a patch of red berries. From there it watched as I stared back. And then…

A toucan appeared!

The toucan flew right in front of me and landed on a tree. And there it just sat, and watched. It’s colorful beak reflecting the mid afternoon sunlight. So picturesque. The toucan was patient, and so was I, so it wasn’t until several minutes later that it flew away and I continued on my hike. The next exciting creature I encountered was an agouti. This is a rodent type creature that looks similar to a ferret except has a much plumper bottom. They’re pretty cute actually. The one I spotted was nibbling away at some sort of fruit. By the end of the hike I was so happy with all the wildlife I had seen and enjoyed the short ride back to Casco Antiguo. 

By the time I got back I was pretty exhausted; today had been a full day of learning, exploring, and observing. I can’t believe it’s already Thursday, but you know what that means…

SUTTON’S COMING MAÑANA!!!

Sutton:

My final 24 hours in Houston could not have gone by any slower. When I was not staring at my “Panama countdown timer” or quadruple checking my flight status on United, I was putting my Spanish skills and hand endurance to the test. I dedicated quite a hunk of time to re-writing all of Josey’s notes so that I could have my own copies and the content could *hopefully* stick into my brain. The majority of our current lessons have revolved around imperativo and then pairing imperativo with verbos reflexivos.  Our newest lesson, por versus para, has come rather naturally to me - so I need to hurry up and give Ervin and Josey the magic touch. Hector had sent me some virtual games I could play to practice rutinas and direcciones and I found those to be engaging resources, even as I continue learning spanish after the Panama trip. I have a running list of seemingly random vocabulary words that Josey has scribbled down, and sometimes I am rather confused as to what conversations they could possibly be having (words and synonyms for “death” and “flight attendants” are abundant).

I then packed my luggage, keeping in mind the Gregg’s special request  to bring playing cards. I scrolled through the videos and photos from Josey’s day and shed a tear pulled some content for the video. I enjoyed listening to parts of the bike tour and seeing the photos from the spontaneous toucan sighting. I know 7pm is a really early bed time but according to my calculations the faster I get to sleep, the faster I will wake up, and the faster I can be on the plane. Next time you hear from me, I will be with my bestie in Panama!