Dennis and Ginna's Visitor View

The following Visitor's View was written by Kevin's parents Dennis and Ginna. They were our first daring visitors back in June of 2008...oh soo long ago it seems now that we must type 2009. Anyway, we didn't get on the ball and give them questions until recently, so it is our fault that this is only just now being posted. Dennis and Ginna live and work in the beautiful (and currently cold) mountains of western Virginia. They are afficianados of coffee and wine...neither of which we provided in quantity or quality. But they survived anyway, but I will let them tell you about it in thier own words.

Q1: How was Panama what you expected?

(Ginna, April, Kevin in Peace Corp office)

Panama was about what we anticipated, especially in the more rural areas. Although we had no initial expectations, based on what information K&A offered in their blogs and pictures, the rural areas were pretty much like what we had seen. Panama City was bigger and more urban than we thought with traffic heavier and noisier than expected.

(Panama City with new construction)

We were also surprised at how far behind that major city was in infrastructure, such as sewer and water. Also surprising was the amount of construction going on. We were impressed by the public bus transportation system, not that it always ran on time, but that it always ran and that the driver would stop and pick people up anywhere along the way. Buses were crowded and noisy either with chatter or loud music. The people were friendly and beautiful.

(Boarding a bus with all our gear after shopping for supplies)

Q2: How was it different than what you expected?

The climate was even hotter and more humid than we anticipated. I (Ginna) often felt that it did not take long for me to appear worn out and in need of another shower.

(Ginna and Dennis after a long, hot walk)

However the Panamanians living and working in the same climate always appeared clean and well dressed.

Den thought there was more trash in the city than expected, Gin disagreed. It is always surprising to see so many “American” companies and eateries in a different country (Dunkin Donuts, Target, Subway, etc.)

I don’t think we could really get a feel for the island and those who lived there until we were actually there. Where were the comfortable chairs? You can only last so long in a hammock, but people there did not seem to miss “stuff” that we are used to. We were very impressed by the cleanliness of the people in such a warm climate – children in clean school uniforms every day.

(April and Ginna doing story time – Where the Wild Things Are)

And tales and pictures of beautiful, elaborate costumes for special occasions and parades.

(N’gobe Bugle woman in traditional nagua dress)

We always felt “safe”, whether in a big city or small town – I did not anticipate this, and it may have been because we were with K&A who were familiar with their surroundings and able to communicate.

Q3: What struck you about the USA when you returned home?

All the English-speaking people – it does not take long to get immersed in a different language, not that we picked up any more than a few words of greeting while in Panama.

All the “stuff” and the high cost of things, especially food – although we had probably anticipated this reaction.

(April in open air market in Santiago)

Q4: What was your best moment in Panama?

We did enjoy getting to see the Canal and Panama City and learning more about some of the history of the area.

(At the Panama Canal )

Even more we liked the smaller towns where we were the only “gringos” and got to see everyday Panamanians and some of the beautiful scenery of the rain forest.

(Ginna in the rain forest)


But I think we would both agree that our favorite time was on the island – to have a chance to see what our kids have been doing, how they have been living, how they interact with their community, and to have an opportunity to get to know some of their neighbors, especially the children – and even to take part in a small way in some of their projects.

(Kevin and Ginna helping April with English lessons in their kitchen)

Q5: What did you find most interesting or most notice about Kevin and April's life in Panama?

We were very impressed by the inventiveness and creativity with which they renovated and furnished their living space. We were amazed that they were able to bring large, heavy articles to the island in a small boat and then get them ashore – things like concrete blocks, sinks and bed frames.

(Doing laundry in above mentioned sink)

(Filtering water by candlelight for the visitors)

As inveterate recyclers, we are used to re-using and recycling, but they go to the next degree. Nothing is wasted – there are multiple uses for 5 gallon containers and plastic bags and bottles. With limited tools and supplies, they were able to complete multiple major undertakings.

We were also impressed with the way they have adapted to their living conditions and their ability to communicate and make their way in a different culture, both on the island and in the city. They appear comfortable navigating personal communication and travel arrangements, if not with total ease, then at least with confidence. We felt very comfortable with them as tour guides and hosts.

(Using a Spanish language map)

Q6: Free response - anything else you´d like to say about your trip and time here.


Other things that impressed us:

• Compost toilet was all that had been promised – non-aromatic, efficient and easy to use


• April’s efficiency in cooking on a propane stove in the dark


• How white, tall and skinny Kevin looked next to everyone else


• K&A’s ability to manage with no electricity


• Ginna’s ability to manage with no hair dryer


• Everything that a machete can do
  
  

(Yes, a machete cut this tree!)

