Peace Corps Panama - April & Kevin

Back in the USA and more to come

2009-07-08T15:23:00.004-05:00

We have made it safely back to our families, despite the best (worst?) efforts of Spirit Airlines (we arrived a day and a half late). It was a hectic last couple of weeks in Panama, and has been pretty busy here as well. Plus Blogger didn't publish some posts we'd scheduled (who knows why), so it has been a bit slow here lately. Sorry for that. We promise to make up for it soon.

Over 4th of July weekend, we were at my folks house in Lexington, VA, along with my grandma, my sister and her husband and the nephew we'd never met, my cousin and his wife and their daughter we'd never met, and April's parents. It was a busy time, but extremely fun, with lots of food, laughter, and talking. We didn't even view any of our photos.

So far, cultural adjustment hasn't been too hard. We have stayed in the house mostly, with just one quick run to Kroger's and to Wal-Mart. (We were subjected to the Michael Jackson memorial "news" on TV, which was definately a cultural event.) We are catching up on some sleep and shopping for a laptop and a cell phone, two of the main steps to plugging back in. We have our veggie car back (thanks to April's folks for taking care of it), and April proved today that she hasn't forgotten how to drive, so we have some independance as well. Next week, we'll visit April's grandma in North Carolina, and figure out where we are visiting next (Cincy and the Baltimore area are our top candidates right now).

But more importantly, watch here for some more recaps of events during our time in Panama (April will do pictures and summary of the course and time she spent in Isla Coiba), as we reflect on our final weeks and the full two years, realize differences we hadn't noticed while we were down there, and look through our pictures and find other stories we wanted to tell. Thank you for watching over these past years, and we hope to see many of you soon.

Final Boat Update

2009-06-28T17:59:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, I thought I wouldn't have any more progress to report. They had righted the boat and put a "roof" over it of zinc panels. I thought that was to keep it drier during the rainy season than it would have been otherwise.

(Allie's boat under cover for the rainy season; it was perfectly upright originally, but they tilted it again when they continued working)

It turns out I was wrong. They covered it so they could keep it dry enough to work on. Pedro and a fellow from port applied fiberglass to the lower sides of the boat (a very smelly process) and then started to paint it. The fiberglass and resin/glue cost roughly $800; which is more than most folks on the island make in two or three months, so it took some budgeting and planning to purchase the materials and have them applied (labor is probably $8 to $10 a day as well, and probably took three to five days on a boat this size).

(Painting the boat after the application of fiberglass layers; five on the keel/bottom and three on the sides.)

Pedro achieves the very straight edge by tautly stretching a line of cord from the back to the front of the boat, and slowly painting and chatting.

(April helped out with the chatting part of the painting, which is a very common form of help)

UFO in Panama!

2009-06-24T09:00:00.000-05:00

Many of you reading this already know that I am a bit nerdy at times....I might as well admit it to the rest of you because you will figure it soon enough. But really, I am also a fairly normal person too.

So it all started last year...the observation of one of the coolest bugs that I have ever seen. Panama has some great wildlife to observe...but I doubt that many people have visited to see the lightning bugs. Yes, lightning bugs (or fireflys to some) do exist, they are not just a Disney or Hollywood creation as my fellow PCVs from the west coast thought...poor souls who grew up deprived of lightning bug wonders.

Here on the island we have "normal" lightning bugs, a little bit smaller than those in the states and sometimes a bit more sychronized (video of sycronized lightning bugs)....but basically the same. We also have two other types of lightning bugs. My nerdy self just wiggled in excitement at the diverisity of it all.

The first one I noticed had a big bright orange light...its light was about the size of my thumbnail!!! I only got to see it flying as it tended to fly faster and higher than the "normal" lightning bugs. It also seemed to flash with a bit more frequency and when it flashed its light was frequently a sequence of flashes, not just an on and off again. I was facinated by these bigger orange lightning bugs, but they seemed too fast for me to catch, especially since they seemed to like the woods around our house more than the fields...making running after them much more difficult. So I just admired from afar waiting for the day that one would make the mistake to cross my path.

There was also a lightning bug who had the normal green/yellow color to its flash. I only knew that it was a different type at first because the strength of the flash was so strong. It strobed with the power (and sometimes the speed too) of a weak camera flash!! One night we had one of the strong flashers in our bed room, so I got out of the mosquito net to see what it looked like. It was a fairly non-descript beetle...a bit bigger (about 2x the size) than of a normal lightning bug. Pretty cool, not as common as the other two...but very powerful flash!

So just imagine my gleeful nerdyness when I looked out the "window" (fancy word for the space where we made the bamboo wall in the kitchen short to keep the view) and saw two bright green lights at the edge of the woods near the house. They looked like green LED lights. So of course I went to look thinking that it would likely be two bugs...and was very excited to find one bigger beetle with two lights.

This is what the lights looked like. He could control the brightness of the light to some extent...it could be very bright or dim...and powered up and down like it was on a dimmer switch. Very cool.

This is what he looked like under a light. Pretty non-discript in his color and markings.

This is to give you a sense of scale and size. He crawled all over my hand for a few minutes...turning his lights on and off. If touched the lights turned on very bright. I was finally tired of bothering him when he decided to fly away...and shocked the heck out of me...as he took off and flew away the underside of his abdomen light up ORANGE!! I was thrilled!!

Lucky for me, he did not fly far and I was able to chase him down and look at him again. I looked at his underside...but there was no way to tell that he had an orange light under there...it must be covered when at rest. But each time he prepared to fly the orange light would flare up on the underside. After much patience on my part and a hand over top of him to keep him from getting far I managed to get a photo of both lights. The orange light is just starting up in this photo.

It turns out, I think, that he is the same lightning bug that I have been admiring flying around our house. The one that was brighter, orange and tended to fly faster and higher than the "normal" lightning bugs. I had wanted to see one up close and never managed to catch one until now...and even then it was a suprise!

Below is a brief video of the lightning bug taken by Kevin. If you are very observant you can see the orange light start up in the moment before the beetle escapes us photographers with a flying get-away. Watch carefully...when he goes it is FAST!

In my wanderings around the web I visited the Wikipedia site on fireflies and found out that sycronization of flashing is common in some areas...

"In the United States, one of the most famous sightings of fireflies blinking in unison occurs annually near Elkmont, Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains during the first weeks of June. Congaree National Park in South Carolina is another host to this phenomenon."

Guess I know what I want to see if I can ever manage to hit Tennessee in early June!

I continue to watch the lightning bugs in facination. There are some really cool insects here to see...and to photograph. I would like to thank my faithful and patient lighting aide Kevin for his help to photograph the bugs that visit us. Some people would think I am just strange, but he just smiles and holds the flashlights steady.

Grand Opening for the Island Library

2009-06-19T17:11:00.000-05:00

It happened!

La Biblioteca (the library) is open! As you may recall, the community had made plans to make bookcases and organize books. Well, the chainsaw never worked out (due to a lack of gas and/or oil and/or machine), and bookshelves never got built. But, there was a spare bookcase from the kitchen in the school, and they decided it would work fine for the library and they would replace it when the chainsaw happened.

So, as scheduled, on 5 June Cecilia and her husband Eduardo brought their boat to our cove and we loaded up the six "Panama" bags we had filled with the books stored at our house and hauled them to the school. We organized them that day and the next with Cecilia and Maria Luisa into little kids (thick pages), easy reads, medium reads, chapter books, Panama information, science and education books, health books, books about adolescence, and English or Spanish books. We confirmed the plans for the checkout system and library hours. They talked to everyone about the Grand Opening on Tuesday, 9 June, and we actually left for the weekend, arriving back on Tuesday morning.

It turned out that Cecilia and Maria Luisa, together with the maestra, were up to a bit more than the Grand Opening of the Library. The maestra had organized all the kids in the school to sing a song or recite a poem for us, and they had a going-away lunch.

Then we had everyone wash their hands (manos limpias para los libros - clean hands for the books) and we held a story time to celebrate. We had all the kids, plus some younger siblings, and numerous parents. I read one of the Guillermo Gusano / William Worm books that the kids have enjoyed. I think it was a good example for the parents of how to read to the kids.

Then April went over the rules of the library and how to treat books well so they last. (And to think, I was librarian's child. :)

(April reviewing the rules of the library, on the whiteboard and posted on the wall. Together with a map of the world - we later added a map of the Gulf of Montijo and one of the island - it looks pretty official. The books nearly fill the bookcase already; they are planning on making another one.)

After the rules, April read them a book we hadn't read in nearly exactly a year, Donde Viven Los Monstruos.

(April with a very attentive crowd of listeners as Max sails back home)

When the wild rumpus started, April shocked them to their feet to dance around, while I joined in banging on a plastic bucket. They thoroughly enjoyed story time, and hopefully Cecilia, who will host the Wednesday Library Hours with Story Time, will carry on the enjoyment. (Maria Luisa will hold Sunday Library Hours.)

But while we do hope Story Time continues, one of our main goals is to encourage kids and adults to read in general. We hope to have something for everyone.

(Rubiel, Carlito, and Kiko reading, while Roxanna and Soray look at books and talk with April)

Thus, this picture is one of the ones we enjoyed the most. These three boys all clambored to find a small book and sat down to read it. Kiko lives north of us and had been by our house regularly on his way home from school to ask for a book to read, and searched out his favorites. Rubiel lives on the south of the island and Carlos near the school, so they had not read any of the books before, and enjoyed discovering the options. I have faith that they will continue to read in the future.

So what came of the donations, which were originally intended for sealable boxes and desecant packs? Since the community decided the books would be more accessable on a bookcase, and donated the bookcase, April searched around online and found another addition to the library that they had wanted: an encyclopedia, to support homework projects and learning. She found one from Encyclopedea Brittanica for $250 (plus $50 S&H once we got an Embassy address; originally, to ship to Panama was $250 as well!) with 20 volumes, aimed at the middle school age range, so it should provide as much as they need. We just spent the rest of the money yesterday at Hombre de la Mancha, one of the few bookstores in Panama (the name comes from Don Quixote, not only one of the greatest Spanish-language novels, but an appropriate label for the jousting at windmills that is selling books in Panama), picking up the fourth Harry Potter, a set of 12 books on nature, the world, and science, and other kids books. In total, the library now has nearly 400 books! Thanks to all of you who shared your love of reading and your willingness to help with our community members!

Campaign Signs

2009-06-17T13:01:00.001-05:00

I know the election is over, but here are some photos of campaign signs.

("Chalo" is running for Alcalde, or mayor, of Santiago. Because he is the PRD candidate, he is in the first position on the ballot, thus the "1" with a checkmark. His suplente, or backup, is also listed. And the presidential logo for Bablina/Navarro 09 is included, along with the name and photo of Ruben de Leon for Diputado, which is more or less a congressman.)

Often, utility poles will be utilized by all the parties.

(This pole has a Molirena flag on top, then a Union Patriotica poster for Diputado - which also includes the presidential alliance with Martinelli of Cambio Democratico -, then off the side a PRD flag, a Cambio Democratico poster for Alcalde, and then a PRD poster. The PRD poster says Vota PRD and Vota Plancha, which means vote the party, and shows the Presidential candidate, the Diputado, the Alcalde, and the Representante. There is a "1" on the side, just in case you forgot which spot PRD holds on the ballots.)

Pressing Sugar

2009-06-15T12:19:00.000-05:00

Back in April, just after the All Volunteer Conference, we went to visit another volunteer who lives near Chitre, where AVC was held. While there, some folks in the community were pressing sugar cane.

Sugar cane is pretty much a grass that can be grown one little plot in your yard, or in massive fields. The companies burn the fields to get the scratchy leaves off before the workers go through and cut it (so they end up sooty and blackened, but not scratched), and you'll see heavily weighted trucks carrying stacks of the about 8-foot long, 2-inch across stalks to the factories, where it is processed.

But small farmers do it on a smaller scale. They load the cane into horse-drawn carts and haul it to the trapichi, which is a horse (or person) powered press. There, each stalk is passed through twice to squeeze out the sugar juice.

(Jon and April watching the horse and farmer press cane; the juice drains out onto the metal ramp which sends it to a filter to remove chunks and then drip into the barrel)

Once the juice is squeezed out, it is heated / simmered over several days to concentrate it. Huge metal bowls are used to the process. This farmer had his built into the stove for the process.

(The bowl of sugar cane juice concentrating. The stick has a large strainer bowl on it for scooping out the concentrate.)

His stove was almost like the Estufa Lorenas, in that it concentrated the heat, thus using less firewood. The mouth of this stove is an old wheel rim.

(The stove mouth. The barrels hold processed sugar juice; buyers will pay $50 for the barrel, but then probably sell the contents piecemeal in town for $100)

Of course, there are other kinds of sugar and honey you can press. :) April and I, dressed up to go to a Samy y Sandra Sandoval concert the next night at the International Fair of the Azuero (the Azuero is the eastern side of the big peninsula on the south of Panama, containing the provinces of Herrera and Los Santos, and is famous for its "typical" Panamanian culture). Samy y Sandra's grandmother lives in the community where we saw the cane being pressed.

Some Food Photo Updates

2009-06-13T11:43:00.002-05:00

Back at Easter, several folks brought us traditional foods. These included: a cocado, which is a mix of shaved coconut and raspadura, a cake of raw sugar cane sugar; a sweetened yuca mash (yuca is a very starchy root crop); and balos, which are corn flour mash, slightly sweetened, wrapped in a corn leave or husk.

(cocado, yuca, and balo)

Last week, April returned from Isla Coiba (it went well, look for a summary and photos -snorkeling, crocodiles, the penal colony- in about a week, when we get out again and she has computer time) with a sport fisherman, who offered her a ride back to our island (he was going past on the way to port) as long as she was willing to go fishing for an hour or two first. They caught a 50-lb fish they said was wahoo(sp?), but I'm not sure if that is the same as wahoo in English.

(April's nice doctor from Panama City who offered a ride back from Isla Coiba; he goes sport fishing about once a month for a couple of days to fill his freezer)

They immediately fileted it and stuck the ziplocs in a cooler, and when she got out, they gave her a bag with probably 8-lbs of two-inch thick slabs of fish. We shared some with our neighbors (the first time we've ever been able to give them fish) and cooked the rest with garlic and olive oil as massive steaks (except one we blackened with Phillips Blackening Seasoning; thanks Kristin).

(Cooking three of our massive fish steaks)

Vagaina Monologues

2009-06-08T10:44:00.003-05:00

A couple of months ago, two volunteers in our region, Teri and Cassie, used the same funding source we used for our Health Fair to support the Theatre department at the Santiago branch of the Universidad Panama in staging Los Monologos de la Vagina (The Vagaina Monologues). In addition to the play, which was attended by over 300 people on its one night showing, they organized a day of charlas (discussions) for about 30 community members from PCVs' communities. The charlas, on AIDS and domestic violence issues, were led by Panamanians from Mides (Ministry of Social Development) and APLAFA (sort of like a Planned Parenthood maybe?) who are very enthusiastic about helping stop the spread of AIDS and ending domestic violence.

Five women went from our community to both the day of charlas and the play, and then spent the night in a hotel in Santiago. For all of them, it was their first time going to the theatre, and may have been their first night in a hotel. They certainly enjoyed themselves both at the play and with the night away (even if their rooms didn't have TV or A/C, they did have lights and a shower and bathroom).

(Maria Ester, Marlina, Ilsa, Yadira, and Magda, at Los Monologos de la Vagina, as evidenced by the playbill in Maria Ester's hand)

It took a lot of walking and talking to get those five (it was supposed to be six). Initially, we chatted with Cecilia and Maria Luisa (who would have loved to have gone, but felt that others would find greater benefit from attending) about who to ask. They recommended women they thought would be willing to talk about what they heard and/or who faced domestic violence. They selected women from all parts of the island, so that each community would have someone who had experienced the charlas and show. Then I walked around the island, visiting just about every house to deliver an open invitation to all the women on the island to the show, and a special invitation to the selected women for the full day and the night in the hotel.

I received a lot of interest (the name alone makes people take notice), and several of the women immediately said yes they would accept. There were some logistical questions (at one point, I thought I might be babysitting a two-and-a-half year-old all day, but evidently she stayed with a friend or relative) about the event, but with April in Panama City, I think any trickier questions about the topic weren't addressed to me. But when I returned a few days later to confirm their attendance, two backed out. It may have been due to child care concerns, or fears of spending a night out in the city, or it might have been a disapproving husband. Whatever the reason, I ran around to talk with our backups (two kids got colds and moms were unwilling to leave them with relatives; so they said) and called Maria Luisa and Cecilia. I also coordinated with Israel, the corregidor, to use the community boat to take us to port. As we left at dawn that morning to go around the island and pick everyone up, I wondered how many would actually be ready and going. I was pleasantly surprised.

We arrived at port early enough that we didn't need to go straight to the charlas, so I gave each of them their bus fare and told them we'd meet at the terminal at 8:45 to go to the APLAFA offices. When I walked up at 8:40, expecting to wait for them, all five were there, wondering why I was late! Then, instead of taking a taxi, Marlina said they'd walk, since she knew where it was and it wasn't far. I am constantly pleasantly surprised.

They were a bit surprised when I introduced them to Cassie, Teri, and the others leading the charlas and then started to leave; clearly they hadn't anticipated being left "alone". But when I came back at the end of the day, they were a happily integrated part of the class. The only other confusion came when we checked into the hotel. In addition to their three rooms, through the grant, I had made a separate reservation for April and I. But I don't think they realized that, and they were concerned about which one of them was going to have to share a room with me (five of them plus me, with three rooms, meant two people per room). They laughed once they realized the only question was which of them had to sleep alone.

Everyone had a few hours to get made up to go out, and then we headed to the theatre. When the play started, they initially checked with us for our reactions, but soon they were absorbed in laughing along with the rest of the crowd. They clearly had an exciting night, and from conversations with others on the island, they've been sharing their experiences and the fun. Thank you to Cassie and Teri for putting so much effort into making both the day and the play happen.

One other photo from that night:

(Us with the women from the island at the theatre; I don't usually see it when just chatting with them, but every so often, something points out to me that I am a bit taller than most of the folks here.)

Follow Up Volunteer

2009-06-05T16:38:00.000-05:00

Peace Corps service is only two years. At the end of two years, if you've really "done" it, you have a pretty good grasp of the language, you understand most of the culture, you're comfortable eating, getting around, and travelling, and you have a good grasp/understanding/comfort level in your community. And then, just when you are starting to feel successful, everyone wants to implement the ideas you've been mentioning, and suddenly you have tons of work to do, it is time to leave.

If, like in our case, you were a first time volunteer, the community has finally gotten a good grasp of your grasp of the language, they understand the aspects of your culture you've displayed in site, and they know what you are comfortable eating, and have finally gotten a good grasp/understanding/comfort level with the gringo in their midst and what is Peace Corps. And just when they are wanting to implement the ideas you've been mentioning and have tons of work for you to do, you leave.

The solution? A Follow Up Volunteer. New blood (for the chitra and mosquitos, quite literally). Someone who can come in and continue the work you started, hopefully picking up right where you left off. Thanks to your efforts, they shouldn't have to learn everything from scratch, won't have mention the ideas for the first time, and should be able to implement.

We will benefit from just such a Follow Up Volunteer in the island, and hopefully she will benefit from us. We've been able to arrange for host families; she should get all of our household goods at a discount (and not have to haul them out there); we're providing her a map with everyone's name, nickname, and relationship (so she'll know who are siblings, cousins, etc); we've made a list of in-progess projects and potential projects, as well as groups and people to work with; and we've made a list of all the other secrets, tips, and hard-won knowledge we've picked up in our two years here. With luck, she'll start at about the level we achieved in just the last half-year.

