Blogs from Chiriquí, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 9

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Central America Caribbean » Panama » Chiriquí » Cerro Punta November 9th 2012

I strung up a piece of parachute cord across my living room to hang up my laundry so that it dries. Nothing dries here, for the record. I got up to the office to start reading scientific papers and whatnot, and the kids came again. Like I said before, they're adorable, but I can't get anything done with them here. I had to put my computer off limits, and they kept asking to go down to my house (they wanted chocolate). Unfortunately, my laundry is all over my house, and I don't particularly need little kids to see my underwear hanging around. I appeased them by letting them watch movies in English on my iphone, but the movie distracts me from being able to read. They eventually left and I went to look for frogs in ... read more

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Chiriquí » Cerro Punta November 8th 2012

I finally worked up the courage to go ask Maria and Adolfo if I could do laundry at their house. They live right behind my house, but I had never introduced myself to Maria. I met Adolfo my second day here because I saw him walking along the driveway to Finca Dracula. I attempted to get across to him that I knew Erik Lindquist because they know him, but I'm not sure I managed to accomplish that task. Andyway, I opened the gate and walked up the steps to their house yelling "Buenos" (short for buenos días) as people do here when they're looking for someone. I then introduced myself as Emily and also as Erik Lindquist's student. Then managed to ask "Puedo lavar mis ropas a qui?" Maria said "sí" and took me down to ... read more

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Chiriquí » Cerro Punta November 7th 2012

Oh man. I shouldn't be allowed to go grocery shopping when I don't eat lunch. My purchases: icing a bag of hershey's chocolate nuggets cookies and cream chocolate bar gum potato chips plantain chips bread pb strawberry preserves pineapple juice milk cereal campbell's chicken noodle campbell's chicken and vegetable Barilla noodles (yay! name brand) cheese Granted, most of those things aren't too bad, but the top three weren't my best decisions. Other than my trip to the grocery store, not a lot happened, besides Thomas trying to convince me that my house is actually haunted. He lived there for two weeks and is trying to convince me that he's seen a figure on the roof, then looks closer and it's gone. I know he's kidding, but now I have to look.... read more

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Chiriquí » Cerro Punta November 6th 2012

I didn’t sleep much last night. Partly because every five seconds I thought there was some sort of bug or, I don’t know, maybe A GIANT SPIDER on me, and partly because I bought an ebook book from Amazon and couldn’t stop reading it. Mostly the latter. Anyway, I woke up later than I wanted to and grabbed a shower. The awesome thing is, since they fixed my electricity, my showers have actually been a little bit warmer. They’re still not hot, per se, but they are definitely warmer than lukewarm now. After getting ready, I decided it was time to do some real, scientific work. I swabbed my lil salamander (he’s only about 4cm long!) for the Chytrid fungus, and then grabbed some lunch. In order to tell you about my lunch, I’m going to ... read more

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Chiriquí » Cerro Punta November 5th 2012

Hopefully, last night was the last of them, at least for a while. I killed that giant spider that had been hanging out on my ceiling. It's been there for the past 5 nights or so (that I know of) and I had gotten pretty used to seeing it there in the same spot every night, so I was a little bit surprised when I walked up to my room last night and it was gone. There wasn't too much to worry about, as the little (huge) fella sometimes just went up into the ceiling for cover, I guess. You see, my room used to have sky lights in it, apparently. Unfortunately, they took them out and covered the whole roof with corrugated roofing, leaving a gap for the spider(s?) to craw into. I did a ... read more
Spider Jerk

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Chiriquí » Cerro Punta November 4th 2012

Well, I got my electricity and I also got a few new lightbulbs to replace some that were out yesterday. I also found out that my new species of salamander might not be a new species after all :/ Oh well, I can still swab for Chytrid. While that seems like it should be the most exciting, albeit sad part of yesterday, it absolutely was not. After walking down to town to get a delicious, large, fresas con crema, I decided to make myself rice and beans because, ya know, I'm in Central America- that's what they eat here. Fortunately, I learned during my senior year of college that there is rice that is not "instant rice". I honestly thought all rice was that easy to cook! So here I was, with my real, non-instant rice ... read more

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Chiriquí » Cerro Punta November 2nd 2012

I think yesterday was day 10 of my adventure. I forgot to say that I met two American tourists and another american couple that relocated to Panama the day before. It was nice to be able to speak to a stranger in English. In general, if there's a stranger here, I can't talk to them. The only exciting part of yesterday was my totally fail attempt at making a grilled cheese sandwich. You see, I share a kitchen with bunch of other people, and when they cook on the stove, they just leave whatever they made in the dish and put a lid over it. Of course, the only frying pan had someones food in it, but I had my mind set on grilled cheese. I was not leaving that kitchen until I had a belly ... read more

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Chiriquí » Cerro Punta November 1st 2012

I had a couple of things planned for today's blog. I thought maybe I'd talk about how the word "Indian" means something different everywhere in te world, or maybe I'd talk about how it's crazy that it's gotten to the point that if a spider's the size of a quarter or smaller I just let it go, but now, I am unable to talk or think about anything other than the giant spider on my ceiling. I killed a spider just slightly smaller than the one I took a picture of the other day, only a few feet from where that one was. Then, I just had to look around, didn't I? There, on my ceiling, is the biggest spider (barring a tarantula) that I've ever seen. I think it was a tannish color and it's ... read more

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Chiriquí » Cerro Punta October 31st 2012

I'm figuring that if tomorrow means sometime within the next month, then today must mean sometime within the next week. I talked to Thomas yesterday about the electricity in my house and he said that someone might be coming yesterday. Of course, no one came, so I'm hoping this week! Yesterday was spider-free, thankfully. I figured out how to use the stove and finally ate something other than Pb&J- pasta con mantequilla (butter). Plus, I had a weird pomegranate-like fruit that was really good and some coconut sherbet-like stuff. Other than that, nothing specifically exciting happened.... read more
Granadia

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Chiriquí » Cerro Punta October 30th 2012

First things first, I’d like to give a shout out to all the spiders out there. Hey spiders, we’re cool, right? I mean, I love what you do with all of those eating annoying bugs and whatnot, but I’ve noticed recently that you keep showing up closer and closer to my bed. Well, actually, the first night you were in my bed, but you were barely a centimeter in diameter, so it was okay. I just got a paper towel and killed you. I guess that upset you all, because the next day you sent bigger spider to hang out on the wall near my spiral staircase. Is this… intimidation? Are you trying to intimidate me into submission?! If that’s the case, it didn’t work, because I killed that one. But then yesterday you sent a ... read more




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