Grand Opening for the Island Library

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!

Follow Up Volunteer

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!

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! :).

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

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. :)

Our new Solar Oven

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.

Watching history with the world

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


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


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

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

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

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

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

Update on Composting

Our 55-gallon barrel toilet filled up again (see http://ak-panama.blogspot.com/2008/05/composting-latrines.html for info on our barrel, and http://ak-panama.blogspot.com/2008/05/composting-update.html for the update on our last batch of compost).

You may remember when we did it the last time we were concerned with killing all pathogens dangerous to humans, so we made bocashi (or boccachi, or bocochi, or boccoshi), which is a fast hot compost, with it. We knew from our research that bocashi temperatures could get high enough to kill the pathogens, and we were pretty sure that ours did get that hot. However, last time we did not have a thermometer to test our assumptions....this time we did, and here are the results.

First, here's our list of ingredients:

• 60 gallons of poo & sawdust (we had another 5-gal bucket sitting around waiting)
• 4 sacos of balo leaves (balo is a tree here in Panama that grows amazingly)
• 6 ounces of yeast
• 8 cakes of raspadura (pressed sugar cane), mixed in about four gallons of water
• ~20 feet of tallo de platano (plantain or banana tree trunk), chopped
• 1 gallon of urine, mixed with about three gallons of water (our toilet seperates urine into a tank, and since urine is high in nitrogen it can be a valuable ingredient)
• 2 5-gallon tanques of soil
• 2 5-gallon tanques of finished compost from the last time
• 1 cartucha (plastic grocery bag) of carbon (ash from the school stove)

(A raspadura cake)

We mixed them all together. Many people would worry about the smell and ick-factor but amazingly there is almost no smell and ickyness to deal with, got to just trust me on that...April too was ready to wrinkle her nose and was plesantly suprised both times. In fact, the ickyest thing to go into the pile was some balo leaves that we had left soaking in water...those, ironically enough, smelled like stinky poo.

(We managed to time it just right so that the entire mixing process took place without shade)

(Therefore, April had to take this picture after I mixed the pile; she then gave me a glass of water)

Then we put the pile in our compost box, stuck in the compost thermometer my folks brought down for us, and watched the temperature rise. We talked about what our hopes were for peak temperatures...and we both independantly had been hoping to hit 122 degrees Fahrenheit and maintain it for at least 2-3 days including one re-mixing.

(The mix and the thermometer, beginning to heat up.)

It is important to have the temperature rise to kill weed seeds in the mix, as well as any pathogens. April did some research and got the following time/temperature combinations from the Humanure Handbook (http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html) indicating what is needed to kill pathogens that cause concern for human health.

(We made this chart to facilitate envisioning the numbers from the following paragraph)

(See Chapter 7, page 144:
Complete pathogen destruction is guaranteed by arriving at a temperature of 62°C (143.6°F) for one hour, 50°C (122°F) for one day, 46°C (114.8°F) for one week or 43°C (109.4°F) for one month. It appears that no excreted pathogen can survive a temperature of 65°C (149°F) for more than a few minutes. A compost pile containing entrapped oxygen may rapidly rise to a temperature of 55°C (131°F) or above, or will maintain a temperature hot enough for a long enough period of time to destroy human pathogens beyond a detectable level (see Figure 7.6).)

So how did our pile do heating up? Here is a chart of the temperatures we found by poking around in the middle of the pile and the corners/edges, looking for high and low readings.


If you'd rather just see the numbers graphically, here is our high and low readings from the center of the pile, compared to the temperatures necessary to kill the bad stuff and how long they need to be maintained.

(You can see that our high (red) and low (grey) have exceeded in temperature and time even that needed to kill everything in one minute (single orange dot at 6:30am, just 18 hours after we started). Depending on your browser, you may be able to click on the chart to see it bigger.)

(The thermometer reading at a hot spot)

Needless to say, we have been thrilled at our sucess with getting the bocachi to heat up sufficiently. Look for a post soon on the beautiful soil that was produced by our first batch of bocashi and what we're growing in it.

Tenth Anniversary Trip to Kuna Yala

Before and after our Anniversary trip we were extremely busy working on the 2009 Peace Corps Panama Calendar. The calendar is the main fund raiser for the Volunteer Action Committee, VAC, who uses it to fund Super Small Project Assistance, SSPA, grants (up to $60) for volunteers who need a source of funds to help get community members to events, jump start projects, etc. We were working until nearly 1am the night before we left, on the computer at our embassy host family's house (thank goodness for their hospitality and flexibility!), and then had to get up at 4:30 to head to the airport for a 6am flight. So we were well prepped to enjoy a relaxing week when we finally did leave. (We will post info on how to buy a copy of our wonderous PC Panamá calendar just as soon as they are available so you too can enjoy it!)

