Abril ya?!

It's been a busy month since I last posted! I have continued doing charlas with a group of women in Barranquilla, started a Reading Club for kids, taught English class, hiked a volcano, and had a visitor from the US.

In Barranquilla, I organized a dental health charla with my gente and a great group of women (and some minions, of course) participated. I explained about general dental health topics and then we made toothpaste! They liked the toothpaste much better than the soap because they could use it right away and didn’t have to wait a month this time! We used mint tea to flavor the toothpaste and it came out really good. I hope a few people will be inspired to start better hygiene practices, and maybe make their own toothpaste to save some money!

Dental Health Charla

In addition to continuing with last year’s English class, I started up a kids’ Reading Club for my school age minions. I received a donation of 45 books in Spanish and want to both improve the kids’ reading abilities and try to instill a love of reading in some of them. The first class went well and the kids are really excited about our club!

Reading Club

After a few busy weeks in site, I took a little vacation because Maya came to visit Panamá. On my way to pick her up, I stopped in Boquete and met a few friends to finally hike Volcan Baru…third time’s the charm. We had a perfectly clear night to hike up the nearly 1800 meters and the full moon lit our way for the first few hours. We started hiking around 11pm and it took us 5 hours and 22 minutes to reach the summit. It was a very long, challenging, freezing hike. I completely underestimated how difficult the hike would be. Luckily, we were rewarded with an amazing view at the top of the volcano. We saw the sunrise and saw both the Caribbean and Pacific oceans!! It was well worth the wait to get a perfect view. The 4 hours back down the mountain were less physically taxing, but much more mentally challenging. Once we reached the bottom, we basically collapsed while waiting for the bus. After some pizza, a shower, and a nap, we were feeling much better!!

That adventure led right into an amazing 10 day trip with Maya around Panamá; I dragged her back and forth across the entire country! We met in David and headed for Barranquilla to meet my gente. Both Maya and my gente loved the interaction and most of my minions couldn’t get enough of the new visitor. Even my host mom and abuela (who are usually very reserved even with people they’ve met before) chatted with Maya like they knew her! We saw the quebrada, make cacao brownies, and visited every house. It was just a one night stay at the famous casa de Buchi, but I like to think it was the highlight of the trip!

We made our way back toward David and stopped to stay at a hostal high up in the mountains. It was FREEZING. But, they have some awesome hiking and georgous views! One night bus later, we were in Panamá City waiting to be picked up and whisked off to Guna Yala, alos known as San Blas. The Guna Yala (literally translating to land of the Guna people) is one of the other Comarcas in Panamá. It is off the Atlantic coast of Panamá and composed of 365 islands. We took a 2 hour ride to the port and then a 30 minute boat ride to reach Isla Asseryaladup  (Aroma in Spanish). We had a wonder four days on pristine beaches and turquoise water. We went island hopping, visited a Guna community, stayed in traditional Guna houses, and got to know some of the local guides. My favorite night was our last one; Maya and I stayed up late (the bold hour of 10pm…) and talked with one of the guides about Guna, Ngabe, Latino, and American culture. We spent our last day in Panamá City visiting Casco Viejo, the Amador Causway, la Cinta Costera, and the Peace Corps Office. It was an amazing trip and I wouldn’t have done it differently, even though I need a vacation after all our travels!     

Guna Yala

Lost and Found Hostal

Crazy Kids

Buchi with bukri!

My chunky host niece

Ladi loves to read!

Ladi does NOT want red soda

Playing soccer at Buchi's

The Less Rainy Season

The end of January and into February brought the last weeks of the rainy season, well at least the rainier season. With the bad weather, I took some time to visit my neighboring Volunteers and help out with their charlas (informative presentations). My favorite charla was a soap making charla! Using oil, water, and lye, we taught the gente how to make soap on their own and explained that they could save nearly $.75 on every bar of soap if they made it themselves. It was a lot of fun and in a couple weeks we’ll have homemade soap!

