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!

Contact updates

Hello to all.

We officialy swear in as Peace Corps Volunteers on Thursday of this coming week (up to now we have been trainees). We will then, on Sunday, be going to the island to live for our two years. We will have less internet access after Sunday as the internet will be a boat ride and bus ride away (2-3 hours travel). We hope to be able to post to this blog every 3-4 weeks from now on.

Many of you will be amused to know that we now own our first cell phone (yes the irony of going to the Peace Corps and getting my first cell phone is not lost on me). It is VERY expensive to use cell phones to call out here, $.83 to the states. But incoming calls are free... so we will be welcoming calls. Other volunteers tell me that an international prepaid calling card in the states brings the cost to $.05-.08 cents a minute for you. The phone will not always be on as we will be running it on solar power and we don´t know what type of signal coverage we will have. I do not wish to post the number on the net...but just email me if you would like the number.

Also, our mailing address at the bottom of this blog has been updated for the new home location. Please switch to the new address. Also, volunteers do find that Jesus stickers and "Praise God" sayings do help the packages to arrive intact...especially when Jesus is across the seams where you would have to cut to open the package. ;)

All in all we are doing well and looking forward to getting going on the next and biggest step in this marvelous adventure. Love to you all.
April

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.

The common questions with answers

This is April...the computer just thinks that it is Kevin since he was the one to log in.

What do we eat?

We eat a ton of rice...almost every meal. Lots of starches in the Panimanian diet. Lots of beans, lentils, some corn...but not like any you know...starchy corn. Some plantains and bananas for Kevin. HOt dogs are a favorite for some reason and there are many ways to cook them. I have eaten more hot dogs here than in the past 10 years in the States.

We eat lots of fruit including mangos, pifa, pineapple, banana, papaya, coconut, and others that I am forgetting the names to and have never had in the States. Panamanians tend to like fruit mostly as a juice or frozen treat....btu they eat it regular too. Fried food is a favorite. In short most PCV women here tend to gain a little wieght (which is not thrilling) and most PCV men tend to loose a little...how in the heck that works out I do not know.

How is your health?

Good. Very little in the way of health problems. I have had diareahh just a couple of times...usually when I have to get on a bus or boat soon which is a thrilling type of stress. But stomach issues have been very minimal. The water here is good to drink in most areas straight from the tap.

We have had some thrilling bug bites. I have had bites a couple of times now that have grown to be 7 inches wide, slightly raised, hot, and hard. The one time it felt a bit like chicken skin on the surface and lasted about two weeks. The second time was different and when way in 4 days but was fun until then.

I was stung by a small scorpion (body about an inch long without the tail) the other day when I picked up my shirt. Very suprising and not fun but not awful. It hurt good for 15 minutes and then hurt dully for 20 minutes and then that part of the finger was without much sensation for the rest of the day. They tell me that scorpion stings can also make your tounge loose feeling but I did not experience that.

Kevin joined me in the insect fun this past week on the island. He had more bites than I did for once in his life. THey were mostly no-see-ums. Looked a bit like a bad case of chicken pox. But those will go away soon.

What is the temperature or weather like?

Not as bad as I expected to be very honest. It can be very hot and humid....but that comes just before the rain storms....so you know that the humidity will end at soom point. The temps are not bad...not as high as Baltimore last summer. THe rain cools everything down. It rains almost daily, quite often as a thunderstorm, which I love. Usually in the afternoon, but sometimes in the morning or at night. I can´t complain because it is not as bad as Baltimore was with days around 100 and high humidity last year. I was prepared for that to be true here as well but so far that is not true. THey tell me that summer (Jan, Feb, March, April) will be quite different so I will update you them.

On our way- first island visit

Hello,
This is just a quick note to let you all know that we are doing fine. We are currently on our way to meet our "community guide" a person who will show us around our new community. We will go with them to the island for the first time this Wednesday and will stay there until Monday. I hope to post info and pictures of our new home then.

Until then...
Love to all.
April

Cultural & Technical Weeks

Well, we just finished week 5 and 6 of training (out of 10) and as usual we are tired.

Week 5 focuses on Culture. All the trainees travel out to thier region of Panama to experince local culture. Kevin and I traveled to the mountains of Veraguas to visit Areshia, a volunteer who lives and works just a coulple of ridges away from Noah and Karine (who we visited previously).

