Ah independence! Traveling with a group of 34 gringos can be quite tiring after a couple of weeks. Today we were let loose on the country of Panama in small groups to visit sites around the country. The excitement of an airconditioned bus and chaperone-free travel has left me feeling slightly giddy (as well as the anxiousness of missing my chiva ride to the next city due to an urge to find an internet cafe).

I´m traveling with two others to a town in Los Santos, the southernmost, peninsular province in Panama, and tomorrow morning heading to the Pacific coast on my own to visit a current volunteer in Las Canas. I don´t know if I´ll be able to resist the urge to plunge through the mangove forest into the cool waters of the ocean...

Highlights so far: seeing squirrel monkeys jump through the trees, hiking through the jungle to get ´fertilizer´from the nest of leaf-cutter ants, building an organic garden with my host family, learning sustainable farming techniques, hearing a swarm of African flies buzz over our Spanish class, crossing the Puente de las Americas, coconut ice cream...