Tech Week

Last week, I was in Bajo Gavilán in Bocas del Toro for a week of technical training in a current Volunteer’s community. From Santa Rita, it took two days to make it all the way to Bocas, but once we arrived, the community was amazing. I spent the week living with a host family and they were all very welcoming. I lived with 8 other people in the house from Sunday through Saturday. I ate a lot of boiled green bananas and warm chocolate water, both very common foods in Bocas. My host family was Ngobe (indigenous), so I got several Ngobere (language) lessons throughout the week. I now have a list of nearly 100 words to study!    

The group did a variety of projects throughout the week. I learned how to mix concrete by hand in order to poor the slab for a pit latrine and make the seat. We also worked on the water tank for the aqueduct system being built. We helped created the frame for the tank that the community will complete in the upcoming weeks. The water tank is about a 30-minute hike up a fairly steep mountain. Bocas is a province known for its abundant mud, so the hike was tough on the way up, but a lot of fun to slide back down the mountain.   

By far, the highlight of the week was the group hike up to the water source that will be used in the aqueduct system. Peace Corps primarily constructs gravity fed aqueduct systems with spring sources. After an hour and a half hike up to the spring, we were able to actually see what a source looks like and how the Volunteer is going to capture the water and pipe it to the tank. Just as we started hiking down the mountain, it started raining very hard. The hike down was super wet and muddy, but also the most fun part of the week. By the end, nearly everyone (myself included) had fallen in the mud and was soaking wet!

On our last day in Bajo Gavilán, we went in groups to give short presentations on WASH topics to kids in the school. My group had to cross a river in a canoe to make it to the school! The presentations were a lot of fun and the kids eventually warmed up to us and participated. In the afternoon, we had ad goodbye party with all of our host families. There was tons of food and people danced and played soccer. Saturday morning, we all packed up and left our host families. It was really sad because my family was so nice and I really did not want to leave after such a fun week!

All 24 Peace Corps trainees started to make our way back to Santa Rita. Only one car came to pick us up in Bajo Gavilán, so all 24 people plus our backpacks stuffed into a 15-passenger van. Thankfully, it was only a 30-minute ride to our stop because we were packed into the van. By Sunday, I was back in Santa Rita! It was my host mom’s birthday, so I got to celebrate with all of the extended family. It was very interesting to experience a Panamanian birthday party, especially after an exhausting week!

Today, in just a couple of hours (assuming this blog post uploads when I think it will) I will find out where my site will be for the next two years. To this point, all I know about the sites are the 4 provinces where WASH Volunteers are sent. I am very excited to find out this afternoon where I will be living and working for the next two years!! Training is going by very quickly and next week (8/22-8/28), I will spend the week visiting my actual site. Time to go find out my site!!!        

Volunteer Visit

       A few weeks ago, I went to visit a current WASH volunteer that has been in her site for one year. I went to the Comarca Ngäbe Buglé, which is in the Chiriquí province, with another trainee. We got up very early on Tuesday morning and took a six-hour bus ride to the town of San Felix. From there, we met our volunteer, Maria. We got some groceries and then headed to her site. The small bus dropped us off about 30 minutes from her house, so I had my first taste of the Comarca hills. The area is very mountainous and the trails are unmarked and slippery after it rains. It was a beautiful hike in! Maria’s house is made of wood and has a tin roof. After settling in, we headed to bed, excited for the week.

During the week, we visited several community members and work sites. Maria’s main project at the moment is latrine building. We visited a few different sites where the community members were digging the holes for pit latrines. We also visited two neighboring communities and saw the elementary school. During the rainy afternoons, I learned how to “double paila,” which is turning a stovetop into an oven. We made brownies and banana bread by putting one pan inside a larger pot and covering it to keep the heat in. I was pretty amazed that we could cook desserts and good food without refrigeration or an oven! Maria also taught us how she does laundry in the stream and carries water from the stream up to her house. The 5-gallon bucket of water is very heavy and she carries it up a fairly steep hill. I tried to carry it and barely made it a few steps! The entire visit was awesome and I certainly learned a lot about the life and work of a volunteer.

Two weeks, ago  I was back in Santa Rita for more training. My Spanish group led an activity on Panamanian myths and legends. There are some very interesting indigenous traditions that many volunteers will definitely encounter. We also got to tell some of the scary legends to the group. It was interesting hoe many of them mirrored legends that are common in the US, or at least have the same takeaways. Last week, from Saturday (8/6) through the next Sunday (8/14), I was in Bocas del Toro with the rest of the WASH trainees. We will spent the week at a current volunteer’s site doing a week of hands-on technical training. I was very excited to finally get to try out many of the things we have been learning from PowerPoints. It was a great week to continue exploring the different provinces of Panamá!