Perfect ending to the perfect week. Day 7 in Panama!!

We started off the day bright and early again with another flying low class. We did some energy work and explored the idea of gathering and sending your energy again. He also talked a lot about being aware of your body, especially your feet and your focus. One of the great things that we did in the class was say what we were doing. So for example, he would have us say "gathering" when we were gathering our energy, "sending" when we were sending our energy, and "pies pies" ("foot foot") when he wanted us to touch our feet and be award of how they were working.  Your body really does respond when you tell it what to do and being able to vocalize our movements was really helpful. We don't really do too much vocalizing in my dance program back home so it was definitely a new and enlightening experience for me!

Then we drove off to the university for the last time. We took a Panamanian folkloric class taught by the director of the dance program at the University. It was great to learn more about the Panamanian folk dances and to be able to learn the steps themselves. The woman wore absolutely exquisite (and extremely expensive) outfits that really made them feel beautiful while they were dancing. Although we didn't quite wear the full outfits, they gave us skirts to wear during the class and I really had a lot of fun with mine. Its not very often I get to take a dance class with a long skirt down to my ankles. :)

We had our last lunch at the University and went to the BEACH!! I hadn't been to the beach in a really, really long time so I really enjoyed the water and being out in the sun. It was a nice relaxing part of our day. After that we went to a friend of Carina's house and it was absolutely beautiful. I'm so grateful he allowed us into his beautiful home and let us have a bit of a relaxing time at the pool. He taught us about the importance of Panama and how it connects North America and South America. Without Panama, life on earth would be completely different. The formation of Panama and the connection it formed allowed species to move across the Americas and evolve. I'm currently taking bio 2 right now and we're on the evolution unit in class so it was awesome to make the connection between some things I have been learning in class and understand how important Panama was in the diversity of life.

Today really was the perfect ending to the perfect week. It was great being able to relax on our last day in Panama and take advantage of this beautiful weather. I am also beyond grateful for Lider's hospitality and sharing only a few of the many incredible things about Panama. I am beyond sad this trip is coming to an end. It has been such a life changing experience and by far the best trip I have ever been on.