For our anniversary we went to the Kuna Yala Comarca (sort of like a semi-autonomous indigenous reservation within Panama; Kuna Yala was previously known as the San Blas islands, the name given by Spanish invaders) on the northeastern side of Panama (sort of on the Caribbean and Columbian borders).

We flew to Kuna Yala in a plane small enough that Kevin´s hat touched the ceiling. We landed on a small island that wasn't much more than the runway, a small hotel, an administrative office where everyone had to pay the $2 "tax" to be in the comarca, and a boat dock. The process of getting your baggage from baggage check was a little less organized than some I have experienced.

(Our plane, just off the runway, unloading luggage from the nose compartment. The plane unloads and then immediately loads back up and leaves. It was on the ground for less than 20 minutes. When we left, we noticed that everyone who had just arrived was snapping pictures of their small plane and the small runway, just like we did.)

We were able to sit on the white sand beach and look at the clear water, but what we really wanted was to sit in a hammock, read a book, and take a nap. Or go snorkeling. We waited and waited for the boat from the cabañas we'd made a reservation with to come pick us up. But the boat didn't come, despite several calls from the payphone (the cell phone service there is the other company from our type of cell phone :). Finally around noon, one of the helpful folks from the admin office made a call for us on his cell phone to "a guy he knew" on a nearby island, and we had a place to stay, and they came to get us.

(A picture from the plane of our island. The white dot in the front was our bathroom. The red roof just to its left was our "cabaña".)

It wasn't on a deserted island (there were probably 40 bamboo-sided/thatch-roofed houses, a school, and a basket/volleyball court, all in an area about equal to three football fields).

(The view from our bathroom dock, toward some of the houses and other bathrooms.)

There weren't white sand beaches, and we wouldn't have gone snorkeling from them anyway.

(The view from our bathroom, toward the water. Yup. That's right.

While talking with the family during the week, we explained a composting toilet and its benefits. We seem to always be working.)

And at $40 per person per night (including all meals and boat trips to other sites), it cost twice what the place with our reservation was supposed to cost. But in the end, they were very accomodating and although it involved a 30-45 minute boat ride to other islands, we were able to do a lot of snorkeling in clear waters with coral, white sands, and fish.

(Laying in clear water on the white sands of Isla de los Perros, with palm trees on another island in the background. Coconuts are a big source of revenue for the Kuna, who cultivate and protect the trees and sell the coconuts for 20 cents each to Columbian ships who pass through the islands to trade.)

We were in a six room cabaña. It was over the water between the main part of the island and a small spot of sand.

(The view from our bathroom dock, toward our cabaña. April is on the steps.)

Other than one night when two Australian couples (who are spending about a year and a half traveling, volunteering, and working their way through central and South America) were there, we had the cabaña to ourselves, and we did our best to make it our own, in celebration of our anniversary.

(The bamboo door to our room. At April's secret request, our parents sent along digital copies of some of our wedding photos, which we printed and posted to celebrate the day.)

But even with no one else staying in the cabaña, it was only so private feeling, considering how close everyone else was.

(The view from our bathroom dock, looking onto that spot of sand beyond the cabaña. There was another family living out on that spot of sand. In the foreground you can see their cayucas, or canoes. Most are cut from a single tree, and then augmented to have higher, more wave-protecting, sides.)

As you can imagine on an island that small, with space at a premium, soccer and baseball are not the preferred sports. While we were there, it was volleyball season, and daily afternoon practices in the beginning of the week led to a tournament on a nearby island Friday and Saturday.

(The view from our bedroom window early Saturday morning as the volleyball team loads into a cayuca for the ride to the tournament. Note the traditionally-outfitted Kuna women in the boat with the uniformed youth.)

We would travel by cayuca as well, but it was generally less crowded.

(The volleyball cayuca headed to their tournament. Our cayuca was slightly smaller, but typically had just the two of us and a capitan.)

As we boated along, in a fashion earily similar to our normal life in Peace Corps, we did dream a bit. Our original plan for this trip had been a bit longer, and it was supposed to include a few days on a sailboat going through the islands, learning to sail, and getting to snorkel where ever we were.

