What is better than 2 years in Panama? 3!

As my second year here is coming to a close, my friends and family have been asking THE QUESTION....¨So, when are you coming home?!¨ A few months ago the answer was ¨I am not sure, I might stay, who knows...¨ But I can now say that 2011 will find me here in Panama, extending my service for a third year. While most of my close friends and family know I will be staying, most don´t know exactly what it is I will be doing. So I have finally sat down to explain how my next year will be spent.

Here in Panama there are several options if you want to extend your service. You can stay on in your community for a few extra months or up to a year if you are finishing up a big project or working on something specific. For example, my friend Kaitlyn is staying for an extra five months to finish a project to bring rainwater collection tanks to her community. Another option is to take a coordinator positon for a certain project, but not necessarily working in the same community. For example, my friend Jesse (and closest volunteer) is moving to David (a large city) where he will be coordinating composting latrine projects that are happening around the country. His home will be in a city and he will travel to help people with construction and implementation. Peace Corp is going through lots of growth so there has been lots of opportunity to create your own job.

I have decided to go for option number three which was to apply for a postition as a Regional Leader or RL. Peace Corp Panama started the RL program and it is now used as a model for other countries as well. A RL is a third year volunteer who lives in a regional captial and acts as a liason with Peace Corp staff. Ideally, the will have lived for two years in the region as a volunteer, so they know the area well. I applied a few months ago and got the job! As the RL of Bocas Del Toro, I will have three main responsibilities.

First, is site development. This means coordinating with the various programs directors to find communities in my region who want volunteers and have work. I will be responsible to doing intial visits, talking with people, seeing if it seems like a good place to live, gathering information. There is a lot that goes into developing a community to recieve a volunteer but that is the simplified version of it. I am excited about this part of the job because it means getting out, hiking, boating, who knows...maybe even a horse ride, to meet communties. I have dedicated myself to one community for two years, so it will be great to see more of this area.

Second, is volunteer support. This involves a lot of things from personal support, to keeping track of them in an emergency, organizing regional meetings, offering advice, and letting people stay at my house sometimes since it is in the capital.

Third, is agency relations. This means maintaining a working relationship between Peace Corp and different government agencies that partner with us. (for example in the US this would be akin to department of health or EAP etc.). This helps us connect on projects and work opportunities that are happening in our area. I guess you could say I am the Peace Corp representative they would work with.

Needless to say, this was not an easy decision. I miss my family and friends and I know there are things I have missed out on. But, more than that it is a great opportunity for me to get more work experience and I owe it to myself to go after anything that is helping me to define who I am, my goals and helping me create a vision for who I want to be in the next several year. Plus it doesn´t hurt that I will now have a house with electricity and indoor plumbing.

Milestones

August. I knew this month was coming closer with every flip of my calender, but it snuck up me as it usually does. This year, August has brought with it many important milestones in my life. First and foremost, the 17th meant turning 29. Scary to think about entering the last year of your twenties. The twenties have been good to me and I don't want them to end. Secondly, the 14th meant exactly two years here in Panama. Those of us from my group (62) who have stuck it out, got together to reflect, talk about where we go from here and to celebrate our accomplishments. It is sad to think about leaving my community and not seeing the great friends I have made here on a regular basis. Third, and maybe the most exciting is that my mom is here visiting! She came to celebrate my birthday with me and see Panama. We spent some time in the mountains, three nights in my community and of course are seeing some of the beautiful beaches of Bocas.

A highlight of the visit, was that my Mom and I planned an small afternoon workshop for my women's group. Being an artist and teacher, my mom really wanted to do something creative with them, Spanish or no Spanish she was pumped. We put on a workshop she taught them how to make fabric beads out of fabric scraps and straws, knot buttons, and a new wrapping technique that they can use for their necklaces and bracelets. It was great and the women were pumped that my mom actually came. Below are some photos of the visit and the activity with my mom.

Hope everyone is well! Sorry I haven't gotten to some of the questions that have been left, Erin...wink, wink....but I haven't forgotten!

Paradise Found

For as much as I get tired of the heat and the bugs, living in a tropical paradise does have its perks. Rain forest, animals, beautiful beaches...the list goes on. Fortunate for us volunteers we get the chance to discover all of the out of the way places other tourists do not often have the time or know-how to go see. In between the business seminars that I wrote about in my last post, I took a few days vacation to head out to Coiba, an island that is a national park in the Pacific.

On the map below you can see Coiba just above where it says "North Pacific Ocean"

Coiba National Park has been on my "Panama must see list" ever since I read about it in my guide book. The n

ational park includes Coiba island, 38 smaller islands and the surrounding marine areas within the Gulf of Chiriqui. In July of

2005 the entire park was declared as a UNESCO world heritage site for the rich biodiversity.

