Today is our final day in Panama, and we can’t and don’t want to believe it is already over. Our last A-Term at POHS has flown by! In honor of this special day, we woke up an extra hour early to watch the sunrise at the Cinta Costera. With tired eyes, we hobbled down the never-ending flights of stairs at La Isabela Suites and then carefully played real-life Crossy Road to dodge the speedy morning traffic. For a place where coffee shops don’t open until 9am, there sure are lots of early risers. While the sky was a little cloudy, it was still beautiful when the sun rose above the clouds and lit up the colorful streets and structures of downtown Panama. The reflection on the ocean was almost blinding, which made “smiling” during Jessica’s photoshoot rather challenging. Turning away from the rippling waves, Casco Viejo from afar looks like one of those picturesque, 4000-piece puzzles. After our morning sightseeing, Josey cooked one final breakfast using the remainder of our food. We
After a long week at school, Josey was ready for the weekend. After an even longer week stuck in boring, passport-demanding Houston, Sutton was even more ready to begin her Spanish immersion experience. On Saturday, we booked a trip to Isla de Monos to see the capuchin monkeys and titis (another type of monkey, to clarify). We met our tour guide, Aldo, and drove to the opposite side of Panama City. Here, we boarded a not-sketchy-at-all boat to ride around Gatun Lake, which is part of the Panama canal. It was rather intimidating to drive by three hundred foot long cargo ships, but we trusted our driver. When we arrived at the first island, the monkeys were a little shy. Nevertheless, Aldo showed off his impressive monkey-speaking skills and coaxed them to our boat with peanuts and bananas. After a few hours of admiring the monkeys and feeding them a nutritious breakfast, we headed to Parque Nacional Soberenía. There, we took a short hike down a trail surrounded by Panamanian rainfor
This morning we got ready a little earlier and decided to make a quick coffee run before school. This would give us a chance to practice our Spanish and get a boost of energy before our four hours of classes. Unfortunately, we quickly realized that Panamanians do not run their coffee shops with the same sense of urgency and efficiency as the US. Not only were NONE of the stores open yet (it was 8am!), but the one store that was open was…well, let us explain. After walking around for a few minutes, we located the singular shop that was open and slipped in thinking 10 minutes should still be plenty of time to get a cup of coffee. Turns out, it was nowhere near “quite enough time” so it was slightly embarrassing to stumble into our class a few minutes late, but luckily not any later than our classmate Felizando. Also, to our surprise, Ervan was also there. Turns out he had just skipped school yesterday, but he was back and Sutton was able to finally put a name to the stories. During clas
Josey and Sutton, so impressed by your blogging so far. Insightful and entertaining. The photos are excellente as well!
ReplyDelete