(View from an island out to modern catamaran sailboats contrasted with the sail on a cayuca. Cayuca sailboats form a primary method of transport for the Kuna amongst their islands and for fishing. Gas costs $5.50 a gallon in Kuna Yala.)

But we were able to spend all but our first day snorkeling on a variety of islands, and based upon how red we turned in spots like the backs of our legs, despite using a lot of sunblock, we probably didn't need any more snorkelling time in the sun. And we were lucky enough that on several of the days, we had a small island to ourselves, or very nearly so.

(View from Isla de los Perros, where we did a lot of snorkelling and some sitting in a hammock on a white sand beach.)

On our actual anniversary, we paid a bit extra for the gasoline and went all the way out to the Cayos Holandeses (Dutchman's Keys). Because it is further from most of the islands (and closer to the open waters), it had more fish to see, as well as some pretty good corals. Afterward, April asked about bigger fish and our capitan took us out closer to where the open waters break on the coral's edge. But all we saw right there were about four four-foot barracuda, which was not the type of "bigger fish" we were looking for. So we started back in and spotted some clear waters with starfish (look for another post about them scheduled for the next week) and sand dollars, and did one last swim. That's when we found the next day's lunch.

(April brought up this large conch, which we brought back with us. The family cooked it out that night, and we had coconut rice and conch in tomato sauce for lunch the next day. We brought the shell home too. I think the family enjoyed the fact that they didn't have to buy fish or conch to feed us for that meal.)

On our final day, we went snorkelling mid-day, then went mola shopping in the afternoon. We picked up a couple of not-so-bad ones, but before we found the really good molas, we found our first really good sunset.

(Sunset our last night, from Carti Supu, an island just off the shore from Carti, the terminus of the only road that connects the Kuna Yala Comarca to the rest of Panama.)

Check through some older posts from April if you need more info on molas, but in general, they are a layered fabric stitching technique that the Kuna women use to create blouses. They stitch a front and a back piece, then attach a lighter fabric for a neck and arms and below. Previously in our searches for molas in Panamá City and other parts of the country, we had only encountered the molas, but here where the Kuna live, most of the molas were in use, still attached to blouses.

In Kuna Yala, women would bring hangers, obviously from their closet, of blouses with the skirt that matched them, to sell. Several women were willing to separate the stitching on their blouses to sell us one of the molas that made them, but some weren't and insisted we take the entire blouse, with both molas.

In the dark after that sunset, we visited a small island near Carti Supu and, surrounded by fifteen people speaking rapid fire Kuna, under the light of a flashlight, we found several molas we liked, but the woman didn't want to separate the blouses. She insisted on selling the entire blouse, for only slightly more than we'd been willing to pay for just one side.

But that wasn't the craziest mola purchase we made. We had seen several molas we liked a lot at our cabaña, from the women in the family there. So we had set aside money for those molas, so we could purchase them at the end. But negotiations bogged down, and we thought we had lost the chance to buy them, some of the most impressive ones we'd seen, when she walked away.

But she came back. With several other blouses! And they were even more amazing.

(One of the late coming blouses, that forced us to reconsider what we wanted to purchase.)

(Closer look at the mola on the back side of the same blouse. Normally, the front and back are very closely related in pattern, but on this one, the patterns are not only different from each other, but dramatically different from most other molas we've seen.)

In the end, after looking closely at several and debating how much we could spend (being low on cash after paying twice what we'd planned for our housing, and now feeling like we wished we still had the money we spent buying the other molas on Carti Supu), they offered to have their son meet us at the airport in Panamá the next morning and we could use the ATM there to withdraw more money and finish paying for the ones we wanted. Which is what we did. What an amazing amount of trust. And what amazing workmanship.

(The sisters who crafted the molas. Initially we were interested in three molas from these two sisters, but we ended up with six. What shrewd barginers they are! The young girl is the daughter of the owner of our cabaña and on the volleyball team.)

We returned on a beautiful sunny morning in Kuna Yala, landing in pouring rain in Panama City. Our trip was a bit different from what we'd expected, but we enjoyed it, and we will have great memories, and momentos, for the next ten, and more, years!

10 años casados

September 19, 1998 - September 19, 2008

It has been 10 years since the moment we kissed to seal the deal....

amoungst family and friends (and some bubbles).

