Panama Days 1 & 2- When are we moving here??

Let me tell you about the first couple days... :)
Being the first trip to leave definitely has its advantages- all Friday afternoon and evening was spent getting to know our hotel, walking around Panama City, and experiencing our first delicious Panamanian dinner at Los Toneles. We also learned a lot about our group... The loud one (Jake), the nervous ones (Brittani), the animal lover (Emma), the picture enthusiast (Lijie), the jokester (Andy)... I could go on. We were greeted by Blanca's mother, Doris Navarro, at the airport and went to the hotel, and spent Friday getting our first feel for Panama and meeting new friends.
Saturday was all about the Panama Canal and experiencing Panama City. The morning at the canal was incredible!! I had no idea the magnitude of this project and the history behind it (Did you know? The canal was originally started by the French, but after losing 25,000 men to malaria, yellow fever, and accidents, they sold the project to the USA, who finished it in 1914). We ate at Niko's cafe where we tried all sorts of Panamanian style sandwiches, then headed to Colonial Panama to walk around. This part of the city has a strong European influence as seen in the architecture and design, and is absolutely GORGEOUS!!! (Many of us were looking at apartments "se vende" for our future homes...). We drove through downtown Panama City and the skyline is so cool!! I had no idea it was such a large city with so many buildings! We spent the last part of our day in Old Panama, which was destroyed by pirate Captain Henry Morgan (yes, that captain morgan) who travelled through the jungle, took over for approximately one week, stole the ships and left. But the ruins are very cool, seeing as the work of people's hands hundreds of years ago is still standing here today.
We ate dinner at El Trapiche, and spent the evening experiencing modern Panamanian culture with Blanca and Jorge. Very educational and intellectually stimulating.

Love, Jordan and Team Panama

"This is vacation. We don't actually exercise, we fake exercise" -Markus Calabro

P.S. Sat night we met a man who lived in Alexandria, VA for 15 years before moving back to Panama City!! How cool is that??