Travel Journal- OMG...one more day

I wish boring things were over instantly. And I wish vacations lasted forever. But then, life would be too fair, and too good. This week went by so quickly and it seemed unreal that I'm back at home. Seems like 2 days ago I was leaving Panama, not IN Panama. However I did do lots of things. I read a lot, which is my new goal for 2012. I read this amazing book in Spanish about a girl getting kidnapped by the FARC and all that she went through. It was a diary and it made me cry. I got to spend some more time with my family, especially my grandma that is now 90 years old. She's really sick now and it breaks my heart to see her cry when I leave. I also ate like crazy. This is a picture I took of a little pastry called miloja. Its really good.

Today I was in the waiting room thingy on the airport and I saw Angelica. Turns out we were on the same plane. My mom and her mom sat together, and I sat with her.We caught up and talked, then we played who wants to be a millionaire (again) and then we saw this funny show. Of course we had to take a picture and look bad. 

Now that I'm back home, I feel weird. I'm excited I'm back and you kind of get used to your house, your stuff and your home. I'm extremely sad as well because I love my family, my sister , everyone and I miss them so much. Tomorrow is my uncle's birthday and they're throwing a surprise party.Friends and family will be there. And I won't. 

Travel Journal- Starting To Feel Like The Real Thing

So my vacations so far have been interesting and considering the vacations I've had for the past 14 years, its really, really weird. Vacations for me are like, not moving, sleeping, bed, TV, those kind of things. Long story short, today I went to my uncle's apartment, where my dog (ex. dog you could say) lives. We had lunch, and oh god, I ate so much. You guys, have NO idea. Then, my uncle took out this old chest with about 253729458734907 pictures of when everything was old, and the pictures were black and white, and...you get it. Then grown ups got boring so I decided to read The Secret Life of Bees (that by the way, turned to be really interesting). Then, we came home and I started writing this and thought how cool it would be to show you guys a picture of the funny looking thingy mo-bobs were my uncle puts his pictures in. So I asked my mom what they were called, and we couldn't find the name. So we decided to look at some of my grandma's things to see if she had one and found something even better. So instead of describing it, I took some pictures:

We found this funny looking thing. So you put the negative in the little screen, kind of were my finger is...and then you look through the magnifying glass and BAMMM you see the picture. It was amazing. Funny how this is extremely old yet so incredible to my clearly-not-so-smart-self. :)

My mom and dad. My dad is clearly using his guitar playing skills to captivate my mother.Maybe that is why I love guys...that play guitar.
Hahahaha look at her face. She's like <3

Travel Journal-Wonders Made in Sand

Whenever we come to Colombia...we just stay home and do nothing. But for some strange reason, my parents decided to actually take us places. Anyways, first of all we went to this little town called Zipaquirá. That's where my parents met and we got to see the actual hospital where they used to work on. Then, we went to the Catedral de Sal which is like a big deal here. I think its the 11th wonder of the world or something. Its pretty cool. People think its made of salt because its called the "salt cathedral" but its not. I mean some parts are but it is basically an underground tunnel that was made into a museum. 

Next day we went to this center they have here in Bogotá. Its a tour that comes from all over the world were artists build the wonders of the world in sand. I thought that was really lame because how could you make a solid, detailed sculpture out of sand? Made no sense. But  when we actually saw it...OH MY GOD. The detail and how real they looked, its amazing. Like I can't even describe how awesome the sculptures looked! 

Today I just went to a mall, and... yeah. My dad is leaving the 8th, hes going back to Panama but my mom and I will stay here until the 14th. I hope you are all having a great time and...yeah. :)

   That was like, the worst scultpture ok?

Travel Journal- Hello 2012!!!

My family has a lot of believes when it comes to receiving the new year. Everyone must wear yellow underwear. Yep, yellow underwear....It sounds weird but its supposed to bring money and prosperity. First of all, we all go to my aunt's house, and eat tamales with chocolate. Then, when its 12pm, my uncle (he's a priest) has a little bag full of saints. For example, Virgin Mary, Jesus and a bunch of other "protectors". So you pick one without looking, and that saint is supposed to take care of you throughout the year. Last but not least, at 12pm we eat 12 grapes, representing the 12 months and you must eat a grape and make a wish for each one. 

This year, I got to see all my cousins, uncles, and friends I haven't seen in years. I also got to see my dog. His name is Scout and he's a  Schnauzer, he lived with us for 2 years but we decided to leave him with my uncle instead of taking him to Panama. I miss him a lot.

I hope you all had a wonderful time and I hope this new year is full of good things for all of you!

Travel Journal- Last Friday

Yesterday was the last Friday of 2011...so why not spend it with ...I don't know...Angelica? It turns out we are both in Colombia and my aunt lives two minutes away from Angelica's sister. My parents drove me over to her house at about 3:00pm. (I'm really sorry if this story is boring..but considering how boring my vacations have been so far, this is extreme). We played who wants to be a millionaire and our dear friend Google helped us win. Except we messed up in the last question. - _ - 


Anyways, then we watched Extreme Cribs on MTV and it made us realize how we are extremely poor. Then, we watched the NBA game, Miami Heat vs. Minnesota Timberwolves and it made us realize how much we suck at basketball. We had various seizures, especially on the last four seconds. We yelled a lot when Miami Heat won. We drank Nevado de Chocolate from Juan Valdez and then I went home.

Travel Journal- Christmas Time

After leaving camp, I came to Colombia (where all my family lives and where I was born). I was extremely excited because the last time I saw my family was one year ago and I was eager to see everyone! Yesterday, all my family went to my aunt's house and had an amazing time! Things are going great except I'm not used to the cold weather in Bogota. God, I can't even wash my hands without freezing....I also love coming here because it means I get to shop a lot. Like A LOT. Hope you all had an amazing Christmas! 

Love,

Nati

Me & my sister

Travel Journal- Day 1

This week I went to a basketball camp called Hoops United USA. Some coaches from the US came to Panama and created this camp, so that teenagers could learn more skills and become better players. It was four days, from 9am to 5pm. We had stations, drills, 5 on 5, and other activities to help us become better basketball players. I went with Angelica and we met lots of people. 90% of the campers were boys...and some of them were very very very cute <3
I had lots lots lots of fun!!!!!