Blog #1 :) Welcome to Panama!

When I first thought about coming to Panama I had many ideas of what I thought it would be like. I had the idea that it was going to be more like a third world country with no well-developed cities or paved roads. I thought we were going to end up “roughing it” here. I was told by many people that I shouldn’t drink the water which led me to believe they didn’t filter their water. I also had seen the movie Contraband, a week before I left, which portrayed Panama as a very run-down and poor country. The movie also scared me because the way Panama was depicted to have gangs, drug cartels, violence, and not very much legal authority to control this. To be honest all these mixed perceptions I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived in Panama. So before I left I looked up Panama online to see if this really was an accurate representation of Panama and to my surprise it was much different. The city looked very modern and the nature was breath taking. After some research I was very excited to travel out of the country but I knew Panama wasn’t going to be anything like America and it was going to be an experience for sure. When I landed in Panama the first thing I notice was the hot muggy weather and that their airport was very modern, just like any airport back home. While on the bus ride to the city I was very surprised that there were paved roads and the city had many very modern buildings. However they were spread out and in between the buildings were very poor and rundown buildings, homes and streets. I also noticed right away how crazy the people of Panama drove. There seemed to be no concept of speed limit or stop signs and they use their horns a lot. As I said early when I researched Panama and saw that the nature was breath taking, well it truly was. The mountains were gorgeous and the hillsides were very green. However even though the land in the distance was beautiful I noticed a lot of trash on the sides of the roads and in the water, but I learned that there is no really well developed trash system to collect the garbage on a weekly basis. The first place we were staying at was a pleasant surprise because the rooms were very modern. They were brand new and very welcoming. I thought for sure they would have hot water but I was wrong they only had freezing water! On our bus ride to Chirte I again got to see the beautiful country that was rolling with green mountains. We drove through some rural areas on the way to Chirte which I expected but once pulling in I was surprise by how urban it was and how it was mixed with very modern buildings. The neighborhood we are staying in is beautiful which I did not expect. It’s very community oriented and has a community park and pool. The landscaping is yet again very beautiful, with very green grass and colorful flowers surrounding the houses. The houses themselves inside are also nice however I am kind of still “roughing it”. There is no air condition, and the washers here are very different from America, there is no dryer and we need to hang dry our clothes, they only have a gas stove, and there are a lot more bugs. So as you can see Panama is a lot different from America and some things here did surprise me, but I am excited to be here and know this will be an experience of a lifetime!