Woke up with this little guy in my room today. Nothing's better than a good-morning gecko!
I can’t believe my time living in Panama City has gone by so
quickly! Last Friday our Spanish class went to the local markets, Salsipuedes
and Caladonia, and it was fun to see all of the different things for sale in
such a small space: medicinal plants, secondhand books, clothing, pollera (the
traditional dresses and jewelry for celebrations), and lots of artisan crafts!
Then we went to the meat market (I couldn’t stand the smell), the vegetable
and fruit market (I bought a passion fruit that was incredible and also tried
some fresh beet-orange juice), and the fish market (where I tried seviche de
camarones, which is now my favorite Panamanian dish so far).
On Saturday we woke up very early to go to La Campana
National Park. Despite it being super early, that was my favorite excursion so
far. We learned so much just by walking through one trail of the park – every
minute our professor would find something new that was worthy of explanation.
We saw invasive grasses, native mosses, leaf-cutter ants, blue-colored
plants…the forest was abundant with life if you just knew where to look for it.
We noticed a huge leaf-cutter ant and everyone took turns trying to pick it up
with a stick. Then our professor told us that it was probably infested with the
larvae of a fly that was slowly killing it. Its head was very swollen and our
professor explained that flies often hover over the line of leaf-cutter ants as
they work in order to lay eggs in the back of their necks. Then the larvae
grow, feeding off the ant, until they burst out and kill it. I had heard about
such relationships before, but it was both cool and unsettling to see it
firsthand. I felt a little sorry for the ant.
Then we got some basic tools and were left to our own
devices to measure the abundance and percentage of canopy cover in places
closer and further from the man-made trail. I have never been so completely
surrounded by tropical forest before and it was hard to move through it at
first, but by the end I was having a blast. It was really satisfying to go into
a national park and collect data on our own (and to put my biostatistics skills to good use to analyze them). I’m looking forward to more of
that when we leave the city. We also found these ruins from old homes in the park and it was incredible to see how nature was slowly re-taking them.
It’s funny how last week I was so eager to leave the dirty,
crowded city, but now after living here for a week, I don’t want to leave.
Saturday night I went to the Festival Verde de Cultura Musical (The Green
Festival of Music Culture) and it was incredible! All of the decorations were
made from recycled materials – even the seats were crushed tin-can cubes!
They had soy candles, jewelry made from tin can tops, sculptures made from scrap metal, and an urban gardening table giving away seed bombs!
We arrived in
time to hear the last two bands perform, Astro (a Chilean electronic rock band)
and Café Tacuba (a Mexican rock band). The two coolest parts were Astro’s
spontaneous drum solo and the main singer of Café Tacuba’s hair.
On Sunday we went to Palmar Beach in the interior with a few
Panamanian students from la Universidad Tecnologica de Panamá and it was great
practice to talk with them in Spanish. The beach was beautiful and I loved the
black sand!
This week is completely filled with homework and projects
before we leave the city on Monday. It is crazy how time has flown. I’m missing
my homestay family already just thinking about leaving soon. Today all of
Panama City lost electricity for most of the afternoon, something that has
basically never happened before, and it was a great reason to talk with my host
parents when I returned from class, since there was no television or internet
to distract us. They are so sweet and caring and I hope I can adequately thank
them at the end of this week for all they have done to make me feel at home here.
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