Stormy Weather

Wow, it’s been a crazy couple weeks here in Panama. It started off with a fun weekend with the November 16th parade. I went with a friend from the community, Rosa, and her family. We stayed on a nearby island with her inlaws. It was like being part of a mini family vacation- we had a really good time. Right after that is when the weather started to get bad and we had a tough time getting back to the community. Fortunately, work on my house was going really really well and they finished my bedroom! So, planning to move in, I put a 5 gallon bucket outside to collect the rain that was falling and unfortunately I fell really bad off the side of my host family’s house and thought I broke a rib. (There was also an earthquake that night, but I slept through it.) Because of the rain and wind I wasn’t able to leave for the hospital for three days and even when I did the sea was as rough as I’ve ever seen it. I got x-rays and the good news is that nothing is broken but the bad news is that it still hurts. After that I continued towards Panama City for our first in-service training. It was good to get together with the 40-some other volunteers in my group (#61). We sat in the classroom during the day and hung out at the beach at night.

The rains continued and there is some really bad flooding in the region. A few days later all volunteers in Bocas were pulled out of their sites and eventually consolidated in Chiriqui. I have been in contact with my community and it doesn’t sound like we have any damage but hearing the stories from other volunteers and the rivers they crossed and rescue missions they went on to save community members has been crazy. So many people lost everything, not just their homes but all their crops and therefore their income for the next few months. We’re here now learning about disaster response and what we can do to help. It’s nice to have electricity and internet, but we’re all anxious to get back to our sites to help out. Panama is not normally in the hurricane track but this is the closest to becoming a hurricane a storm has come. And the rains continue so we’re not sure when we’ll be able to get back. There were several land slides and the road we take was washed out in several locations. Hopefully I can make it to my site before my parents who fly in on Saturday! It’s been good to hang out with other volunteers but I do miss my community and hope everything is okay. Please keep everyone here in your prayers!

My first real break!!

I finally made the 6 hour trip by boat and bus for a little rest and relaxation. Well, if you can call running around shopping, printing pictures, typing Peace Corps documents, and using the internet and phone like a crazy R&R. But warm showers are hard to beat.

Recently I’ve been keeping busy in my site doing the same old same old. Unfortunately no work has been done on my house for weeks on end and it still sits sadly frame completed and ¾ roof completed waiting to be finished. I am no longer building it with hira (the “traditional” way they built houses) because everyone was waiting for everyone else to be the first to cut their part and as a result nobody cut the wood. So, now I am going with tablas or essentially 2x4s for the walls. Luckily my boss came for my four month visit and fanned the flame a bit so they say I should have my house done in two weeks.

On Wednesday, Pablo my APCD, aka my boss came to visit my site. I was a bit nervous not really having a whole lot planned but it went really well. HE BROUGHT ME ICECREAM! Even though by the time we ate it, it was more like ice cream soup, it was delicious and will probably be the only time I get ice cream in my site. He also participated in my English class where I taught about clothes. I had lots of fun games planned and my students didn’t let me down. They really are a smart bunch and Pablo was highly impressed. Then we had town meeting. I hadn’t planned it in advance but still had a pretty good turnout- although as usual it started over an hour late. Basically he asked the community to evaluate me, how I’m doing, if they’re satisfied with the work I’ve done, etc. And as we say, my “tanque” was filled. They said I’m very hard working and always participating in whatever activity, cleaning up the school, fishing, etc. They even asked how it would be possible for me to stay longer than two years. Which is kind of ridiculous considering I haven’t even been there six months. But never the less it made me feel pretty good. Then Pablo showed off his mad skills in volleyball and it was back to my host family’s house. It was good to talk and get his advice, especially for the tourism part of my project.

The next day, because I wanted to leave, I went with his boat on the way to visit another volunteer and I was dropped of at a beach to hang out for the day. I do lead a tough life here… Unfortunately it was raining and COLD!! I was wearing pants and a fleece and my fingers and toes were COLD! It was exciting. I chatted with a hotel worker for most of the day and went on a 2 hour walk along the coast. Panamanians are truly friendly people. But it’s annoying to be a blond and have your phone number asked for by every guy you talk to for more than 30 minutes. Yesterday in my travels everywhere I went people would chat with me, but it’s neat that some how I stand out as a Peace Corps volunteer because they all ask, Cuerpo de Paz? I was even invited to the woman’s house that I sat next to on the bus. Anyways, I made it to the hotel safe and sound.