• K&A’s ability to joke in a foreign language


• The wide range from apparent poverty to civilized comfort in the country (of course, this could be said of the US also)

Of course, the best part was just spending time with Kevin and April. Our visit really gave us a feel for what they are doing and experiencing. We (and all of their friends and family) miss them, so we feel very happy and fortunate that we were able to make this visit and have time to just talk and do things together, while learning more about Panamanian culture – and our own kids.

(Using “sunbrellas” on the boat ride from the island)

(Dinner in Bocas del Toro)

(Dinner in Casco Viejo)

Visitor´s view -upcoming blog attraction

Kevin and I are honored to have a few friends and family coming to visit us here in Panama. We thought that thier point of view might be interesting and fresh...so we gave them each a homework assignment to answer the following questions for the blog:


Q1: How was Panama what you expected?
Q2: How was it different than what you expected?
Q3: What struck you about the USA when you returned home?
Q4: What was your best moment in Panama?
Q5: What did you find most interesting or most notice about Kevin and April's life in Panama?
Q6: Free response - anything else you´d like to say about your trip and time here.

I hope that they knew that we would make them work a bit both here and upon return. Over the next several weeks we will post some of the answers to the questions as writen by our family and friends after thier visits. We will label each post with the title visitor's view and the name of the author and a brief outline of how we know them.



I would like to extend a big THANK YOU to each of our visitors for thier willingness to share thier thoughts with us all!

Embassy Host Family Christmas fun

The Embassy Host Family Program is a program between Peace Corps and the US Embassy here in Panama that matches up folks from the two organizations. It promotes understanding of Panamas culture and the US presence in Panama through sharing our unique perspectives through visits.

From the PCV point of view having a host family has made trips to the city much much easier as our host family knows all about shopping and local organizations. They also have generously invited us to stay overnight with them when we are in town...eliminating the horrible ordeal of trying to find a safe hotel at PCV friendly prices, a task that gets more difficult every week.

From the host family point of view (as best as I can guess based on our interactions) it is continuously amusing to see the things that make us poor PVCs happy...a little internet, a bed and warm shower, access to an oven, and of course the most important: National Public Radio downloads. Brian regularly chuckles about the simple things that we enjoy. He has said that when he drops us off at the PC office in the morning he wants to ask "Do you have your lunch money?" It also seems to be interesting to them to hear about the realities that we face daily while living in a Panamanian community and working alongside host country nationals. While we are not of dramatically different ages, we each have a dramatically different perspective of Panama to share with each other.

Our embassy host family invited us to help put up their Christmas tree with them this year. We put a pot of orange peal and spices on the stove to get the Christmas smell. The artificial tree (real ones dry out FAST in this heat...I mean dead and crispy brown) came complete with a generous supply of lights. Devon has an amazing collection of glass ornaments bows and glittery snowflakes. The gorgeous glass eggs in her collection made us a bit nervous to handle them at all...especially since Brian says he is not allowed to touch the tree at all. The end result was stunning. But our camera just couldn't capture it quite clearly.




We also worked all together to make a spiral cut ham, green bean casserole (poor Devon graciously put up with our dated desire for green bean casserole) and wild rice with foie gras. It was a true holiday meal that left us with that unfortunate "Wow, I ate too much again even though I tried not to" feeling that seems to mark a good holiday meal.

While the tree didn't have that wonderful pine smell (we came real close with a spray tree smell), listening to carols and seeing the lights at night certainly gave us a feeling of the season. Thanks once again to Brian and Devon!

Watching history with the world

Well, we have our 44th President. Today's change of presidential power to Barack Obama was watched here in Panama and around the world.


Kevin watched it in a small restaurant in our tiny port town in Spanish with some of the men from our island community. He just sent me a text message saying that hearing the Star Spangled Banner made him cry a bit. I read the text online as the internet was too slow to do video and my friend does not have a TV...but I have no doubt that if I go looking to see it I will find parts of the speech on the news translated tonight.


Many people here in Panama have asked us about this change in power...about Obama's race, about what we think of the election, about Bush and his actions. Sadly, they have also asked (a frequent question) if we think someone will try to kill Obama. God, I hope that will not be attempted, our reputation abroad does not need another indicator of intolerance to fuel how people see us.

