Blogs from Chiriquí, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 6

The Epidemic: A few nights ago a bug broke out in the guest dorm, and since there's only one dorm that everyone shares at least 6 people have caught it. Even though it only lasts for about six hours, the victims are subjected to violent vomiting and diarrhea. Kevin was one of the unlucky few who got sick and he compared it to taking ex lax and epicack. Lovely visual. So far we've only seen it strike at night. I've had so much anxiety about catching it because it looks really painful, and it's so inconvenient getting to the bathrooms in a hurry. I even went to the extent of eating three raw garlic cloves to boost my immunity. I made Kevin a broth of onion, garlic and ginger because I know it's hard to digest ... read more

Day #1 panama city: We visited Casco viejo today which is the old colonial part of Panama City. It was part modern and part dilapidated, with trees protruding out from the wreckage. We walked through a fish market that would've repulsed most people, but had jumbo prawns for only $4.50/lb! I would like to prepare fish at the hostel but I don't think I could bring myself to clean and debone a whole one. When we tried to get back to the hostel none of the cab drivers recognized it and we didn't have an address! Luckily by the fourth try, the cab driver knew the name. It's so cheap to get around $2-5 to get across town. No meters, just negotiation. We're hopefully gonna take a Spanish for travelers course on Saturday so we feel ... read more

Hola everybody! Sorry it's been so long! I guess I'll start where I left off... Christmas eve: I celebrated Christmas Eve at Los Quetzales where I met an awesome couple named Emily and John (59 and 62 years old respectively) who bought my supper for me. While we were eating, we invited another guy over to our table who was a biology professor, and was going to be starting a tropical ecology class the next weekend (and also had a sweet British accent). We laughed and had a great time, and by the end of the night Emily and John had pretty much adopted me and insisted that I bring my family to meet them when they came to Cerro Punta. Christmas Day-Jan 29th: I was at the beach with my family!!! We traveled around some ... read more

Top 10 Things I Will Miss About Panama... read more

The Christmas party on Friday was fun, but I wish I spoke more Spanish. It's hard to sit there while everyone laughs and wait until someone can explain the joke to me in English. Fortunately, everyone thought my gift was amusing. Not the gift itself, which was candles and lotion, but my "secret friend's" name was Maria, so I took a packet of a popular local cookie, Maria Cookies, and taped it to the top. Then I took a sharpie and wrote Para (to or for) in front of the name. I'm glad I can make people laugh even without speaking their language. I got a pair of earrings and a lipgloss palette from my secret friend. While presents are always fun, the highlight of this day for me was learning to make patacones!!! They are ... read more