Day 8 BEACH DAY!! 🏖

 The long-awaited beach day! It was a blast and then some. To be honest with you I was worried about being too afraid to dive into the ocean or even being stung or bitten by the marine life. I am glad nothing life threatening happened, but I hope those who needed medical attention are well. 

Everything about today was really exciting and reinforced the "once in a lifetime" vibe I get from being part of this project and cohort. It lives up to past stories I got to hear from students who took part in PIIP last year. I was surprised the beach was as fun as it was since generally, I am not a very outgoing person but, I did get to express the more athletic side of myself through swimming and that more or less set the tone for my time at the beach. 

We ended our beach adventure with a speedy boat ride back to Batipa, having to cross through a rainstorm! I was stunned by the sheer force of the wind and waves, even at this small sample size. It makes me grateful we rarely have to endure these conditions on the Columbia. The rain was pouring, and we were just super wet from swimming, so it wasn't the worst to be soaked once more. The annoyance came from heavy droplets that kind of felt like hail. I was a little upset to miss snorkeling, but we had the gear, so I could've grabbed them if I wanted- or knew. 

We are coming up to the home stretch of our time here in Panama so, I intend on grinding out the project and enjoying the peace and quiet before boarding 50+ flights home. 


Here is a group photo of the HU students including UPR's Juan! (last on the right). These guys are all super cool and Im glad to have met them considering I see them often on campus minus Juan, but with our workloads it's challenging to find good time to talk and visit. 

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