The first photo is Areshia while teaching in the school. She does a weekly environmental class and we helped her to prepare for and run class that week. We did neglect to think up a rain plan....I don´t know what we were thinking of seeing how we are in PANAMA, but we recovered nicely and had a good class despite the rain.

This is our group (l-r) Cassandra, Maria our Regional leader, Arishia in the back, Teri in orange, Kevin and me.

In Areshia´s community we contunied our practice in Spanish and lived with host families. n Kevin and I asked to be with seperate families so we would get more individual spanish time...and that was good practice.


We experenced culture by talking to local artisans, one that makes Panama hats, another who makes maracas, and a lady who makes jewlery and uses many local seeds in her jewlery. We also visited a local hostel (well worth the trip to Santa Fe to sit in thier hammocks - see the photo of our group above) and a small food and crafts market. I came close to buying a Panama hat, but it was a tad to big. Darn.

This is Cassandra and Teri modeling the jewlery with local seeds. Teri (in the green) bought the one she is wearing.


We also had a good time watching "The Devil Wears Prada". Imagine 7 people crowed around a laptop in the dark and you get the picture. There is a very funny line in the movie that mentions Peace Corps...so we got a good laugh.

For Technical week we seperated and I headed out to join others in the CEC program to learn about the coastal environment and the issues we will be working on. We stayed with host families in Holly´s community on the South-western end of the Asero Penninsula.


The people there were great and the weather and it was beautiful. The sand on her beach was grey black in color and not developed. Holly works with a very motivated and organized communtiy group on Sea turtle conservation. They collect and protect eggs from people and animals until they hatch. We walked the beach looking for turtles every night, but did not see any as it is early in the year still. We
had classes on sea turtles, mangroves, eco-tourism, youth leadership development, and how to build a Lorina stove.

A very large percentage of Panamanians cook with fagones...which is really just a pot sitting on three large rocks over a fire. Even those people who have and use a gas range still use a fagone when they cook for large numbers of people or traditional foods. Well you can imagine that this takes a lot of wood for the cooking.

Loriana stoves are earthen stoves made with easy to obtain materials - clay, sand, grass, and a zinc pipe for a chimney. The benifits of a loraina stove are that they burn about 30% less wood, they divert the smoke from the cook, they contain and focus the heat onto the pot, and they can use the same flame to heat more than one pot. You can also bake in them after cooking if you are real good. A Loraina stove can last 10-20 years with proper care.

With that said they are labor intensive to build. The steps can be seem in the photos.

1. 1. You collect and sift the soil and sand. You have to check the soil content to be sure that you mix things in the right purportions. Sifting soil took FOREVER because the soil was damp...nothing dries fast here.

2. After mixing the parts together with just the perfect amount of water you put it into the mold and tamp it down hard...beat the snot out of it until you have to work to dent it with your finger.

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until the mold is full...8 hours or mor of work.

4. Remove the mold and pray it looks good...it will but at that point you have soo much work in it you can´t help but pray a bit.

5. Carve out the openings and tunnels for the wood, fire, pots, and chimney. Use water to smooth all surfaces.

6. Let dry for 30 days. Check daily for cracks and fix them. Do a test fire on day 20 to check for major issues before it is too dry to fix.

7. Use and maintain your stove....tell all your friends and have a party to build on for someone else.

Sr. Gilberto

This is a transcription of notes I made this week while on Culture Week.

I´m sitting on the porch under a florescent light, the view of the dark night obscurred by hanging laundry. Senor Gilberto is tocar-ing, strumming an old guitar, his fingers brushing clear the dust. From inside comes the rapid fire announcer of the Panamá v Mexico futbol game, but unlike so much of the rest of Panamá, quietly. He tunes by ear, easing away the years of disuse, and begins to play. The music flows in fits and spurts, occasionally interspersed with singing, the words coming harder than the strumming, and occasionally with long blank pauses.

I don´t know what the pauses contain for Sr. Gilberto. Dusting off long forgotten tunes? Thoughts about how to work the finca tomorrow? Or memories of the last time he played this guitar?

Sr. Gilberto is in his 40s, an extremely happy man with a wonderful welcoming wife. They have four children. Two are engineers. One is in university still, and one had to stop to take care of his own family.