Of course, Kevin has more wrinkels now...but they mostly seem to be from smiling.

We both have more grey hair...but I will refrain from laying blame there.

In the time since these photos, we have tryed so much, gone so far, and lived such full years.

Thanks to all the family and friends who have been so loving and supportive these 10 years.

We just wanted you to know,

that there are still many moments that feel just like the photo below.

Not everyday is a good one

This will be very short...as I need to catch a bus in 20 min. Not every day is a good one...yesterday was very very hard.

I spent the day in a bus with great people...but it was 8 hours in a bus with not enough knee space and my ankles swelled up again (the 3rd day in a row and today promises the same).

I then went out to eat and the food was just ok, not as good as normal for my favorite restaraunt.

I then went to a movie and saw x-files....not a good film and the air conditioning was COLD...I think that they wanted us to feel the wintery setting of the movie.

I then went back to the hotel room with friends to discover that why we were out we had been burgled....my beloved camera, it´s special waterproof box, all of my rechargable batteries and the charger, and $60 were gone. In total we estimate a loss value of over $600 of small stuff. Not to mention that the thief also took my trust in my favorite hotel and some valuable photo memories with them. THe door had been locked and not forced, draw your own conclusions.

It was a hard day. I am ok, but thought you should know that while I do try to keep this blog on the upbeat side of life...there are hard days too. More at the end of the week when I know more. Thinking of you all today with a bit of homesickness....

April

PS:I am traveling to a town without cell phone signal so don´t be alarmed if you call to talk and cant get me. I will call you back.

One Year Reunion

So we have officially been Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) for one year now.

This past weekend, we got together with others from our Group 59 at a hostel on an island in the Colón province (northern side) of Panamá to talk about how life was going; what we have accomplished; what we have yet to accomplish; who is going to quit early (just one, depending on grad school), finish two years and ya (ya is Spanish for enough, done, ready, etc; the majority were in this camp), and who is going to extend (several looking to be Regional Leaders and such); and get re-inspired for our second year. Here we are at our official lunch meeting to talk compost, environment, organic fertilizer, and other projects.

We took one formal picture too, on the dock nearby.

Getting to the island via a short 5-10 minute boat ride was nothing for us, although some other volunteers found out that boats are not their thing and they probably will not come to visit us.

The really interesting part of the trip there started on the bus from Panamá City to Colón City. We received information from the PC Office of a transportation strike (apparently not that uncommon, and they usually last just 3 to 24 hours, protesting the high cost of fuel, or food, or something) in Colón, which is already not a city for touring. When we got to the terminal, the police had arranged to bring all of us (seven had taken the train, six of us were on the bus, and about eight more were on later buses and managed to catch up with us too) to the police station for safekeeping.

We sat around their conference room, ate an inexpensive lunch from the police grill (a very tasty tipico meal of meat, lentils, rice, and even lettuce and a tomato), played Cranium, and wrote a letter of thank you, before finally being moved to a special bus they had arranged for us. The bus took us first to the supermarket and waited so we could pick up bread, cereal, PB and J, and such for the weekend, and ironically, the last of our group, coming in on later buses, caught up with us there. Then he drove us the hour-and-a-half out to the island. How wonderful, flexible, helpful and accomodating!

The island had a nice beach on one end, where April and I went snorkeling with our new gear (thank you Grandma Cropper) and shared with other volunteers. On the other end was a Gustave Eiffel-designed lighthouse, 94 steps high, with a great view over the island and the cove. Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures of all that, but hopefully other volunteers will send some to us.

It was a great chance to catch up with everyone, reminesce, and get inspiration for our next year.

We left on Sunday with a short boat ride and then a regular bus back to Colón City (we did see some amazing winds on the ride, with a roof blowing off a house as we drove by and at least one piece of the zinc spinning 200ft in the air), then a bus to Panamá City, a quick jaunt in a diablo rojo to our embassy host family to pick up some books we'd left there (and some great leftovers she pressed on me), then a bus to Santiago for the night, finally getting in about 11:30. Now we are finishing up some posts (including some stockpiling, now that Blogger lets you post-date posts to publish later, so even though we'll be on the island, you can read new adventures from Panamá), sending and checking mail, and buying groceries. We go back in to site tomorrow early.

Thus starts year two...

AK-Panama blog now open to all!

To celebrate our year anniversary in Panama we have decided to celebrate by opening up the blog to free access to all. You will no longer need a password…and you can tell others to visit the blog without complications. Just go to:

www.ak-panama.blogspot.com

and you should get right in without being asked for a password.

