at my homestay!!

I'm writing this from my homestay in a small barrio off of a main street called La Tumba Muerta. A girl from my program, Kayley, and I are staying with Zuly and her mom Bibi. They are the sweetest people and refuse to speak any English with us so that we can learn Spanish. Zuly was an accountant but is now retired and she has made some great meals for Kayley and I. She told me to tell my parents that they can not worry about me in Panama because it's her job to be my mom while I'm here. While we were at school today she got us new towels and made our beds EVEN THOUGH I already made it I promise Mom :) Bibi is a three foot tall abuelita that has watched a dubbed version of Law and Order: SVU for the past two nights. She puts her feet up on a kiddie chair and smiles every time she looks at us. This morning when Kayley and I left for the bus stop, we locked the door because Zuly wasn't very clear about what we needed to lock when we went out. As we started walking, we heard Bibi at the window saying "no noooo venga aqui" so I'm really glad we heard her or else we would have locked her inside of the house haha. 

everyone in my neighborhood rides the bus together

a traditional Panamanian breakfast complete with a single pack of American cheese haha

Zuly y mi!

In the last few days of staying in the hotel, we went to a forest about two hours away to set up camera traps. NOTHING could have prepared me for the beauty of the rainforest. It was the first real rainforest I've ever been in and it's going to take some getting used to. Basically you sweat out of every single pore on your body nonstop until you leave. BUT we saw tons of bullet ants, beetles, lizards, and cool birds. When we got back on the bus after four hours of hiking (quite strenuous hiking might I add) we were all feeling faint and exhausted. Needless to say, the bus ride back was silent. 

the view from the bus window

the owner of the rainforests' chicken house

lizards fighting

Right before we met our host families, some people and I went to the tip of an island in the Panama Bay area where there was a Smithsonian Tropical Institute zoo thing. It was AMAZING. We saw FOUR SLOTHS (sloth = peresozo in Spanish which means lazy). I've NEVER been as close to a sloth as we were. If you want to see a video of the sloths (or the bullet ants), just text me because I'm having a hard time uploading videos onto this site. Also, there were beaches on either side of us because the peninsula was only .5 miles wide. 

Today we finally had our first two classes. We had a Spanish class in the morning and then a Human Ecology class in the afternoon both at the UTP. Also, at lunch and after school we hung out with some students that go to UTP. The highest price your lunch can be with a drink, a fruit, and a dessert is 3.00 but the base price is 1.50. We were talking with the students and apparently they raised the price one semester to 2.50, but the students prostested, so they lowered it back down to 1.50. They speak English pretty well but try to speak Spanish with us. On the bus after school we played Heads Up in Spanish so we had to describe countries and animals in Spanish (which was way more fun than I thought it was going to be). This whole week I'll be staying with Zuli and Bibi and going to classes at the UTP. We don't pack up and leave until Monday so I'm trying to get comfortable here! 

Ciao por ahora! Love you all. 

P.S. As I proofread this before I posted it, Zuly brought me ice cream and oreos!!