So, that’s pretty much what’s going on in my life right now. There are lots of holidays in November so English classes won’t be as regular. Hopefully I’ll get moved into my house and then it’s more training for a week at the end of the month before the big Thanksgiving celebration. The pictures are of a birthday party I went to and my current host family...

well...this IS Panama

So, of course things didn´t go all sunshine and butterflies as I had hoped... We´ve had one more meeting with the tourism group since but nothing has changes. They say they all agree that work should begin at 9am every day, but they already know they aren´t going to be there. And someone is taking the entrance fee the tourists pay and not turning it in to the women but rather keeping it for themselves. drama drama drama. And no work has been done on my house for about three weeks now. So as you can see there are ups and downs and times when things just stand still. But I continue to play volleyball, sew, fish, and yesterday I even tried working a bit with a machete. I´m not very good. It is a long slow process when a community has lived and worked they way they have for all their lives and are accustomed to doing things the way they want. Change is hard.
Today I had lunch and a brief Ngabere language lesson with some of the other volunteers in the area and a volunteer who will be finishing here service in just two weeks. Hard to believe that day will come for me too. Time for icecream. Chao, Jessica

Three months- check!

I´ve finally passed the magical date which is three months in site. Where has the time gone? I honestly love my site! The transportation situation is a bother, but other than that (and maybe a beautiful beach) I couldn´t have asked for a better community. I´m still teaching English three times a week, doing a language exchange with one of the teachers, and now I´m finally going to get started on some real business work. As a result of the tourism seminar, the tourism group got together and had their first real meeting in months. It was decided that we will put together a business plan, which will hopefully start more great discussions and changes for the better. I´m really looking forward to it!
Yesterday was my first regional meeting. We were up in the mountains and it was cold! I also got my first warm shower in months. It was nice to finally meet all the other volunteers "near by" but a group of them is already finishing their service in a few weeks. And in less than a month a new group will start their service. I´ll be getting a couple new volunteers "near" me. Hopefully they can help me build my latrine :) Well I think I´m off to get a pizza and some icecream. Later!

ice cream and abono

Hiya! I just finished up with a three day tourism seminar with six members of my community and all of the other Peace Corps TEA volunteers from my group. The seminar was good, boring and long at times but gave some great basic ideas about what a business is and some of the planning and work that goes into starting a tourism business. As usual I had fun joking around with my community and the topic of choice was abono aka poop. I am really hoping to do a composting latrine project as right now the only latrines are at the school. I´ve been spreading the idea around whenever I can and it always creates a smile as collecting your poo in a large concrete box and waiting for six months before scooping it out and putting it on your crops to help them grow is somewhat of an awkward conversation. But it made for some good times this weekend and showed me that there really is interest in the project. It has also been great to see the friends I made during training. Strange being together everyday for three months and then not seeing eachother. It has also been a good time as there is a fair here. I went the last two nights and ate some traditional fair food like cotton candy as well as some not so traditional (MN that is) fair food like fried noodles with chicken. I´ll be heading back to site in about 30 min, but it was, as always, a good break. Ti ni gira/ya me voy/I´m off. Later!

transportation shmantzportation

In need of a break I sat at the port yesterday morning hoping a boat would pass by heading to the main island. I finally hitched a ride to some nearby restaurants on another island then waited there until a boat hauling cargo passed by. It took about 4 hours total but ended up being free! After a little rest and relax and good conversation with some other peace corps friends hanging out at the regional leaders house I am attempting to head back to my site today. Easier said than done. I was planning to meet my ex-host family at 1pm and have been waiting ever since hoping they show up. Finally I got through on my cell phone and found out we are atleast in the same city so hopefully I can get back with them. OK, they just called, gotta go! BYE! PS things are still good :)

Buenos Dias! Ñontoro Dego! Finally another day of electricity and internet! Unfortunately I didn’t prepare appropriately for the rough sea and got here completely soaking wet as if I had jumped in the water- and when it’s salt water that’s really uncomfortable. So the first thing I did was buy a new skirt to wear for the day.

I feel extremely busy lately. There has been lots of work on my house- we cut the palm last Friday and I got to go with. Now I understand why nobody wanted to do it. They climb the tree and chop down huge palms and then carry them through the jungle- mud and water and all- to load them in the boat. There was lots of laughing though whenever anyone fell in the water and got wet. Then, a feast of 10 pounds of rice and 15 pounds of fish with boiled bananas. They have also worked two days putting up the palm to form the roof of my house. We’ll need to cut some more palm to finish, as well as cut the wood for the walls and floor, but we get a couple weeks of rest until the moon is right again.

Last week I got to participate in a volleyball tournament with 5 other women from the community. Sadly, we were the only women’s team to show up. We played with some men that where there but they clearly had never played volleyball before in their lives, so we won! We even got a trophy. We had a lot of fun- I enjoyed wearing the team uniform.

I moved in with my third (and hopefully final) host family. It is a little far away in the jungle so I have to return home earlier than usual each night because the snakes come out. Luckily I have yet to see one. I really like the family and have a giant room all to myself. There is a 22 year old woman, her 3 month old baby, a 14 year old girl, and sometimes the husband of the 22 yr old is there too when he is not working.

Adult English classes have begun! I have 8 students- small, but the same students have come back each class and many more have said they want to enter. I’m happy with the number and they are learning much faster than I expected. It’s fun because I know everyone in the class so it’s like teaching friends- we have a good time. Now I need to come up with something for the kids that keep bugging me for English classes.

I pray all is well with you who are reading this! Hasta luego from Panama!!