Congratulations to Viking (and Amanda)

This really should come from April, not me, but she is on the island to teach English class on Sunday (and holding down the house against an ant invasion), so I'm posting it for her.

We just found out that Guide Dog #5, Viking, has passed his IFT and is in fact being considered for stud. We only started Viking, turning him over to Amanda Weeks (a puppy raiser in the Baltimore region of Guiding Eyes for the Blind) for finishing, so she really deserves the credit, but we are extremely happy to hear that he is going in for training.

He looks quite a bit bigger than when we last saw him, as this picture from just after his test shows. What a cutie!

Paying the Pilot

Some say the point of traveling internationally is to see new sites, learn languages, or see other cultures. But one of the advantages of living internationally, like in the Peace Corps, is really learning other cultures and changing your perspective so you see things from a new point of view.

Thanks to Elvis, the 12-year-old son of our neighbors, I had a chance to feel that change take place, and it clarified a lot of previous conversations and confusion.

We were sitting on our bench chatting about this and that, food here in the island compared to in Maryland, how supermarkets have everything (at least in Columbia, MD) you could want. And as often happens, talk drifted to how far away Maryland is from Panamá and how long that takes por avion. If I thought it out, I could predict both sides of these conversations; the next question is almost always, "How much does the trip cost?"

My answer is that I'm not sure, I didn't pay for it, Peace Corps did, but I think around $600 (which is sometimes two months income for Elvis' family).

Generally in these discussions, there is a whistle, a nod, and perhaps a slightly confused look, but eventually, acknowledgement that it is caro (expensive) and talk drifts on to other topics.
Elvis, however, was obviously contemplating something that didn't fit with my story. So he asked more questions. It took us a while before I understood, but we finally got there:

When do you pay the pilot?

And the light came on! Here in Panamá, there is an extensive bus system, with frequent and regular rides to and from Panamá City and between provincial capitals, and radiating from there into most small towns. But you don't buy a ticket; for most of them you just get on the bus, and as you get off, you pay the driver directly for the ride.

So from the point of view of a kid who has never seen an airport but has paid the driver numerous times after riding buses and boats, it was amazing to think the pilot would fly all those people that far and not collect money from them when they get off. (I'm sure it was also amazing to him to think I handed the pilot that much money and couldn't remember doing it!)

I thanked Elvis profusely for clarifying the confusion I'd seen on others and for changing my understanding and perspective; it was yet another way the world looks different (in fact, even a different way of looking at the world) in campo Panamá compared to Columbia, MD.

So often, how you look at things is based upon what your past experiences. Thanks to Elvis, how I look at things has been broadened; now I will remember to think about the experiences of the other person and thus how they will see things, and maybe sometimes I'll need to explain a bit more.

Thinking of visiting?

Dear Prospective Travelers,

I know that there are some folks out there that have been batting around the idea of visiting us over the next year and a half...so this post is for you all.

Kevin and I would welcome anyone who wants to visit. I think Panama is a fabulous place. It is beautiful, uses USA currency (no money exchange fees) and you can travel in posh luxury or as cheaply as you would like. Panama is also fairly safe for visitors and offers the security of good hospitals (it is where volunteers from other Central American countries are often sent when they need advanced care).

Visiting a PCV has real advantages over visiting a country on your own...you get an opportunity to get off the normal tourist path and see how the people really live. We PCVs also know about how to travel, the cheep decent hotels, the sites, local culture, and language (I don't offer perfect Spanish...but it is functional). We are excited about our host country and ready to share that excitement with you.

Yes, unfortunately we do have to work while we are in Peace Corps...so we are not intending this to be a "we can drop everything and guide you" invitation. Rather, you are invited to visit and share a moment in our work and life here. We would look to plan work during your visit that you might enjoy seeing or participating in. Depending on when, for how long, and where you wish to go, we can probably take some vacation time to travel with you to visit other parts of Panama.

Here is what we would ask of you:

1. Visitors are welcome between May 15th, 2008 - April 30th, 2009. We set these dates based on giving our selves time to settle in and time to get ready to leave at the end of service.
   
2. Let us know at least 4 weeks in advance of when you want to come....8 weeks is better. Start talking to us about it as soon as you are fairly sure that you intend to try to make the trip.
   
3. Let us know what you are hoping to do while here.
4. Please be flexible, when possible, with your dates, we can't handle a string of three visitors back to back. We must have time to work too.
5. Don´t let the words "rainy season" scare you. 8 months of the year are rainy season. Yes, it rains. But it tends to be rainy only for part of the day and sunny for part of the day. Rain is part of Panama...you didn´t really experience Panama if you didn´t hear an agua cero on a zinc roof.
   

If there is more than a 50% chance that you will really buy a ticket and come down here...let us know. We want to start thinking about your visit and make sure that we set aside time to be with you. To discuss a possible visit: email aprilcropper at yahoo dot com or kevincropper at yahoo dot com or call us on our cell phone : 011-570-6639-1352. (If you call you may need to call more than once to get through...sometimes there is signal...sometimes not.)

Hoping to see you soon.
April and Kevin

Coiba Visit

Sunrise in the bay just behind the cabins at Coiba

We made it to Parque Nacional Coiba. If you don't know what Coiba is, check out any tourism guide book for Panamá, because it is one of the main natural resources, but here is a quick explanation.


Kevin on the way to Coiba...island (and neighboring smaller islands) visible in the distance.

