Last month I went to a rural village up in the mountains with my host family. I got a couple of really great pictures up there. The first is of my host mom, Gudelia, and her grandkids, Yosuet (the little boy) and Yuri (the little girl). It was a really great experience.The day after we arrived was the final day of celebration for the Virgin of Guadeloupe. People in neighboring villages had come from miles around (some walking for as many as 10 hours through the rocky, hilly, winding roads) 7 days before and had ca
mped for the past week in the shrubs behind the church. My host sister, Yaneth, took me through the “hotels” so I could take pictures. I felt like I was a National Geographic photographer and she was my guide. It was very awkward. But, for the most part, people were open to being photographed. They were definitely roughing it, though. There were at least 50 people sleeping in the bushes, on newspaper laid on the ground. There were no tents or tarps. What you see in the picture is exactly what each “room” was like, though they did have a little fire pit for cooking off to the side. As we were leaving the next day it was crazy to see all of the people walking home, knowing that they had many hours ahead of them in the 90 degree weather, with baskets on their backs.
For Thanksgiving I was also up in the mountains but in a completely different part of Panama. The volunteers rent out an entire resort every year and take over the kitchen so they can cook a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It was a lot of fun, though I didn’t take many pictures. This one is of Andrew, Deborah, and me, with other volunteers playing touch football in the background.
Christmas here is a lot like it is in the states, at least it is in my part of Panama. The whole town was decorated with lights and nativity scenes. It was absolutely gorgeous. And my Girl Scouts group went to the local children’s hospital and put on a Christmas play for the kids there. They were really cute. 
For Christmas Eve and Christmas day I wanted to be with friends, speaking English, so I r
ented a house up in the mountains with 9 other volunteers. To get there we hired a random guy to take us in the back of his pick-up truck (though I don’t think his wife, who was in the front seat, was very happy about it since it was a 3 hour detour on their way home from the grocery store). The house we rented was amazing. It was all by itself on the side of a huge hill and the views were breathtaking. There wasn’t a neighbor in site and all around us was. My mom sent me a package that I got a couple of days before Christmas (thanks, Mom!) and inside there was a miniature tree. I brought it with me and we set it up in our rental and put all of our presents for our White Elephant gift exchange underneath it. It was perfect.
ented a house up in the mountains with 9 other volunteers. To get there we hired a random guy to take us in the back of his pick-up truck (though I don’t think his wife, who was in the front seat, was very happy about it since it was a 3 hour detour on their way home from the grocery store). The house we rented was amazing. It was all by itself on the side of a huge hill and the views were breathtaking. There wasn’t a neighbor in site and all around us was. My mom sent me a package that I got a couple of days before Christmas (thanks, Mom!) and inside there was a miniature tree. I brought it with me and we set it up in our rental and put all of our presents for our White Elephant gift exchange underneath it. It was perfect.
On Christmas day a group of us spent most of the day in the kitchen cooking. In the very back of this photo are me and Mike. Then there is Shawn, Andrew and Coco, with Kelly in the front. We had a really great time. These are some random photos:
The first is a shot of the canal from a bridge just outside of Panama City. I love going over the bridges and seeing all of the container ships. I'm kind of a dork like that.The second shot is a cool flower I came across that was very photogenic.
The hand is
Greg’s. I think I’ve mentioned before that all the men here carry machetes but Greg accidentally slipped and sliced his hand open on his. The worst part is that the first doctor didn’t do a very good job and it had to be re-opened and re-sewn. At least he’ll have a pretty cool scar.The final photo is my friend Whitney. I’m pretty spoiled and have a washing machine in my hou
se (no dryer), but Whitney lives in an indigenous village called Ngobe Bugle and has to do her laundry by hand in the river. I think it’s really cool, though I’m sure it gets really old pretty quick... ☺ That’s it for photos. In general things are going pretty well here. I miss home like crazy and it was especially hard during the holidays (this was my first Christmas away from home) but now that it’s January and I know I’ll be home to visit in six months I think I’ll be okay. This month is going to be pretty busy, which is always good for homesickness. Anyway, that’s all for now!