Allison is from California and has a strong background in environmental work. She heard about our site from the CEC (April's sector) volunteer who visited us two weeks ago and told Francisco (April's boss) that she would like to come here. (There are no couples in CEC or SAS in this group, which is ironic after our group two years ago had five couples.) She is tall apparently, which is lucky, since we built for our height and things shouldn't have to be lowered. Beyond that, we don't know much yet. She will do her Site Visit (recall ours' here) in mid-June, ironically when we are in Panama City to do our COS (Close of Service) medical appointments. Then she will swear-in on 30 June and head to site later that week, which, as you know, is right when we leave the country. So, we aren't sure yet when or how we'll meet her to chat about the island. But even if we don't, she'll have all our notes and the support of our great friends in the community who are enthusiastic about helping her get settled in. We wish her the best of luck.

Arrival Date!

2009-06-01T17:03:00.001-05:00

As many of you have calculated or realized watching our recent posts, our two years of Peace Corps service is almost up. And now we finally have the answer to the question Grandma asked every time we talked with her: "When are you coming home?"

We will be coming home Independance Day weekend.

We'll spend it at my folks' house in Lexington, Virginia. April's folks will come down, my grandma will be there, hopefully April's grandma will be able to come up, and my sister, along with Justin and Sam, the 20-month-old nephew I've never met, will come down on the 4th. We'll grill out and have hamburgers and instead of salchichas, real hotdogs!

We'll also start the process of readjusting to life in the United States: punctuality, expensive avocados, sidewalks, no really fresh fruit or fish, temperature changes greater than 10-15 degrees, no good bus system, etc.

We'll start to organize some of our pictures and memoriabilia into a condensed showcase of our time here; we want to be able to show and tell more than the blog has provided, but without overwhelming folks with a day-long lesson. We are still working on travel plans (if you want to see the show in your neighborhood, let us know) and job plans (if you need a volunteer coordinator, let April know! :).

Burning: Why and What are the Alternatives?

2009-05-29T16:29:00.002-05:00

(Ed. Note: I originally wrote this a couple of months ago for La Vaina, the PC Panama revista (magazine) that comes out every regional meeting (now every four months). La Vaina has articles from the office about on-going work, as well as summaries of various committees and groups, and photos and stories or other submissions from volunteers, covering everything from what is the best cheese-puff in Panama, to thoughts on sustainable development, to recipes for zapallo soup (zapallo is like pumpkin; remember when we carved some with our neighbors?). In Panama, La Vaina means "the thing", as in "da me la vaina allá" - "give me the thing there". Back issues are available online at the Friends of Peace Corps Panama website. Sorry I didn't get any photos to submit with it, although one of the editors added one of some small burns on a hillside; you can find the article - minus the last two paragraphs - and his photo in the May 2009 issue.)

Burning: Why and What are the Alternatives?

As summer comes to an end, the pace picks up. Everything is as dry as it will be. Soon, the rains will green everything again, and new trees, brush, vines, and grasses will grow over the trees, brush, vines, and grasses that were cut over the past few months. In other words, better burn the dry stuff now.

Why is slash & burn the preferred method of farm management? What are the gains from this destructive option that outweigh other safer, less-damaging alternatives?

There are several reasons for slashing, and several for burning. The basic slash reason is the paucity of “good” soil here in the tropics. While many of us from the US are accustomed to feet of good, grow-able soil, here in Panama and other tropical lands, the topsoil is often less than a foot, sometimes merely inches. Once exposed from the protection of tree canopy, brush, and detritus, the winds of summer and rains of winter quickly move the soil into streams, rivers, and the ocean. Within a few years, a recently but not maintained cleared plot will not grow crops well. So it is time to move to another patch of “good” soil. (At least here in my island community, that frequently means a plot that was previously cultivated and has been let fallow for a few years, so no more “old growth” is normally lost.) Chop through with a machete, and it is ready for planting (or in the case of tirar-ing maize, plant first by tossing seeds so they reach the soil, then cut everything down so sun and rain reach the seeds). It isn’t hard to slash – a day or two’s work and everything is down.

What is the alternative to slashing? Well, for starters, you could maintain the plot you are currently using. Which means adding abono (fertilizer) organico; preventing erosion through live barriers, abonos verdes, and terracing, and drainage catchment systems; and weeding to prevent overrun of your plot by malaisas. Those efforts, which SAS and CEC learned in Pre-Service Training on a small scale, take time, especially if you are trying to apply them on a large scale. A lot more time and effort than a few days of slashing.

As for burning, once you’ve cosechar’ed (harvested) that primero coa de maize (first planting of corn) in your slashed plot, the time has come to burn down the now dried materials. Burning removes the sticks and stumps from the field, and adds ceniza (ash), with its associated nutrients. This serves at least three purposes: one, it adds (albeit limited relative to alternatives) nutrients and minerals to the soil, which will make your next crop grow better; two, it kills weeds, which decreases the amount of work necessary to maintain the plot; third, it reduces the large debris, so it is easier to move around the plot when planting, weeding, and harvesting. It isn’t hard to burn – a hour or two’s work and everything is aflame.

What is the alternative to burning? Presuming you’ve already slashed, then you could use the same plot without burning (possibly you already did this with that first coa de maize). The downed trees could be placed horizontally as dead barriers for erosion control. You could weed really well right away, while the weed counts are low; and you could plant abonos verdes, such as mani forajero or canavalia to help control weed populations. These efforts take time, a lot more time than a few hours of burning.

Another option is to mulch all the downed material. Smaller items (leaves, twigs) can be piled for compost, but branches, limbs, sticks, and trunks are too large. A chipper shredder would be required. This takes time to transport and time to use (the gallon of gas to run it we’ll call a wash with the gas to start the fire if burning). And you still haven’t really addressed the weed seed issue. A lot more time than a few hours of burning.

So, it sounds like in terms of the farmer’s short term perspective, slash and burn is the easy and positive winning option. Less work, fewer weeds, more nutrients in the soil.

The alternative, for the farmer, requires thinking well into the future, when the effort of maintaining a plot long term begins to pay off through the need for less land, and less distance travelled to that land. If the same plots could be used over and over, all your land can be in use at once; there is no need to allow a plot to revert to monte (transition level growth between grasses and true forest) so it will grow material for later burning for nutrients, etc.

So why are we against burning? Why is burning bad? By whose values? There is an image of burning as a terrible thing – dirty, polluting, resource consuming, illogical. Is that because it is a single big event? Like our fascination with plane crashes even though they are less threatening than car crashes, burning a single big burn is more noted than the small, less visual, impacts of tailpipe emissions, etc. What is dirty and polluting? Burning a hectare of monte releases CO2. Driving a car releases CO2. Which is dirty and polluting? What is resource consuming? While natural resources may be lost, we’ve already seen that more immediate resources (time, money) would be necessary to implement alternatives to burning.

So what can we, as Peace Corps Volunteers, do? We can bemoan the burning. But most folks will still do it. If we feel that it is really important enough, that our values can be understood by our community members, then we must provide alternatives that are feasible and adoptable. Maybe start with your MIDA (Ministry of Agriculture) or ANAM (Environmental Authority) office to talk about a demonstration plot of mulching, with a multi-year use plan. Maybe with a community farmer, so others understand it can be done and isn’t all due to MIDA magic or ANAM abono while they aren’t looking. Or you start with talking to community farmers about why they burn. Ask, don’t lecture. Learn, don’t teach. Start early. After a while, offer alternatives to their reasons for burning. By your second year, maybe you’ll find someone willing to implement some of the ideas. Then call in MIDA or ANAM or other PCVs to help you start, so they see there is interest and they aren’t alone.

By the time you leave, maybe one small plot less will burn. Congratulations. That’s your reward.

Kevin Cropper is a SAS PCV in Group 59. He loves the smell of a campfire, but not a forest fire. He hasn’t figured out how to determine if that one plot less burned, thanks to his efforts.

Off to Coiba!

2009-05-24T09:00:00.001-05:00

Just a quick update....

I (April) am off to Coiba National Park today to teach a Certified Interpretive Guide course with park rangers there. In this case interpretation means interpretation of a history, resource or other story....such as guided hikes that our National Park Rangers do in the States...they help you interpret what is unique and important about what you are seeing/experiencing. The training will be an official course within the curriculum of National Association of Interpretation. (See their webpage at http://interpnet.com/ to learn more about interpretation as a profession and a skill set.)

As my parents have heard... I originally proposed this week long class last February. I wrote the proposal three times before it was accepted (English, Spanish, and official government format Spanish). The course has been postponed twice...once in November due to a broken electric generator and again last month for unknown reasons (internal agency confusion seems likely on that one :)

The funding has come from the national environmental agency ANAM and all of the students are ANAM employees. All told we hope to have representatives from 7 different Panamanian parks in attendance. I even have a wonderful co-instructor to share the work with...Eylin Martinez is a Panamanian who also holds the certification from the National Association of Interpretation. I am so lucky that she is donating her time and efforts to this workshop...she brings a great point of view, excellent Spanish and a cheery disposition. All in all she is quite likely to be the main reason I survive the week with any sanity. Thank you Eilyn!!!

So, off I go to fix up the last minute details and make the last of the copies needed. I will post later about how the class went...with photos of course. If I get lucky I may even get in some snorkeling time...I am taking my gear just in case.

Boat Repair

2009-05-23T08:13:00.001-05:00

Do you remember the boat that was in our house when we first visited in July 2007?

It was still there when we moved in in November 2007. It stayed for December...and January....and on and on. We got used to using it as a type of bench. Then April told the owner that she was going to move it...he just needed to say where to put it.

Then the first weekend of May 2008 (less than 2 weeks after April asking where to put it), we came home to find that the boat was no longer there. Our neighbor had finally moved it into his front yard. It stayed there for about a month, before moving into the Casa Comunal (a very similar design to our house, but much bigger) across the field. Over the course of the last year, they worked on it, practically taking it apart and expanding it into something larger. The finished boat was about 1 1/2 feet wider and a couple of feet longer than the original. They put fiberglass on it, and put it in the water around January of this year.

And the fiberglass separated.

So they pulled it out in the cove near our house, cut off the fiberglass, and put on a new layer (ouch, expensive mistake, since everyone would like to fiberglass their boats to make them last longer and float lighter, thus using less gas, but it isn't cheap).

Then they pushed it back into the water.

(Check out those long legs helping to push)

After cutting some lengths of a trash tree (grows really fast, dies fairly soon, and isn't good for anything other than making O2) to serve as rollers, they recruited a bunch of neighbors and kids to move it back into the water.

(Almost there, although if it were a really high tide, it would already be in the water)

Someone gets the job of running the logs around to the front once we've rolled off the back ones, since they haven't lined the entire length to the water.

(At last, it makes it into the water; it is one of the brighter boats in our community)

This time, the fiberglass held and the boat has been put to work fishing and transporting people and stuff. It is a bit larger than most of the boats folks use around the island, but makes for a nice ride to port, with the little casita to shelter from sun and rain.

We are seeing an increasing number of boats that are either all fiberglass ($$$$) or have a fiberglass layer on the bottom ($$). For those of you who remember Allie's boat that Pedro was building, it is still sitting pretty in his front yard waiting for the plata (money) to finish it.
The art of making and using an all wooden boat is not lost in our community, but in our two years here we have seen an acceleration of the change away from natural local materials. We have also seen at least one small boat handmade from a single log...but there are not that many big logs anymore to use this way. Things will always change, the changes just feel faster sometimes when you can actually see them in progress.

Money in Panama

2009-05-20T12:22:00.000-05:00

The money in Panama could be pretty familiar to anyone coming to visit from the United States. That is because the "Balboa" is their name for the Dollar (and is also the name of a popular beer); the balboa has been tied to the dollar since its inception in 1904 after Panama's Independance from Columbia (wikipedia info link), and currently, the paper money is all US Dollars, although stores often use the "B/." symbol instead of the "$".

But while Panama uses US coins, there are also Panamanian versions of the coins as well, and the peso (50-cent piece) is actually used with some frequency. All the coins have the same composition as their US counterparts. I have not been able to figure out yet where their coins are minted however. And they do not seem to mint every year. I have found quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies from 1996 (when the shields got smaller and other design changes were made) and 2001 for example, but nothing in between and only quarters since, with 2003, 2005, and 2008 versions, each with a different design. As they are the same size and have the same value as their US versions, you'd have no trouble spending Panamanian coins in the United States.

(From the top, clockwise: un centavo, un peso, una quara, un real, y diez centavos)

In recent years, the US Mint has begun a program of changing the obverse or reverse of US coins, making your pocket change much more interesting to look at and much more popular with coin collectors, who now try to hoard a copy of each style. Panama has been making small changes for years. Here are some of the versions I've collected in our time here.

Similar to in the states, one cent is called un centavo. But not a "penny".

(One cent pieces, with various front images; Urraca is a historical/mythological freedom fighter, who led the indigenous against the consquitadors in the 16th century)

The five cent piece in Panama is an integral part of the monetary system. Instead of a "nickel", it is called un real. And many items are commonly priced in reales. For instance, if you buy a soda for 20 cents, the shopkeeper will likely say, "cuatro reales", or "four nickels". This is true at least up to items that cost a dollar. So something that costs 75 cents would be "quince reales" or "fifteen nickels", not "setenta-cinco centavos".

(These five cent pieces sometimes have the shield, sometimes the face of Sara Sotillo, a Panamanian educator born around 1900 and instrumental in the development of teachers rights and responsibilities.)

You'll have to refer to the picture above of all the coins to judge the size, but Panamanian ten cent pieces (un decimo de balboa) are the same smallness as US dimes and are probably the most boring of Panamanian coins.

(Panamanian ten cent pieces don't have their own name, like "dime". These two reverses show two shield designs, the newer slightly smaller.)

To me, the 25-cent piece is the most dynamic. Here is the obverse (the Balboa profile) and five of the six reverse designs I have seen (I was missing the Childrens' Hospital, the newest design, that day).

(Panamanian Quarters, with from top left, the original shield design (at least 1966 to 1993), the smaller shield design without bottom fronds (1996 and 2001), the Panama Vieja tower (2003), the Puente del Rey (2005), and the Protégete Mujer (2008) with a Protect Women ribbon.)

While not as changing as the quarters, the peso, or 50-cent piece, is really neat mainly because they actually use it here in Panama. I have gotten one as change numerous times. While the coin holders that the bus drivers and ayudantes use do not have a space for them, they are not at all averse to getting or giving them, and toss them in a box to hold them.

(Half dollars, or medio balboas)

So, if you decide to visit Panama, you'll have no trouble spending your US money, and you'll have something interesting to bring back and share with the grandkids or just the clerk at the local tienda. :)

I did spend a US "gold" presidential dollar at a tienda on the island. One was willing to take it, probably more as an interest item, while another didn't want it and wanted paper. That is one coin that doesn't have a large circulation here. Of course, it doesn't up in the US either. :)

Update on Library Progress

2009-05-18T08:18:00.001-05:00

Wow. Early on in our service, experienced volunteers warned us that the first year would be getting used to the community and the community getting used to you, and you talking about ideas and projects and ways of doing things, but not actually doing any of them. Then in the second year, things would start happening, and your community members would start implementing a few of the ideas you had talked about. Finally, in the final few months, your community would realize you were leaving soon and want to implement all of the ideas you had ever talked about, all at once (okay, maybe not all, but more than you have time to accomplish; maybe that's why they do follow-up volunteers).

Well, it isn't quite like that, but we've certainly seen an uptick in organized scheduling of activities. Last Sunday, we had a community meeting about the library, to discuss where to house it and how to use it. Attendance was limited, but with Cecilia and Maria Luisa (two of our host moms and community leaders) there, it was very productive, and they decided to talk more about it on Wednesday at a Padres de Familia meeting at the school. They assigned each person (well, everyone but us, which was a pleasant surprise) at the Sunday meeting a section of the island to alert about the Wednesday meeting. It was amazing how quickly the word got around; I left site Monday and was asked Monday afternoon about the meeting.

On Wednesday, we had 27 people at the meeting at the school, including the maestra. Cecilia led the discussion and guided them through deciding where to store the books and how to make the books accessible to the community. It was amazing, organized, and productive.

(One of the best parts about this meeting? April and I understood about 97% of the conversation, even when multiple people were talking. What a change from our first Padres meeting we attended!)

The current plan is on 21 May, they'll use a chainsaw to make planks out of a tree that is already down on the school property, which is where they intend to house the library until they can build it its own house off school property. Then on 23 May, they will have a junta (work party) to build bookshelves, which they decided on in the meeting as the best way to make the books visible and upright with spines readable.

On 5 June (April will be gone a week in the midst of that to teach a course at Isla Coiba National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site), they will transport all the books to the school, organize them. And we will discuss amongst the volunteers interested what hours it will be open. (Transporting and organizing the books will be a hefty effort. Between the books we have and the books Cecilia has from a Club de Leones - Lions Club - donation, there are probably 10 or 11 ft of books, around 300, from thin kids books like Dora the Explorer, to the first three Harry Potter's, to thick health books, like Donde No Hay Doctor - Where There is No Doctor - and Qué Se Puede Esperar Cuando Se Está Esperando - What to Expect When You're Expecting.)

Finally, on 9 June (si Dios quiere - God willing), they will have an Opening Party to open the library to the community, announce office hours, and demonstrate the check out procedure, which was the other part of the library discussion at the meeting. After much consideration and discussion on the relative merits of protecting the books by not allowing them to leave the room versus giving people the chance to read at their leisure and to their kids by allowing them to take them home, as well as how to plan for replacements of damaged books, they decided:

Adults only may check out books;
Two weeks is the check-out period;
No deposit is necessary to check out a book;
One book at a time;
Privledges will be suspended if you destroy a book;
Renewals are allowed, but you must bring the book back to request checking it out again

So it sounds like a lot of work in the time remaining, but it also sounds well thought-out and do-able.

But the other big topic of discussion during the meeting was the interest in making an Estufa Lorena at the school. So, overlapped with that schedule of events for the library, they intend to modify the table in the kitchen, collect materials, and build an Estufa. After two years encouraging the construction of a school estufa, it is thrilling that they are going to do it, but we really wish they would have decided this a few months ago.

So now we're talking about a lot of work in the time remaining. Maybe those experienced volunteers were right. We'll be sure to warn the newbies on what to expect.

Mail Hold - Don't Send Any More Letters or Packages

2009-05-13T17:29:00.001-05:00

To all of you who have sent us letters and packages, we have loved getting the ones that made it.

To all of you who have sent us letters and packages, someone or some mice have loved getting the ones that didn't make it, inspite of any Jesus stickers and tons of tape.

But to those of you with great success rates and those without, it is with great sadness that I say, please stop sending those letters. With as long as letters sometimes take to arrive at the Post Office here, and as long as it may be before we can visit and ask the nice ladies behind the counter to check the General Delivery under "C" for Cropper, we think the time has come to ask you to stop sending them.

It is hard to write about leaving; we have tried in many ways to avoid it, or at least thinking about it, and the sadness it will bring. But returning to the states (if you didn't hear, April didn't get selected for the Australia dream job) will at least mean getting our mail, even if it is a bit more expensive now. :)

Panama National Election 2009

2009-05-11T11:46:00.000-05:00

"Change" seems to be a global presidential theme. On 3 May 2009, Panama held their once-every-five-years elections, and Ricardo Martinelli (millionaire owner of the Super99 chain of supermarkets here in Panama), who started his own Cambio Democratico (Democratic Change) party, defeated Balbina Herrera, of the PRD party, a long standing party which currently holds office with Martin Torrijos. (Presidential candidates can not succeed themselves, so Torrijos did not run.)

But while the global themes of campaigns were familiar to the local campesinos (countrymen) in our area (we were often asked about Barack Obama, who did we vote for, and the similarity in themes between Obama and Martinelli), elections in Panama are much more of a local event. Be sure to watch the video at the bottom of this post.

