Late October Overview

My pictures have been piling up from various random occurrences here in Panama. So here's a couple highlights I guess.

Chiva for Cynthia's birthday

Stephanie Murray, Jake, Stephanie Manciagli, Josh
I went to the Smithsonian Marine exhibit on the Causeway. It was pretty lame except when I asked an employee why one of the turtles was in a little pool all alone. It's a biter, so it has to live alone until its anger subsides and it learns to share. Hahahah

School here is so intense. There was a mandatory pumpkin carving contest for one of my classes. This is the Pumpkin Princess, created by Seana, Libby, StephanieManciagli, and me.
I hope we win.

Rainshower

Last night it rained so hard that my roommate Seana suggested we go outside and wash our hair. So we took rainshowers, get it?


We are going to make it some sort of tradition.

SAN BLAS

San Blas is an archipelago of 365 tiny Caribbean islands off the north coast of Panama, near Colombia. It is controlled and inhabited by the native Kuna indians. We stayed on Kuanidup, an island the size of a football field (seriously). Except for 4 old French people, us 35 FSU international kids had the island all to ourselves. It was incredible.

The tiny plane we took from Albrook airport! It's like a 30 min flight Plane view of my awesome location. I can look out the window during class and watch boats going though the canal.
Kuanidup - the island we stayed on

Stephanie and I volunteered to camp due to the cabin shortage
We visited a Kuna community on another island

My neighbor Josh

Roommate/tentmate Stephanie - haha she looked away

I finally attempted the "Panorama Assist" mode on my camera

It was an amazing weekend filled with hammocking, tanning, snorkeling, and some serious seafood. I can't believe I get to go back next semester!

Recently

No one believes that I'm really going to school here. I got a 98 on my chemistry test and a 96 on my psychology quiz. Yay

Some random pictures of from the past week:

Casino

Brooke + chicken?

Why does Rob have pet turkeys?

Tomorrow we are going to San Blas for the weekend! It's like a chain of 365 deserted islands. Did you know that 3 seasons of Survivor were filmed in Panama?

Spontaneous Rainforest Trip

I was going to go to the grocery store today - really. I was just moments away from leaving when the doorbell rang. It was 2 guys from my Statistics class, saying they were going looking for a waterfall and that I had to go. So 3 minutes later, Miguel, Gil, Jake and I were on our way. The waterfall itself wasn't much, but it was cool to go adventuring in the rainforest and see more of the interior of the country.

Amir's Chiva!!!

A Chiva is an old school bus turned into a club on wheels. So you take 40 of your closest friends and get driven around the city at approximately 3 miles per hour. It's the funnest thing ever. So for Amir's birthday we had to have one! It picked us up from Multicentro at 11:30 and dropped us off at Berties' rooftop party at 3 am. Such good times.

Various stages of sunrise
Me and the birthday boy on the rooftop

New tattoo!

My roommate Stephanie Manciagli and I got inked today yeaaahhh. Mine is a dreamcatcher, hers is a Buddhist quote in Sanskrit. Check it out

Josh and Jake had fun filming and keeping us distracted

A Day at the Beach

Today we went to the beach at Riomar and made up haikus. The rule was that each one had to end with "a day at the beach."
For example:

The sand burns my feet

We collected rocks and shells

A day at the beach

I know, I know. I have a very promising career as a poet ahead of me.

I went on a date with a guy who doesn't speak a word of English. It was super fun. I knew he was a waiter but then he told me he works somewhere different on Fridays, and that my friends and I should come check out this club. Turns out he's like a Chippendale's dancer. I feel cool.

I love the rain here! Everyone makes fun of me because I still get all excited when it rains. But living in California, I have never seen it rain as hard it does every day here. It starts out of nowhere and stops like half an hour later.

Out in front of our house

At El Valle - approximately one minute after we felt the first raindrops

Hey does anyone actually read this? Leave me comments!

La Bodeguita

First of all, I saw this stuff at the grocery store and we just had to make it. It seems to be some sort of Asian dessert. No one knows for certain. I think it's called Yoki.

I'm not sure how to explain Wednesday. There is a club called La Bodeguita. But everyone just calls it the hooker bar. Because that's where the Colombian whores are. Any everyone knows it. But we just had to see for ourselves.

At one point my friend told me I was standing next to a famous Panamanian porn star. But later a guy told me she was the most famous hooker in Panama. But "she" looks more like a "he" to me. All anyone knows for sure is that it has big fake boobs and it drives a couple of BMWs.

The silver lining of being surrounded by hookers all night is that as we were going to leave, we found out Comando Tiburon was about to perform! Okay obviously if you are reading this, you are in the US and that name means nothing to you, but I guess they're a big deal here if you're into reggaeton. "Ya tu sabes quienes son!"

Comando Tiburon again. Could the club be any smokier?

Some crazy Panamanians! (I'm talking about all 5 of us) Yesterday I was doing dishes in my kitchen, talking on the phone in Spanish. So weird how that's so normal now. I've been here for one month today, and though it's gone by so quickly I feel like I've been living here forever.

COMANDO TIBURON! My first attempt at video posting! I hope it works