Coiba is an island located south of the isthmus and was formed with the Galapagus Islands and then drifted on the edge of a tectonic plate. The island is not considered volcanically active today, but hotsprings in the park testify to it´s past. Coiba was (well, still is for about four of them) a penal colony for about 85 years (1919-2004). During it´s years as a penal colony there were 16 separate camps spread over the central and east side of the island. Only the main camp is still in existance today and serves as the Police headquarters now. The other camp sites are being reclaimed by the plants and wildlife.


What a contrast of use and beautiful setting - the building says Penetenciaria.


Our group in Coiba´s old jail hospital. Note the official attire of our policeman (hey, a machine gun makes any attire official enough).

Because it was a penal colony for so long, it was not cut or farmed and is large enough to have sustained populations of monkeys (white faced and howlers, who are amazing to hear howl), scarlet macaus (Coiba is one of the only places in the world to still have wild populations, and we got to see about 10 pairs - they mate for life - fly overhead while we were at the prison), lots of other birds that a birder would love to see, nueque, rays, dolphins, corals, lots of pretty fish that we have only seen in an aquarium. We also saw a whale, swordfish fin, crocodile, and tons of hermit crabs.


This is how most visitors arrive to Coiba, although our two our ride did not have a canopy. Some visitors arrive in their own yatchs though (complete with basketball court).


A shell from a Coiba beach, which we replaced on the beach after the picture, since you can "take only pictures, leave only footprints" in this paradise island

The sites on Coiba are beautiful- whether small or large. As a very new National Park, Coiba still has much growing to do. There is not a lot yet in terms of interpretive signs, trails, and tours. The land, plants, and animals of this park will really make for an incredible visit when this park is fully developed. For the moment, the visitor to Coiba must be prepared to come looking for the uniqueness of the park.

April's toes in the main cove; other coves were even clearer

My favorite part was the crystal clear water. I mean....I can see my toes and they are more than 2 feet deep. Snorkeling was very cool...even though we were sharing equipment. We will just have to go back for a longer visit in the future.

(This trip to Coiba was with eight other volunteers from our region; we went out after our quarterly regional meeting in order to teach the park rangers English, since they have many tourists who come visit from non-Spanish speaking countries. Maybe we can arrange to do it again. :)

How we celebrated the holidays - 2007

The Christmas and New Years holidays are celebrated a bit differently on our island than we were accustomed to back in the States, but we did our best to incorporate some of our own traditions.

Christmas

This year, we invited Mac and Brooke, another couple from our group who live in the province of Coclé, east of us, to come out to island. Our first night, after making them help us teach English class in the chapel, we put them to work creating crackers (or poppers, depending on how you call them). It being our first holiday here, we had to use new wrapping paper, but like normal, we filled each one with some candies, a pencil, and some confetti (it said Happy Thanksgiving, but that´s okay).



Brooke, Mac, and Kevin constructing crackers

On Christmas Eve, we walked them all over the island to talk to friends, distribute crackers, see beaches, go swimming, buscar pulpo (search for mini-octopus), and dig concha (small shellfish). It was a great day and we returned well tired and enjoyed a dinner of roasted cauliflower and wine.


Cecilia and Maria Louisa, host moms #2 & #3, dishing up arroz con pollo

On Christmas Day, the only big event on the island was the Mothers Group (a class sponsored by the First Lady and taught locally by our last host mom) doing a traditional arroz con pollo and potato salad, at the chapel. They invited us to come join them, because there is always enough arroz con pollo to share.

Afterward, we returned to our house to begin preparing our own Christmas dinner and put out lights. One neighbor connected traditional white blinking lights at his house but we went with luminaria (candles stuck in sand - no lack of that - in clear plastic 2lb rice bags with paper around them to soften the flame - only a few were lost to the winds and fire) and some small battery-powered lights that came as Christmas presents from April's folks.

Our luminera around the porch, lights in the rafters, and candles on our new table

Dinner featured fresh baked bread and spinach pasta with brocolli and tomato. We even cloved an orange. Ironically, one of the mothers returning from their party was blocked by high tide from getting home and so joined us for dinner and got to try brocolli for the first time.

Our Christmas Feast on our new table

After dinner, we chatted with our folks while standing in the corner of our porch that receives cell phone signal and wished our families in the States a Merry Christmas! I think we were a bit warmer than most of them.

Kevin and a luminaria bag, talking to home; our neighbor's boat is still in the end of our porch, but it makes a good seat at times while on the phone

New Years

It seems that there is more of a celebration for New Years. There were many parties, and one of the main traditions is to quemar la muñeca (burn the doll). Our neighbors made a 7ft tall scarecrow, complete with a coconut for a head (including a carved nose and mouth), a baseball cap, and shoes, all on a post to stand him up for the burning.


Our neighbor's daughter and muñeca

At the stroke of midnight (well, whenever the watch of the guy in charge hits 12), they set it on fire, to burn away the bad from the old year and welcome in a good and prosperous new year. Probably the stuffing, which I think was gas-soaked dried leaves, makes sure it burns well.

The muñeca well into burning; he was moved from under the trees in the above picture to a post in the field for the ceremony

So while we missed our families and cold weather, we certainly enjoyed the new customs (though I´m not sure we can quemar a muñeca when we return to Columbia, MD) and had a lot of fun. And a December (and November and October, for that matter) without tons of holiday sales and music was quite a nice change.