As I said, elections are held every five years. At that time, citizens vote for Presidente, Diputado, Alcalde, and Representante. The Diputado is like a Representative in the US, serving at the national assembly level. The Alcalde is like a mayor or county executive. And the Representante is in charge of the local level issues (such as attracting the government funding to accomplish things like the solar panels all the houses have in our community, or the sidewalk constructed last year). He (or she; we had two female and two male candidates this year) is generally the first person residents ask when they need help with a project, need building supplies to improve their house, or need a new battery for their solar panel.

So over the past year, newspapers, TV, and radio were covered with ads for candidates (many analysts said that Martinelli could sink so much of his own money into the campaign that it greatly changed the dynamic and methods compared to previous campaigns). Other popular advertising methods include Tshirts, hats, and flags, as well as banners on the street lights, posts and trees. These banners often indicated who to vote for at all four levels. We even had a banner appear on the island that listed PRD candidates for Presidente, Diputado, Alcalde, and the local Representante (sorry, I didn't get a picture). When you see the ballots below, you'll understand how they can indicate who to vote for. But all organized events and paid advertising had to end by midnight on Thursday, 30 April. This was rather nice, as it provided a three day respite before the election. (The sale of alcohol was prohibited in this time period as well, so you couldn't be drunk the day of the election. Unless you made your own.)

El Dia de la Votación was Sunday, 3 May. And it is an event. Many folks are still registered to vote where they grew up, so although we have only about 150ish adults on the island, there were 265 votes cast in each race. (The influence of "outsiders" was greatly discussed, since they aren't really affected by the vote they cast for Representante, which to most of our neighbors, was the most important race.) Each of the four candidates for Representante provided a number of boat rides from port to the island in the days prior, and food the day of. Why food? Because everyone goes to the school to vote (polls opened at 7am) and then hangs out for the day, chatting with friends, etc, and awaiting the close of the polls at 4pm. At which time, the counting begins.

The voting is held in the school, with three members of the Tribunal Electoral (the election board) and one policeman to ensure the security of the process. (There is no vote by mail, or absentee voting, so those four could only vote for Presidente. An odd twist to service towards voting.) On the wall outside the voting room, they pasted instructions on how to vote and sample ballots.

(Fairly simple instructions on how to obtain your ballots - you need your ID card - then how to mark them, and finally how to cast them in their appropriate box.)

(No cameras, video cameras, or cell phones allowed inside the voting room.)

There is a separate ballot for each race. Each ballot has its own color coding to facilitate the process.

(The blue Presidential ballot, with pictures and names of candidates with party names and flags. )

There were EIGHT parties early on in the race. As time passed, alliances were formed that generally held at the lower levels as well. In a drawing of lots, the order of the parties on the ballots was established. PRD drew 1 (the red, white, and blue striped flag) and Cambio Democratico drew 5 (the green and pink "CD" flag). If you wonder why several of the photos and names look similar, that is because PRD formed alliances with Partido Popular (2, green star on blue flag) and Partido Liberal (6, red/white/red striped flag), and CD built alliances with Molirena (3, red and yellow triangles flag, with a red rooster), Partido Panamanista (4, purple/yellow/red flag), and Union Patriotica (7, red with orange stripe flag). A former president formed his own party, something like Vanguard of the Moral Front, and was spot 8 (of the 269 votes in our island, he received 2 sympathy votes from folks who apparently knew Martinelli would win and didn't want the guy to get nothing).

So if you wanted to vote for Martinelli, but were really a fan of the Molirena party instead of Cambio Democratico, you could cast your vote in spot 3, instead of spot 5. Thus your party (Molirena) was credited with bringing support to the alliance, and in the total count, Martinelli got your vote. Then (so goes the idea), when he is president, he will support your party's desires as well and reward your party bosses for the votes they brought to his election.

(The orange Diputado ballot. The pictures and names are smaller, and there are three "open" positions for anyone running as an independant. But the party flags and numbers remain the same.)

By the level of the Diputado ballot, some of the Presidential alliances had broken, and parties were running competing candidates.

(The pink Alcalde ballot. Molirena, 3, did not have an Alcalde candidate or alliance. The blue stamps indicate that this ballot has been nulled, so people can look at it outside of the voting room.)

All of the parties were allowed to have an observer in the voting room. Four of the parties did on our island, and the observers were residents of the island. Each one had a full list of the voting roster (a book with the name, picture, and ID number of each person registered to vote in that voting location). They watched from 7am until the counting ended, about 11pm, and ensured ballots were cast correctly, without coercion, and counted correctly. We did have one blind man vote (he does not live on the island, but I think grew up here; we have seen him before) and he was assisted by someone to mark his ballots, fold them (into quarters) and drop each one into the appropriate cardboard box, one for each race, with the appropriate color across the top.

(Our race for Representante. There were four candidates.)

"Chayo" ran on PRD (1), aligned with Liberal (6); he actually lives off-island, although he has a house in the south and is the brother of several residents. Popular (2) and Vanguard (8), did not have candidates or alliances at this level. Efrain Miranda (the Representante for the past 20 years, or since the new government process was instituted after Noriega's removal by the US and George Bush Sr) ran on Molirena (3), aligned with Panamanista (4). Paula (our first host mom on the island) ran on Cambio Democratico (5), aligned with Union Patriotica (7). We also had one Independant, Vielka, running alone in the pale blue 9 spot; she also lives off island but has a house in the south and family.

At 4:11pm, the workers from the Tribunal Electoral officially closed the voting and taped the boxes closed. The policeman entered the room to ensure the boxes were not messed with. The officials demonstrated all the remaining, unused, ballots to the observers, and then all seven of them walked outside and burned them (so no one could cast an extra ballot). Then they opened the box of Presidential ballots and counted them all out onto the table. 269, which is how many their records showed had voted that day (265 local, plus the three workers and policeman). Then they returned all the ballots to the box. They taped large sheets of paper on the wall, one for each party, each sheet with 20 rows of 15, to record the counting. Then one worker pulled out a ballot, determined how it had been voted, announced it to the crowd (while the party observers were in the room, interested community members crowded the windows and counted along), then demonstrated it to one window, the observers, the other window, and finally handed it to a second worker who double checked that the announced vote was correct and built piles for each party. The third worker marked one vote on the sheet of the announced party.

April made a video of this process. I highly recommend observing a part of the participatory election process that takes place in Panama every five years. Can you imagine this kind of interest in the United States? This video was during the Presidential count. You can see the boxes for the other three offices next to the reader.

After this, we walked back to the house, ate dinner, and I walked back again about 8:30 that night. They were in the midst of counting for Alcalde. After each race was finished, the workers summed the totals, the observers gave agreement, and the workers recorded on the official papers the votes per party, total votes, blank votes, null votes, and then they signed and the observers signed. Then they took the ballots and the sheets from the wall, and they all went outside and burned all the papers. No hanging chads around to count later.

The count for the Representante, the race the residents were most interested in, began about 9:30pm. It finished about 11. While Vielka (the independant) started off strong, Chayo collected a streak of votes and then never relinquished the lead. With their alliances only suppling a few votes to each candidate, their totals were: Chayo, 112; Vielka, 82; Paula, 35; and Efrain, 33. Some folks were very happy, some were frustrated, some were confused. Some thought the Representante should live on the island, but obviously even the majority of island voters didn't agree, so it wasn't a conspiracy of outside voters. I talked with Paula later, and she was happy; she may not have won, but her presidential candidate had won handily, and that was enough for her.

It was a long and tiring days for us, and we didn't even vote (we were taking Family Fotos as a fundraiser for the library project). But what an amazing chance to see such interested and enthusiastic involvment in the democratic election process.

Beautiful Bugs

2009-05-02T08:35:00.002-05:00

Well, it has been a while since my last post showing some of Panama's wonderful insect population...but I haven't stopped taking photos. Kevin helps me with holding a flashlight for lighting while I take close ups of bugs at night, that is true love for you! So I hope that you enjoy them like we did. You can click on the photo to see it bigger...if you care to.

This bright white bug was very patient with his photo shoot and even chose our blue dish rack for a striking background.

This cockroach was truly about 3/4 the size of our cell phone before he lost his head. He was still moving a bit in the morning.

This blade of grass is COVERED in ticks...tiny and medium ticks. This photo gives me the crawly skin feeling. On this walk I once stopped to pick ticks off of my leg to see 8 more starting to crawl up my feet in the time it took me to take off 3. In the cool air of the morning and evening the ticks crawl to the top of a blade of grass, as in the picture in the hopes that someone will brush by and give them a ride and a meal. In the hottest part of the day they crawl down and hide from the heat. They can be the size of the inside of this o or smaller than this period.

The good news is that ticks in Panama are easier to kill than their relatives in the USA...you can do it with your fingernail. They also do not carry Lymes disease...so if you don't find them you just get an itch spot at the site of the bite...not a lingering illness.

A tiny spider on our water filter.

This was just a really big spider. Very pretty. I don't know if this type of spider qualifies as a tarantula or not...I usually think of trantulas as having stocky legs (we have the type in Panama too) but this is the biggest type of spider I have seen on the island.

At our house we have a live alongside the spiders policy...we don't kill them. The theory is that they are less likely to bite than their competition for food is to sting...see below.

A mother scorpion with her young on her back. Scorpions give birth to live young and them protect them for a little while by carring them around. The young are about 3/4 inch long tip to tail when first out. This photo was taken outside a friend's house when we were moving a pile of cement block. Mother and babies did not survive long after the photo shoot.

I have decided that compared to scorpions, (who's first line of defense is to sting and our closest medical center is 2 hours away, not that most stings are hospital worth...but some are) spiders who run away from me are not as scary. They seem to hunt the same foods, so the spiders live and scorpions die in our house.

These leaf hoppers sometimes visit at night attracted to the candleight. There is nothing to quite give you a scare like a large leaf hopper or grass hopper smacking into your chest as they arrive to the circle of candlelight where you are cooking or reading. Just to give you a sense of scale...here is the same leafhopper with my friend Kori's hand.

I have also had the good timing to see some of our local insects as they start to hatch. Below is a newly hatch beetle on a tomato leaf. The eggs that they hatched from are to the left.

Kevin says I should go back to school for a degree in entomology...but I am just having fun. Maybe when I retire. OH! Just wait...I saved the best bug for next week!!! This bug makes me wiggle with nerdiness, giggle like a geek....don't miss out on next week's blog about a UFO in Panama!!!

Library Fully Funded

2009-04-30T09:56:00.004-05:00

Well, one can always use more money! However, our Partnership grant for the community library has been completely funded through donations. This means that the money will arrive soon into our hands so that we can start using it.

THANK YOU!!

Thank you to one and all who donated! We don't know who most of you are, but thank you from both of us and our community. We will now start looking for a way to store the books that will best protect them from all of Panama's challenges. We will be sure to post a blog with photos of the finished library and the opening day for you all to enjoy.

(And if you still want to help some other Peace Corps Volunteer with a project, check out the full list of projects in need of assistance.)

Cultural Contrasts 2

2009-04-28T10:29:00.000-05:00

A while ago I posted about some of the cultural differences that I have noticed in Panamá. YOu can read it if you like: Cultural Contrasts. I continue to learn about Panama, myself and the culture in the USA through these differences. These are just my observations...and I continue to observe so here is another couple for you to enjoy.

Flirting:
In the States a guy who is interested in a girl has to work up the nerve to come up to her. A guy has to have the guts to face rejection to get a chance. Just whistling at her or yelling "Que bonita" (how pretty) would not work, in fact it would likely work against him. Here in Panama whistling, hissing, and calling out piropos (spanish for calling out comments or compliments at a woman) is normal.

To my ear it sounds rude, like annoying bored construction workers, I would never pay attention. In fact there are times when I swear the next guy to say something will get the best earful of Spanish I can muster and I walk along practicing a good stinger to give. But here piropos are how a girl knows when a guy is interested...they say that it tells them that they are pretty.

Sidewalk etiquette:
In the USA when we are walking along a sidewalk side by side and someone approaches us from the other direction we automatically yeild some space by merging into single file. I wasn't even concious of this action until I got to Panamanian side walks (which are challenging just as sidewalks). In Panama they do yeild...but only the minimal necessary. They will not merge into single file...they just wait until that last possible moment to squish down to let you pass.

Every time it happens to me I swear that this is going to be the time they bump me off the sidewalk...but it is rare that thier bags even brush me. This felt unbelievably rude to me when I arrived, but now I realize that it is just the way things are done here. They don't run into each other...they just seem to have a different (smaller/closer) cultural norm on personal space needed for passing others. I still don't feel comfortable in those passing moments, but I have come to realize it is because I carry a different cultural expectaition from the norm here.

I have more cultural contrasts to offer...but I need to go catch a bus home. Take care on the sidewalks out there.

Thank You Donars!

2009-04-23T10:43:00.002-05:00

Hello,

I just wanted to post a quick note thanking all those who have donated to our Peace Corps Partnership Grant for the community library. (If you don’t remember what I am talking about check it out: Community library post). The total donations have brought our amount needed down to just $175!!

One of the reasons that I wanted to say thank you is because unless you give Peace Corps specific permission to tell us who you are during the donation process (which I have been told means checking some obscure box in the forms) we never find out who gave money. We want all those who have given to know that we appreciate your help...as do the people in our community; we may just not know who you are to say it personally.

If you have not yet donated and still want to...there is still a bit left to be given. You can check it out at: Community Library donations

Last night, by phone, Kevin told me that our library now fills the shelf alloted for it...a shelf that is about 6 feet long. That is a lot of books especially when you consider how many of them are thin childrens books. Poco a poco. (little by little)

You don´t have to live abroad to be interesting

2009-04-20T14:11:00.000-05:00

Our relatives are also up to some interesting things these days... We thought that you might enjoy knowing about the other interesting family members.

The following is a bulletin board soon to be seen in the Cincinnati area:

It seems that my Uncle Steve was laid off from his job at the Aces and Eights Harley Dealer just north of Cincinnati. He is an excellent Harley mechanic, he even has a patent for a part for Harleys (a hydrolic clutch if my faulty memory serves me...but it is an iffy memory).

Well, within a couple of weeks of his being laid off the local competitor, Harley Davidson of Cincinnati, had offered him a job. They want all the local Harley riders to know that he now works with them....Uncle Steve has quite a reputation. So if you are in the Cincinnati area and see the billboard please enjoy it for me.

Kevin´s sister Meghan is also up to interesting and new things. She is using her time as a stay at home mom with a Masters in Environmental Science to launch a new business, EcoConsults. She will provide "residential and commercial clients with simple, cost-effective, personalized recommendations for a greener lifestyle", with long- and short-term cost benefit analysis. If you are near Baltimore (or even if you aren't) and would like to have someone knowledgable look over your house or business for ways to improve your environmental impact, check out her site. She was involved in the 2009 Baltimore EcoFestival this past weekend as well.

April's sister Hilary continues to make the world a more interesting place through her art. She specializes in making ¨Melting clocks¨as seen in Salvador Dali's paintings. Examples of her clocks and many other works of art can be seen at the website for her company, Pragmatic Effects, or at her blog of the same name.

Isla Library Needs You!

2009-04-13T08:00:00.002-05:00

That was our library of Spanish-language books for loaning about two months ago. It includes thick-page kids books on numbers and shapes, National Geographic en Español, kids encyclopedias and books of science questions, big books of fairy tales, why-things-are and how-things-work books, loads of books from Piggy Press (they do books in English and Spanish, and April bought nearly one of everything they have, around 50 books, a year ago), and Harry Potter 1, 2, & 3. Since then, between April's needs to buy more fun books for the kids and the books we bought with the Health Fair funds, it has more than doubled.

But we need your help.

If you have wondered how you could send something to us for our community, now is your chance. (Or, if you are about to file your taxes and were looking for one last opportunity to make a tax-deductible donation, now is your chance.) Through the Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP), friends, family, and others in the United States can make tax-deductible donations to projects sponsored by Peace Corps Volunteers. All projects must have 25% of the cost provided by the community; that can include cash, materials, labor, etc. Ours has a 46% community match.

The summary page for our request summarizes the project, indicates the amount we still need (we started at $525 and have already received $50 as I write this on Easter Sunday; thank you to someone!), and provides a space to make a secure on-line donation.

We already have a lot of books, thanks to April's insatiable appetite everytime she passes the few bookstores in Panama (let's just say that we may have skewed the recent Volunteer Living Allowance Survey with the percentage of allowance spent on "Items for Community Projects" sometimes 1/3 of her salary) and thanks to books brought or sent by family and friends from the states. But of course we want to provide more options to our young (and old) readers.

We also want to purchase some sealable and lockable plastic containers for book storage, along with reusable desecant packs, to help protect from damp, mold, mildew and insects.

Already, we have held several fundraisers with our community members, and we have one more big one planned for the national election (Sunday, 3 May), when many families will have all their members together for the vote (many folks vote where they were born). We plan to take, print, and frame family pictures, something very few families have, and sell them for a slight profit to support this library project.

We will also work with the community members to establish a plan for tracking books as they are checked out and returned, "office hours", holding story times, and expanding the library in the future. We will also talk with parents about the importance of reading with their children, so that it becomes a multi-generational together time.

Please help us encourage more moments like Dianeth, a twelve-year-old friend, reading fairy tales like the Steadfast Tin Solider or Rumplestiltskin to Nina, our four-year-old neighbor. Or moments like when Nina's dad, Julian, comes by on his last trip of the evening from his boat in the cove near our house and asks to borrow a book to read to Nina and his other kids that night.

(Our request amount is rather small, and once the requested amount has been donated, I think they will close the donation option for this project. But if you'd like to support other similar programs in Panama (at the main donation page, select Panama in the Country of Service dropdown and then check the list at the bottom of the page) or around the world with other PCVs, you can. Projects range from small community libraries or gardens to large computer centers or community sports fields. Take your pick of what you'd like to support!)

Baseball Diplomacy - The Ambassador and the All-Star Game

2009-04-12T13:18:00.000-05:00

After the Gulf of Montijo Health Fair, April left to be a facilitator at the Project Management and Leadership conference for PCVs and community members from the latest group. Kevin spent the week on the island, following up with folks about the fair. On Thursday, he came out, picked up April and they headed to Panama City. Friday was a day in the office working on the paperwork and receipts for the health fair, and Saturday was spent buying health-related books with grant funds (see the Health Fair post).

We also got invited to go to a baseball game on Sunday. With the US Ambassador to Panama, Barbara Stephenson. Back in Santiago - a four hour bus ride from Panama. But one of the PC staff was going, and offered us a ride, so we took it.

(April, Ambassador Stephenson, and Kevin in the Presidential Box at the new Stadium in Santiago)

The afternoon game, the one we went for, featured the US Southern Command baseball team (we aren't sure if the players also have tours of duty or how that worked, but it sounded like a pretty nice deal) against a local team. The nightcap was the Panama All Star Game, but our ride needed to head back to Panama, so we missed that one.

(April and Madame Ambassador tossing baseballs from our perch in the Box Seats behind home plate to the crowd below)

The game was a pitcher's duel, and although we had a runner thrown out at home, it was the local team that finally scored one in extra innings to finish the game. But we didn't mind, as we spent much of the time talking with the Ambassador, who was interested in how we made our VW Beetle run on used veggie oil and talking about The Not So Big House, both environmental issues we enjoy.

Other fun parts to the game, besides chatting with the Ambassador and helping her throw out balls, hats, and such, included the food...

(Not the Great American Ballpark frank, but a lot cheaper ;)

The hot dogs (salchichas here) were sliced in half lengthwise to cover the entire loaf of bread (bread, not bun), and the relish, well, I didn't relish it.

Here is April (miming) eating a salchicha so you can see our view of the game from the Presidential Box (okay view, but I think the stadium isn't quite finished yet, and the box was a little raw, with unpainted concrete counters, etc).

