In May of 2003, I traveled to Panama on a study abroad program through the University of Louisville. UofL has a sister campus in Panama City. We spent a little over four weeks in Panama. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I went there to finish my foreign language requirement in Spanish and also to gain an appreciation for another culture. I made many new friends both from Louisville and also Panama. The purpose of this website is to share my experiences with those who were unable to go with me. I have close to 700 pictures from my trip and could talk for hours about all of my experiences. Unfortunately, I do not have the time to show all and to tell all of my trip on this site. I have tried to include the most important pictures from the more exciting experiences. I hope you enjoy learning about my trip. I would like to thank Dr. Buchanan and all those people who made this trip possible. I would also like to thank Noah and Hannah for loaning me some of their pictures.
This is the wonderful University of Louisville Panama; where I had class. It is only this building and offers only graduate degrees to Panamanians. Currently there are two degrees: Human Resources and Business Management.
Where's Channing? This is most of the group that traveled with me to Panama. In this shot we are about to visit the President's Palace. Panama has a government very similar to the U.S. Currently they have a Woman President and she has two Vice Presidents.
There were three groups of Spanish classes on this trip. I was in the lowest level class with six other students out of the group. We were lucky enough to be scheduled to have class at 8:00am everyday except Sat. and Sun of course. It was very hard to get up in the mornings, but I can proudly say I never missed a class. There was a good thing about having class that early and that was we had free time after class while everyone else was in class. We always used this time to walk down to this small cafe a few blocks from campus to eat lunch. This picture is of most of the "Breakfast Club". From left to right: Noah, Beth, Ryan, Jamie, and Me.
This is a picture of the Bridge of the Americas. This bridge is one of the largest of its kind. It spans across the Panama Canal and connects North and South America. In the Picture you can see one of the huge cargo ships passing through the canal. This ship is on its way back to China. To the left is North America and to the Right is South America.
This is a Picture of Me in Casco Antiguo, which is a really old part of Panama City. Behind me is the Bay of Panama and downtown Panama City. Panama City is about the same size as Louisville, KY. There are about one million people in the city, but as you can see it has many more skyscrapers than Louisville due to its large tourist population and many Banks from around the world that have established offices there.
Our group had optional Latin Dance classes every Thursday. We learned mostly Salsa and Merengue with a little bit of some other types of dances. It was a lot of fun! This is a group shot with most of the people taking the dance class. The guy in the Middle with the baseball cap was our dance instructor, Carlos. Carlos and I have become quite good pals since this trip and we still talk to each other often.
This is picture of the town of Taboga. It is a really Small town on the island of Taboga not far from Panama City. We traveled there by boat and I took this picture as we approached. There was a wonderful beach there where many people of the group unfortunately got sunburned.
This is a picture of most of the guys from the group and our program director, Dr. Rhonda Buchanan. Starting with me in the lower left and going clockwise: Tim, my Roommate Ryan, Dr. Buchanan, Noah, my other Roommate Matthew, and Kris.
While in Taboga, some of us decided to go and explore the town. From left to right: Kris, Noah, Brandi, Me, Merideth, Tim, and Matthew
This is a picture of a Tree in Taboga. I thought it was neat because it had a bunch of flowers but the flowers were all different colors on the same tree.
Noah and I decided to go exploring outside of the town and up through the rainforest. This is a pic of me trying to decided which way to go.
Here I suggested, "Maybe we went a little too far..."
This is where we came out and you can see the beach in the background. The ocean is the Pacific.
This is a Rainforest pic from the Mainland. There is more biodiversity in the rainforests of Panama than there is in the United States, Canada, and Europe combined.
Here we are walking through the grasses in the rainforest. The grasses are not native to Panama but are found in Asia. During the Vietnam War, US troops trained in Panama. The grasses were brought by the US Military to make the environment more like the Jungles of Vietnam.
This is a pic from the place that the Smithsonian has an establishment. The line in the grass that the person is pointing to is an Ant Highway. So many ants travel in that line that grass dosen't grow.
Panama has a unique bus system. There are no schedules or set times of arrival. Also the buses are old school buses from the U.S. The owners paint them red and white and sometimes add many detailed scenes; very elaborate and colorful. Some of the buses have large sound systems and neon lights, and I saw a few with rimmed wheels. The buses are very old and are driven crazy-like. The owners do not have insurance. These buses are called Diablos Rojos which is Spanish for Red Devils. It only costs a quarter to ride.
There are Traffic Laws in Panama City, however I think the locals only think of them as suggestions. It seemed to me like the only rule of the road was yield to the bigger car. Most stop signs are taken as "slow down a little and honk your horn as you approach the intersection" It was quite an experience. These encouraging signs are posted near the most dangerous intersections.
This is a group of us hangin out at Bennigan's. From left to right: Sarah, Kris, Elizabeth, Ryan, Polly, Marian, Noah, and Me.
Just me at the Panama Canal.
This is a picture of the Miraflores Locks at the canal. There are three locks in the entire canal. Two are in Panama City on the pacific side and one is in Colon on the Atlantic side. Each lock has two lanes. In the Picture, you can see two ships of equal size. The red one is just entering the lock and the black and yellow one has already been lowered in the lock so you can see the difference. It only takes about 8 mintues for a ship to go through the lock. You can also see the little trolleys that pull the ship through the lock.
