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more culture:

31. the indiginous culture: a quote from my host dad-- ¨theyre more like mexican families.¨i dont really knows what this means for sure, but he says there is a lot of machismo. and i can see that. they are distinguished only by the women´s clothing. the females all wear an indiginous dress, its pretty long, and always a bright color, with a small pattern along the hemmings. ill try to get a picture. the dresses are not exactly ugly, but they definitely stand out. the males do not wear anything different than the rest ofthe country. the females do all the cleaning and cooking, and the men usually drink all day and do nothing, unless they work on a farm. the kids do go to school with the rest of the country, and the females do have to wear the school uniform, not their usual attire. but the country does not view these people as bad, or any different. everyone interacts very friendly.

32. ´fondos´are very typical. its basically a very cheap restaurant. they sell all the typical panamanian foods, including meat, hoaldras, corn tortillas, chicha, etc. my family took me to eat at one for the experience (they dont eat there very often), and for the five of us to eat a meal, it cost less than 7 dollars. but, as i found out later, the fondos use old oil that is donated by townspeople when they are done using it. so everything fried is fried in used oil (and everything is fried.) i dont think about that. gotta do as the panamanians do i guess?

33. im gonna explain the washing machine we have--its one of the better ones of the country. first, you fill it with water, usually using a bucket, manually. then you put some clothes in (doesnt fit much), and put some powder soap in. you turn it on, and then let it wash for about 10 minutes. after that, you have to take out each piece of clothing individually, and wash it in clean water with this solution that gets rid of the soap. we just do this part in the sink. then you put the clothes into this spinner thing, i really dont know what else to call it. it spins the clothes really fast so that they dry more quickly. but theyre not completely dry, so then we put them on the clothesline to dry.

34. the police here are crazy. they pull anyone over for anything. and if theyre bored, they make up a ticket to give you. some people say this happens in the US, but after seeing it here in panama, i say we have it good over there.

35. mamones-chinos-- i posted a picture of these. theyre the crazy wild red ball things. first you pick some off the trees. then you bite into the shell (which is soft), then you get the seed out. i find this part very hard because usually the juice squirts all over when i do this. and then you suck on the seed part for the yummy jelly type stuff that it around it. and when youre bored with the seed, or you ate all the jelly, just throw the seed on the side of the street.