(April, a salchicha, and the Veraguas team batting against the Southern Command All Stars)

The other highlight was the visit of Margarita, the Panamanian winner of Latin American Idol last year, to our box to talk to Ambassador Stephenson. They are big fans of each other apparently. I'm sure many folks both on Peace Corps Panama staff and in our community would be jealous of us for being so close to Margarita, but without TV, we hadn't seen too much of the competition. We did happen to be in a restuarant for dinner when she sang the Panamanian national anthem (with all the verses, a bit longer than the American, so it was a heck of an effort), and it was quite beautiful; she won for a reason.

(Madam Ambassador with Señorita Margarita)

After the game, we were invited to the hotel where the Ambassador was staying for a bar-b-que, but our ride was returning to Panama City, so we headed out. Baseball is huge in Panama (bigger than soccer, which most folks probably associate with Latin American countries), and we had wanted to catch a game in the new stadium before we left. Now we can check that off on our list. Thank you Madam Ambassador.

Eating Lobster

2009-04-08T13:02:00.000-05:00

What better way to celebrate a good day than with some friends and a great meal?? Well, the other volunteers who helped out at the health fair seemed to think that a celebration dinner was warrented...so we asked a fisherman on the island to sell us some lobster for dinner...and he was happy to oblige.

Stephanie, Jim and Teri with thier lobsters. Watching them hold live lobsters was good for a few minutes of chuckling. Notice that these lobsters have no claws like the Maine lobsters that I was used to...otherwise they look very simular.

Chico, the fisherman brought over 4 good sized live lobsters. We had been advised by another islander to pay no more than $4 a pound...but when the lobsters arrived the volunteers quickly caved in to his requested $5 a pound. As I probably will not buy much more lobster in my time here I let them pay it.

They then went off and hauled all of the chairs used at the Health Fair back to the casa comunal (community house or meeting space) with the help of my neighbors and their boat. While they were hauling chairs I cooked up the lobsters...complete with the requisite guilt over the necessary murder (yes, lobsters can make a sound). By the time that they returned the lobsters were a rosy red.

Now many resturants serve lobster whole on the plate and the eater gets to wrestle the meat free. I have found that the gooey stuff inside a lobster or crab is off-putting and I like to rinse the meat and eat with clean fingers. Normal procedure in the Cropper house now is to clean the lobster and rinse away the goo and then flash heat the meat with a touch of oil and spice (usually fresh garlic) and then serve with something else...like pasta and veggies.

Stephanie, April, Lee, Jim, and Teri crowded around the sink cleaning lobsters.

So the others joined me at the sink eager for a new food experience. In my experience (I don't imagine that I will have that much experience to reference after I leave Panama) lobsters are not that hard to clean if you know what you are doing. I guided each of them through the process step by step. Each person cleaned a lobster and did a good job, but it was funny to watch. Jim's lobster had a little post-mortem revenge. I am proud to say that no one bled...Kevin has never managed (even with instructions) to clean a lobster without pricking his finger on lobster spines.

Jim with a splash of lobster guts on his shirt.

We served the lobster with pan fried fish (caught that day as well) and pan seared vegetables. Yummy. No one went hungry that night. The next day we road to port with Chico and he was taking in lobsters to sell...and had one that was 4 pounds...as many pounds as all 4 of our lobsters the night before combined! This made me wonder about how fast lobsters grow and how old the lobsters were that we ate. So I did some digging online and came up with the following cool facts:

Lobsters, when not caught, can live for a long time. Living to the age of 100 is not uncommon. Of course, because lobsters are prized for their meat, many don't make it past just a couple of years old. Lobsters must be a certain length -- not age -- to be deemed legal for catching.

It takes approximately seven years (depending on the water temperature) for a lobster to grow to legal harvesting size (1-1 1/4 lb.). After that, a lobster will grow about 1 pound for every 3 years. (April Note: This would mean that the lobsters that we ate were around the age of 7-9 years old. The big 4 pounder could have been around 16 years old. )

It is interesting to note that lobsters show no real signs of aging, other than growing. They actually can reproduce and stay fertile continuously! The secret lies in their telomeres.
Telomeres are found at the end of chromosomes for all living creatures. As we age and cells divide, the telomeres shorten and eventually disappear- leading to aging and death. Lobsters telomeres take a much longer time to shorten , if at all- allowing them to 'maintain their youth' (A lot of anti-aging experiments are done with lobsters)

How big can lobsters grow? The largest lobster ever recorded weighed in at 44 lb. 6 oz. and measured 3 ft. 6 in. from the end of the tail to the tip of the largest claw. It was caught off southern Nova Scotia in 1977 and sold to a restaurant in New York City. In the Pliocene period, over a million years ago, lobsters were five to six feet long! These days a 3 or 4 pound lobster is considered a good sized feast!

Thanks to the following websites for the fun facts:
www.parl.ns.ca/lobster/faq.htm

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_old_do_lobsters_get

A healthy success!

2009-04-03T14:03:00.002-05:00

Gulf of Montijo Health Fair was a healthy success!

An end of the day photo when everyone was tired but happy.

Educar es luchar (to educate is to fight) is the slogan for the fight against AIDS and HIV here in Peace Corps Panama. Panamá has one of the fastest growing infections rates of AIDS in Latin America. Peace Corps Panama received PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, a Pres. Bush II project of about $15B I think) funds to run educational programs about AIDS/HIV and uses it to award grants of up to $1000 per Peace Corps Volunteer to do programs in their local community.

Kevin and I partnered to put on a Health Fair in our community. Three Panamanian agencies came out to participate in the teaching of charlas (lessons), and the assistent at our local health post on the island gave on charla and supplied materials for two others, an inspiring measure of local support. We also put out an open call to our fellow PCVs for their help (hey this was a great chance for them to visit like they have said they wanted to do for over a year!).

We invited, via a Radio Veraguas announcement, people from all over the Gulf of Montijo. We also went visiting house to house with invitations for our community members. Three communities attended...including attendance from every part of our island community. Actual registered attendance was 118 adults and children...but we know that there were a handful of participants or "window lurkers" who did not sign in.

Laura and Emily working at the sign in table.

The event was held at the school, with the permission of MEDUCA (the national education agency). When participants arrived they signed in and received a slip of paper with their number repeated on the slip 7 times to use in the tumbolas (raffle drawings).

The table of classes offered.

Participants then went to pick a charla to attend. There were four classrooms each with a different lesson going on every hour. Each lesson was given twice so there were two opportunities to go to it. Participants could choose to attend any lesson offered at the moment. Lessons included:

HIV/AIDS info
Women's health
The importance of vaccinations for the family
First Aid in the house
Disaster response
Domestic violence
Nutrition
The Risks of Alcohol
The Risks of early pregancy
Family Planning
Dental Health

The idea was to offer a variety of themes while maintaining a strong focus on issues related to sexual health. We wanted to encourage participants to focus more on their own sexual health and to be more comfortable dealing with these topics. Building personal comfort is a move towards eliminating the aura of avoidance and secracy that abounds with sexual topics and provides opportunity for the continued spread of AIDS.

The classes had hands on activities where possible. Above the participants are praciticing reading nutricion labels with the help of Stephanie. One of the most popular demonstrations and practice activities of the day was condom use...on an unripe banana.

Teri teaching women's health. She taught about breast self exams, pap smear tests, and other sexual health topics.

Jim and Robby show an example of a menstral cycle and how it relates to fertility.

Robby and Jim took on the teaching of Family Planning. Their interest and willingness to teach this subject helps women to know that men can be knowlegeable and involved in the family planning process. Family planning was a popular class, and the cooks for the day planned specifically to be available to go to this class.

April teaching how to brush your teeth with her helpers ready to demonstrate.

I taught dental health and had a couple of kids come to both sessions even though they knew it was the same class. We started by eating a cookie and then looking in a mirror to see how much cookie sticks around in your teeth. The kids were very helpful in demonstrating how to brush your teeth, and they also got to take their toothbrush home. We all also flossed two teeth and got to see models of teeth.

A kid selecting a raffle ticket for the Red Cross after their class.

At the beginning of each lesson, participants put one of their numbered slips of paper in the paper bag for that class. After the lesson, the instuctors pulled numbers from the bag and used it for a raffle for small prizes. Prizes were mostly healthy things like toothpaste, toothbrushes, floss, Panamanian flags, and seeds for the garden. People in our commuity love raffels and prizes. (And we were able to collect the bags afterward and know how many people attended each charla, and if they were men, women, young adults, or children, by comparing the numbers in the bag back to the sign-in sheet.)

One of the bigger jobs of the day was cooking for everyone. We made a deal with the Padres de la Familia president (and a good friend of ours) Cecilia, that if the Padres cooked (well, really the madres) we would "pay" for the service with much needed new plates, cups, and spoons for the school. This not only benifited the whole community, it also meant that with some washing of dishes, we were able to feed everyone and not use any disposable dishes...less trash!! The cooks also took turns going to classes...and even were so organized that while waiting for the rice to finish cooking they locked up the kitchen and all went to a class.

Seven PCVs came out to lend support and teach classes. We could not have done it smoothly without them and would have offered only 1/2 as many classes. A big THANK YOU to Stephanie, Teri, Jim, Robby, Lee, Emily and Laura for your help at the Health Fair!

We came in under budget and so spent the extra money on Health related books for our growing library for our community. With a bit of a discount from the book stores in Panama city we were able to buy quite a few books. Our collection is really starting to look like a library.

Other examples of programs put on with these grants include traveling lessons similar to ours to visit remote indiginous communities (whose inhabitants are at risk of HIV when some community members leave and return from migrant farmer work). Also, on April 30th the first known Panama production of the Vagina Monologues will take place in Santiago, preceded by a day of lessons and round tables for women on women's issues and AIDS.

Minute Man and the Milky Way

2009-03-28T15:14:00.000-05:00

After April left on Sunday, I spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday hiking around the island getting papers filled out for site development for a follow-on PCV, pasear-ing (just chatting) with folks after the health fair, and trying to find a ride out for Thursday. I was successful on the first two. But the only ride I heard about for Thursday was with Efrain, my original guia (guide), who lives on the far side of the island. Since it was about a two and a half hour hike to go see him, I called instead, but had to leave messages. I didn't hear anything until Wednesday evening around 6. Efrain was going out, leaving in the madrugada (middle of the night) with some family who was visiting (it is still summer/dry season here and school is still out), but was willing to swing by our house to pick me up. Around 4am he said. I had a ride!

So I got the house ready for leaving, putting the parts of the kitchen (which is outside) in the back room, pouring out the pee container, burning the toilet paper, and taking down all but one of the hammocks. I set the alarm for 3:36am, which would give me more than enough time to get dressed, drink a glass of water, grab some bread, tie up the trash bag to carry out, and sit in the hammock to await the sound of a boat (while Efrain may be fairly timely, we've learned to be patient awaiting rides out, especially in the madrugada; the hammocks go away in the morning). And I went to bed.

"¡KEVIN!"

Huh?

"¡KEVIN!, ¿esta listo?"

OH MY GOSH, I must not have heard my watch alarm! Nor my phone alarm?

"Si Efrain. Uno momento."

What time is it? Wait, it is 3:32am! He's early!

So I hopped up, pulled on my clothes, grabbed my bag, stuck the water filter in the back room, and left the trash and the hammock; Efrain was ready to get back in the boat. My watch alarm to wake up went off as we were pulling out of our cove. I felt like a Minute Man.

But a two hour ride to port starting at 3:30am can be beautiful. There are no lights along the Gulf (it is a RAMSAR Treaty Protected Wetlands Area) and the view of the stars can be amazing. Although there was a stretch where I thought at first that it must have been cloudy, since the stars were almost blurry and the background was greyer / less black. But over the course of the entire ride, that section of "clouds" never moved. I realized this was a different, early morning, section of the Milky Way from the more distinct stars-on-a-whiteish-background portion we can see in the evening, when we more commonly are out looking up at the stars. (My reaction reminded me of Barack Obama's similar description of watching what he initially thought were unmoving clouds over stars while in Kenya in Dreams From My Father, which I'd initially scoffed at, "knowing" what the clear whiter stretch of the evening night sky was.)

That amazing section of the Milky Way and the other constellations and the several shooting stars visible in the vast expanse of sky were also reflected on the mirror smooth water ahead of our wake. Despite the early hour, I kept my watch, like a Minute Man soldier of old, on the ever constant yet ever intriguing view of a clear star-filled night sky free of light pollution.

New Latrine at the School

2009-03-22T23:59:00.000-05:00

The Padres de Familia group at the school recently took the initiative to dig a new pit and build a new cement block latrine at the school. Here is the not-quite-finished result.

Here is why they needed to build it.

The old one was apparently 40 years old, built when the school was in 1967. Because there are fewer students today, they only built two stalls instead of three (one of the old ones was just a shower). Luckily, no one was inside when the old one collapsed. The guy on top is removing the screws from the old roof so they can put it on the new building.

A pretty impressive planning and implementation effort for the Padres de Familia, who didn't feel like waiting for MEDUCA (Ministry of Education) to help fix the issue.

Boat Progress - Painting, roof, tools

2009-03-19T08:53:00.001-05:00

If you've been waiting for an update on Pedro's progress constructing the boat, well, not too much has been happening lately. They are waiting on some more wood to dry we heard. But a few changes happened in the past few months. (BTW, this is a different Pedro from the cattleman who went to the demo farm with me.)

(Pedro working on the sides of the boat)

If you recall the last photo, there were still some boards missing on the sides. Now Pedro has put the sides together, along with most of the top.

(This is most of the tools he's using: a saw, a hammer, a plane, a couple of clamps)

Alex (who did go to the demo farm with me) is the one paying for the boat to be made, and he and his family have been a part of the process too.

(Alex, his wife, and daughter, painting the inside of the boat; supposedly they just didn't have enough of any one color to do it all.)

I can't figure out why they painted the floor, because if he is going to put cattle in it, normally there is a floor of boards over the bottom.

(The current state of the boat, for about a month now)

We'll have another post soon about work on other boats on the island, because the summer/dry season is clearly the time to work on boats.

Visit to Demonstration Farm (and the biggest lemon I've ever seen)

2009-03-16T08:52:00.000-05:00

Back in December, MIDA, the Ministry of Agricultural Development, brought Dario, the owner of a finca de difusion de tecnologia, or demonstration farm, to the island to talk to some of the cattlemen about methods he'd implemented with the guidance of the MIDA tecnicos (extension agents).

I arranged a visit on 20 January to Dario's finca on the mainland so the island cattlemen could see firsthand how he was doing things. They also scored some seeds for the biggest lemon I've ever seen.

(Like all good government projects, there is a sign to explain how the money is being spent)

It turned out only three of the cattlemen were interested and able to go that day, but that was a good number, as they could see everything easily and ask questions without hiding quietly in a crowd. We started just outside his house, where his wife (who is very involved in the farm; they both made the point that it is a family farm and family effort) explained their data keeping methods and financial recording, and why it is important.

That is not something many small farmers think about, the full cost of items from the start to the end; there are stories of farmers selling their crop or animals and thinking they've made a big profit because it is much more than they paid for the seeds or baby animals, but they have never calculated in the intermediate costs of time, fertilizers or food, pesticides or vaccines, or other supplies, and in reality, they are lost money on the deal. It seems most of the larger cattlemen on the island are making money, but they may not be tracking their costs to know how much.

(The group in front of Dario's house, minus Dario. His wife (blue shirt) and two sons (red stripe and black shirts), with Maria de Yepez from MIDA, talked about bookkeeping and family farming.)

Then Dario came back and we headed out into the fields to look at the grasses and other plants he grows to feed the cattle, how he has sub-divided his pasture land to rotate the cattle, and the trees and other products he has incorporated into his farm planning.

(Alex, from the island, walking through a plot of buton de oro, which grows about eight feet tall, has pretty flowers, and is an important component of the silage they produce)

We walked past some other examples of sustainable agriculture as well, including several varieties of compost piles.

(Pedro, from the island, Maria de Yepez, and Dario, talking about compost)

The part that was of primary interest to the cattlemen however, was the chipper/shredder. Dario had talked about making ensilaje, or silage, which is a mix of plants that provide good food for the cattle, and the cattlemen wanted to know more about how hard and how expensive it was. They were surprised at the size (smaller than expected) and the fact that it ran on gas (they'd presumed electricity, since Dario had electricity, which would have ruled it out for them), as well as how easily and quickly it would chop up buton de oro and caña de azucar (sugar cane).

(Julio, who also owns the upper tienda on the island, feeds sugar cane and buton de oro into the chipper shredder)

Julio currently cuts up sugar cane by hand with a machete to feed his cattle, a process he felt was fairly easy. His mind might have been changed by trying out the chipper/shredder.

By all accounts, it was a worthwhile and enlightening trip for the cattlemen from the island and several of them said they intend to implement some of the process they'd observed. Now I just need to follow up with them occasionally to help it happen and encourage them to share what they learn with others on the island.

By late morning, we returned to port. While grabbing lunch before the return boat ride (yes, out and back in one day; while rare, it is possible, especially if you plan it and go with the capitan, who in this case was Pedro), I watched the TV in the restaurant, which for a while was on a live feed of the Presidential Inauguration from the US; as April said, I cried for the national anthem.

Oh, and if you read through all this just to see a picture of the biggest lemon I've ever seen, here you go:

(Pedro, holding up the lemon from Dario's farm that he is going to bring home and collect seeds from to try to grow his own; he told me later it made good lemonaid)

(As far as I know, the big lemon is not a part of the demonstration parts of the farm. When asked what type of lemon it was, the Panamanians said it was a limón chino; they generally apply chino to anything that is much larger/smaller/different from the normal version of itself.)

Our new Solar Oven

2009-03-11T20:51:00.000-05:00

Friends are a wonderful thing...even when they plot behind your back. Little did I know before Tabassum and Linda arrived for a Christmas time visit that they were plotting with our mutual friend Bill to haul a heavy gift to us.

Bill, who owns a business installing irrigation systems, did some work for one of the guys (I hope I got this story right) who works at Solar Household Energy (SHE), a 501(c)(3) not-for profit that makes solar ovens. Well, Bill was hooked with the idea of a solar oven that cooks using only the energy of the sun. He bought one and enjoyed using it.

Bill soon decided that we needed one and so sent us one via two petite couriers. (Linda and Tabassum were really looking forward to leaving that heavy stove at our house...little did they know that they would leave here with bags a little heavier than when they arrived. Thanks for hauling our beach glass collection home!) Due to good protective packaging and careful hauling, the stove arrived in excellent condition. We opened it Christmas day.

Well, I understand why Bill was hooked. It is a pretty cool stove, and works well with full sun. It is incredibly simple and easy to clean. I was also thrilled that I can use the pots as mixing bowls...something that I was lacking. They also serve well for overnight storage of food.

Why cook solar? The Solar Household Energy (SHE) webpage says:

Currently, more than half of the world’s population relies on biomass (wood, animal dung and crop residue) for cooking, according to the U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO). This practice causes disease, economic hardship, and environmental degradation. Modern solar cooking ovens like SHE’s “HotPot” offer practical, affordable, long-term relief.

In our community here in Panamá there is evidence of families that suffer from smoke related illnesses. There is a high incidence of respritory illnesses and colds. A couple of the ladies that we work with have even been advised by their doctors that they should avoid cooking with leña (wood) because of the negative impacts of the smoke on their health.

Of course, we were excited to receive it...and so made bread with it the same day. The first 4 photos below are from our first attempt at bread. I made the dough for a white herbed onion and garlic bread. I covered the dough with oil and put it in the pot...

This is what the whole stove looks like, the mirrored surface makes understanding it's shape a bit more difficult.

Within half an hour of putting it in the sun the glass was steamed up and the pot was really warm to the touch.