Overall though, the tone here in Panama seems to be very hopeful for this next administration. Panama as a whole seems very aware of the EEUU (the Spanish abbreviation for the USA) and how the state of affairs impacts Panama. The history between the two countries is long and involved, starting at the very inception of this 105 year old nation. In fact a Free Trade Agreement with Panama has been one of the items on the USA Congressional agenda recently.

Many people (Panamanians and people I have met from other countries in my recent travels) have expressed that they hope that this administration will bring a focus on peace partnership and leadership on world issues. They say that they hoped that Obama would win. Obama's more international upbringing raises hope that he will approach word issues from a more understanding viewpoint.

Many people have also told me that they find our choice of Obama inspires hope for a future America that they can respect and look to for reasonable leadership. They offer the thought that anyone would be better than Bush (some have asked how Bush got elected...and how he got re-elected), but that if the election had gone to McCain many people internationally would have lost faith that we are capable of changing our direction...or that we want to.

So, no matter how you feel about the election's outcome...I hope that you can feel happy that others in the world are hopeful. I am one of them.

Noah? No, uh, Pedro

Pedro is the resident boat builder on the island. He was recently hired by Alli, one of the few cattle farmers on the north side of the island, to construct a cattle boat. It will be large enough to carry about 10-12 cattle to port for sale. While it will likely look similar to the one that we seem to take rides on near Christmas time that don't make it to port without troubles (from last year, although April didn't mention running out of gas three times and not buying it for the return trip either, see http://ak-panama.blogspot.com/2007/12/all-i-want-for-christmas.html and another this year), we have faith that this boat will be good and the motor will behave better.

(This shot from the back end of the boat shows about a day of Pedro's work)

The wood was all cut from trees on the island and has been stacked up to finish drying in Alix's front yard for a month or so. To me, it seems Pedro is working quickly.

(About two weeks after the previous picture, Pedro had most of the sides in place by Christmas Day)

As we pass by on our way to the school, we'll snap more photos and provide updates on the progress of boat building on the island. I hope to get a picture of Pedro with his tools - all three or four of them, and none powered.

The things people do for style

I was walking down the street the other day in Santiago and saw a lady with a cast on her foot and ankle. I had to turn and do a double glance at her cast...and then I went ahead and turned around and asked her permission to photograph her foot.


Yup, she had an extra bump put on her cast so that she could continue to wear her high heals on the other foot and not walk funny while she had the cast. The bump evens out the height between the two feet when she has heels on, without the bump she would limp along. She was quite amused by my interest and surprise. She was very willing to strike a pose for me. Just goes to show the lengths that some people will go to for fashion. I decided not to push my luck and ask if the original break was due to her wearing high heals. :)

McDonalds Boat Ride

We needed to be out on the Monday before Christmas to pick up Linda and Tabassum. The only ride for sure was Friday. It was paid for by a political person to take kids (and their moms) to McDonalds. We figured it wasn't really supporting a political figure, since the coordinator had never mentioned which politician it was, so we took it.

First, we were on a big boat. There were about 40 people, counting moms and kids. We were going against the current and the wind, and figured it would take four hours to get to port, since it was only a 40-hp motor. But about 45 minutes from the island, the motor totally died. They tossed the anchor so we wouldn't drift back to our island. Luckily April had brought an UNO deck, and so she taught a bunch of the mom's how to play.

(April teaching UNO to moms - and some kids, some of whom had already learned from us - as we wait for another boat or motor help)

After about an hour or so, a police boat returned and took some of the folks to port, including the coordinator of the trip. Then about half an hour later, a couple of fishermen from an island further south stopped by. They were headed to port and after chatting for a bit, agreed to take some of us, including April and I and our bags. They had the same size motor we'd started with, but a smaller, fiberglass, boat, so it was faster.

(Watching our first boat recede behind our new fast ride. One tip of our island is visible behind the boat.)

We moved along rapidly in boat number two. Then we saw the coordinator heading back south in an even faster boat, with a shade roof.

(Sisters Dianeth and Leidys on boat number two, the fast one)

Then boat number two ran out of gas. We drifted to the shore and waited. April asked if they ran out of gas because they had the added weight of six extra people. They said no, they wouldn't have made it to port anyway.

Ironically, the "taxi" boat guy we use sometimes happened by and sold a bit of fuel to the fishermen. So we started off again after only a twenty minute delay.

But we were within site of port when we spotted the faster boat gaining on us from behind.

(Our kind fishermen - you can tell we are close to port, they have their PFDs on - watching the rest of the kids and moms race up towards us)

Sure enough, just as we pulled into port proper, to the delight of all the kids who'd been left behind twice, the faster boat passed us. There was lots of laughing and pointing. But we'd all made it, and sure enough, it took four hours. Just not how we'd expected. And we still haven't figured out what happened to the first boat.