Not bad for a man who had to stop his own schooling at age 10 to get a job and help his family. When he was 3, his own father was paralyzed in a small plane crash. Since the age of 10, he as worked, in the monte, clearing, long hard days to ensure his brother and sister and parents were taken care of. And then doing the same so his kids could have better than he did.

From the porch we are sitting on, we would see the house he was born in, were it not for the thick trees. He has travelled a few times to other provinces, for work, but never wanted to stay or liked it as much as here. His may go to Santiago, a moderately big city 1.5 hours away, at most once a year.

Now it is morning on the same porch. Three dogs sit patiently in hte mud yard looking at me hopefully, but not pleading. They regularly get scraps, and bones, beating the ducks ,geese, and chickens to them. Two handmade cages hang from the ceiling with parakeets. The sun is still blocked, across the valley, by the mountain ridges. At least four spines of land unfold before me, without a building on them, some spots cleared for fincas, the rest trees and greenery. Clouds drift between the spines, the white highlighting the verdent green. The roosters have been crowing for hours by now, it is amazing to believe this is not a dream.

What a beautiful place. What warm wonderful people. What a great experience. Thank you Sr. Gilberto. Thank you Peace Corps. Thank you God.

It was my first great ¨Peace corps experience¨ Great!

Site announcement….prepare to be envious!

Well, where we are assigned to live for the next two years was announced the other day and we are pretty excited about the news. After training (5 more weeks), we will be living and working on a small island near/in the Golfo de Montijo, which is the gulf just to the West of the big peninsula that juts south into the Pacific. It is about 5 hours outside of Panama City. (on the map at the bottom of the page the gulf is just below where it says Santiago. We won’t say which of the many islands in that area we are assigned to for safety reasons, but if you choose to come visit for your own island getaway we will tell you where to come.

I can tell you some general details about the likely living conditions. Based on the information given to us so far (some details may be wrong according to other PCVs):
*****The island is home to a small community of less that 300 people. They seem to be very interested to have a volunteer – they even formed a committee to “support the PC volunteer”. Impressive!
*****We will have a boat ride to the island…likely 40 minutes or so. Faster with a newer engine, slower with an older one…guess which is more likely. Still, Kevin looks forward to that more than a long chiva ride (see previous posts if you don’t understand)
****We will not have electricity in our house, there may be some very limited access to solar power on the island, or may not.
*****We will likely have running water at or near our home, but will need to filter and treat it to be safe.
****We will likely have cell phone coverage…and plan on having a cell phone. Cell phones are very expensive to use here…even in country. We will likely not use it much to make outgoing calls. However, incoming calls are free to the cell phone user…so you are welcome to call us. Other volunteers say that pre-paid international calling cards are the cheapest option state side, with rates around 5-8 cents per minute. We will likely not get a phone until the end of training.

****Our house will most likely be cement blocks with a zinc / steel roof and a cement or earthen floor.

What will we be doing on this tropical island? Laying in a hammock? Well, there is some of that in the life of everyone in Panama, but we be doing many other things as well (no, really I mean it!). As you read the following please know that the first step for all Peace Corps members is to spend several months talking to everyone to figure out “What do they really want to work on here? What are the beneficial projects that the community will be supportive of?”
For Kevin: We have been told that the island is fairly deforested from farming and raising cattle. The people who live there have expressed interest in reforestation to protect their watershed and water supply. We have been told that they are also interested in learning about organic farming as a way to make the most of the land that they have….land is likely more obviously a limited resource on an island. Also, a chicken project may be possible.
For April: We have been told that they are interested in ecotourism, and their location is reasonable for this to be possible. Teaching about the environment & very basic science are also likely projects. There may be call for marine conservation projects in the area, the island fishermen have noticed a change in their harvest patterns and are interested to explore why.

We will have a chance to visit the site in 4 weeks and will know more then. For now it is time for bed, I have to get up tomorrow at 4:30 for travel to our next week of training. We will be doing a week of region specific cultural training, so we are off to Veraguas! I should mention that as I write this there is a bunch of music coming in the window from distant parties…Saturday and Sunday nights are big music and party nights. The music could go on until the wee hours of the morning and I can tell from here that they are having fun.

We will be sure to tell you more when we can. Until then, just know that we are fairly happy and safe (and April continues to be itchy with bug bites.)