The bread turned out really well. It had good flavor and a rich dense even texture. I think that it will work better to let the bread rise more by not pointing it directly into the sun at first. The only problem that I had is that the stove lid catches the evaporation and sends it back into the pot...which is a good thing if cooking soup, a stew, or roasting something, but when cooking bread resulted in a soggy bottom crust.

I also tried rolls...and put them in a bowl inside the pot as a measure of protection from the moisture. They were ok, I think that they overcooked as they were dry and heavy. I will have to try that again. But, they did raise well.

I also cooked a casserole (rice, mushroom soup, veggies, tuna, and a bit of leftover cheese on top) and that cooked wonderfully in about 3 hours. It was enough food for 2.5 meals for the two of us. Below are before and after cooking photos.

Baco's also gave this casserole a good flavor boost.

Other things that I have cooked?

rice (too sticky from long slow cooking),

eggs (hardboiled well without water),

brownies (my first failure as the sun clouded over about 45 min after putting out the stove...but I cooked them on the stove top as normal and did not mind the excuse to eat a little brownie batter)

Zucinni / pumpkin bread (done 3 times now and a big hit with everyone who trys it)

Water (heated to do laundry with hot water...best for the dirtiest clothing)

With direct hot sunlight things cook well, taking about 2 or 3 times as long as normal. This can be an issue if you need to go somewhere or the weather changes. Reheating foods is also possible and doesn't take terribly long. Wind, clouds and curious kids standing between it and the sun can all increase cooking time.

This stove offers a good alternative to fuel based cooking for some types of cooking. It is not a perfect alternative. Solar cooking is more suited to slow cooking foods and can not make fast cooking foods (can't fry with it for example). In our community here in Panama, this might mean that it would receive limited use...maybe for beans and soups and roasts, but it is too cool for frying and cooks rice so slowly that it is more sticky than most would like. It is not reasonable to think that people will change their traditional diet to use a new type of stove, when they still have access to the means to cook traditionally. In areas where the situation is more dire this stove would be more fully utilized out of necessity. Please do not interpret this to mean that my neighbors would not use it, rather it would be one of many cooking methods.

All in all, I am a fan of the solar stove and plan on continuing to try new foods. I particularly want to try to roast a whole chicken without oil or water like the directions book says you can...I think that that might just confirm my "wizard cooking abilities" in the minds of my nieghbors if it goes well. We like it so well that we plan on hauling it (even though it is HEAVY) to the next volunteer conference here in Panamá so other volunteers can see it too.

A big THANKS to Bill and his helpful couriers Linda and Tabassum for this wonderful and very appropriate gift. Our plan is to pass it along to another PVC when we finish here in Panamá so another volunteer (and their curious community) can enjoy it too.

Palm Wine

2009-03-09T14:39:00.000-05:00

(Photos uploaded by April; text by Kevin)

There are lots of reasons to chop down a tree. Cut it into lumber. Make Firewood. Clear a field. Because it threatened to drop a branch on the house. Because it drops stinky fruit on our porch.

Recently we encountered a new reason: because it makes a vina de palma, or palm wine.

(April and Ancelmo at a felled palm; he will scoop the wine and fill that small container. It is hard to see the trunk of the tree for all of the fronds around it...but he is working with the trunk.)

On Ash Wednesday (in other words, the day after four days of Carnaval fun had finished), I was pasear-ing around the island to tell folks about a meeting on Saturday. My last stop was at Ancelmo and Paula's house. They had been our first host family on the island and are always glad to see us. This time, Ancelmo was even more amigable (friendly) than normal; for him Wednesday was the day to finish up anything (alcohol) that hadn't been consumed during the previous four days. After chatting for a bit, they asked if I wanted to see the vina.

Well, I wasn't sure what that was, but I agreed to follow them up into a field. They assured me that it was not that far...and sure enough we soon arrived at where they were making vina de palma and I finally understood. After realizing what it was we were after, and enjoying some good vina (not as much as Ancelmo), I agreed to bring April back the next day. These pictures are from that visit.

The palm (not all types of palms work for this; some are used for their fronds to make roofs, this one is used for wine) is cut down and a hole is cut in the side, near the former top of the tree. There are other countries where palm trees are tapped to make wine rather than cut down, but in the island these trees are basically weeds that are allowed to grow for a few years just so they can be cut to make wine.

(The hole in the side of the tree)

The sap continues to climb the tree for about ten days afterward, where it collects enough to empty the hole twice a day. The sap contains natural yeasts that start fermentation immediatly and naturally.

(Ancelmo scooping the vina from the hole)

The other option, besides scooping out all the vina into a container to bring back to the house, is to cut a reed that serves as a straw, and enjoy some vina right there in the midst of the long, dangerous thorns that cover the palm.

(Me following Ancelmo's directions to try some more, try some more)

So how does it taste? If you empty the hole, the next time it will have a very warm initial taste followed by an almost sweet vina. That was how it was the first afternoon I was there. Take a long sip, because while the first taste may be a shock, the rest is better.

But (possibly due to his enjoyment of other beverages earlier that day), they didn't bring the cup to scoop out the hole that first day, this left some of the wine fermenting for another 24 hours. So when we returned with April the next day, the vina had fermented a bit more, and was, as even Ancelmo put it, fuerte (strong).

(My reaction on day two shows the difference in flavor and strength)

To keep the sap flowing, after emptying the hole you need to carve off the upper-most layer of the heart of the palm. Like a Christmas tree, this keeps it from sealing over.

(Anclemo using his machete to scrape off the leading edge of the palm heart)

Then before you leave, the hole is re-covered with the chunks from cutting it, as well as some of the spikey palm fronds, to protect it from ants, bees, animals, dogs, horses, and neighbors.

(Ancelmo putting the frond over the chunks in the hole)

The day April and I visited, we didn't partake much of the vina, since it had developed such a strong flavor. But the first day, I'd been hiking and chatting for about four hours by the time I arrived there, and I was thristy. And Ancelmo kept saying, try some more, try some more. The sun was setting, and I needed to walk fast to get back at least to the sidewalk before it got too dark to go safely over the rocky trails.

But the sky and clouds were turning beautiful colors and we were hanging out in the middle of a field drinking from a recently cut palm tree. I just couldn't feel in a hurry to leave. Using a straw, I have no idea how much I sipped, but it wasn't too strong that day, and I made it home happy and safely.

Estufa Lorena - the first fire

2009-03-07T09:00:00.002-05:00

We recently made an Estufa Lorena or earthen stove with Cecilia and Eduardo. We were pretty excited about it and that made waiting the 30 days for it to dry pretty hard for those of us who are impatient at times (who? me? never!). Luckily, our many guests came along and being guides for them took our minds off of the stove...and before we knew it the time for lighting the stove was here.

Cecilia and her family did a fabulous job taking care of the stove while it was drying. They did layers of mud and later ash every two or three days as directed on the calendar that we made them to follow. That ability to follow directions is rare in any community, but spectacular here. As a result of their daily work, the stove was beautiful. It looked almost like cement and was wonderfully smooth and dry. Unknown to us, Cecilia had carved our initials into the front of it very prominently to remember us as she uses the stove. Of course, that just upped the ante on hoping the darn thing worked well.Below is a view of the inside of the firebox (admittedly not the prettiest view) which allows you to see the upward slant of the smoke tunnel as it heads to the second burner. This style of stove uses the hot air for 2 or 3 pots to get the most efficient use of the wood being burned. In the back you can see bits of the original brown clay that she did not cover.Here is the firebox with a fire in it. Getting it to burn well took some practice, Cecilia is used to really packing in the wood (because normally the fire is in an open area) but this smothered the fire a bit in the stove. You can see the pot on the burner, positioned just above the main body of the fire. Despite good pot placement we had a hard time getting the pot to boil...it formed little bubbles on the bottom but never reached a rolling boil. Not having a rolling boil is a problem, without it no woman would be happy with this stove. We decided that we needed to adjust 3 things:

Sand the indents where the pot sits for a better flush seal between pot and stove (and less smoke would escape too).
Make the burner holes bigger to allow more heat passage to the pot. This limits how small a pot she can use, but made the rolling boil possible.
Adjust the angle of the roof of the firebox to slope inwards so the smoke would head towards the back and the chimney...not out the mouth of the firebox.

In a true show of self motivation, Cecilia did all of these changes while we were out of town...unheard of! She did a wonderful job...even adding clay to the mouth of the stove in a test to see if that helps to limit the blowback when the wind changes direction. She is an amazing woman. The best part is, after the changes she got the ultimate reward: seeing her changes make her stove work better...she got a rolling boil and cooked her first pot of rice with it.

We were able to use the photo above to illustrate that you can use smaller diameter wood effectively with this stove. The wood on the left is the size she would normally use...a bit bigger than my wrist. The wood on the right is smaller, about the size of my thumb. Both can be used, but normally they would not bother to collect the smaller stuff which is typically blown down rather than cut down.

Below is Kevin with the stove that first burn day...note the temperary chimney. They will make a permanent chimney when they finish the new roof (hopefully before rainy season!). Having only a temporary chimney has served well to illustrate how much better the stove works with a chimney. Cecilia is excited about cooking without so much smoke and heat. This could be a good life change for her, and if anyone can take care of this stove and make it last for 20 years it is her.

So what is next? Well, tenemos ganas (we have the desire) to make a stove at the school where the mothers cry from the smoke and sweat from the heat almost every day as they cook lunch. But community development means you do what the community wants to do to better themselves. With that in mind we have a meeting at Cecilia's house on March 5th with the mothers who do the cooking at the shool. The goal is to show them the stove, explain what it is, how we made it, and what are the pros and cons of this type of stove...and then ask if they want one and will work with us to build it with them. I think that they will want one...I mean it is cheap, cooler, safer, no smoke, and less wood to burn. But vamos a ver (we will see) what they want and go from there.

Estufa Lorena - mud day

2009-03-04T14:38:00.001-05:00

It took numerous trips to Cecilia and Eduardo's house to get everything ready, but we finally made their estufa lorena! Here are the photos and story of the preparation steps and construction day. Watch for another post on the finished product.

Preparation
The first step was collecting the materials. The ingredients list is pretty simple: barro (soil with a fairly high clay content), arena (sand), estiércol (horse or cow poo), and agua (water). We had actually collected barro and estiercol a while ago with them, and stored it in their chicken coop. The problem came when we did a soil test.

(Results from a good soil test; note the layers - at the top, orangish water that will eventually settle to clear, then a half inch layer of clay, then an orangish soil layer, then the big stuff at the bottom of the 2-liter. Color is not very important, this one just happened to be an orangish soil)

The soil we had collected at Cecilia and Eduardo's didn't show a nice clear thick layer of clay. In a 2 liter bottle test you fill it 1/4 way with soil and hope for 3/4-1 inch of clay. Without enough clay content, the "brick" that becomes the stove wouldn't hold together well. So we had to search for different soil.

We tried a couple other spots near their house, but they didn't have better layers, and Eduardo found a seam of pure clay near the shore, but that wouldn't mix with the other ingredients well, it just formed small balls and rolled off. Finally, we hiked ten minutes up into their pasture and collected small pea sized clay chunks from an ant hill; the ants dig down into the ground to make their home and dump the more clay heavy soil around their hole. The pile was probably two feet tall and three feet around, and was more than enough to augment our existing pile of low-clay soil.

The estiercol was the next problem. It is best collected in dry lumps of cow or horse manure, but it needs to be more of a dust to mix with the other ingredients. So Cecilia and Eduardo ended up putting it in their pilon and pilar-ing it to get it into a dust. (Click here to see a video of pilar-ing rice.)

The arena was simple, since they live on one of the best sandy beaches on the island. The water was not too hard either.

The last prep step was building a base for the stove. Cecilia wanted a cement table, although any really strong table like a packed earth or stone will work too. We measured the height she would want her pots to be at, then subtracted the height of the estufa, and came up with a two-cement-block-high table. Many of the stove tables in our community are too darn tall (some are too tall even for April) because the men build then without considering how tall the cook is.

(Eduardo and Kevin constructing the walls of the table; we left the front open for storage of wood or pots)

Eduardo built the tabletop while we were out of site one time, a pro-active bit of workmanship that was quite pleasant to encounter. So everything was ready and we set a date for the construction. We let other community members know the date, because we figured we would need some help, and we hoped all would go well.

Construction

The morning of construction, we had three youth from the community, including Julito, who had accompanied me to another volunteer's site nearly a year ago to build a couple of estufas, and then Maria Luisa came as well. It was a good thing we had that many helpers, because with collecting an extra sacko of clay from the ant hill, building the formuleta (wooden frame, held together by nails and bailing wire), mixing all the ingredients, and packing them in, it was a long hard day. Luckily, the construction site was under a tree, providing us nice shade. Before rainy season returns, they will reconstruct the roof over the stove.

(The first load of the mix is dumped into the formuleta and packing begins; Eduardo, Maria Luisa, Cecilia, and April ensure the corners are well packed too)

The formuleta was made from lumber cut on the island. The pieces we'd purchased originally turned out to be an inch or so too short, so we had to cobble together an extra piece to make it tall enough. It didn't impact the end result, but it did delay the start as we cut extra pieces of wood.

Normally the soil mixture is made in parts, instead of all at once because that would be just too much volume to mix with a shovel. The ratio of ingredients is important, as it needs to be damp but not wet, clumpy but not sticky, etc. Each batch is tested with a ball test...a ball the size of a baseball is made and then dropped from shoulder height. In a good mix the ball will land and flatten out to about 1/2 round and show no big cracks. If the test doesn't go well you adjust the mixture until it tests well.

Once it is dumped into the formaleta, it is packed, using a big packer in the middle and smaller ones around the edge to ensure that all parts are well compacted. It is added and packed layer by layer to ensure that it is well packed.

(Eduardo using the big packer, a chunk of wood covered in a sacko so it doesn't stick to the mix)

When the formuleta was finally filled, the last touches of packing took place.

(You can see the formuleta bulging in the front right corner, pulling out the nails, from all the pounding and packing of the soil. Bulging is common at this stage as it is hard to imagine just how much force you are applying to the wood while packing... it is hard to get people to build the box strong enough to not have bulging.)

Once the formulate was packed full, it was time for lunch, and then we began to remove the wooden frame.

(Maria Luisa and Eduardo removing nails from the formuleta)

The idea is to be able to use the same formuleta on multiple stoves. We'll have to see if our wood is still in good enough shape to use it again.

(Maria Luisa and Kevin looking at the packed mud as the final pieces of the formuleta are removed)

Once the formuleta is totally removed, it is time to carve out the firebox, the "burners", the chimney hole, and the tunnels connecting them.

(Cecilia, as the ama de casa, or woman of the house, ceremonially began the carving, cutting out the mud for the mouth of the firebox)

It helps to have a child assist at this point, since their small hands work better than big ones in carving the small tunnels with limited access. There should be twenty centimeters between the front of the stove and the first burner, and ten centimeters between all the other holes (in this case, two burners and a chimney) and the edges.

(Cecilia working on the mouth of the firebox, and her daughters Rosaria and Soray carving out the big and small burners respectively)

While the holes are mostly carved with spoons, we also trim off the edges with a machete to remove any sharp edges, both for a smoother result and to diminish the risk of uneven drying and thus cracking. You finish off by using water to smooth out the whole surface and make it pretty.

Then, you have to wait for about thirty days for the mixture to slowly dry. Early on, each day you should apply a watery clay mixture to ensure even drying; later, it becomes an ash mixture instead, to seal it.

(April with her hand in the main burner - the firebox is hidden in the darkness of the front side - a few days after construction)

The actual construction was done by mid-afternoon, a very full day's work. Late that afternoon, as we walked, exhausted, back to the house, we noted the clouds building and thought, how funny, here it is the summer dry season, and we might get rain. But it wasn't until we got home and the rain started pounding down that we thought, OH CRAP! THE STOVE WILL BE NOTHING BUT A PILE OF MUD! and tried to call Cecilia. We left messages on her phone and her daughter's, and hoped. Luckily, they thought of it as well and put a piece of zinc over the stove, saving all our hard work from immediate ruin.

Keep an eye out...a post about the first lighting of the stove is coming up soon!

Paul and Sandy's Visitor View

2009-03-02T08:00:00.001-05:00

Paul & Sandy’s Visit to Panama 1/28/09-2/9/09
“Short” Recap

Q1: How was Panama what you expected?

Panama was about what we expected. Panama is a large metropolitan city surrounded by neighborhoods of varying levels of socioeconomic conditions. We were slightly surprised (but probably should not have been) how poorly many Panamanians live.

Q2: How was it different than what you expected?

The most striking thing for me that was different than I expected was how many Panamanians have cell phones. Regardless of living conditions, they often having more than one phone, and they use them regularly.

About the weather - Absolutely terrific the entire time. Even though it was the dry season and has little rain, we had a 5 day stretch where it rained each day, but not enough to change or alter any of our plans. Temps hovered around 90 during the day with a breeze and maybe high 70s in the evening for lows.

About insects – maybe it was because it was the dry season, yet we had little contact with them on our skin. I saw only a few mosquitoes flitting about. I was gnawed on by some no-see-ums a few times but probably only because I washed the bug repellent off when I washed my hands. We were infested with tiny micro sized ticks after our trip to Barro Colorado, and spent a day or so picking them off of us as we discovered them. They were hardly a nuisance, and since they don’t carry Lyme disease, we were not worried.

The little dot to the left of the penny is a tick

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

When we returned to the US, I was struck and moved by the US immigrations officer’s declaration as we were leaving his station, “Welcome back Home folks.”

Q4: What was your best moment in Panama?

See below about walking to the tienda on the island.

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

Concerning April & Kevin’s life in Panama, I was struck on how connected they were to the Cuerpo de Paz (Peace Corps) organization in Panama. I certainly didn’t realize they had so much contact with the organization on a regular basis. I also get the sense that they don’t fully realize the impact they are having on the people they work with on the island and in the Peace Corps organization. April’s & Kevin’s Spanish is outstanding, and it was great fun watching them negotiate and arrange things in Spanish.

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

Sandy’s and my visit to Panama to visit Abril y Kevin consisted of three parts:
1. A few days in Santa Fe, Veraguas, an hour and a half north of Santiago
2. Several days on their island
3. Four days in Panama City

Our trip getting to Panama was eventful only in that winter descended on Cincinnati the day before our departure, which resulted in our flight from Cincinnati to Miami being cancelled at the last minute. This cascaded into us flying to Ft. Lauderdale and taking a taxi to Miami; then missing our scheduled flight to Panama. Yet, somehow we managed to get to Panama just a couple of hours later than our original scheduled arrival time.

After wading through Immigration and Customs in Panama, we found Abril y Kevin waiting for us. They were with Brian Naranjo, part of April & Kevin’s Embassy host family in Panama. When in Panama City, April & Kevin stay with them, thus saving some money. Brian is the senior political officer for the State Department at the US Embassy in Panama. Now, as most of you know, I am NOT a big fan of our federal government, particularly the State Department which I feel is a big unwieldy bureaucracy, yet after visiting with Brian and Devon, I am happy we have people like him representing the interests of the US abroad. If all State Department political officers were like him, we would be in good shape.

One of first things we learned about Panama is that Panama has a pretty decent transportation system. Not sophisticated but serviceable. The buses between most major cities are large and clean. There are plenty of mini-buses or “coaster buses” to go between smaller places. Now in Panama they play the game “How many people can you cram into a mini-bus?” There may be seats for 30 but you can actually cram 40-50 into one of these things, with people getting on and off the entire trip. Luggage that can’t fit in the small luggage compartment gets tied on top. In most of the cities there are plenty of taxis.

In Panama City, the bus system around town consists primarily of the famous Diablos Rojos (Red Devils) which are retired American school buses painted and decorated. The drivers of these buses compete for passengers and often race each other to bus stops, since the more passengers they carry, they more they make. Diablos Rojos are considered dangerous, and the government appears to be taking steps to bring these buses under government control, replacing the privately owned Diablo Rojos buses with a conventional public metropolitan bus system.

