GUADALUPE, FOREST IN THE CLOUNDS

Up until we arrived at our host families, the day was a pretty standard, boring travel day. One plane ride later, we were traveling up into the Tierras Altas mountains of Panama, and it dropped about 30 degrees from down in the city of David. To be completely honest, I was quite nervous to meet the host families and put my Spanish skills into action. Preston, Daniel and I are currently living with this very sweet, elderly couple. At first, I felt pretty lost as most of the sentences that I heard went over my head. But, as the minutes slowly went by and we got settled in, the Spanish, to my surprise, started making more sense. I can honestly say that my Spanish has improved more in the 5 hours I've been here at Guadalupe than the entire semester so far back at Regis. It's been a lot of fun learning about a new culture and getting to know the people in the community. Something that I found really interesting is how kind and willing to talk the people here are. Our host family had some friends over last night and right away, they all came up to us and introduced themselves, even the kids. We ended up talking to one, Omar, for three hours all about Panama! He told us awesome stories about living in Panama and working at the canal. I can't exactly say that it was easy to talk in Spanish for most of the entire day, but I am loving this experience so far. It's been so much fun getting to practice my language and communication skills in the real world and learn from people who I never would have met otherwise. Another thing that I have to mention is how amazing the food is here. My host family has a sizable garden in their backyard and all of the fruits and vegetables that I have eaten so far have been home grown. The food in Panama so far has been much richer and more filling than anything I have ever tasted, and I can confidently walk away from today knowing that Fresas con Crema (Cream and Strawberries) are my new favorite food. It's a completely different experience living in another culture and being wholly immersed in it compared to just learning about it in school. I'm so grateful that we still have an entire week left in Panama because I've already learned so much and had wonderful interactions that I will remember for the rest of my life.