Training & Raining

So yesterday we really got to get our hands dirty. And everything else for that matter. After weeks of mostly ¨classroom¨or lecture type trainings, we dug beds, made water diversion / erosion control ditches, and planted. About 30 minutes after we started, the skies opened and it poured. Agua sera, mucho agua, lots of names for it, but pretty much the same thing - we were soaked.

Typically, our trainings for Language and Technical work are held in ranchos, or palm frond covered huts with no walls. (We´ll try to get a picture for our next post.) They are quieter than the ´zinc´roofs on most of the houses, and generally work well, but we were getting tired of sitting in metal folding chairs on the mud (although mostly dry, the legs would still sink into it) and listening to how to plant, or how to perform a community assessment.

So we were excited to build beds, spread the borycachi (bocachi, with the name changed to relfect the tweaks of our Tech Trainer, Borys) we´d made, build a seedling nursery, and get blisters. Besides, the torrential rains helped us know how well we´d designed and implemented our canals guardar (erosion control / water diversion, or guard channels); otherwise, we wouldn´t have figured that out until it washed away our seeds. (Sometimes I wonder how tall Panamá must have been originally, looking at all the mud that washes down in every rain. I´m thinking Rocky Mountains high.)

So hopefully we´ll be around to see the results of our planting and building efforts; we have a couple of weeks of off-site training, so we may come back to beautiful beds of corn, rice, beans, and such just starting up. Either way, it will mostly come ripe just after we leave our training site for our real sites, a bit of a bummer; I would love a garden fresh salad.

Oh, and coming home that wet (I managed to not be red with mud, but had definate spots) for lunch, I figured I´d shower, put on dry clothes, eat, and put the wet ones back on for the rest of the day (on Saturdays, we don´t split the day half language, half technical). However, our host mother took my Tshirt to wash while we were eating. I grad another. I looked outside again, and now my socks were missing. Okay, I grabbed some others. I went outside to put my boots on, and they were getting washed. I had to explain that yes, I wanted to wear the wet boots, as I was going back to the mud. Obviously still some differences between cultures (or maybe just people?) that I haven´t fully figured out yet.

More later, hopefully after we find out our site on Wednesday!!!! We´re all excited!

Lodo - otherwise known as Mud

So, this has been a rather quiet week for us...just training, no movies or galavanting across the country. So I figure I can take a moment to tell you about one of the every day realities of life in Panama...lodo. Lodo is the Spanish word for mud.

In acctuallity we have not yet had any really deep shoe sucking mud momemts here yet (they say that it is just a matter of time). And, before you get the wrong mental image of a country that is just one big muddy road lined by deep forboading jungle let me tell you that that had not been my expereince. When it rains here we do get mud. I have seen two different types....the sitcky stuff and the not sticky stuff. I don´t know what the diffence is, but the path behind our house is a whiteish soil that is firm and does not ever get slick or sticky. It makes a very nice path.

The more common type of mud here is red in color and sticky as can be. It is not uncommon while working in the garden to get a 2" layer of mud stuck to the bottom and sides of your shoes. When it gets that big the wieght eventually causes it to peel free and you start up a new layer. It is persistantly sticky. I have left my shoes to dry for a day or two and gone out to hit the mud off and had it not come free. When using tools like a shovel it is common to have to stop and use a stick or machete to clean the mud off of the tool so that it doesn´t interfere with your work. Digging in Panama is hard work...much harder than back home. The soil feels more dense and heavy.

The red mud drains quickly and dries (well, as dry as it gets here...not to the dusty stage) to a nice firm surface. The only areas that seem to stay persistantly yucky are low lying wetspots that get heavy traffic. Something funny, I once thought that I had the start of a good sandal tan...just to wash my feet and find that they had been stained by the mud.

Stay tuned for more postings on life in Panama - including a posting on "Los Diablos Rojos"!

Site announcements coming soon!

Hey all,
Just a quick note to let you know that we will be finding out where we will be assigned on Wednesday. This will finally answer the question that you have been asking since last spring...."Just where will you be living and working???" We will post info as soon as possible after that for you to enjoy. I think that it is going to be very good. Stay tuned!
April

Photos from Volunteer Visit - previous post

These photos are from our visit to see Noah and Karinne in thier community. Every trainee gets to visit a current volunteer at thier site for a weekend. See the previous posts for a discription of our visit, when we posted we did not have a way to upload the photos.

April and Kevin on a chiva.