Santa Fe. The first few days were spent in the mountainous area of Santa Fe. The tallest mountains in Panama are only about 3,000 feet high [Editor's correction: The highest point in the country is the Volcán Barú (formerly known as the Volcán de Chiriquí), which rises to 3475 meters / 11401 ft. but we did not go out that far West. Where we were in Santa Fe is at 400m / 1312ft. above sea level.], so the weather change between Santa Fe and Panama City or even Abril y Kevin's island wasn’t all that dramatic. Maybe just a few degrees or so cooler in general.

We spent our days relaxing (a common theme for our trip), and wandering around seeing things. We learned that many if not most of the homes and places to stay in rural Panama are “open air,” no glass in windows, lots of open doors. The hostel we stayed at was essentially a bamboo log home without the chinking between the bamboo logs. Nevertheless, for our entire stay in Panama, we really didn’t need any more than a sheet for cover at night.

View from Hostel terrace

In Santa Fe and everywhere else we found the Panamanian people happy and engaging people, despite many of them living in what we would consider very poor conditions. There were two highlights to our trip to Santa Fe. The first was a tour of a coffee farm and coffee processing plant.

Sandy & me during walk to coffee farm

Our Guide Francisco for the coffee farm & plant trip

The second was our visit to the Santa Fe Feria, sort of like a county fair. We had a good time there sampling Panamanian food. Sandy even had a Panamanian specialty, spiral sliced hot dog on a stick cooked on a grill made from an old tire rim. At this feria is where April told us her philosophy about Panamanian food. Initially, upon arriving in Panama, she was determined to try everything offered her. Now she has two rules:
1. No endangered species, and
2. No food with hair still on it;

April either ordering or saying “There is still hair there.”

Nevertheless, the food we ate was very good. I particularly liked the potato salad made with beets (I don’t even like beets) which gave the potato salad kind of a purple hue.

April & Kevin talking worms and compost at the Feria

On our first morning in Santa Fe we were introduced to the Panamanian alarm clock system. About 5:30 am or so, some rooster in some distant place in Santa Fe or outside decided to do its version of pathetic cockle doodle doing. Before long, the entire community of roosters (and there are a lot of them) were doing their thing, followed by dogs barking and cows mooing. Eventually, as it began to get light, even workers started using tools and making noise. April & Kevin slept through it. Sandy & I sort of laughed at all the noise, wide awake. Since we were around roosters every day except when in Panama City, we often experienced it; although Sandy got to the point she actually slept through it a couple of times on the island.

The Island. After Santa Fe we made our way to Abril y Kevin's island via a night’s stay in Santiago to stock up for groceries. We left early the following morning to a cute little port town an hour south of Santiago where April and Kevin depart for their island. Upon arriving, April found we had a couple of choices for rides. April, Sandy & I hitched a ride with Búho (Booho) in a nice fast fiberglass boat. Kevin went with Carlos and family in their slower wooden, leaky boat, only because we had our “cargo” loaded into Carlos’ boat already. We waved at Kevin as we passed them on the way to the island.

Island dead ahead!

One of the things that was remarkable to me was that on maps it appears that there is more water between the islands. In a boat it seems that the mainland or other islands were close by all the time.

A low tide view from April & Kevin's island of the small island off theirs and the mainland beyond

Living on the island reminded me of camping. The typical routine while there was get up, eat breakfast, relax, do something, have lunch, relax or maybe do something, cook and eat dinner as it is getting dark, clean up, play cards by candlelight, take cool showers and hit the sack. I think Sandy managed a nap each day. The last three days, April put out her camp shower water bag, so that in the evening we had a few bowls full of warm water to rinse off with. What decadence! But it felt good.

The outside of April & Kevin’s house

A view of the inside of the house

The first day we were visited by 10-15 islanders welcoming April & Kevin back to the island, and also I am sure checking out her Gringo parents. The last day we were there, we had two families come over for lunch. Now April uses a lot of vegetables in her cooking, and the islanders do not, so they are usually wary of April’s cooking, yet despite the looks and smirks, for the most part they ate what they were given. After lunch, the men played dominoes and the women bingo. I think we all had a good time.

April, Kevin, and Sandy relaxing on the rocks after a walk to a beach

Besides the joy of seeing April & Kevin in general, I think my favorite part of the time in Panama was when Sandy & I took a walk after breakfast the second day there up the sidewalk past the school to Carlos’ tienda, where we managed to order cold sodas ($0.40 each,) and then sat around there for awhile trying to converse with people very different (but the same) from us and feeling comfortable doing so.

Paul & Sandy on a hike around part of the island

Sandy and a young woman spent some time trading words in Spanish and English looking through the Peace Corps calendar that the young woman had. Big smiles all around. I am sure they got a hoot from us Gringos. After that Sandy and I walked back past April & Kevin’s place and sat on the step by the Casa Comunal (community center) overlooking the bay for about a half hour, just enjoying the view and the time together.

The palm trees near the Casa Comunal

In general, what I took away from the island was that it is clear the islanders love Kevin & April a lot, and that April & Kevin have made a difference in their lives. In fact they mentioned that they really don’t want a new volunteer when April & Kevin’s term expires, they have the volunteers they want!

Panama City. We spent three full days in Panama City, not counting the travel day to get there and the day we left. It was action packed. Friday we spent at Barro Colorado Island, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the middle of Lake Gatun, in the northern half of the Panama Canal. It was a nice visit, yet I came away a bit disappointed, and can’t quite put my finger on why. We saw plenty of animals and plants, and the hike was nice. April felt it too and we think maybe it was because we didn’t hear much about what projects are currently going on and what the various scientists are finding out. Nevertheless, it in general was a fun day.

Wilma (our guide) and me looking at something

Kevin checking out the Big Tree

April & Kevin at Barro Colorado

April & Kevin by Big Tree

Saturday we spent doing a partial transit of the southern half of the Panama Canal, starting at Gamboa and ending in the Pacific Ocean. It really was pretty neat.

The narrow Gaillard Cut

It was clear Sandy had a great time, and it was great fun watching her jumping around, standing on benches to get a better view. When asked if she wanted her picture taken for a little certificate that proved she transited the Canal, she stated “Yes!”

On the Pacific Queen by the Centenary Bridge

And talk about small world, after calling Kevin’s Dad and Hilary and Grandma Miller, they were able to see our boat going through the Miraflores locks on the Panama Canal webcam.

Leaving the Pedro Miguel Locks

In first lock of Miroflores locks

Leaving Miroflores locks

After we returned to Amador Marina, we wandered around the Amador Causeway, and had a pleasant meal at the restaurant Leños & Carbon.

The Bridge of the Americas marks the beginning (or end) of the canal

Sunday started out with a ride on a Diablo Rojo to where we started the day shopping for souvenirs, then wandering around Casca Veijo, and finally having April & Kevin buy us dinner for our 30th anniversary (just a few weeks ago).

A decked out Diablo Rojo “Red Devil”

A bright yellow building in Casco Antiguo

A Cathedral in Casco Antiguo

Monday we headed back to the USA. :(

Ngöbe Dancing

2009-02-27T23:51:00.003-05:00

(Kevin was logged in when I uploaded the videos, but this is really April.)

I recently worked as a Facilitator and Team Leader at the Project Management and Leadership (PML) conference for Group 61 Volunteers and their Community Counterparts. The PML conference teaches very basic leadership skills (how to use an agenda, how to write a letter to an agency, how to speak about your project to others, how to run a meeting) to Panamanians. All of the participants are chosen for having demonstrated leadership potential in their community.

One evening during PML is Cultural Evening, with sharing of aspects of culture. Conference participants are told before they come that they will have a chance to share their culture with the group and thus come prepared with crafts and demonstrations planned. Several volunteers are serving in Ngöbe sites. The Ngöbe are an indigenous peoples living mostly in the Comarca Ngöbe Bugle, between Bocas del Toro, Chiriquí, and Veraguas. They shared, along with their volunteers, several of the dances from their culture.

Below are videos clips of a couple of the dances that they shared with us. In the videos notice the clothing...the women are wearing traditional nagua dresses. A nagua dress is characterized by the voluminous quantity of brightly colored material and the intricate hand sewn designs along the collar, sleeves, hem and waist. By brightly colored I mean teals, bright pinks, yellow, orange, reds, greens. I have occasionally seen naguas in pastels or patterned materials...but that is rare. I have been told that this style of dress dates back to the arrival of religious missionaries who taught the Ngöbe Bugle that it was better to dress modestly. Before that time the Ngöbe Bugle wore less covering clothing (cooler in this climate).

Thanks to Patrick for the videos, I did not have my camera in the room...so he shared with me.

Each dance has a specific name, just as each design on their dresses has a name...but the name for this on was in Ngöbera and it did not stick to my English -bound brain.

The above dance was called the Drunkard, and as I am writing this post on a day in the middle of carnival, I can say that there is some real resemblance to drunken dancing

The above dance, the only one executed in a circle, was called the Monkey. The volunteers that you see in the videos live in Ngöbe communities and were included just like all the Ngöbe Bugle in the room in the dance. It was pretty cool. I will be doing another PML seminar at the end of March...so I will look for more interesting culture to share with you.

Kori's Visitor View

2009-02-23T08:17:00.001-05:00

April's friend from college, Kori, works at YMCA Camp Willson in Ohio. She came down to visit us over New Year's, right after Tabassum and Linda, and shared some time with them and with Kristin. A woman of few words (unless you catch one of her standup comedy routines or knitting seminars), here are her responses to the visit questions.

(Kori and April at the airport upon her arrival)

Q1: How was Panama what you expected?

I traveled with open expectations. I was humbled by being an "the foreigner" and have a better respect for the International students who travel here for the summer camp employment

(Employing those summer camp attitudes of try anything, Kori competes with our neighbor in a game of pop-the-head-off-the-clover)

Q2: How was it different than what you expected?

I did not expect to see so much influence from the States. I was suprised to see so many movie and tv references in all the communities I visited.

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

time, schedules, and busy "Americans"

Q4: What was your best moment in Panama?

Either the "conversation" with the old man on the pony by the river in Sante Fe or the bus ride to the Ruins of Panama City.

(April and Kori in an archway in Panama Viejo)

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

Candle-light dinners

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

On our island exit morning, we were waiting for the boat and playing the guessing game for when it would arrive. We had plenty of time to watch the falling stars and the sun rise. Yes, sleep is good, but so is seeing such peaceful beauty.

I look forward to another trip to the Island and have looked at flights for the spring.

Long shot job

2009-02-22T09:00:00.001-05:00

As we move under six months remaining in our Peace Corps service, everyone (friends, family, fellow PCVs, our bosses, ourselves) is asking, "What are you doing next?"

We've been discussing (there is a lot of time for talking when the sun goes down by 6:30 and you don't have electricity) grad school, the National Park Service, organic farms in Vermont, applying our tropical island agriculture experience in Hawai'i, and numerous other crazy schemes, including returning to Maryland. And we try to keep an eye on the jobless rate in the states too, because while the pay isn't great, an extension in Peace Corps is a job that provides enough to live on.

But the current iron in the fire, if we were to get really lucky, would take us from "the toughest job you'll ever love" to "the best job in the world"? (Google those two terms and the top hits will explain the jobs.)

So, after staying up way to late to finish up the last details, here is my application for "the best job in the world". Turn on the sound.

If you want to see some of other 14,000 applicants they've supposedly gotten, try http://www.islandreefjob.com/. To see my video, look under the country of Panama (this post was written before they had approved my video, so I couldn't provide a link). The close date for applying is 22 Feb (hmmm, that's today; I guess I scheduled the posting of this blog just right so that you couldn't read it, apply, and bump me out of the running :) and they will announce the final 50 videos on 2 March, so check back then to see if I made it!

Kristin's Visitor View

2009-02-19T07:48:00.001-05:00

Our friend Kristin went to college with April and has lived near us in Baltimore for several years. She, along with Kori, came down over New Years, just after Linda and Tabassum visited. After Kori left, Kristin then took a short trip to Kuna Yala (accompanied by April "for her Spanish help" - I think it was a boondoggle for April to get some more snorkeling), and then spent two more weeks of traveling around Panama on her own. Her last day in Panama was the night April's folks arrived, and we caught up with her again that day. Here are her impressions of her trip, which, while more free-form, I've tried to group with our questions.

Q1: How was Panama what you expected?

In a way Panama was what I expected but at the same time I tried to keep an open mind. I did have an (apparently good) idea of what to expect, mostly from blog info and from talking with April throughout their time here. I also had been to Peru a few years ago and Panama City reminds me of Lima, Peru. Hot, sprawling and congested, but still with plenty of historical places to see as long as you are willing to sweat while you adventure out.

(The famous flat arch in Casco Antiguo; having stood for hundreds of years, it was deemed a sign that Panama was safe enough from earthquakes to build a canal there)

(Another perhaps not so historical place; worth sweating for?)

Q2: How was it different than what you expected?

I was surprised to learn that water is safe to drink in all of Panama. I really didn´t expect that.

(The water is safe, but sometimes you have to be careful of what your friends tell you to take a bite of. Butt-in comment from April- hey, that is a marañón, the fruit that grows just below a cashew nut. It was a perfectly edible fruit kindly donated for our tasting pleasure by ouir bus driver who had een planning on eating it, this was not a trick taste testing. April tried it as well, just after taking this photo despite seeing Kristin´s reaction.)

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

What struck me about the US is that no one says hello to you. In Panama, you say Buenas dias, or some variation to many people all day long. Then you ask how they are, then you say what you need to say. They like the greetings. They look you in the eye. Most of that does not happen here. That will take some getting used to. That's a basic level of humanity I think is lacking here.

But, I do have to say, that when the customs people said "Welcome home", that was nice. Even if I would be shortly facing glassy Baltimore ice, while still itching bug bites and wearing sandals.

Q4: What was your best moment in Panama?

For question 4 I will divide up my answer, since I was in Panama for 4 weeks, 2 with April and Kevin and 2 without them.

Panama With April and Kevin
I really enjoyed the evenings of cooking, playing cards and talking as these are some of the things I've missed the most while they have been gone.

(Cooking shrimp) (Cleaning lobster)

(Salted fish) (Making maracuya, or passion fruit, juice)

I really enjoyed seeing how the people in their community respond to them when they would see them. It's obvious that they have developed real friendships with many people on the isla.

(Kevin and April and several kids in front of the tienda, after English class)

One of the funniest things was on one bus (I don't remember where we were going) it got so crowded, that Kori and I were on one side and April and Kevin on the other and there were so many people in the aisle that I could not even see them anymore. I did get a glimpse at one point and both of them had babies on their laps (whoever is sitting on these buses gets to hold a baby if one needs to be held). I would have liked a photo of that one, but there was no space to get it. (I was on only one other bus that was more crowded, that was on my last day on the way to the canal. I don't think I had space to turn around and even try to count heads. The lady sitting next to me said it was Mal servicio - bad service.)

(Not sure how this didn't rate as Kristin's funniest bus moment - check the rearview mirror)

Other highlights:

seeing Kuna Yala with April for a few days. That was an adventure just getting there! It's exactly what you think of when you think of a Carribean Island.

April's cooking on the island, I swear she could pull a rabbit out of a hat. She always has some plan going on in that cabeza of hers...

Being able to have April and Kevin ask anyone pretty much any question we had. We were much more able to get to know random Panamainians with their conversations. Something someone couldn't do if you can't communicate in the language. People, once you started talking with them were very open and sharing. Witnessing this also made me try it a few times later on my own. I couldn't find out as much information, but I could get some. And usually, it would turn into a random English/Spanish lesson. They seemed as nervous about their English as I was about my Spanish. It was nice when we both made an effort.

Panama Alone
Spending more time in the country was nice. Traveling alone was fine, as I could meet up with other random travelers and find out information about the next place. Plus, I had gotten a crash course from A & K about culture tips.

On my last day in Boquete, I went on one of those tree-top zip line trips. It was about 15 lines, up around 6000 feet. It was a chilly morning and I had on all my layers (2) so I thought I would freeze the whole time. But, then I realized how much work it was, so I was fine. I had gone with another traveler I had met and then we met another family traveling from the US. We all had a good time. In the afternoon, I ended up going with this family to some nearby hot springs. They had a rental car, so it was easy to get there (something I wouldn't have seen otherwise). It was a little too hot out to be sitting in hot springs for long, so we ended up relaxing in the river for most of our time, with a few dips in the hot water.

I ended the day by eating at a place they recommended and a type of food I didn't think I would be eating in Panama: Mediterean. Homemade hummus, pita, and falafeal. And just when I was thinking about the cheesecake... they all walked in to have dessert. After, they dropped me off at my hotel. It was a great combination day of working hard, meeting new people and eating good food.

Here's a picture of a meal I had in Cerra Punta. It was freezing there!

* soup w/ zapallo (I recognized this from w/ you guys)
* strawberry shake (the book said you had to have strawberries here, so I did!)
* very good roasted chicken w/ rice and beans. I still love beans.
* a decent salad, and
* lunch time reading.

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

As far as your day to day lives, I wasn´t too surprised since your blog is so accurate! Although, reading about a composting toilet and seeing one in action are two different things... :-)

I more understand the process to get things done there (although, I´m sure not even close to completely understanding it). Things seem to be done is small doses. A step here, a step there, maybe several days apart. A little information shared in this conversation or that. From April and Kevin´s point of view, with an end goal or plan in mind the whole time. The planning and patience involved is very high. The satisfaction of accomplishment maybe takes longer to realize.

But the thing I noticed about A & K's lives was the amount of planning everything takes. EVERYTHING. Everything is a lot more work. Many times it would seem a more basic life, without as many complications, but it isn't less work; it's more. April is very organized and has things down, but to get to this point I'm sure it took a lot of trial and error.

Tabassum's Visitor View

2009-02-16T08:21:00.000-05:00

Tabassum, a friend from our Maryland Search and Rescue (MSAR) Venture Crew visited us over Christmas with another friend, Linda. Here are Tabassum's reflections on the visit and Panama. Linda's reflections posted a few days ago.

(Tabassum and Kevin in the boat to the island on Christmas Eve)

Q1: How was Panama what you expected?

Well, I think it was definitely the temperature that I expected, with the poverty level and infrastructure that I expected, although at different points I was very surprised by the layout of the land. I expected the mindset of individuals to be more laid-back, and was not disappointed to find a simpler way of life overall, especially within the island community. I also expected food to be cheap, and was not disappointed! :)

Q2: How was it different than what you expected?

I was amazed to orient myself from East to West instead of North to South, because the landscape seemed so diverse, with mountains in the middle of the country and shoreline at the edges. It seemed as though each time we were journeying, there were mountains and water on either side. That was different from the US, even with the MSAR experience.

I was amazed to find rather odd animals on the island and odd sounds with lizards and birds that sang. It really made me feel at peace in a different way than if I had gone out to the woods and wilderness here. Everything looks different, the sky, water, stars, sun, birds, trees, it's beautiful and serene but enchanted was the word that kept coming to mind.

(Tabassum and Linda walking along the sidewalk to the school)

I was also amazed at the reliability of public transportation and and the numerous kinds (and completely impressed with K & A's abilities to navigate them all, that took a lot of work for me to even begin to understand), as well as the distinct markings on buildings (specific colors for a school, government building, hospital). Everything seemed very uniform to me, which was interesting.

I also was shocked at the way things seemed to be so closed riding through the countryside, it gave an appearance of privacy but really fences and gates were supposed to be against danger of the inner city population and crime. I just had no idea what could possibly be more dangerous than Baltimore in the US, and felt rather safe in Panama wherever we were.

On the island, life and people were curiously friendly, which was expected, but a simplistic eagerness to understand and learn seemed to underly each individual that we met. I was amazed to find myself comfortable in a strange house just because kids and adults treated each other with the family values I am so used to, courtesy and respect.