This is Picture of ship going through the canal near Gamboa. The canal is about 50 miles long. If a ship wants to cross the canal it has to pay a fee based on the tonnage it is carrying which is around a dollar per ton. Some ships carry well over 400,000 tons. This fee, however, is much cheaper than the cost for the ship to travel all the way south around the South American Continent. The fee has to be paid 48hours in advance and in cash. Then the Ship's captain turns control over to a Canal operator who steers the ship through the entire canal.
One Weekend during the trip each person in our group was assigned a host family. My host was Oscar Leon who also happened to be the President of UofL Panama. He took me fishing out on the canal. This is a picture of him and one of the fish we caught.
I found this little guy in our hotel room. You may have remebered him from the Geiko commercials. Geckos are good to have in your home because they eat any bugs that may show up. I think they are cool because they can change color like an Anole and can walk on the wall or ceiling. Anoles, by the way, are the generic lizards sold in pet stores that are usually passed off as chameleons but can only change from green to brown.
My friend Noah thought about getting a tattoo while in Panama and so he, Hannah and I went down to the tattoo palor near campus. This is Hannah and I with Dicki the tattoo guy. He was really cool and also does fire breathing tricks at carnivals.
The best place to eat in Panama City is by far the arabic restaurant Habibi's. It was some of the best food I have ever eaten. Many people in the group ate here many times. One of the things on the menu is the Arguile also known as hooka. It consists of a special type of tobacco that is soaked in fruit juices and molassas and is smoked in what I call a hubbly bubbly but is really just an arabic water bong. This is a pic of me one night at Habibi's trying the Hooka. It was very smooth and relaxing and the smoke had a nice smell and taste to it due to the soaking in juices. NO, there are no illegal herbals included in the tobacco.
This is a picture of some ruins of an old Spanish fort.
This is a picture of some of us at Casco Antiguo, the old part of town. From left to right: Me, Latrice, Paige, Tressie, and Beth
This is a group shot of everyone in Casco Antiguo. During the posing for the many cameras, this little boy came up and sat on my knee for several pictures. Afterwards, he asked for a dollar so I gave him one and he ran off soooo happy and went showing it off to all of his little buddies.
This is a picture of Hannah and Dr. Buchanan at the party we held at Pechuga's
One of the attractions in Panama City is the Chiva Parrandera, which is an old school bus that has been converted in to a moving bar. Basically you get on the bus and you are served alcohol and there is a live band playing music in the back of the bus. It drives around to different parts of the city and you get out and dance and eat and go to certain attrations in the city. It was a lot of fun. This is a picture from the ride. From left to right front row: Lisa, Rachel, and Hannah; Back row: Tressie, Marea, and Melanie
This is another picture of the Chiva ride. From left to right: Ryan, Noah, Ryan's girlfriend Danielle, and Me.
This is a picture of me on the Chiva ride. We played a game of pass the bottle and when the music stopped whoever had the bottle had to take a drink. The main drink in Panama is called Seco. It is made in Panam from sugar and tastes similar to Bicardi only very smooth.
The Miss Universe Pageant was held in Panama City while we were there. This pic is from one of the events that the delegates went to. It was a concert to benefit an AIDS foundation. The picture is very blurry but you can kinda see what's going on. The girls were very beautiful and remarkably tall. I don't think there was a single delegate shorter than six feet.
This is a picture of a lady in a Pollera. The Pollera is the tradtional formal dress in Panama. It is very important and is a tradition that goes back many many years. A true Pollera is handmade and costs around $4000 for the dress alone. It has to be worn with all of the gold jewery you see and the pearl head ornaments. Each peice of jewery has a traditional meaning. The head pieces are all individually placed in the hair which is braided similar to the Hairstyle of Princess Laya (check spelling) in the movie Star Wars. The pearl head ornaments are made to represent the flora and fuana of Panama and are made in the shapes of flowers or birds such as the peacock. They are made to jiggle around when the lady moves her head.
One of trips took us to one of the Indian tribes in Panama. The tribe we visited was the Embera also called the Chocoe. As you can see in the picture, they do not wear clothing and live very primitively. The men wear a loin cloth and the women wear a wrap around the waste with an elaborate beaded necklace. They prefer to live on a riverbank and use long canoes carved from a single tree to get around. The canoe is very long, about 25 feet or so and can hold many people. They live on elevated platforms with a thatched roof made of palm leaves. On our visit we were instructed on their way of life and were fed lunch and they showed us how they dance. They also gave us a tattoo. It was made from the juice of a particular type of fruit and it lasted about five days. Afterwards, we all went for a swim in the river. Lunch was served on a plate consisting of a leaf from the banana tree. It was a most remarkable experience.
One of the Indians brought out his pet iguana for us to see.
This is me getting my tattoo.
This is a picture of one of the dances that the women of the tribe do. You can also see the men in the background playing their instruments.
This last picture is a group shot of us and the Indians.