Charla con Productor Pequeño

On 5 December, MIDA (Ministerio de Desarrollo Agropecuario, the Ministry of Agriculture Development) brought a local small farmer to the island to talk about some of the methods he has adopted to improve his cattle raising efforts. This was a great opportunity for the island's farmers to hear from a small farmer like themselves, who has dealt with many of the same problems they have encountered. He spoke about organic fertilizers, pasture improvements, compost, farm planning and record-keeping to ensure your efforts are worth the effort. He also brought some plants for the farmers to plant that will help their cattle receive enough nutrition during the dry season, and spoke about a chipper/shredder type machine he uses to chop it up for storage.

(Small-scale farmers from our community listening to a MIDA technica and a small-scale farmer from the mainland talk about little steps that they can take to improve their farm's productivity.)

Small-scale technology adoption, like this chipper/shredder idea, are useful and attainable steps that the small farmers in our community can adopt to improve their farms. But hearing about them from a Peace Corps Volunteer or an outreach agent of MIDA is not likely to have the same impact as hearing about them from a small farmer similar to them.

In addition to the talk for the farmers, MIDA also spoke to the mothers in the Red de Oportunidades, an program through the government to provide support and incentive like money and supplies to families in exchange for attendance at trainings and sending their children to school.

(The MIDA Tecnica addressing the mothers in the Red de Oportunidades)

Placing both meetings at the same time better utilizes the resources of MIDA, since they accomplish two events with just one trip to the island, and I believe increases the attendance at the charlas, since some people who would not otherwise have bothered to attend come with friends or family.

After the charla and meeting, the MIDA tecnica, the farmer and his son, and the guy who ran the Red de Oportunidades meeting all walked next door to our house to eat lunch before boating back to the mainland. We are lucky to have a tecnica from our local MIDA office who is enthusiastic about coming out to the island, giving charlas, and helping the local farmers.

(Relaxing before lunch at our house: the son of the small farmer, who also spoke about his involvement in the farm and some of the experimental methods they have adopted; his father; our MIDA tecnica; and the MIDA Red de Oportunidades representative)

She was also enthusiastic about our Crazy Creek seat and enjoyed it almost as much as the kids do when they come by to read books and do puzzles.

More Jack'o'lantern pictures

As you'll see, once April returned the day after we carved the zapallo jack-o'-lantern, it was no longer the scariest looking thing on the porch.

(Here is the jack-o'-lantern by itself.)

(Then April asked the kids to make faces.)

(They really understood making faces once they saw the picture of my face.)

(Then April made faces with the kids, but the parents started to join in too.)

(So April got a couple of the moms to make bruja (witch) faces, and they quite literaly let their hair down....)

It definately seems we started something they'll continue after we leave. And they probably won't grow zapallo just to carve faces either; Maria made zapallo bread with the jack-o'-lantern the next day, and it was quite yummy.

The island at night

We currently are lucky enough to have a lot of visitors coming down to see us. Both family and friends are visiting in the December to Febuary time frame. We plan to post about thier adventures later...and invite them to contribute thier thoughts as well.

For those of you who are not so lucky...the following video is a taste of what it is like to visit us. When you watch it you can imagine that you are sitting on our porch, just after dusk and are watching the lightning bugs and listening to the insects. If you have a good imagination you can also feel the warm light summery breeze that is common during the evening.

We took the video mostly because it is interesting (to us at least) that the lightning bugs tend to almost be synchronized at times. There are moments of blackness followed by slow undulating pulses of lightning bug flashes. It is lovely.

Walking on Water, to church

On 12 December, Kevin went to a Patronales (patron saint) mass at a community on the western coast of our gulf. It was at low tide. As you can see, a bit too low for the boat.

(Eduardo, sporting church clothes and a Panama hat, walking our ride over a sand bank)

Eduardo hopped out to walk us through the parts where the motor couldn't run because it would hit the sandy bottom. You can see our island behind us, and we have about half that distance yet to go to the coast. We walked for a total of about fifteen minutes to get over the various sand bars.

On days when the tide is great, the highs are very high and the lows are very low. This was such a day. When the tides are very small, the highs can be four feet less than on the big days, and the lows four feet greater than the very lows. So sometimes spots can be passable at low tide (when the tides are small), and sometimes not. You just have to know the tides, read your tide table, or be willing to try to walk on water.