(Linda and Tabassum comfortably playing bingo with community kids and adults)

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

Honestly, the pollution and industry really struck me. Because I was in love with the island and the aspect of nature that made me feel completely at home, and of course the weather was a rude shock. Going from 85 to 25 in 10 hours was incredibly shocking.

Our customs of "fake friendliness in the US" made me feel rather isolated. In Panama I would not have hesitated to ask for questions or directions from a complete stranger, whereas in the US, each individual is not working with others in their community on a daily basis. I was pleasantly surprised to be much more laid back about life and time when I got back than I usually am. I also took many more moments to just appreciate being outside and enjoying nature. Time seems to stop on the island, and I wanted to keep a little piece of that to bring home with me.

(Tabassum, "laid back" in a hammock, appreciating being outside)

Q4: What was your best moment in Panama?

My best moments in Panama were definitely looking up at the stars for hours or just being on the beach, completely serene. I really enjoyed anytime we were cooking, cleaning, or creating something, even learning how to skip rocks or sitting in the boat, it made me appreciate the simplicity of daily tasks that we take for granted.

(Enjoying time cooking)

(Enjoying time together, with the results of the cooking)

I loved just spending time with Kevin and April, I miss them a lot. By far my best moment on the whole trip was when I realized that Kevin and April were the same amazingly incredibly beautiful couple that I admired and loved back home. It hadn't hit me until we were on the island that they may have changed. It made my heart smile to know that they had, but that it was for the better, and that what made them stronger and even more in love was this experience.

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

I definitely found the incredible diversity and culture of the people of Panama to be the most interesting. I loved seeing the pride and identity of the wonderful groups spread out across our travels, and would love to have been able to appreciate that even more. I notice most the simplicity of Kevin and April's life, and loved each moment I was able to share that simplicity. About K & A in particular, well, let's just say that being with them and in their dynamic just made me even prouder of them and infinitely harder to leave.

(Tabassum in the airport, managing to leave anyway)

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

I really enjoyed making the calabasa bowl, even though mine cracked on the way home, RIGHT where Cecilia said it would :(

(Tabassum watching as Cecilia's oldest daughter takes over the cleaning of the outside of her calavasa)

Linda´s Visitor View

2009-02-12T22:37:00.003-05:00

The following Visitor's View was written by our good friend Linda, from our Maryland Search and Rescue crew. She visited over Christmas (I know, we're trying to catch up from visitor sets two, three, and four!) with Tabassum, whose reflections are in their own separate post.

Q1: How was Panama what you expected?
It mostly was. I definitely expected it to be a mix of developed and undeveloped states and a culture that was mostly latin with some American influences. Other things I expected: seeing open air markets, seeing a contrast between money and poverty, and being stared at for being Asian/American.

(Linda and April in the boat to the island on an amazingly smooth Christmas Eve)

Q2: How was it different than what you expected?

The cost of living was cheaper than expected, the cities were smaller than expected, and the food was really salty, but the water really is safe to drink ;)

I was also surprised to find that Panamanians don't eat much veggies.

(Linda with a plantain bunch; Panamanians do eat lots of fruits)

There were also parts of Panama that felt like they belonged in Europe, like the touristy place (was it called Panama Viejo or Casca Antigua?) where cruise shippers go shopping. It was a pleasant surprise. I was not expecting something like it, but perhaps because I wasn't really expecting to spend much time in Panama City. Speaking of cities, the cities definitely did not feel like cities to me, perhaps because they're smaller than what I normally consider a city. Santiago felt more like an urban town, like a smaller city that spread in two-dimensions instead of three.

(Kevin, Linda, Tabassum, and April in the ruins of Panama Viejo)

Culturally, Panama was different from what I expected because there was a bit more diversity to it. I had no idea about the existence of so many different ethnic groups in Panama.

(Linda and Tabassum in a trendy part of Casco Antigua, with traditional ethnic Kuna Yala handicrafts displayed behind them)

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

Things are much more regulated back home. There's better customer service, and there is an established system for everything. In Panama, it seems like you may not always get what you thought you're paying for. Example: In Panama, who knows if a taxi ride someplace will cost $2 one day or $6 the next? Or what could possibly be done if the postal service lost your mail? Prices and services are not well-defined, which bothers me a lot. At home, they are, and when things go wrong there is a system in place to right it (like when our luggage didn't make it back home with us. Eventually it was shipped back. I suppose this is comparable to the Panamanian postal service losing the mail, except you'd be lucky to ever see that lost mail.)

Q4: What was your best moment in Panama?

Hmm... I'd have to say it was towards the end of the trip, when we were at Tocumen International Airport. We were playing games, like Alien Baseball and the people at the airport were looking at us like we were crazy people. Normally I'm self-conscious and don't like doing things that draw attention to me or make me seem unusual to others, but I learned to just enjoy doing things in life with people I care about because people are free to look and think what they will. (Not that we didn't draw enough stares already).

(Linda at the airport to leave, behaving herself)

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

Compost Toilet. There's a psychological barrier that I think would have to be overcome before people could use the compost from a compost toilet for their garden, and from a practical standpoint it makes sense to use it. From the standpoint of a slightly germ-phobic person like me, that barrier is pretty tough. After seeing (and using) the compost toilet and the compost pile in the yard though, I am a lot more comfortable with the idea of eating food grown using that compost.

(Linda and the machete, chopping down a banana tree to add to our compost pile)

April and Kevin's ability to rapidly speak in Spanish also struck me. I would have to say that being stuck on an island and having to use a language that I had only started to learn months before is a pretty impressive feat.

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

Amazing trip with amazing people. I just wish we had more time =) Oh, and the culture shock wasn't bad. It's interesting to see that Americans really are prudish compared to other cultures, but I find it interesting that violence (editor´s note: Linda may be refering to the fact that movies here tend to favor the violent themes.) and interesting fashion are both ok in Panama.

Year end school party

2009-02-04T21:56:00.001-05:00

At the end of the school year, which occurs down here in mid-December, just before the summer break, there is a party.

But it is more than just a party for the students. It is a party for the students, the teacher, and the madres and padres de familia (in essence, the PTA). This year, the students actually did some fund raising to help pay for the event, in the form of tumbulas, or raffel drawings. (Admittedly, similarly to in the states, most of the chances were purchased by the family, not by selling to neighbors and such, so the fund-raising burden was on the same audience.) The Padres de Familia (PdF) also had raised funds over the course of the year, including a chicken project (buy chicks, raise them, and sell them as 4-pound hens for about $1 to $1.50 a pound), and selling some teak wood planted on school property.

So what does all that fund-raising get you in a year end party?

Well there is the food: arroz con pollo (shredded chicken in flavored rice with olives, raisins, carrots, and other additions), ensalada papa (potato salad, with a pink or reddish color when made Panamanian style due to the beets they use), some bread (a rarity in our community), and the traditional Christmas foods of an apple and some grapes. They love apples but do not eat the pple skin...they bite off a chunk, chew until there is only skin and then spit out the skin.

Then there is a gift bag for all 21 students, with a toy and a Tshirt. And a gift for each parent, generally a nice shirt for the dads, and a fancy shirt, nightshirt or a cosmetic product for the moms.

And the piñata, full of confite (candies) and confetti.

(Swinging the bat at the snowman piñata; see the line of boys behind, ready to go)

(Sometimes a hit doesn't break the piñata but results in a few pieces flying out; despite the possibility of another swing with a metal bat just over their heads, the kids go diving to recover the candy; I'm not sure if the woman in yellow is a mom trying to protect them from getting hit, or trying to grab a piece too. April's comment- She is diving for candy...pretty sure.)

This year's piñata was a good one, that took a while to break. April took a video of them swinging, the handler pulling it out of reach, and then it finally breaking and the mad dash to grab as much candy as you can, children and adults alike. (But video is too big to upload, so we have no pictures of the final mad dash.) Everyone brings a plastic bag to carry it all home.

(The piñata handler in the back of the room, watching the swingers and pulling the rope to make them miss; when the piñata started leaking, he also decided to pull it up of reach or shake it to break it and get everything out)

(Afterward, the confetti is fun to play with; Roxana and Soray swept the floor not to clean up, but to toss it back on each other)

They also bring plastic bags to carry home the distribution of left over school food. The education ministry supplies the school with rice and beans and lentils for the school lunches that the moms cook. But the distribution sometimes lags, with the first batch of food not arriving until school has been in session for a few weeks, and the last with no time left for the kids to eat it all. So the parents divide it up amongst themselves, since it won't keep over the summer until school starts again in March.

The maestra (teacher) and Cecilia (one of our host family moms and the president of the PdF) and some of the other moms pulled out the 50-lb. bags of rice and set about evenly distributing them into the bags the parents had. It was a bit of a mob scene at times, despite knowing they would all get some, in part because they could leave once they got it. At one point, Cecilia winked at April and said, "Parace como Somalia, no?" ("Looks like Somalia, doesn't it?"). For a woman without a TV, who just gets the news from the radio, it was an interesting observation.

(Cecilia distributing beans; the source bag, on the ground, is marked with the Panama flag and the government name)

(Distributing beans, with everyone waiting in line)

Oh, and while we were waiting for whatever was the next step of the party, Kevin became the entertainment for some of the smaller kids with the You-Jump-I-Lift game. Considering how much taller he is than most Panamanians, it was a bit like flying and rather exciting for them. Luckily, one of the moms finally came over and told the kids in line (they cycled back into line numerous times, organizing themselves and encouraging in the more timid littler ones) that Kevin needed a break and this was the last time. :)

(The You-Jump-I-Lift game; some got the concept and timing better than others)

(Kevin lifting Bebo (José), but note the look of excitement on Carlito's face)

It a fun time for all, and a pleasant way to end the school year and calendar year.

Dennis and Ginna's Visitor View

2009-01-27T09:51:00.001-05:00

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

2009-01-24T09:43:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-21T20:46:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-20T15:22:00.007-05:00

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

2009-01-19T16:48:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-15T11:31:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-14T21:10:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-11T09:00:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-09T21:09:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-07T11:36:00.000-05:00

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

2009-01-04T16:40:00.000-05:00

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.

Carving the first Jack-o'-Lantern

2008-12-31T10:00:00.000-05:00

Yes, Halloween was well past, and Thanksgiving had come and gone. Christmas might have been fast approaching even. But that did not dampen the enthusiasm of our neighbors for carving their first ever jack-o'-lantern, perhaps because the idea is very similar to their burning of a New Year's muñeca (life-sized doll). (We'll post more about that when we come back out of site after New Year's, or you can check out our post from last year's holidays at http://ak-panama.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-we-celebrated-holidays-2007.html.)

It was while April was off-island, and I was solito y llorando (alone and crying), as our neighbors love to joke, so when I stopped by to chat and asked if they were interested in carving a jack-o'-lantern, faces lit up like there was a candle inside. They were familiar with the look from watching the movie Halloween over the years (I can't imagine being 10 or 12 and watching Halloween on a 13" black&white TV without lights and then going to bed in the pitch black) but had never seen a carving done.

The first step was to draw "scary faces". I brought up paper and markers, with a little encouragement to change the white page to something scary, they started trying out designs, and pretty soon we had several good sets of flaming eyes and gnashing teeth.

(Milagros, Leidys, and Eneida - Milagros' mom -, drawing "scary faces" for consideration for carving)

Since we didn't have a pumpkin, we used a zapallo, which is a pumpkin-like squash with slightly tougher meat and a more ridged skin, but very similar - and roastable - seeds. Once the kids (and adults) had finished drawing, the top was cut off the zapallo, and volunteers were recruited to clear out the guts (which come out much easier than a pumpkin, it seems).

(Leidys, Noritza, and Dianeth cleaning out the inside of the zapallo. The first reaction: "wow that's cold!")

Next they picked what they wanted to carve and we drew it on the zapallo. They selected our neighbor mom Eneida to wield the knife, and she did a rapid and detailed job of carving the face.

(Panamanians like Eneida are adept at knife work, perhaps from gutting fish and chickens for meals on a regular basis)

Then it was time to light the candle. Even though it was still light outside, everyone was excited to watch.

(Ceremonial first lighting of the jack-o'-lantern)

Here is the carved result, with Elvis and Eneida for comparison purposes. We'll put up some pictures taken in the dark, after April returned, when we come out next.

(For the first time ever carving a jack-o'-lantern, it was a pretty scary result!)

Working together can make anything fun

2008-12-28T12:02:00.000-05:00

I thought that you might like this video. It is a clear example of one of the wonderful things about being a Peace Corps volunteer...how much fun we can have together and still get things done.

Let me first set the stage...this was taken on Thanksgiving day after dinner. These three wonderful volunteers are cleaning ALL of the dishes from a Thanksgiving meal for 70 people, and yet they manage to have a ball. When the video starts they do not know that I am taking a video...I tell them at the end (you can tell when they realize from the laughter).

We don't get to work together all that often, but when we do there is amazing energy and willingness to chip in and get the work done. I think that this is the type of comradery and team feeling that I hope to have in all my jobs. How many people do you know that could be this cheerful faced with that many dishes?

Where is the baseline?

2008-12-26T19:32:00.000-05:00

Peace Corps seems to inspire introspection about oneself and work. We seem to have in common a desire to change ourselves and the world. But how do we know if we are really changing anything? What should we be using as a baseline for the comparisons that we make?

Over the past year I have had several people remark to me “you have really grown / changed in the past year” or “Peace Corps has changed you”. I found myself a little baffled by this as I feel like the same person. It finally clicked for me when a PC staffer made a similar comment and then asked me how Peace Corps has impacted me…the way the question was phrased implied that the changes/growth are a result of Peace Corps. That is when I realized: I wish he had come to my living room and met me 6 months before I came to Panama. He would have met pretty much the woman that he knows now: confident, caring, strong, goal oriented (sometimes to a fault) with a strong sense of self knowledge.

The only baseline that staffer (and all those who know me here in Panama) have to compare me to is the “me” that was in training or soon after. Then I was a woman that had been stripped of all control of personal space, diet, personal and work schedule, normal methods of relaxation, and access to her normal support networks. In short, she was more stressed and with less tools to deal with the stress than at any other point in her life. Is that the baseline that we should use for comparison to who I am now?

For my part, I feel that it is only fair to compare me to the baseline or “normal” of who I was before coming to Peace Corps. Any change from that baseline could be reasonably linked to the Peace Corps experience. But if the baseline we start from doesn’t include the whole picture, neither will our understanding of the information.

There are also examples in my work: where you start looking from has an impact on what you see. In my neighborhood there is a clear uptick in the number of kitchen gardens planted by my neighbors. The uptick started clearly just after my demonstration garden was planted. So clearly, I am responsible for starting them on kitchen gardens, right?

No, not so fast. Further conversations with community members reveal that kitchen gardens are not a new idea, we are just responsible for the current uptick in interest. However, those conversations do show that the idea of planting tomatoes under your house eves (out of the rain) is a new idea…they saw it of the first time in our garden. Because it had never been seen before in our site, the baseline starts with our garden. In other words, efforts linked to the innovation od planting under the eves can be linked to our demonstration of a new idea.

As I mover ever closer to close of service (known as COS - it is approaching at an alarming rate these days), I find myself soul searching on the impacts of these two years…on myself and my community. Yes, I have changed personally – but which baseline are you seeing me from? I think that looking at our work here in Panama with an accurate baseline, and being honest about all of the variables involved, is one of the most challenging parts of Peace Corps, and yet one of the most important.

A Parading Nation

2008-12-19T15:05:00.004-05:00

(¡Lo siento! I wrote this post a while ago on November 28th, but computer gliches saved it wrong. Today is the first chance I have had to correct it, so please don´t be confused about why there was a parade today...it was Nov 28th. )

Panamanians love a parade! November is a big month of celebration in Panama. In addition to all of the national holidays:

November 3. Separation Day (from Colombia).
November 4. Flag Day
November 5. Colon Day
November 10. "Primer Grito de Independencia de la Villa de los Santos" The uprise in the Villa de los Santos against Spain.
November 28. Independence Day (from Spain)

There are local holidays as well. Every holiday gets a desfile, or parade. Large or small, November is full of parades. I was in Santiago one day and literally saw 6 parades of one float each (paying homige to the Virgin Mary) over the course of the day. Live music, marchers, some fireworks and a float and off they go to parade the streets. It happens with incredable frequency. Panamanians love to be in a parade!

Today they celebrated Independance from Spain...the official celebration are bumped to Mondays when their date falls on a Friday to make a two day weekend as many buisnesses work 6 days a week. I was lucky enough to be in town at the time and it was my first BIG parade. I had seen small one float parades...but never the full deal. This was cool. The parade was a celebration of Teachers day...and every float represented a school zone. The riena, or queen that graced the floats were teachers especially given the honor of being riena. Below are photos of some of the floats from today's parade.

Front of the float. What you can't see from this photo is that the young guys in the middle are scanily clad and painted with glitter paint so that thier skin shines an irridecent green.

Back of the same float. I really wanted the riena to turn around and put her arms around the big guys neck, but sadly that photo was not to be.

This float stopped and the band started up and all of the float followers did conga lines around the whole float for 5 minutes.

Dreaming of being a riena starts young...this girl can't be much older than 11.

I loved this one...it was the only one drawn by animals. Wonderful. They didn't even flinch at the fireworks popping off. The urn at the girls right side is full of candy for her to fling. They stopped right in front of me and she did the very picturesque job of ripping open the plasitc bag of candy and pouring it into the urn.

This ladies green fethers were something magnigicent to behold. She also gave me a great smile for the camera, but the young girl was quite sour faced.

This was a very traditional float and the dress featured is the traditional festival dress of Panama called a pollera. THey can be quite expensive...a really good one can cost more than $1000. I stand corrected, a friend of mine just told me that a good one made by hand can run $10,000.They are typically worn with enough beaded hair ornaments that you can't see much of the girls hair...it is just a mass of white beaded ornaments.

This lady had on a nagua, or the traditional dress of the Embra Indians. Hers is not as volunimous as most...most have yards and yards of material in them.

Girls in the pollera style typical for young girls. I guess it takes a while to accumulate all of those hair ornaments. Those flowers can cost $6.00 a set (they are made of intricate beads). A set includes one for each side of the head. My best guess is that the girl in the center has on three sets. Her head will be almost covered by the time she is 18 if she keeps collecting.

Cute girls riding in a car behind a float. I don´t know if the rest of thier outfit was cute or not...the windows were tinted and you couldn´t see a thing. I couldn´t help but wonder what the point was of this car being in the parade at all, but thier heads were cute.

An example of a small float. These are typical of the smaller parades as well. Not to ignore you gents out there: the man in this float is sporting the tradional 4 pocket dress shirt that is common in some central American courties, including Panama. He also has the traditional sombrero (hat) of Panama on. I really should do a post on what is a Panama hat because what most of you reading call a Panama hat is not the real deal.

Here is a nice heafty headress...when she wasn't waving she was holding it on and she was smiling the whole time.

A closeup so you can enjoy her outfit and smile.

This is my favorite of all the headdresses....look close to see the 8inch mirror ball that is part of the headdress. She was smiling for the camera, but not all the rest of the time...it was hot out there!

Hummingbird babies

2008-12-14T18:55:00.001-05:00

Recently I had a true "Panamá" moment, my neighbor boys showed me a humming bird nest. I always thought that hummingbirds would make thier nest in private distant places. I never thought that I would see one. But here is the proof that that is not always the case. I think that if you click on the photos you can see them larger.
You can see a foot at the lower right hand corner of the above photo. That food is standing on the main path through our community. It is not a highway by any stretch of the imagination...but it does get regular traffic and this nest was really close to it.

While we were looking at them one startled us and took off and flew about 15 feet and landed on the ground. Elvis retrieved it and put it back into the nest, but I felt lucky to have seen them at all...it was clear that they were about ready to leave the nest.