We originally password protected it to be able to be more free with what we could write and to protect it from spammers. We have found in the majority of cases we write what we want and it is not sensitive enough to warrant password protection. Yes, there are some issues that we want to write about that could deserve password protection when posted. However those are issues that after thinking long and hard about how to write about them I end up stuck on the how to say it all…so I will keep mulling it over and see where we end up.

Please feel free to share the blog site with family, friends, co-workers and strangers alike. We are still writing to connect with family and friends...but every person we reach is a sucess for our Peace Corps goals. Thanks for sharing this adventure with us. Also, keep the questions and comments coming....it helps us to know what we need to write about next!

One Year Ago....

One year!

May 16, 2007 – It was one year ago yesterday that we arrived here in Panama to start our Peace Corps adventures. What a year it has been! Boat rides home, new foods, hard work, hot weather, rains so hard you can’t talk for all the noise created by the steel roof, wonderful new friends, generous neighbors, and the sound of parrots all day. We have had a good time writing blogs about it for all of you…and have enjoyed your responses too.

We hope that you all are as happy and healthy as we are here in Panama. We miss you all, and we do miss home regularly. Your emails, letters, packages, and calls are always a wonderful smile inducing treat. Thanks to all our friends and family out there for your love and support. It has been a great year and we are honored that you have been sharing it with us.

Check out the one year slide show above…Old and new photos... Enjoy!

Swear-In Photos

Despues de hoy,
estamos voluntarios de Cuerpo de Paz en Panama.Groupo 59 de voluntarios en Panama

Swear-In went fine...almost all in Spanish so I had to pay good attention. The oath was in English, so at least I know what I agreed to. Thus starts our 2 years as Volunteers

Swear-In Day

So today is the big day.

In about 2 hours we will be heading to Panama Viejo (old Panama city) for the swear in ceremony and officially become volunteers (we have been trainees up until now). The Ambassador and Panamanian dignataries will be there and local press. It will be very official, but not very big.

After that we will be full fledged volunteers. This means that we will (for the most part) be free to schedule our own work, life and free time! Training has been hard at time because there has been very little feeling of control of my own life. The introverted part of me is tired. Living with host families is great for learning, but boy does it leave me tired.

After Swear In we get 2 days of free time and then we head into our island site to start living and working there on Sunday. On one hand we are ready to go and get started, and on the other hand I could sure do with a couple more days of down time.

So how am I feeling about Peace Corps right now? I am happy, tired, glad to be here, occasionaly fustrated with training, occasionally very happy with training. I am loving the expereince, but not looking forward to hauling all my stuff around on Sunday. I am looking forward to exploring the island and learning more about the community there. I am not looking forward to the chitra - or no-see-ums that bit us up last time we were there. I am very much looking forward to finding a house and setting up house keeping of my own in a couple of months. I am happy to be here. This was the right choice for me, I am happy to be spreading my horizons and learning new things.

I would like to say a quick thank you to our host family in Santa Clara. I know that there were occasionaly rough times (learning a language always makes getting to know people harder) but there were many good times, and we learned a lot at your house.

Also, just a fun note for the bird lovers out there: we got to see a Harpy Eagle yesterday. He is a captive education bird with a program that raises and releases Harpys in Panama and Belize. We even got to see him fly. VERY cool! Harpys are about the size of a Bald Eagle or a bit bigger for females. Thier wing span is not quite as big, but they are heavier and stronger (more lbs pressure in talons). They eat primarily sloths. Kind of funny to me that this majestic power consumes one of the slowest animals for 60% of it's diet.


And now we're out of time and off to Swear-In!

The Island Report

We are back in Santiago, en route back to our training community for another week. We´ll be late getting back to our host family tonight, but we definately wanted to post some information about our island, the people we met, how our week went, and what we think it portends for the upcoming two years.

Last week, we had a day at a conference center with our giuas (guides) to our new community, during which we got to know them, went over their expectations, and ours, and made plans for the week in-site, with the Peace Corps Training Team supervision. (We also took a walk to the ¨nearby¨ beach near Decameron Resort, which turned out to be about an hour each way; but a lot of opportunities to talk between Trainees and Guias.) Kevin´s guide is named Efrain, and he is a pescador (fisherman) and cattleman; April´s guide is Maria Luisa and she is a pescadora and owns a tienda (small store) that was actually the smallest we´ve seen here in Panamá (about 6ft of shelf space in her kitchen/living room area). The photo is of Efrain and Maria Luisa. Much thanks to them for a great week, they clearly worked hard to be ready for us and to support us!!