We also had a huge meeting with our Diputado (he’s kind of like a mayor, but basically a political big shot). He came to have a meeting about the road being built by my community and the issues affecting the gente. It was packed with people from communities all along the road and lasted nearly 5 hours, but there was free lunch, so the gente stayed for the whole thing! I roamed around with my neighbor Volunteer talking to people and periodically listening in at the meeting. A lot of it was done in Ngabere, so afterwards I had to get the condensed translation from my gente.

In even more exciting news, my community has been getting their act together and organizing better. A couple weeks ago, the Representante (local representative) held a meeting to elect a new Water Committee. This is something I’ve been working towards for my entire service. My previous Water Committee was incomplete and completely dysfunctional: mismanaged aqueduct funds, broken tubes, no maintenance, and a general disinterest in their jobs. Because I did not want to end up in the middle of internal community conflict, I (after 3 failed attempts at elections) left the responsibility of reelecting the Committee to my gente. While they’re not very motivated or organized, the sudden threat from the Representante of losing project funds (and I like to think the year I spent hounding them to do something) spurred them into action. This meeting was attended by an adult from nearly every house in the community and while it was not the most democratic election I’ve ever seen, three hours later we walked away with a new Water Committee! This new group will be receiving funds from the Representante to develop a new water source, tank, and replace the tubes. My focus will be on training the new Committee in organization, group management, and technical aqueduct maintenance. This is a big step for Barranquilla towards improving the community’s access to water.

I also am helping Peace Corps identify new communities that are good candidates to receive a Volunteer. I spent a day hiking to Guabal, a community about 2.5 hours further up into the mountains. It’s a beautiful (but hilly) hike along a gravel road and from certain spots, you can see the ocean and other Volunteer’s communities. Along with some other Volunteers, we met with community leaders and evaluated their interest and feasibility to have a Volunteer.

 

This week, the WASH Volunteers will meet with the Heath Ministry to help gain better access to resources for the Ñokribo area. This is the area of the Comarca Ngabe Buglé in the Bocas del Toro Province that gets especially ignored by the government. The main area of the Comarca falls with the neighboring Chiriquí Province and Bocas Province does not work within the Comarca. This area should be supported by the Comarca Government Offices, but is farther away and in a different province, so often has access to fewer resources. It was a very productive meeting and will hopefully help gain better access for Ñokribo communities.

In the next few weeks, I will be working a lot with my new Water Committee and starting to work in the school. Vacation is finally over and my minions will be much busier now that classes are starting. And at the end of the month, Maya is coming to visit!! We have big plans and I’m so excited! 

Cleaning up the school

I caught them laughing!

I can't believe they killed him!?!?

Trying to get birds with her sligshot

Playing UNO during English class

Feliz Año Nuevo!

A lot has happened since I last posted: I celebrated Panama’s Mes de la Patria, Mother’s Day, and a graduation, had a fellow PCV visit my site, survived 72 hours of nonstop rain, visited Chicago, and made it back to Panamá.

November is Panama’s Mes de la Patria; the month is littered with holidays celebrating various independence days and is a time to really show national pride. The biggest holidays are November 3 (Independence from Colombia) and November 4 (Celebration of National Symbols). My school hosts a huge activity celebrating November 3, so the 2^nd we spend all days preparing. We cook Johnny Cakes (coconut bread) for every single person in the community and all the students, plus prepare all the food for the big lunch. I helped out a little, but was mainly the cheerleader and moral support (because my gente are really good at what they do and I am slow). It was great, until the evening. Once it was dark, we continued to work under the light of one single bulb and suddenly something stung me on the neck! It was dark and I just flicked it off, but instantly knew it was something more sinister than a mosquito.  My gente deliberated and decided that it (most likely) must have been a scorpion that fell from the thatched roof onto me. Luckily scorpions in Panama are not poisonous so I was only left with a swollen, red welt on my neck that healed in a week. November 3^rd and 4^th we have presentations of poetry, songs, dances, and lots of fun games for the students to play!

Later in November there was a parade in Chiriquí Grande (the nearest port town to Barranquilla) and I got to walk with my school. The kids danced baile típico (Panamanian dances) the day before and I met them and the teachers the next morning. It was a brutally hot day and our group started the parade route promptly at noon and spent the next three hours sweating it out in the sun. Despite the heat, it was a great day spent with my kids made even better by the fact that nobody passed out mid-parade!