Chivas are a main method of transportation in the campo...which means anywhere off of the main highways and big roads. Chivas are 4wheel drive trucks with a roof and two hard small benches in the back. Cargo gets strapped to the top, and people get crammed inside. We were the last stop...that is why you don´t see other passengers.

Kevin on the Chiva. Clearly head room was not a high priority in the creation of this chiva. They tell us that not all chivas are this short. Kevin hit his head multiple times each way...hard enough to be heard over the engine noise.

A view of the community fair grounds. Each small community has a Saint or "Patronales" that they celebrate - sometimes for days or weeks at a time. The fair grounds at this communtiy become a market and activity area for thier week of celebration.

The view from Noah and Karinne´s porch. They have a beautiful site location. Almost (emphasis on almost for me anyway) worth the 3 plus hour chiva ride.

My first of the really big Panamanian creatures. This spider´s main body was easily as big as my thumb. Wow. The list to date includes: two small scorpions, a BIG tarantula, many mosquitos, tocans, many interesting and colorful birds, a cool big lizard (that bit Colin in our group 4 times...but Colin is the guy who catches lizards and stuff and gets bit as a result of the fun) and a lightning bug that had to be as big as my thumb with an orangey colored light rather than the typical green/yellow. (Ok, on that one we didn´t actually get a look at the bug as it was dark....but there are other witnesses who agree that it was a lightning type bug. I guess we could all be wrong...it could have been a tiny UFO.)

We took a walk/hike with Noah and Karinne to a water fall and swimming hole. Our camera batteries were limited on this trip, so these are the best of the photos.

Hogwarts

Wow, what a first few weeks. In the very limited free time we´ve had, I´ve been reading Harry Potter 5 (Order of the Phoenix) in prep for the movie and to re-read HP6 before the final book comes out. And I realized that Peace Corps Pre Service Training (PST) is just like going to Hogwarts (the wizard school, if somehow you haven´t read them nor know someone who has). Tons of new words we´ve never heard before, tons of homework just piling up in Spanish class (read this, write this, discuss this with your host family, all in Spanish) and in Technical Sessions (here are fifty new trees you need to be able to identify, all presented in thirty minutes walking around the finca - farm; here is a nivel - level - that you need to be able to build from two 2-meter long sticks, some twine, a tape measure, and a few nails; here is a recipe for bocachi - japanese name for organic compost - that requires 200 lbs of chicken poo amongst other items; and an amazing overload of other new trainings and information). Add to that the new foods we´re eating, plus the ones we don´t think we want to eat (no kidding, on our first day trip to a finca, we saw - and some of us more adventurous ones tried - a fruit that reminded me of mibelus mimbeltona - a blistery plant from HP5 - and smelled and tasted like stale vomit - again, no kidding! And the reason there are lots of these around is because they juice this stuff and sell it in gyms and healthfood stores in the states - obviously with some taste modifiers - so everyone planted one because they were selling for a lot, but then everyone planted one, so the price dropped.) and it is very similar to Hogwarts.

We even ride an equivalent to the Knight Bus, called Diablo Rojo (or, Red Devil) when we travel around Panamá City - they are old school buses from the US, painted up inside and out in crazy, but very artistic, designs, the door is generally bungee corded open so it never closes, and the seats PACK in when people get on. The first one we road to Panamá City for a day of locating points of interest actually got condemned (or something, we weren´t sure what) when we arrived there, but luckily another person on the bus took us to another one to finish the ride.

So that has been wonderful, if at times overwhelming. But we´ve managed (by us, I mean both April and I together, as well as working with our other Group mates) to get through it all.

This weekend (April and I are currently sitting in Santiago, provicinial capital of Veraguez, west of Panamá City, before finishing our trip back to our PST site), we went on a Volunteer Visit to spend time with current volunteers and see how they live, deal with work, food, people, etc. Luckily, another volunteer from the area was going as well, because we might not have made it. The ride required a four hour chiva drive - pickup truck with benches and a top in the back, where we rode with gear strapped to the top - from Santiago. The last two hours were off the pavement, but it hadn´t rained much lately, so the roads weren´t too muddy and we only had to walk once. But the chivas are scheduled to leave the Santiago terminal at 4am and 6am, but sometimes the 6am doesn´t go, so don´t count on it, and sometimes the 4am leaves early, so we had to get there at 3:15am. So it was good to talk to Bryan, who guided us through the trek. The mud road was almost easier - they drive fast on the pavement, but it is so potholed, they swerve all the time and straighten the curves - since it was slower - I just had to worry about bouncing my head off the ceiling - everyone else pretty much could sit upstraight. :) Luckily, Bryan got me a set at the back end, so I didn´t get carsick, but dad would never make it.