On Wednesday, we loaded up our stuff (including a fully packed, very heavy, suitcase of the notebooks and such the Peace Corps has given us since we´ve arrived; one of our biggest recommendations thus far: pack one fewer suitcases than you can carry and bring a spare for the extra stuff you´ll get) and got on a bus with our guias for Santiago.

From there, we caught a bus to the district capital, where one guia gave us a tour of the agencies we´ll work with (environment and agriculture, one of whom had a map where we realized the island is actually about 6 miles across, twice what we´d thought), post office, and other important places, while the other headed to the port town. We caught up with him after a great seafood lunch looking out onto a muddy river and his boat of about 20-25 feet.



It was after 1pm when we loaded into the boat under a bright sun and headed down the river. The horsepower on the motors aren´t big (15-25 generally, all under 45) and we putted along, slowly passing mangroves, some other islands, and generally trying to take it all in. Finally, Efrain pointed to long stretch of land (we were never out of site of land) and said it was our island. However, we couldn´t see the entire thing because of the fog/rain that was rolling up from the east.

We went past some of the main points / collections of houses of the island, going three-quarters of the way round to see things and drop off Maria Luisa, and finally made it to Efrain´s house around 4:30, thoroughly drenched after running through waves of probably 3-4 feet. (We of course were wearing our Peace Corp-mandated lifevests, so don´t worry mom´s. :) Efrain´s house view is above.

View of the Isla above.


Once safely on dry land (Kevin took a Dramamine every day, and was fine), we met Efrain´s wife, and brother and father, who live in the house very next door. There were three or four other houses down in their collection of casas. Over the next few days, we found out just out ¨close¨any neighbors are on the island.



Day two, several of us from Efrain´s collection of houses went back to Maria´s (probably 20-30 minutes by boat), picked up Maria and a few others from her collection, and went across the bay to a small town in Soná, where VivaMar and another environmental group was having a meeting with local pescadores about restrictions and regulations around Isla Coiba (a protected nature preserve several hours away by boat; any tour book on Panama will have more). It was a lot of Spanish and not being sure what we were doing or where we were going, but eventually we returned everyone (dry, this time) and talked into the darkness after dinner on Efrain´s porch.



Another isla view...it is too big for one photo.



Oh, that reminds me. There is running water on most of the island, thanks to a pretty good "aquaduct" system, but no electricity. However, nearly every casa has been supplied with a solar panel and (car-sized) batteries through an arrangement with the government. So some houses watch an hour or so of TV in the evening, or, as in Efrain´s, we had a florescent light in each room to make it easier to cook, get ready for bed, or get up. Que bueno!



Friday, we left the boats behind and started hiking across to Maria´s, by way of some of the other residents´ houses. It took about two hours to get to her house, and that wasn´t even our final destination. We cut inland and although the highest point on our island is supposed to be 112 meters (about 350ft), it sure felt like we went up and down that 112 meters several times. We finally reached the school to find that the teachers (two of them, who live on the island during the week and head home on the weekends) had left the previous day. So, our school meeting was cut a bit short. But we met the president of the Padres de Familia (the PTA), who is also the correigadora, or appointed local government representative, and got to see the chicken project and school garden (or rather, where the space is for a school garden, once the weeds and debris are cleared again).


View on the boat.


After that, we headed up to see a fuente de agua, or water source for the community. It wasn´t as far as we´d feared, considering it was now noon and we´d been hiking since 7, and it was enlightening for both us and them, since it was running a bit slow. Reforestation above the fuentes de agua is likely one of Kevin´s projects.



We then hiked back to the school and off to another house, where it turned out we were to eat lunch finally. When we went to leave lunch, the tide had risen, and we were unable to walk along the beach paths. So the husband of the woman who provided lunch gave us a lift in his boat the 10-15 minutes up the island to the next house. This proved interested for Efrain´s dog who doesn´t like boats but had hiked all day with us, but we eventually got him in the boat.



This second house turned out to be one of our future host family houses. (During the first three months in site, we live with a host family to get to know the community, etc. We will actually spend time with three different families, in different parts of the island, one month each.) We weren´t quite prepared for the discussion when we realized this, but April came through brilliantly with her Spanish and we figured out we need sheets, but other than that, everything should be taken care of. (We´ll update on that during the first month, as we later found out that not all beds fit April and I. :) That month will actually be with the PdF president / corregidora, which should be a very informative opportunity.



