Day 6

We started our day off by heading to two artisan markets. We originally intended to only go to one artisan market, however our bus driver Jaime ( pronouned Hy-mae) directed us to another market. The first was smaller, with more local vendors and more goods that would have come directly from Panamanians. The second was a lot larger and more of a tourist attraction with lots of handmade and local goods, but you could tell there were a lot more mass produced goods that may have been imported from other countries. A specialty here in Panama is the Mola, which are panels sewn into textiles with complex patterns and multiple layers.

We also got a chance to practice the art of bargaining, which is very common in a lot of countries outside the United States. These vendors would always set the price higher than its worth because they expect you to try to bargain it down to a reasonable price.

After we left the artisan markets, Hieme suggested that we take a quick visit to the Panama Canal Administration Building where we saw a monument dedicated to Major General George W Goethals who was the chief engineer of the Panama Canal Project.

Coincidently, today was the Panamanian holiday called ¨Day of the Martyrs¨, which celebrates the victory by University Students of Panama in 1964 for the Panamanian Flag to be flown side by side with the American Flag at the U.S. Canal Zone Building. During the series of riots which led to this vicotry, 22 Panamanians were killed, and many others were wounded. This day is celebrated because it is thought to be the beginning of the movement to give the Panama Canal Zone back to the Panamanian Government.

The next and final stop in our day was the Panama City Fish Market. Here we observed locals purchasing and selling seafood products including a very interesting delicacy called ¨Ceviche¨. This is raw fish which is safe to eat because it is naturally cooked with acid from limes and lemons. Professor Annavarjula kindly bought us some cups to share so we could all get a taste of this local snack.

We also ate Raspas, which is basically a snow cone, but the ice is shaved right in front of you, and then flavor is added to make a delicious dessert to end our day.

To end our day, we recapped the trip so far with a midterm review.

Michael Donovan ´14 and Ellena DiPaterio ´14