bienvenidos a Panamá

I love to travel.  Interaction with other cultures causes me to reflect a lot on my lifestyle, values, and my often too complacent and overly complex American life.  I can honestly say that I have learned something significant on each one of my journeys, domestic and international.  This trip so far has proved to be no exception.  To make up for not writing at all about the three weeks I've been here in Panama, I'll try to share a little each day, both about my experiences and my thought process along the way.  Please feel free to comment on my thoughts, as I'm daily processing what I'm learning here and would value your opinion.

To start off, let me just explain this summer:

1.  Where am I and why:  I'm spending 8 weeks in Panama, doing archival and primary research for my master's thesis.  For those non-history people, this kind of research involves LOTS of hours in archives and libraries, examining all sorts of documents to try to make sense of history.  My topic focuses on the 1970s in Panama, studying indigenous relations with the national government.  More on this later.

2.  Where I live:  I found a great room to rent in an apartment in Panama City, the capital.  I have two roommates, Clara from Spain, and she is here for 5 months working for the UN, and Mayrin from Venezuela, who now lives here and is studying interior design.  And the apartment complex has a pool :)

3.  What I do all day:  I spend time researching; this involves a lot of reading of censuses, newspapers, legislation, electoral results, congressional minutes, conducting interviews, networking with university professors, and following any leads I get on potential sources or collections here.  And then on the weekends I become a tourist :)

Here's some photos from my trip so far:

night skyline view from my window

view of the city from Casco Viejo

 stay tuned...more to come.