The boys now have clear directions to show me any nests that they know of. Somedays I feel very lucky to be here in Panamá. Photos copyrighted to April Cropper.

Island Water

2008-12-11T10:36:00.000-05:00

About a year ago, Bill Andrews asked about our water on the island. I’ve finally gotten some pictures of the system that provides water to our house to go with the description of why we generally have plentiful clean water.

As in most housing decisions, location, location, location. When we were living with host families over a year ago and trying to select a house to move into on our own, one of our biggest considerations was water: both having a year-round supply from the aqueduct and not having water in the house due to leaks or overflowing creeks (a problem we saw in one or two possibilities). The island has several communities served by five or six main systems and a couple of small ones, all gravity fed. Last summer, along with the new sidewalk, money from the canal paid for improvements to three of the aqueduct systems.

The house we picked is located just below the tank for the northern half of our community.

(From our yard up the hill to the tank, the white thing on the hill toward the right)

Our tank is on a hill about a four minute climb from our house, probably 75 to 100 feet in elevation.

(From the top of the tank looking down toward our house, on the right of the field)

A two-inch diameter PVC line runs out of the tank, down the hill, through a chlorine filter (still without chlorine, since the Ministry of Health (SALUD) has not yet come to give a charla on how to use the filter), and then parallels the path (now sidewalk) toward the school. Originally we thought it went all the way to the school (and had to climb the hill to the school, hence the school, and the houses nearby, was occasionally without water), but recently someone told me that with the changes last summer, it now only serves eight occupied houses. (Between that eighth house and the next one towards the school there is a five minute uninhabited stretch, and there is another tank above that next house, which feeds from there to the school.)

All the houses “T” off of the mainline. There is a On/Off on the mainline coming out of the tank, but none beyond that; if anyone wants to do work on their line or add a new one, everyone has to lose water (when we put in our system, we included a switch by the house so we could at least turn off the water if we wanted to work on any of our faucets).

The tank is a cinderblock box with a two-inch diameter PVC pipe input line dropping water in from high on one side, the outflow line feeding out the bottom, and an overflow pipe for when the users are not taking water faster than the input.

(The tank, with ladder, a nice addition from the older version, and the overflow pipe showing that we are getting more than enough water into the tank, right now at least)

The tank is filled by the input line coming down through the woods and fields of our neighbor from a caja de agua (water box) about ten minutes hike from the tank. The caja is merely a small dam across the small creek that eventually goes behind our house. The caja was also cleaned out with last year’s improvements, as sediment had filled in the old “lake”.

(The input line typically runs underground, but it does go over one creek, propped and tied with an old extension cord)

(The view of the front of the dam for the caja)

There is a box on the upstream side of the dam that admits water through a screen (I think) at the bottom sides of the box, which then filters through small rocks and out the feeder pipe to the tank. The sides of the box were raised above the level of the dam with last year’s improvements, to decrease the amount of debris getting into the box when heavy rains caused the creek to rise.

(Water enters the box through two screens on the sides then filters through small rocks into the feeder pipe to the tank)

Sometime soon, there should be a junta (work group) to clean the tank: scrubbing the walls on the inside and rinsing it. It will be just the second or third cleaning I know of since we got here. Supposedly they will be starting an aqueduct committee soon to collect a monthly user fee of probably 25cents or so to pay for occasional maintenance and repairs. But mostly the system runs on gravity, without moving parts, and as long as the pressure is sufficient, everyone has water; we’re at the lowest point on the line, and just below the tank, so we’ve only been low once or twice, which is luckier than many of our neighbors and it sounds like many of our fellow PCVs.

So that is how simple our water system is; I can hike from my house to the source in about fifteen minutes. (A couple of months ago, I went all the way up the creeks to see if there was a need for reforestation near the stream – there wasn’t – but those pictures were with the camera when it was stolen.)

PS: There are also pretty little brilliant blue crawdads in the small pond above the dam.

Happy Mother's Day

2008-12-08T13:00:00.002-05:00

In Panama, Mother's Day is celebrated on December 8th. So I would like to wish all those mothers out there a

Happy Mother's Day!!!

In Panama Mother's Day is a big deal... bigger than Father's Day (at least in our small community. Sorry Dad.) Normally there is a party with music, food, and small gifts. Christmas gets almost no attention in our communtiy, but for Mother's Day they do all that they can on a very limited budget. So enjoy Moms....today is your day too.

Fundraising for the Tortuga trip

2008-12-05T15:29:00.000-05:00

April is creating a post about our trip with students and members of our community to the community of another PCV, Cassie, to see and learn about sea turtles and the environment. This post is all about how we got there.

First, what were our costs:

Through several meetings with the Padres de Familia (PTA) of our school, we settled on how much gas (15 gallons) was needed to take us by boat to a port near Cassie's community. (We couldn't go directly to her community because the parents all agreed that the sea was too dangerous to try to come in with their boats. )

Through talking with Cassie, we found a bus driver who was willing to drive us from the port to her community on his day off. That ran to $90.

We also needed to buy some food to augment what Cassie's school had offered to donate. We budgeted about $30 for that.

Total: $165.00 Now, how to go about pulling together that kind of money.
One of the first places we turned was the Peace Corps Panama Volunteer Advisory Committee (VAC), which supplies Super Small Project Assistance Grants (SSPAs) with the funds raised by designing, printing, and selling the Peace Corps Panama Calendar (see our other posts about our involvement in that or visit http://www.panamapcv.net/calendar/calendar_2009/calendar2009.html to order one and support PCVs with small projects like ours). We won a $60 grant from the VAC in September and were on our way.

Our next steps were to involve the community in the efforts. Traditional fundraisers here often include selling food or snowcones at an event. In early October was our patronales, or patron saint day, on the island. Working with the students and the parents, we planned to sell raspado, or snow cones. April ended up being the one to go in to town to buy the supplies, which included blocks of ice, coloring, flavoring, sugar, cream, and paper cones and straws. But at the actual day, it was the students and parents who did most of the hard work.

(Yoel, pronounced similar to "Joel", and one of our favorite students, scraping ice to sell snowcones)

(José, aka Bebo, one of our students putting flavoring on a snowcone; resuse is common here - a 2-liter bottle holds the flavoring/coloring mix)

(Yoel adding the condensed milk - which has been put into a ketchup bottle for easier application - to a snowcone; as far as the Panamanians are concerned, it isn't a snowcone without condensed milk on top.)

(April working with both hands to put coloring and cream on cones, with the assistance of community members.)

After the Mass, community members milled about and in the end bought, at 35cents each, enough snowcones to use all the ice (about 40 pounds). In an interesting aspect of Panamanian fundraisers, the extra condensed milk was wasn't an unrecoverable cost; instead, community members were more than willing to buy the unused cans at cost. That is a hard lesson for us to remember: you don't really need to worry about overbuying supplies for an event, as someone will likely buy the extras.

(Some adults helped scrap ice too; Ovidio's daughter didn't even go on the trip)

(Some community members were willing to work to scrap their own cone)

The raspado event was popular and successful, but only garnered about $35 and thus left us short of the total we needed. So we planned for a BINGO day, where players could buy cards for 5cents a game and there would also be food for sale. Again, April bought the food, and we supplied the game, along with some "donated" prizes. But the students made the signs to put around the island at all the tiendas, and parents volunteered to cook (salchichas-hotdogs , patacones-fried plantains, and holajdras-fried dough kinda like a funnel cake).

(Kenia, Soray, and Angelica copying wording from one BINGO announcement onto another)

(Soray putting the finishing touches onto her sign)

(Dianeth, aka Beijing, Yoel, Maycol, Amarylis, and Milagros working on a sign)

(Three of the signs before going around the island; Angelica, Soray, Amarylis, and Kenia)

The actual event was held in the Casa Comunal near our house, but the Representante did not bring the key for the storage room, so there were no seats. Additionally, we had planned to cook on our stove, but our gas tank ran out as soon as they started cooking. Everyone adapted as usual, and sat on the floor and cooked over leña (firewood), which worked out better since they were nearer the fun.

(The cooks made a small fire in the corner of the Casa Comunal and served up yummy fried food.)

(April called the numbers with the help of several of the younger students)

(Older students enjoyed playing as well; our table was brought over to play on.)

(Maria Luisa, one of our original host moms, played the most cards at once, trying to win an environmental volunteer Tshirt that had been donated as a prize.)

In fact, BINGO was so popular that even the cooks were asking us when the next one would be as soon as the first one wrapped up. At the next Padres de Familia meeting to discuss the Turtle Trip, they asked again about playing another time. So they set another date, and with a few small changes, we eventually played again, under a roof near the school.

(At the announced start time, not too many folks showed up, and again there weren't chairs)

(But they began to arrive)

(This time, we rotated who called the numbers)

(Cecilia, our second host mom, cooked; fried chicken parts and hojaldras)

(In the end, we had some great numbers, and the benches from the chapel, all packed under the roof once the rains started.)

We raised about $24 on the first bingo, and about $24 on the second one too.

The other part of our costs was the gas for the boat; April asked ANAM, the Panamanian environmental agency, for assistance with that, and they donated 15 gallons. (Actually getting that to the island wasn't as easy as you'd hope; the gas station in port was out of gas the day we were going back, so April had to stay out an extra day until it was delivered from Santiago.)

So that is how we patched together the bus, the boat, and the food for our trip to see Sea Turtles. In Peace Corps, sometimes the adventure is in the preperation, as much as in getting there and being there.

Turtle trip success!

2008-12-02T14:25:00.001-05:00

It is with a glad heart that I write to tell you about our latest and greatest success. And thanks to the generosity of Bhoj, a fellow PCV, we can once again tell the story with pictures!!! Thanks Bhoj!

Before we comence with the happy story telling, I should also say that my trip to teach a workshop to ANAM parkrangers in Parque Nacional Coiba has been postponed (maybe until April) due to an exploding power generator that decided to end its service three days before my workshop was scheduled to start. Living without electricity is normal for me, but the workshop was put off anyway. Darn.

So, on Friday, November 14th at 3:30am we climbed into a full boat (complete with fishing nets and small dead hammerhead sharks...which are delicious) to head to a fellow PCVs community on the Eastern Coast of the gulf. We had arranged for 11 youth and 3 adults from our community to go on this environmental education trip.

When I got into the boat I thought that I would be the first person picked up...that is the schedule that we had planned on Wednesday at the final planning meeting. Well, imagine my suprise when I got into the boat and it was full...the captain picked us up on time...but last. For reasons only known to him, the captain left hours earlier and picked up all th participants earlier than planned and in a different order. Not many people were happy with the change. One of my adult chaperones told him to come back later because she was not ready (she is also one of the most prompt Panamanians ever).

When I got into the boat and found out that she was not there I was very confused. When I finally realized that she was not with us because he went to her house so early, he was headed out into the bay, not planning on going back for her. It took 3 minutes of tense conversation to get him to turn the boat and go get her...luckily she was ready and waiting on the shore.
We arrived to the small "port" about 1 1/2 hours early due to the captain´s choices. Well, rather than waiting around near the water (which also means near more biting bugs) for the bus we had hired to pick us up at 7:00, we started walking. I would expect American kids to do some whining at this point...but these kids are used to such walking and there were no complaints at all. If anything the road was nice, broad, and flat, unlike the island paths. Most of them had never been to this coast of the gulf, even though they live pretty close. They were pretty excited to be traveling in a new area. During the bus ride, the kids realy got excited/scared by the hills and the speed of the travel. It was a pretty normal car ride from my point of view...but that is the important thing...point of view is everything at times.

When we arrived at my friend and fellow PCV Cassie´s school there was a warm and excited greeting waiting for us. We were all a little overwhelmed. But we took a group photo of everyone and got down to the not-so-serious buisness of educational games.

A group of 5 PCVs from all over Panama make up the Captain Planet Team. They visit schools in PCV communities to give environmental education activities, coming complete with costumes and high energy. Since both Cassie and I have small schools, we combined the two for a day with Captian Planet.
After a full day with the Captian Planet team, we went to the beach for a while. The surf at the beach in Cassie´s community is quite dangerous due to a strong undertow current. Our students were quite happy to see the beach. Even though they live on a island the surf never gets that big in the bay and there are no stretches of beach as big as this one on the island, so they were pretty typical tourists.

We did not swim , just frolliced nearby and kept the little kids with us in a line when they wanted to get thier feet wet. Everyone who wanted to be wet managed to get wet and sandy safely...although I did get into some trouble with the other adults over just how wet and sandy they were. Oh well.
After the beach we went to play on a playground. These are a common government project in some parts of Panama, but have not yet reached the island. Yup...that is one of our kids and one of the adults on the monkey bars.

We spent the night on improvised beds in the school, and some wonderful ladies from the community volunteered to cook meals for us. The local kids stayed the whole weekend and participated in all the acitivities...even sleeping on the hard cement in the school with us.

The main goals for this trip included increasing participant knowledge about seaturtles, and fostering a new sense of interest and responsibility in the islanders for local seaturtles. Many of the families on the island make thier money fishing, and thus have the chance to impact seaturtle populations locally. Seaturtles do not currently lay eggs on the island...the beaches usually have rock just under the sand.

With this in mind, we all got up at midnight and walked the beach to look for seaturtles laying thier eggs. Even for the local kids this was a first chance to go looking for turtles...it is not something that they would normally be invited to do with the turtle volunteers. We split into two groups...one went north and one south.

The south bound group that I was with was lucky enough to encounter a large green seaturtle. When we arrived she was just starting to dig the cavity to lay her eggs in. The whole process can be quite lengthy when you include digging, laying and covering time. We got to see almost the whole process. She also took long enough that the unlucky north bound group was able to join us and see her as well.

After she finished laying and covering her eggs, she was escorted to the sea by quite an entourage. It was a great chance for them to see how big she was and to talk about how a turtle usually will not lay eggs before she is 20-30 years old. We used all the waiting and watching time to talk about how many eggs she needs to lay to be a sucessful turtle mom. Normally she will lay 90-110 eggs per nest. She will lay every 2 or 3 years, and every year that she lays she will lay 2 or 3 nests.

Thus, if we say that only 1 in 1000 eggs survive to reproduction age, she needs 25 years to be old enough to lay before she can start her 15 years of laying 300 eggs every other year to lay the 2000 eggs necessary to produce 2 adults for a stable population (one male and one female offspring per female). If she dies before age 45 the odds are greatly reduced that the turtle population will remain stable. It was cool for the kids to realize that that turtle was likely as old as I am...or thier parents are.

We then carefully dug up her eggs and transported them to a jaula, or protective fenced area where they will be protected until they hatch in 45-60 days. Below, Elvis, our nearest neighbor kid gets the honor of retreiving the eggs.

He was quite tired after leaning over and carefully digging out the 79 soft ping-pong ball sized eggs. Boy, did he smile big afterwards. Below he shows off an egg in his hand.

Anivel, another island kid, got the honnor of putting the eggs into thier new jaula nest. I had not seen him take anything that seriously before, he handled them with extreem care.

The next day we played a game about how dangerous a world it is for baby turtles. Scientists estimate that 1/2 of all baby turtles die in thier first year. It is also estimated that only 1 out of 1000 eggs laid lives long enough to be a reproductive turtle. In the game, each group got 5 pages of paper...each page depicted 120 baby turtles. For each danger that baby turtles face before adulthood they rolled dice to see if the danger impacted any of thier turtles. They rolled for dogs, birds, fish, trash, oil spills, fishermen, and many other dangers. Suddenly, the number of baby turtles that they had seemed smaller than they had thought.

After the turtle danger game we goofed off in a pool built by the local "gringo" community. That is Elvis doing a flip that he probably perfected off the side of his dad´s boat.

We ended the day on Saturday by drawing our own board game and playing a turtle facts review game. It is amazing how much kids (and the adults!) can learn when they are having fun...they did really well on all of the questions.

The next morning we were lucky enough to complete my last goal...we saw baby turtles headed from the nest to the sea. That is where I knew that we had really had some sucess: Julian, my nieghbor was one of the adults that went with us, and the moment he saw his first baby turtle his first remark was "Oh, I see how fish and crabs could eat them...they are soo tiny!" He clearly had remembered the dangers in the game the day before, but it wasn't until he saw the tiny hatchling that he really connected the dangers to the reality of why there needs to be so many turtle hatchlings.

We were lucky enough to see 27 baby turtles that morning. Above is Kenya helping with the release from the protective jaula. One of the kids had a camera on his phone...so mine were not the only photos that went home to be shared.
We couldn´t say around to watch all of the turtles get to the sea...the tide was against us. We needed to pass over the sandbars near port before low tide or we would be stuck, so we reluctantly started home.

We PCVs often don´t get to know what the long term impacts will be of the projects that we do, but I have hope that this trip will be long remembered and thought of by those that went. We taught many classes about protecting the enviroment...so maybe just maybe something will come of that. I know that I went home exausted and happy...and the parents reported the same was true of the kids. Now it is just up to the kids to remember how they can impact those baby turtles they escorted to the sea.

This trip was free of cost for all of the participants. To see how we paid for this trip check out our next blog post.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-29T17:52:00.004-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

Despite heavy rains, flooding, emergency action plans and general difficulties, the majority of the PCVs in Panamá managed to have a good Thanksgiving. We managed to move the location of our gathering by more than 200 miles to get out of the flood impacted areas and still get 3/4 of the attendees to show up and eat the feast. Kevin and I were the head cooks and in charge of the kitchen and all things related to food. It was kind of like running a search and rescue command base but with taste testing. Because we were taking over the kitchen of the hotel they said that they did not want to provide any other food service...so we ended up providing 3 meals= dinner Wednesday, breakfast Thursday, and Thanksgiving. It was a marvel of team work that was wonderful to be part of.

The hotel treated us brilliantly. They moved an extra stove in from the owners house for us...giving us two slightly smaller than USA stoves to work with. They cleared shelves and a frigerator. They stayed out of the way but close enough to answer questions and to ask some of thier own. Even with all of thier help I was worried about how things would turn out...I ended up making the pie crusts without any measuring cups to help me...and I am not a pie expert. But everything ended up well. There were tons of compliments and very few complaints (mostly about the pie not being amoung the leftovers).

We made 4 turkeys, 3 hams, 40 lbs of brocolli, 45 lbs of mashed potatoes,vegitarian lentil loafs, cranberry sauce, stuffing, 8 "pumpkin" (zapollo squash really but tastes the same) pies from scratch, two large apple cranberry crisps, herbed butter, turkey gravey, ham gravey, veggie gravey, and orange juice, hot chocolate from local Panamanian chocolate, and real whipped cream.
We had the perfect amount of turkey and ham and pie. Everything else had a bit of extra...but the PCVs shared with the hotel staff and everyone kept nibbling until midnight. Many ate leftovers for breakfast.

Needless to say, we were exahusted the day after. The last of the pies came out of the oven at midnight on Wednesday and the hams went into the oven at 6 am on Thursday.
A good safe time was had by all. Well, the guy who was silly enough to make a bet over a football game had some not-so-fun moments as he paid up on the bet (which was to have his back waxed...silly boy...what was he thinking?). We even had a random couple of American travelers pay into the pot and join us for the meal.

So we are thinking of you all. We are very thankful for you our family and friends.We miss green bean casserol, and sweet potatoes...but we can hold out hope for those and the hugs that make Thanksgiving such a powerful holiday in 2009.

Thank you calendar buyers!

2008-11-29T17:02:00.000-05:00

Wanted to send a big Thank you! out to all the folks who have already surfed on over to buy a calendar and support PCV projects. The PCPanama Friends website reports that 12 were sold in the first day that they were online! If you haven´t bought one but want to click the link below.

Peace Corps Panama 2009 Calendar

Out trip to learn about sea turtles is a great example of the work that is supported by the profits from these calendars. Blog posts about our trip are coming in the next week!