This post is long overdue, but I’m finally getting around to it.
March was a very exciting month because Maya came to visit!!
On my way to meet her, I stopped in Boquete and crossed off one of my last
Panamá bucket list items; I finally climbed Volcán Barú. This was the third
time I went to Boquete trying to climb the 3400 meter tall volcano. The first
attempt was rained out and the second was cancelled due to an unexpected trail
closure. To summit the volcano in time for sunrise and the most likely time to
see both oceans you have to start the hike around midnight. I hiked with two
other PCVs and it took us about five and a half hours to complete the 13.5 km
hike to the top. I thought I was prepared: I’m in pretty good shape, had plenty
of water and snacks, and several layers of clothes because it is literally
freezing at the summit. This was the most challenging hike I’ve done so far
because of it’s length, the incline, the temperature, and having to hike
overnight. But, after a quick nap leaning against the wall of an eerily empty
ranger station at the top, we were rewarded with a stunning sunrise and perfect
view of both oceans. The hike back down was less physically taxing, but as we
neared the 10 hour mark of being on that trail, I was ready to be done. I’m so
happy I did the hike and have no regrets, but I’m certain I will never do it
again.
After the Volcán adventure, I met Maya in David. She navigated
the crowded terminals filled with Semana Santa (Holy Week) travelers and made
it to David sola. I didn’t let her rest much after an overnight bus ride and by
noon we were in Barranquilla. We visited all my gente and passed out soap from
a soap making charla I had done a few
weeks earlier. I gave her the grand tour: the school, Barranquilla sign, the
stream with its newly installed bridge, and a whole bunch of houses. We chatted
with my host family while escaping the Bocas afternoon rain and made cacao
brownies. Maya was a good sport and let me dress her up in my extra nakwa and
parade her around my community. My gente absolutely loved it and kept saying
that now we have two Buchi’s! My abuela, a very conservative Ngabe who took
months to warm up to me, gifted Maya a kra
(homemade purse made from string or plant fibers) and demanded to take a
picture with her. That’s the first and likely last photo I have of my abuela.
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| With my abuela |
Our next stop was a hostal called Lost and Found; a hostal
run by Canadians in the mountains that divide Ñokribo (my side of the Comarca)
from the Chiriquí side. It was freezing being that high up in the mountains. We
went on a short hike the first afternoon and then made dinner and relaxed. The
next day, we went on a long hike down to a river with pretty waterfalls. It was
way too cold to go for a swim.
Lucky for us, after a quick night bus, 2 hour
car ride, and 30 minute boat, we landed on the San Blas islands in the Guna
Yala Comarca. The Guna Yala is one of three Comarcas in Panamá (Ngabe- Buglé
and Embera-Wounaan) and is a series of 365 islands off the Caribbean Coast. We
spent three nights on the islands and got to go island hopping to different
beaches, visit a local Guna community, swim in a natural pool in the middle of
the ocean, and relax on pristine beaches. Our cabaña was a lot like my house:
one big room with a bunch of beds, a thatched roof, walls made of bleached caña
(cane), and a sand floor. We ate la
comida panameña: lots of chicken, fish, rice, plantains, beans, and
lentils. It was beautiful and relaxing. Our last stop was Panamá City. W spend
a day visiting the Peace Corps Office, seeing views of the Canal, and walking
the Cinta Costers into Casco Viejo. It was an amazing trip!!
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| Guna Yala sunrise |
After a very exciting few weeks, I headed back to
Barranquilla for the month of April. Things were relatively quiet until I had
my last official Peace Corps seminar. I stopped to visit a friend’s site in
Coclé on my way to Panamá City. My Group that is COSing (ending our service) in
a few months, had one last seminar all together. We spent two days going over
procedures and talking about planning for our lives after Peace Corps. My group
will be leaving in September and it’s really hard to believe I have less than 3
months left in site. From Panamá City I traveled overnight (12 long, painful
hours on a bus) to Changuinola (the regional capital) for my last Regional
Meeting. It was all going really well, until my 22-month record was finally
ended; I got parasites. I’m lucky because I made it such a long time without
getting any serious stomach illnesses, but these parasites took me out for
about a week. Thanks to the power of antibiotics, I recovered and have been
fine since.
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| G79 WASH |
Since being back in Barranquilla, I’ve been working with my
Water Committee to plan a short seminar on topics ranging from water treatment
to group management. I also did a charla on
ways to clean and store water in the home and will be following up on that
project in the next few weeks. My gente have been very preoccupied with the Mundial! It’s Panamá’s first time ever
qualifying for the World Cup and my gente are obsessed. One house has a small
TV screen and has rigged some kind of antenna perched atop a long piece of
bamboo so that the fútbol games magically appear on the TV. At least 30 people
crowded around the tiny TV to watch Panamá’s first game against Belgium; it was
a disappointing 3-0 loss that has already induced people to start choosing
backup teams.
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| Squishing under the house to watch Panamá |
July will likely be the last month I do any major work in
Barranquilla, leaving August to do my final evaluations and reports. Hopefully
I will be able to complete the seminar for my Water Committee, follow up on
some charlas I’ve done, and possibly
paint a world map in my school. And, of course, follow the Mundial like my life depends on it.
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| Helping build 200 gallon rainwater collection tanks |
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| My weekly reading club |
