We´ve now been in Panama City for 3 weeks, and unfortunately the bulk of our time has been spent studying for the GREs. That pain will soon end though, and hopefully end well with high scores and numerous acceptance letters.

Alex, Brandy, and I ventured out of the city last week via public bus- only $0.60 to take us an hour out of the city into the rainforest. We visited Gamboa, located in Parque Nacional Soberania, but being the rainforest it rained the entire day, ruining our plans for hiking to a waterfall. We ended up hanging around the Rainforest Resort, had some drinks, and saw our first Panamanian wildlife on their grounds (see photo). The capibara is the world´s largest type of rodent, and resembles a 100 pound guinea pig. We saw them from inside and then tried to get a closer look during a short break in the downpour. Before we could get very close they ran away, so it proved to be rather uneventful (we were hoping one of them would charge at Alex...).

This past weekend we accompanied our vecinos (neighbors) to their beach house about an hour out of the city, on the Pacific side. It was nice to escape the noise and spend some time relaxing- and eating meat! Those guys bought 7 different types of meat for an overnight stay, which included hot dogs and two sandwich meats fried for breakfast (our vegetarian Brandy was not so happy). The beach we went to was a mix of white and black sand and had some pretty good waves. There was also a river a short distance down the beach which had very cold, brown water and then there was much warmer green water in the ocean. There was a point where you could see the line between them and by taking a step forward or back and feel agua fria o agua caliente- a strange sensation, but very cool too.