My Trip to Panama: By Jillian Parks

My Trip to Panama

February 17-22 2017

By: Jillian Parks

Although the person who might have convinced me in the first place to write about my trip is Mrs. Kopp, I now believe I am excited to share my thoughts and insight about traveling to a place with a such different culture and lifestyle than here. Sadly I did not keep a journal while there, so I might not remember everything in order, but I will try my best!

To begin, my Youth group and I flew into Panama City late at night from Newark Airport, so we didn't get to see much the first day there. In total, there were nine of us, ranging from freshmen to seniors. At the Panama airport, we welcomed some Panamanians who would be staying with us the whole trip. Kelly, who was around college age, did most of the talking and I was amazed by how well she knew how to speak English. That night, we mainly got settled into the house in which we were staying at. It had a room for the girls and a room for the guys, both with bunk beds. I also vaguely remember that night that we ate a dinner that consisted of mainly Pringles and Snap Pea snacks, but of course we were alright with that because we were just happy to finally get there (plus most of us had meals on the plane.) For the rest of the night, we mainly relaxed and explored the house, excited about the days to come.

*FUN FACT (for the above day): My priest actually left $1,500 on the plane!! So we all started off pretty freaked out because we wouldn't be able to get anywhere since the money was for our bus driver but LUCKILY people in Panama are nicer than people in the U.S. and they found and returned all of it, so yeah, SO pumped to start out this way, but don't worry things got better :)*

Following our arrival day, we all woke up that morning with smiles on our faces, curious and eager to get a real "whiff" of Panama. That day, (and for all the other ones) we started off at 6:00 am and opened the front door of the house, little of us knowing the beauty we would soon encounter. When I stepped out that first day, the gleaming sun already high above the horizon even in the early morning, I could not be happier with where I was that very second. Not only was I thrilled to escape the frigid northeastern weather of New Jersey, but I could also already feel the impact that this trip to put on my life. We then took a bus to a place for breakfast and found our first hurdle in Central America. Those of us who didn't take Spanish struggled a bit in trying to tell the Panamanians at the cafe what we wanted (even though all the adults with us told us that it was a "pick and point"place). But we all got through it and soon found ourselves on the bus again: this was our tourist day!

So I'm sorry I haven't mentioned anyone's names yet, but I soon found myself close with almost everyone. The girls were named Shelby, Katy, Maddy, Natalia and Corinne and the boys were John, Austin and Jacob. Maddy, Shelby, Katy, Austin and I soon formed a very tight friendship which I was very happy about because another reason I had come down to Panama was to get closer with people I only knew of. Although, Shelby and I had known each other before, we became even closer friends on the trip.

Sorry for getting distracted (again oops) but yes today was a tourist day! We visited the Panama Canal, which was probably the most iconic attraction in "Tourist Panama," but my friends and I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Next came shopping, and boy were we in for a treat. Rows upon rows of color blossomed throughout a native market that we came upon. We were all in awe and blown away by the hundreds of handcrafted items that they had to offer, each one representing a level of hard work and determination. I purchased a beautiful tribal, colorful bag with fringes hanging off, as well as some bracelets for my friends back in Sparta!!

So as I'm writing this, I'm realizing that every other memory I have, except the first day, is all scrambled up in my head. From now on, I will not be writing in order.

One of days, probably one of my favorite days, was when our group visited a Girls Home (which is almost like an orphanage, except the children there have parents, but they just can't afford to raise them). Of course, to start off, all of us played some soccer in 90 degree weather which was quite a workout since many of the young girls were surprisingly good. We also played with a couple of college aged guys who had been staying with us most of our trip and of course they were good as well, but I did happen to score a few goals, which I was proud of. After this, we all began bonding with the girls (who ranged fro ages 4-18, but none there were older than 13). I played and laughed with a 4 year old named Katherine, who was one of the kindest, loving, full-of-life girls I have ever met. Even though there was a language boundary, that didn't stop us one bit from having fun together. I pushed her on the swings for some time and we also played hide-and-seek for a little while too. She also loved looking at the Snapchat filters on my phone which is always something little kids find fascinating. The part that broke my heart, though, was when we all had to say goodbye, Katharine would not let me put her down of let go of her hand no matter how many times I pointed to her friends. At one point, she even walked out of the girls home to the bus, saying "Adios! Adios!" to everyone. She had wanted to come with me, and I couldn't bare to say goodbye either. Finally, one of the women who stayed with the girls had to take Katharine away from me. The face she made will stay with me forever as a reminder of just how quickly we can learn to treat someone as family.

Later that day, the Youth group and my friends headed to a water park where we all got to chill and cool down. That day I most surely will never forget because not only did my friends and the girls bond so quickly, but us, teenagers, soon thought of the ones we were staying with as family too.

Another memorable day was the day we all really got exposed to Panama's beauty. This day, we traveled through the hidden jungles, or "backstage's" of Panama to spend a day with a tribe. Alongside our bus flew macaws and parrots, adding splashes of red and blue to the deep green flourished forests of the jungle. When we arrived, we had the mission of painting a small hut, which we did accomplish with a lot of teamwork. I remember laughing a lot that day because of the paint fights and special moments my friends and I had. We had also brought down t shirts and trinkets for kids in the tribe, which they gratefully accepted. That very same day we also went to the beach which was THE perfect temperature. We spent almost until sunset have chicken fights, collecting shells, and drowning each other (not actually) until we were all exhausted. That night I also had one of the best meals of my life at this amazing restaurant that had this incredible seafood platter (it even had octopus which was a first try for me!)

To wrap everything up is too hard to do because I still haven't said maybe even half the details I wanted to include, but I think it turned out to make for still a pretty good blog post. There were also very many iconic moments that happened throughout the trip too which had us all bursting out in unison laughing, but it was a very tough goodbye that day when we arrived back in Newark, but also very hard to enter the Panama City airport to say goodbye to Kelly, Sean, Roberto and many of the other kind and loving friends we had made in Panama. 

But I was right, this is a trip I most certainly will never forget!

**Below are some pictures/a video from the trip** hope you guys enjoy :)