Buenos Dias! Ñontoro Dego! Finally another day of electricity and internet! Unfortunately I didn’t prepare appropriately for the rough sea and got here completely soaking wet as if I had jumped in the water- and when it’s salt water that’s really uncomfortable. So the first thing I did was buy a new skirt to wear for the day.

I feel extremely busy lately. There has been lots of work on my house- we cut the palm last Friday and I got to go with. Now I understand why nobody wanted to do it. They climb the tree and chop down huge palms and then carry them through the jungle- mud and water and all- to load them in the boat. There was lots of laughing though whenever anyone fell in the water and got wet. Then, a feast of 10 pounds of rice and 15 pounds of fish with boiled bananas. They have also worked two days putting up the palm to form the roof of my house. We’ll need to cut some more palm to finish, as well as cut the wood for the walls and floor, but we get a couple weeks of rest until the moon is right again.

Last week I got to participate in a volleyball tournament with 5 other women from the community. Sadly, we were the only women’s team to show up. We played with some men that where there but they clearly had never played volleyball before in their lives, so we won! We even got a trophy. We had a lot of fun- I enjoyed wearing the team uniform.

I moved in with my third (and hopefully final) host family. It is a little far away in the jungle so I have to return home earlier than usual each night because the snakes come out. Luckily I have yet to see one. I really like the family and have a giant room all to myself. There is a 22 year old woman, her 3 month old baby, a 14 year old girl, and sometimes the husband of the 22 yr old is there too when he is not working.

Adult English classes have begun! I have 8 students- small, but the same students have come back each class and many more have said they want to enter. I’m happy with the number and they are learning much faster than I expected. It’s fun because I know everyone in the class so it’s like teaching friends- we have a good time. Now I need to come up with something for the kids that keep bugging me for English classes.

I pray all is well with you who are reading this! Hasta luego from Panama!!