 

This year also market my second Thanksgiving in Panamá. Last year, I was in Barranquilla due to a hurricane warning for Bocas del Toro. This year, there was no hurricane and I’m no longer living with a host family. So, I hosted (my first ever) Thanksgiving at my house! For the meal, I went with the theme: All the Sides. I invited Chona over (one of my neighboring PCVs) and we cooked up a campo feast: mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, corn bread, and veggies. I used every single pan in my house and it was a huge success!

Thanksgiving Dinner

I also had a despedida (goodbye party) for the end of the semester of my English class. For our party, we ate, played English music, and practiced talking in English. It was a great end to the semester!

 

 

With December came the worst of the rainy season. There were many days that I was stuck in my house, unable to leave because it rained so much. The first week of December was very exciting because it was Graduation time! My school goes to 9^th grade (that’s when kids here graduate and then go on to 3 years of high school) and this year my host sister, Irinelda, was one of the 17 graduates. Because Irinelda was graduating, my host mom’s oldest daughter came to Barranquilla and brought her 3-week-old baby (my host mom’s first grandchild). I got to meet my host niece and she’s pretty adorable. The baby doesn’t have a name yet (it’s very typical to wait to name a child until she’s at least a few months old), and I offered my unsolicited advice that they should name her Emily. I helped the teachers set up and decorate our rancho for the graduation dinner. We ate, listened to speeches, and toasted the soon to be graduates! The next morning, we had the graduation ceremony. It was surprisingly similar to a typical graduation in the US. It started with a procession of the graduates, then lots of speeches (including one from Irinelda), and finally awarding of the diplomas. Irinelda was first in her class and won a scholarship for high school! Afterwards, I (being the only person with a camera on my phone) became the official photographer and took dozens of pictures of the graduates and their families.

      

 

December 8 is Panamanian Mother’s Day. I spent part of the day with my host family as we celebrated my host mom and everything she does for the family. It was extra special this year because she had her grandchild home with her too!

A few days later, another PCV, Shellee, who lives in Coclé came to visit Barranquilla. Just a few hours after she arrived, it started pouring and didn’t let up for 72 hours. Because of the rain, we spent a lot of time hanging out at my house and visited a few of my gente. On our outing we even braved crossing what is usually an ankle deep stream that had turned into a swift moving torrent of water. It was totally worth it because we got Johnny Cakes out of it! It was still raining the morning we set out to leave, which meant that the chiva situation was very questionable. We got insanely lucky because a chiva showed up before 9am!! The rivers were so flooded that the seats inside of the car got soaked as we drove through the largest river. The rain hampered a lot of our activities, so we ended up spending a few days in Boquete before I headed to Panama City to visit Chicago.

A 3am wake up call was the start of my trip home and by 1pm I was at home! Mom, Maya, and Ian greeted me at the airport and laughed as I bemoaned the cold (40 degree) weather. I spent just over two weeks in Chicago; I saw friends, family, celebrated the holidays, and ate SO MUCH food! It was a wonderful and much needed break. But all too soon I was on a plane back to Panamá with two bags loaded with goodies from the States.

It was amazing how quickly my mindset readjusted to Panamá; there’s something about being back in the heat and humidity, seeing my Peace Corps friends, and staying at my usual hostel that naturally eases the transition. After a few days of relaxing and slowly meandering my way closer to Barranquilla, it was time to make the last leg of the journey and go home. I hauled all of my stuff to the bus station and one bus, one chiva, and 4 hours later, I was at my house. I waved and said hi to all my gente on my walk to my house and stopped to talk with my host family for a while. Then I tackled the daunting task of unpacking and cleaning my house after nearly a month of being unoccupied.

It’s coffee season, so a lot of my gente are harvesting coffee in Costa Rica or Boquete while school is on vacation (it starts again at the end of February). I’ve helped my host family harvest some of their coffee and discovered that it tastes even better when you’ve helped harvest it! The last couple weeks I have been in Barranquilla hanging out with my minions (and showing them some new games I brought), catching up with my gente, and getting visits from my neighboring PCVs. The rest of January will be primarily focused on reviving my English class and getting set up for February.