Once we got to Noah and Karinne´s, it was beautiful, if only 8am!! We ate great all weekend, talked Peace Corps and Panamá, work, the states, the future, hiked, swam in some waterfall pools, saw the BIGGEST fireflies I´ve ever encountered (practically small hummingbirds!), and even got to attend a charla - talk - they held on Saturday to talk about coffee - the main local product - with the local campesinos (farmers). I could follow their Spanish, but not the locals yet. And we got to de-husk some coffee beans by hand - a small batch Noah had, just while we were sitting around on the porch talking. It was a wonderful time and we were really lucky with our visit, since we had so many experienced PCVs to talk to, such great food, and beautiful view. (I´d post some pictures, but we didn´t bring the cord to the camera, so hopefully next time.) We had electricity the last half day, after someone fixed the local hydrogenerator finally (we had a teasing false alarm Friday evening) and had running (but unpotable) water most of the time. This morning, we got up at 4am for the 5ish chiva ride down, but it didn´t come by the house until after 6, so we got breakfast, chatting, and a beautiful dawn (we did get on before the sun crested the mountains). The ride down was mostly uneventful, and it was a surprise to get here feeling the day should be half gone and realize it is only 10 or 10:30am. We still have about a three hour ride back to our PST site, then back into homework, talking in Spanish with our host family, and local food.

Sorry I haven´t posted more before, we seem to get about an hour online a week so far, and the computers (or maybe the network connections) here aren´t quite as fast as home, so it takes longer than I expect (of course, if you look at the posts about my estimates for packign the house and moving, you´ll see my expectations are frequently off :) to read emails, do some responding, and try to post. I´ll keep trying to give updates with more about classes, abono (fertilizer), Spanish, food, beautiful sites, and etc. In about two weeks, we should know our site; I won´t be able to post the name, but I should be able to indicate how beautiful it will be. :)

As always, thanks to everyone for their support!! We are really looking forward to getting through PST and into our site, doing some work and having some down time as well. This weekend was practically a great, and much needed, Hogsmeade weekend.

Volunteer Visit - Noah & Karinne

Hello all,
We are sneaking in 20 minutes at an internet cafe (only cafe doesn´t seem quite right as there is no coffee or tea here). First off, sorry no photos this time...I have the camera but no way to make it talk to this computer.

We are in Santiago Panama...West of the capitol by about 4 hours on a bus. We just finished a volunteer visit about 3 hours North of here in the mountains. My rear end is sore from the bouncy ride. Think of the worst 4 wheel drive roads you can imagine...then ride over them on a bench in the back of a pick-up truck with 12 other people and you are getting close to imagining the trip to see Noah and Karinne.

Noah and Karinne are married PCVs who have just finished thier first year of service. Every trainee went out to visit a volunteer this week to learn more about what it is like to be a volunteer. Noah and Karinna were great hosts. They made us brownies! In addition to good food and great company we got to experience life with electricity and water that comes and goes at will. It is just a fact of life where they live because the systems that run the water and electricity are old, iffy and volunteer maintained at times. I have come to find that if I have to do with out either water or electricity in my home I want the water...it is heavier. :)

Noah and Karrine live in a cement block house with a zinc-coated steel roof. It is very typical of Panama. The windows are decorative cement blocks that have openings in them. Sometimes the windows are screens, often not. The houses are all painted bright colors, Noah and Karrine live in a bright peach house. They have an indoor bathroom with shower, but the water pressure is not always high enough to shower...so they often bucket shower. They always flush the toilet with a bucket...for those of you who don´t know this skill you should learn it because it is usefull whenever the water goes out. They also have an indoor kitchen with a propane stove, but many of the people in their area cook over wood fires and fogons (fagon= three rocks with a pot on top). Thier house was nice and cool because of the altitude and cloud cover, but there are some areas of Panama where the metal roof really heats up the house.

