It has certainly been an exciting first part of our trip! As I`m sure many of you heard, we had some trouble in the beginning what with delayed flights, close connections, very delayed bags, but we are finally settling into a routine here in Panama.
On Monday, we had the opportunity to visit the Emberà in a village outside Panama City. These indigenous people moved from the tumultuous area of Darien (the border region between Panama and Columbia) in 1975. The two founders spent some time in Panama City, but were uncomfortable with the city life and found it difficult to acclimate. As a result, they founded a community outside Panama City where they could continue the tribal life they knew. During our visit, the director of tourism for the village taught us about the native dress, their crafts, and their life. The villagers also performed several dances for us and taught us about their musical instruments. Afterward, some of us visited the botanical garden where they plant medicinal herbs and others swam in the river at the base of the village. All in all a very educational start to our trip!
Tuesday we again woke early so that we could visit the Panama Canal before heading to Santa Clara beach for the afternoon and Santiago in the evening. The canal is mesmerizing. There are three locks at Miraflores which shift boats up and down depending on where they are headed. Interestingly, the boats must be raised and lowered in order to pass through the moutain lakes in Panama´s interior, not because the oceans are at different levels. We were able to watch an enormous, orange, Swedish-Norwegian boat full of cars pass through the locks. The boats controlled by small vehicles using tension lines to guide them as each lock is filled with or emptied of water. Later, we were able to relax a little at the Santa Clara beach, even though it rained. But it is the rainy season here! And heavy storms roll through every afternoon…Hopefully, we will get a little more sun on our return visit!
At the end of the day, we arrived in Santiago where the students were introduced to their homestay families. The families were pressed together at the bus station, jostling each other gently to get a view of the bus door. Inside, the students were fidgety and chatty with excitement and anticipation; they could hardly stay in their seats! It seems as if since those first moments of nervous energy, each student has grown more comfortable with his or her Panamanian family. And each day their abilities to both understand and speak Spanish grow.
On Wednesday, we visitied a primary school where the children performed folkloric dances for us in traditional dress. In a crowd-pleasing final dance, the boys did tricks to impress the girls. The girl would remove the boy´s hat and place it on the ground. Then the boy would bow to replace it on his head, without using his hands! It was pretty entertaining and most of the boys managed to perform the trick without falling, though it looked very silly 
Tonight we will get together to celebrate one of the student´s birthdays, which should be fun!
Again, it has been a very exciting first week! The students are happy and well. We hope to post more frequent messages in the next few days! As well as some pictures!
–Jenny