Three Months To Go

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.

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!!

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.

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.

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.   

My very eager students

 

Helping build 200 gallon rainwater collection tanks

My weekly reading club

      

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