When we left there, the tide was still up and so her husband gave us another ride (again, succes getting the dog in the boat), this time to Maria Louisa´s sister´s, next door, so to speak, to Maria Louisa´s. We enjoyed a breeze and a view and eventually decided to hike home (the direct route, a bit shorter) from there, having eaten and refreshed since our earlier hiking.


A mangrove crab.

Saturday, Maria Louisa hiked to Efrain´s house and then we returned to the boat to cover the one quarter of the coast we hadn´t yet seen. Immediately when we get in the boat, it started to rain, and we headed for the first port (well, other boat) we saw, waded through mud to our calves, and took shelter under a shed roof. Then it turned out we weren´t actually just sheltering there, but walked up the hill to meet the representante, who is the elected representative for the district. We drank some warm cinnamon creama and talked for a while until the sun finally came out (and the chitras and picas, the little bugs that drove the both of us nuts) and then eventually the four of us (Efrain, Maria Louisa, and us) were served an 11:00 lunch; the representante and his wife did not join us, just served us. After lunch, we went to the boat and continued around the island.



We stopped in another small community to see a second potential host family, but the lady of the house had to run into Santiago and the man of the house wasn´t interested in talking about it, so we wandered down to see some other folks on that stretch of beach (there were actually 5-10 houses there, in close proximity), before getting back in the boat.



We went about five minutes before pulling in to see the "house" the community has offered us to live in for free for our two years. We´ll post more on that later, but it definately had some great features and some drawbacks. (As a side note, the community is so excited to work with Peace Corps, they are offering us the house for free, as well as the first three months in the host families for free, which considering the cost of food for a family here, is pretty impressive. Of course, if we just eat rice and fish or chicken all the time, it may not be that expensive here. :)


A bay crab.

Continuing on, we passed the dock to the main town and the school, then back to Maria Louisa´s sister´s, where we ate another lunch around 2 and realized that they, along with Maria Louisa, are to be our third host family house. Finally (or at least mostly) understanding everything after three days, we headed home by boat.



Sunday dawned bright and hot (or maybe it just felt that way since we slept in until past 6, nearly 7). We probably shouldn´t have given everything else a chance to get moving. April got up, shook her pants, put them on, then picked up her shirt to shake it, and dropped it with a yelp. Upon further inspection, assisted by Efrain, we discovered an inch-plus long scorpion in her shirt tails. We think it just gave a warning sting, but it was a moment of fright, and we think the first scorpion sting in Peace Corps Panamá Group 59. She survived fine, with no side effects.



Kevin walked up to see Efrain´s (and his father´s and brothers´) cows, in a pasture that included a beautiful view including water on both the north and south sides of the island. The rest of the morning included some paperwork for Peace Corps with our guias, a quick horseback ride for April, and lunch. Then, because Efrain had to run errands all day Monday, we boated back to Maria Louisa´s for the night and so we could see the Passing of the Virgin this morning (more below).



A boat in the floatila for the Virgin.


Unfortunately, the afternoons seem to be storm time, and we were soaked from salt water by the time we unloaded from the boat and ran up the hill to Maria Louisa´s, getting soaked by rain in the process. (We´ll have to get a water proof camera at some point, because the rain on the waves was just amazing out in the little boat.) Luckily, we´d left those Peace Corps books at Efrain´s. The rain finally abated about 8 or so, in time for bed, after some of the best fried chicken we´ve had (eating food from Maria Louisa´s may be a pretty good thing :) and some time with a two month old cat.



This morning, we headed out around 8:30 or 9:00 when the flotilla of boats carrying decorated versions of the Virgin Mary circled the island. It is a district holiday, and we fell into the midst of about 7 boats, with singers and general fun, all the way round to the dock, where the Virgins processed to the small church. We went up and were introduced to the two teachers, and then finally headed out for the two hour ride to our port town.

An example of the statuary that was a part of the flotila.

After climbing the hill to catch the bus (the one road into town was closed for the celebration), we rode into Santiago and now need some (very late) lunch and to catch a bus back to our training town, where we´ll obviously arrive much later than we´d anticipated. We hope you enjoy the recap and the images April has inserted. Hopefully more in a week, before we enter our site for that first three months.