Panama 2-Week

Upon arriving to Panama City, we will settle into the cozy, private Bed & Breakfast that will serve as our base for the first portion of the trip. After warming up our Spanish skills exchanging money, we tour the colonial section of Casco Viejo and visit the artisan and fish markets. Next we’ll marvel at the awesome engineering feat that is the Panama Canal and learn about its inner-workings at the Miraflores locks. We will also spend a day completing our first service project at an orphanage located on the edge of the city.

From Panama City we travel by bus to our small homestay village in the Veraguas Province. The vast province of Veraguas is located in west-central Panama and is known for its small agricultural communites and is the only Panamanian province that shares both a Pacific and an Atlantic coastline.  Global Works' homestay communities are located in the mountainous interior of Veraguas near the continental divide.  For the next week, we have the opportunity to live, work, and play with the exceptionally hospitable people of the highlands. Students live two students to a home. The members of the host families do not speak English, so our Spanish language learning curve rises quickly! Upon arrival, we greet our homestay families and head to the welcome fiesta. The evenings includes introductions of students and families, dinner, music, and dancing.  During the day we work alongside our host brothers and sisters on service projects that are determined and coordinated with community members prior to the trip. Examples of previous community projects have included building the foundation for student classrooms, latrine construction, school garden initiatives, teaching English at the primary school, and painting a school classroom. In the afternoons we’ll play soccer and basketball games, and spend time with community members. Evenings include cultural activities such as dances or cooking classes, and games with our host community.

Time to hit the beach! We depart from our homestay community, promising to stay in touch with our new families and friends. We travel to the Pacific Coast, famous for its unique combination of rainforest and ocean settings. We’ll spend a couple days boogie-boarding or challenging ourselves with surf lessons taught by professional surf instructors. The wave conditions on this beach provide the perfect opportunity for all levels to hang ten!

Departing is always sad, but the final trip back to our Bed & Breakfast in Panama City provides us time to share our memories before we fly home. A celebratory dinner at a nice restaurant and an ‘awards ceremony’ allows us to reflect upon our last four weeks together. We realize that the Panamanian friends we have made will always be with us!