The weather at thier site was awsome, reminicent of warm spring in Maryland. The altitude (700m or around 2200 feet) keeps it cooler Cool to crisp in the evening, and warm to hot in the sun of the day. We went out for walks to see the counrty...lots of steep hills. We went swimming in a local swimming hole on a crisp stream with waterfalls. We also go to got to thier first ever charla - or talk. They got the community together to talk about coffee poroduction.

Coffee is the main cash crop in thier area and they are trying to get the farmers to focus on the quality of the product that they raise. It is hard for them to understand that the way they raise and process thier coffee could be important to the price that they get. This is impart because, while Panamanians drink a lot of coffee they sure don´t seem to care about the quality of it. It is roasted beyond dark and drunk with lots of sugar.

It is hard for them to imagine a culture like ours that has a segment of the population that are as coffee crazy and quality oriented as we are. There are about 8 steps in coffee harvesting and processing...and each of them can have a big impact on final quality. Attention to these steps can raise the price that the farmers get for thier products, but first they have to believe that it is important enough to invest the effort. Noah and Karinne´s community doesn´t have the prime coffee climate necessary to produce award winning coffees (altitudes above 1000m are best for coffee), but they can produce darn good coffee that will fetch better prices than they currently get.

Needless to say, we got to see coffee growing. We even got help with some production by helping Noah peal some of his beans. We roasted and drank coffee from local beans and had a generally good time. The scenery was simply breath taking in almost any direction. I have some photos that I will try to post next time. So, do I want to be posted in the Mountains? Part of me does, but part of me is wary of the chiva (truck for passengers) ride.

Hope all is well back in the States. I must admit to knowing almost nothing of what is going on in the world. I don´t know enough Spanish yet to easily read newpapers or follow the TV news.
Send your Panama questions in and we will try to answer them.
Love to all.
April

Thank you!

A quick thank you to all of the Volunteers at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. The camera that you gave me is responsible for all photos posted here! Thanks a bunch. I love it. April

Training - week one

Hello all,

So this is April, not Kevin like the computer thinks...he logged in, but I am the one doing the typing.

We are done with week one. One of the longest weeks of my life just because my brain is working hard. There hasn't been any time off at all...just a stolen moment or two laden with guilt because I know that I should be using those moments to practice my Spanish more. But sometimes the brain is just ready to quit.

Today we did a training with two veteran volunteers to learn how to get around Panama City. We finished mid morning and now are at the big local mall taking full advantage -food, internet and maybe even see Pirates of the Carabeen-before heading home- the photo above is of the wonderful house where we are living. I get a lesson in how to wash la ropa interior later this week from our wonderful house mother Marta.

Many of you had asked about what we were allowed to bring with us. I had been meaning to post the recommended packing list for you, but haven't had time. I may or may not get to it. But just to amuse you, I will say that we wieghed in with about 60lbs. luggage each -including carry on. Peace Corps has already added thier own 15 plus pounds of books, med gear, mosqito net and such. Arg. Below is a photo of us with our luggage as we prepare to head to our training site.

Yup...we could still carry all of it as of when this picture was taken, but maybe not now because there are more big binders and books.

We have a full schedule, so full I am ready for a break...I guess I am using that break to type to you. Ok, I tried to make an email smiley but failed miserably on this Spanish keyboard.

A typical day of training goes like this- get up at 6.30 yup you know how thrilled I am with that, eat, get ready class from 8-11.30 either language or technical class, lunch at home, class from 1-5pm, dinner and shower, homework, talk with family and struggle with spanish, go to bed around 9 because my brain is done for the day and it gets dark at 6.30. The daylight is 6-6ish year round here.

In out technical classes we are learning all sorts of things including how to plant yucca, how to do a fast compost pile in 15 days, how to safely use a machete, and how to gather information about your comunity and their needs. Kevin is planting rice in that photo, on a burned area.

We have had the chance to see traditional agricuture here, mostly subistance farming. Yes, they do practice slash and burn agriculture for the lack of a better option. The photo below shows a slash and burn site that I saw on a class walk.

I had a hard time understanding this at first, but there just isn't the access to information about best practices here that there is in the states. I had to remind myself that in the States each major university has had an extension agency for a long time who's purpose is to research best practices and then get that information out into the hands of local people who can use it. That doesn't seem to exist here. In a way PC is serving as Agricultural Extension here.

