Day 2 recounted by Steph Althoff

Waking up has always been a struggle, but I have to admit another day of Panama is making that lifelong battle a whole lot easier. The morning was pretty typical, breakfast and getting ready so on.. BUT how many of us can say they got to visit the Panama Canal during that same routine morning?! Seeing the Canal was pretty cool considering it's a pretty impressive product of engineers in the early 1900s and checking out the new Biomuseo (could be wrong in spelling that considering my spelling is almost as bad as my Spanish, lo siento). After we learned a bunch about Panama's history we went on a looooong road trip. For starters, if anyone ever decides to take a 4 hour bus ride it's never a bad idea for a pit stop at the beach. The water was super blue and somewhat warm and obviously super gorgeous. What really got me was all the dogs running around like honestly this was a dream come true- great lunch, friendly dogs, AND a pretty beach!!! And the breeze... ah oh man it was the ultimate pit stop let me tell you!! We also met our families right when we arrived today and I already love being with my family! I'm going to sign out considering Mel just told me the incredibles is a movie option on Netflix, but overall another 10/10 day!

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One of the puppies at the beach


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The tickets for the Panama Canal and the Biomuseo

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Panamanian kids at the Panama Canal

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The view of Panama City from the Biomuseo

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Arriving at the beach

Jordyn Smith covers Day 1 in Panama!

Embera Drua

Embera Drua

Dear family and friends, 

Our first day in Panama was an adventurous one. We started off by boarding our bus, which was intended to seat quite a few people, but unfortunately it's only a few of us. It actually worked in our favor because we got to have two whole seats to ourselves if we wanted. We made our way down to the supermarket and we're given a chance to pick out anything we thought we might need for the day. After re-boarding the bus, we drove about 45 minutes to the River Chagres. There we met some indigenous people who helped us make our way down the incredibly slippery hill to the canoes that we were to take to the Emberá Village. We spent about 30 minutes on the river and arrived at the village where we were welcomed by music from The Emberá. From there, we were given the history of the two families who established the village and learned more about the authentic handmade crafts, which we had a chance to buy later. After a lunch of fresh fish and patacones (fried plantains), we watched some traditional dances and swam in the river. Before we knew it, it was time to load up the canoes and head back to the bus. When we got back to the hotel, we had some downtime and then walked to dinner at El Pomodoro. After a long, exciting day, we are ready to get some sleep and see what tomorrow brings! 

View of the Rio Chagres from the village

View of the Rio Chagres from the village

A musician in the village

A musician in the village

Lunch!

Lunch!

The dance of the Jaguar

The dance of the Jaguar

Another traditional dance

Another traditional dance

Zach and Gerry floating in the river

Zach and Gerry floating in the river

Melanie, Natalia, Abbey, Megan, and Steph in the wading in the river

Melanie, Natalia, Abbey, Megan, and Steph in the wading in the river