i'm back from a few weeks of traveling around, so here's the down low on my trip. (and sorry it's so long. but it's 2 weeks of my life, okay?)

these two weeks were split between a technical week (visiting a volunteer to learn about the technical aspects of being a business volunteer), visiting the business sector conference, and a culture week (where each trainee went to visit a volunteer in their future province to learn about the culture there). despite the trip's ups and downs, i had a really good time overall.

the first week was basically staying in a hotel and traveling to the volunteer's site in the province of veraguas every day. we got to meet the people she works with and a really amazing man who knows a lot about running cooperatives in panamá. we also visited santa fé, a beautiful town up in the mountains, to visit a few community organizations and a coffee plant. staying in the hotel was cool because we got to watch cable t.v., swim in the pool, and go to the supermarket and buy things like chips and salsa every night. it was nice to just relax with the other trainees and have some fun. sure, some of the talks we had to sit through were a bit boring, some of the activities were a bit hectic, and we got a few noise complaints at the hotel (so there was definitely some drama that week) but it was still nice to get out of our training town and do something new.

that saturday we went to the sector conference which was at a spa resort up in the mountains of the chiriquí reigon. it was beautiful and, get this, COLD. there, current volunteers shared about their work and it just made me excited to get into my site and start doing things. also, some of us went out that night to celebrate a birthday. we went to a couple of clubs and dance dance danced! needless to say, i had a great time. ;)

the second week i went to visit a volunteer in the province of coclé, where i will be living. i really had an amazing week. so i'm gonna break it down for you day by day.

day 1: not much happened. when i went to meet my host family for the week i walked up to a porch full of about 15 people staring at me, silently. ¡suuuuupppeeerrrr incómodo! but they turned out to be a super cool family. there were tons of kids around waiting for me to get home everyday and play games with them. and the food was so much better than what i've been getting at my training site. and when i left my host mom said she had grown used to waiting for me every day and would miss me. i'm totally going to visit them again in the future.

day 2: we got to go work with a group that has a small organic farm and chopear en el monte (machete overgrowth). my machete skills are definitely lacking, but i'm going to work on it. one day i will be a master of the machete. just wait.

day 3: a woman that i just met gave me a bracelet she beaded so that "i could always remember her." then we saw how panamá hats are made. it was wayyyyy awesome. they cut the palm, shred it, dye and dry it, weave it, and then sew the hat together. all in all, it takes about a month to make one. and then the artists gets $10, while the person in the city who does almost nothing makes like $80. wtf? so now i have a goal of making my own hat while i am here.

day 4: we visited a man who grows orchids. i was in heaven. he grows all these different types by tying them into a tree and then the plant grows onto it. they were beautiful and i also now have a goal of having an orchid garden while i am here.

day 5: we woke up early and hiked up to the town's aqueduct. good thing i brought rubber boots because it was muddddddddy and we had to cross multiple streams. then we visited an organic farm and got to learn about vanilla production (a long, long process, there is a reason it's expensive). later that day we had a little going away party and a man played his accordion for us and his sons played the drums. he even made a little speech for us with a bit of english in it. he was obviously very nervous, but he did a really good job. that night, all of the kids at my house were in my bed and sang me songs and then gave me 5 trillion hugs goodbye.

so that week was great. the town was up in the mountains and full of little rivers. everyone was so nice and happy to have us there. i can only hope that my town will be as beautiful and welcoming.