I have heard some great sucess stories from other volunteers. One volunteer we met has farmers in his community who are not going to clear any new forest this year, focusing instead on using the rice tanks that he helped them to get started. I am sure that there are both sucess and failure stories to share in the future.

What else is important...can't find the question mark now.

Yes there are mosquitos...I seem to be more tasty than Kevin. Little surprise there, the mosqitos in the States thought the same thing. The weather is wonderful, said with no sarcasm at the moment. It ranges from hot and sticky yucky to cool and refreshing. By the time the rain comes it is very welcome. The thunderstorms are spectacular- great thunder, some lightning and anywhere from a light rain to an all out downpour. The heaviest rain in the states is common here...and I am loving it. I have always been a sucker for thunderstorms. The needle count is up to 6 sticks. Love this job.

I am about out of time. More later. Love to all at home. April

We have arrived!

Staging was fairly uneventful other than meeting our fellow volunteers. We did take time to print photos of home, family and friends to bring with us while we were in Georgetown. (They are in a 4x6 album with spaces left over – hint hint!) The flights here were fairly good. Senator Joe Biden was on our flight to Miami just two seats in front of Kevin. Smooth flights, they went quickly despite American Airlines now trying to charge you for a simple snack in-flight.

It is a good group of people in our class. Kevin is having a fabulous time goofing off and making friends. I am also enjoying it all, but am a bit less bubbly about it. The past few days have given me a whole new window into why Kevin was voted “Most School Spirit” in high school.

I know, I know…So what is Panama like? It is so humid that at 8:30 at night I walked out of the airport and my glasses immediately steamed up…completely fogged over from the humidity. The smell here is the smell of Florida after a rain…but almost all of the time. The heat has not been terrible…yet….but it has been mostly overcast. It sounds like the bid section of a pet store outside. The different sound of the birds was one of the first things that I noticed when I woke up.

It has been fun to be here…very interesting. I have seen a new hummingbird, very cool since we only got ruby throats in everyplace that I have lived. For the bird lovers out there it was (as best as I can tell) black with a white breast and a slightly curved beak. Also sighted: a tree frog that was 4 inches long, some parrots, many mango trees with lots of un-ripe fruit. I didn’t see the mosquito who got me, but one did (don’t worry Mom, I will survive.)

It gets dark here around 6:30pm. Everyone has been really nice here, the Panamanians who work with Peace Corps clearly want us here. I think that we are lucky to be in Panama. PC Panama seems to be a very well established program. They say that attrition from this program is very low, and that volunteers here report a high level of satisfaction with their time in PC. Also, (this is for the Moms who worry) PC Panama has a great health care system – good enough that they are the Evacuation hub for the region. All PC Volunteers who need medical care evacuations in Central America are sent here.

We are currently in Panama City and have seen the Miraflores Locks on the canal. We are doing some introductory classes and interviews here. Accommodations are simple but nicer than I would have predicted for PC. We do know where we will be going for training, but I am not going to post it here for safety reasons. We leave for the training site on Sunday and will be then living with our host families for the duration of training. It has been announced that Kevin and I will be placed in the same host family. We won’t find out our site assignments for 4-5 weeks, so please join me in trying to be patient.

How about some stats to round out the picture:
*There are currently 7300 volunteers serving in PC in 73 countries.
There are 34 volunteers in our class here in Panama.
*27 is the average volunteer age – our class oldest is 38 and youngest is 21. Oldest ever to serve was 84 and current oldest is 79….so many of you still have time to serve!
*58% of volunteers are women
*9% are married in PC overall. Our class of volunteers has 5 couples in it – 1/3 of the class…that is a lot.
*178 thousand volunteers have served since PC was started by Kennedy in March 1961.

Why is PC serving in Panama?
*20% of the population here earns 60% of the income. *40% of the population lives in real poverty (68% of those in rural areas, and 98% in indigenous communities.)

*Projects here address sustainable agriculture, education, health, promotion of eco-tourism, teaching English, and many others…all requested by the Panamanian Government and local communities.

I don’t think that the access to internet will last once we go to training, but phone coverage is supposed to be good. Many of you will laugh at this: 95% of volunteers here have cell phones…so Kevin and April will probably get one after training. Just think, we avoided cell phones for years only to get one in Peace Corps. Oh the irony!

I think that is all my fingers can handle for now. Love to all. We are well and happy. Don’t worry!
April & Kevin