December

the music heres alot different, yet the same. they have the same meaning and alot of times thell borrow the same tune but there are thoes AMAZING songs. theres also there typical panamanion songs like tipico and the group sammy & sandras. theres alot of american influance and jamician influence..they listen to alot of music called passa passa which has a really cool dance so if you ever get the chance to look that up its pretty cool, theres lots of dances here, bachata, maranga, tipico, soko, soka, (one of thoes two is the electric slide but i never remember which), salsa, and more, i honestly love them all! ive learned to dance so much! when i first got here i didnt dance at all and i didnt sing in spanish but now im all over the place in love with the music!

March

Geography; Mountains and Climate

Panama is bordered by both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, between Colombia and Costa Rica. In order to cross the border form Colombia to Panama you had to travel through an impassable jungle. So in order for the drug trade to get by Panama they either had to go around it completely or by truck, which is thoroughly inspected. Panama had full control of the Panama Canal on 2000. The Panama Canal connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea to the North of the Pacific Ocean. Panama is a very small country. It could fit into North Carolina. Panama has 9 provinces, Bocas Del Toro, Chiriquí, Veraguas, Herrera, Los Santos, Colon, Panama (where I lived) and Darien. Darien had a huge jungle which took up over half of the province.

On one side of my house there were mountains and on the other side was Chepo, a big city. We lived in a valley you could say. All the rivers around were dammed for hydroelectricity.

During the rainy season, which is winter for us, it rained almost every day. While it was raining it would get cold enough that you would have to wear a jacket and there was a nice breeze. But when it was done raining and the sun would shine it would get insanely hot! It would be humid due to all the rain which would make you sweat a lot and feel all sticky. I’d say that was the worst time of the year. We always knew when it was going to rain or not because of the mountains. The rain would always come over the mountains so we could literally see it coming! Im not so sure what the dry seasons were like cause when I was there, there was an unusual weather change and it rained more in the dry season then it did the rainy season. There for, the dams overfilled and flooded a lot of the cities around it.

Febuary

Apparel

In panama, looks are everything! It doesn’t matter where you buy your clothes, just that you look nice. All the clothes are so much less expensive. You can go to the mall with $20 and buy a couple outfits including shoes and still have money for the bus trip home. Which for me was only an hour and a half thankfully! In order to get to Panama City you had to take a bus if you didn’t own a car. The bus ride was fairly cheap, $1.25 to get to Metro Mall and $2 to get to Albrook mall. The boys usually had to work for their money and the parents gave the girls money to go shopping.

January

music

the music here is a diversity of the music around the world. theres italian music theres jamacian music, american music, mexican, panamas got its own varity of music(which by the way i do like alot)

January

Music and the teen Scene

Panama has a wide variety of music! It has its pop music (just like here in the USA), reggation, rap, romantic style, batchata, marange, salsa and tipico(which is native to panama). Each type of music has its own dance. There always parties in Panama, so everyone’s always dancing! But when were not partying were finding other things to do. for instance, everyone plays soccer! Every Sunday there would be a tournament for the guys and every one would go to watch! After that we would usually go to the river! That was so much fun! The river was pretty wide but not too deep, it was perfect! But of course on rainy days we couldn’t do either of those so we could go to the mall in Panama City. There, we could walk around, shop, go see a movie, eat, etc. just like a mall here in the US! Also, we liked to hang out at the internet café. Which, luckily was right around the corner!

December

Culture and Celebrations

Panama is a country full of culture and celebrations! Every year at the end of February they have carnivals. Carnivals are a huge 4 day, 5 night celebration for the Queens. Every city has two Queens that compete to see who has the prettiest float, biggest fireworks, best dresses, etc. In the end there really is no winner, it’s just an excuse to get out and party! Everyone loves dancing. Dancing is something everyone does not only at parties but whenever there’s music! Next is Semana Santa, which is the week of saints. All the students are off school and most the parents don’t have to work. That week we eat fish almost every meal. Also there is Christmas and New Years, just like here in the USA but they celebrate it a little differently. When they celebrate Christmas it’s just a big party where everyone goes over to someone’s house, and same with New Years. They don’t give out presents and put cookies on the mantle for Santa like we do, but they sure know how to have a good time! Another celebration Panamanians have is called quince anos. Quince anos is like a sweet 16 birthday party, except for it is the coming of age for women at 15 years. At the quince anos, the father gives the daughter a ring, and the mother changes her shoes to high heels. A tradition in Panama is that for every birthday party, after they blow the candles out, they smear icing all over the birthday boy/girl! So it’s wise not to wear your best outfit!

There are many cultural difference in Panama. One thing is every one dresses up when they go out in public, especially in Panama City! Its VERY important how you look and smell. That’s how they judge people. The women and girls put a lot of work into their nails and makeup. Men are not juged so much by how they dress. How they judge the guys is usually by their chickens. If you have chickens, you have money. They don’t just eat their chickens, they usually fight their chickens a couple times a month. If your rooster wins, you win a good amount of money and usually a rooter more chickens too!