It is part of the Galapagos chain of islands and Coiba is the largest island in central america with an area of over 50 square miles. About 80% of the island is untouched forest and is home to rare plant and animal species found only on the island. It is surrounded by one of the largest coral reefs on the Pacific Coast of the America.

If that wasn't enough to make you want to go there, a

penal colony was built on the island in 1919. During the years that Panama was under the Dictatorships of Omar Torrijos and Manuel Noriega, the prison on Coiba was a feared place with a reputation for brutal conditions, extreme tortures, executions and political murder. Nobody knows exactly how many people were killed in the prison during this period, but sources claim that the number could be close to three hundred. As such, the island was avoided by locals, and other than the prison, was completely undeveloped. The prison was closed down in 2004, but there are still police officers stationed there to protect the ruins, watch for poachers and to help the environmental authority protect the park.

Sounds pretty great right?! Scary prison ruins, snorkeling, undiscovered paradise. The only hitch, it is over two hours in a boat to get there, each boat is $500 dollars and the only place to stay is a few cabins that are near the ranger station. So when my friend Mateo organized two boats to go out, I said sign me up!

Me and 11 other volunteers spent two days snorkeling, touring the prison ruins, drinking pipas (young coconuts) and having a great time. We saw whales, dolphins, snorkeled with sharks, turtles, beautiful fish and incredible reefs. It really was the most beautiful and wild place I have been in Panama.

Rumbo al Exito

Being a community economic development (or CED) volunteer here in Panama is a job that has many parts to it. Obviously the bulk of our efforts and work as PCV’s is focused on one community and often one group and one specific business. The range of projects amongst CED volunteers is pretty amazing. Some of us work with fisherman’s cooperatives, chocolate producers, farmers, artisans, tourism groups, and community microfinance. Big or small, Latino or Indigenous, CEDers work to help people improve their businesses, by helping identify areas that can be strengthened and teaching them the skills to do so.

In addition to the work we do in our communities, we often participate in and facilitate seminars which are designed to help us with our work. For example, a seminar that all volunteers attend with their counterparts is Project Management and Leadership or PML for short. (Side note: a counterpart is our main work partner in a community. Often the president of the group or someone motivated to organize a project. My counterpart is Esperanza, the president of my tourism group). PML teaches basic project planning and management skills such as time and money management, organizing a group, running a meeting and problem solving.

Recently, there has also been a push to develop a comprehensive seminar to teach professional business planning. Over the years PCV’s have worked to develop and adapt material to most effectively teach the material to people who often have no formal business training and little or no computer skills. Last year, I was able to participate in the seminar "Rumbo al Exito" or "Path to Success". With the vice president of my tourism group, Sergio, we wrote a professional business plan complete with full qualitative and quantitative analysis of the business. It was a lot of work, especially in Spanish but we both learned a lot. This year, those of us who took the seminar we asked to serve as facilitators. We had over 40 participants...20 volunteers and their counterparts took part in the seminar which took place over two weekends...one in June and the other just finished up on July 9th. The first seminar focused on the qualitative information then in the month between they were required to gather information about all the costs. It was a lot of work, but a great experience. Below are some photos from the two seminars. Enjoy!

Pumping up the energy with some games or dynamicas. A favorite is a version of rock, paper, scissors called "hombre, tigre, rifle"

Maria, a officer from a IPACOOP (Panamanian government agency that manages cooperatives) and Ben G. talking about including salaries for your employees to your operating costs.

Teachers extrordinare! From left, Lisa S., me and Lisa A.

Part of the group hard at work. We divided up the room by type of business. This is the tourism table.

Burning Questions Answered

In response to my request for questions on my last blog, I received a handful of great ones from my great friends Erin and Daphne! Hopefully the answers will give more insight into what my life is like here in Panama.

- Do you have a daily routine or is every day very different from the next?

When I first got to my community, this was one of the hardest things for me to get used to. Sometimes I would wake up and think "What am I going to do today?" and have a feeling of dread. I was used to working hard, being busy and having very little free time. Now I would say there are routine things I do everyday but the "work" part varies quite a bit. Everyday things like cooking, laundry and cleaning also take more time because I don't have running water or electricity. When I am in my community I also spend a lot of time visiting with my neighbors, walking around...just being out. Sometimes I have meetings with my groups, will hang with the women while they are doing artisanry, in the afternoons I usually end up at my house reading, helping the kids with their English homework, lending out games and books. Some days I have nothing to do and other days I don't have time to everything I planned. All bets are off when it is pouring out. No one leaves the house, including me!

- It sounds like the locals can be very silly. Are the types of things that make them laugh very different from what makes us laugh here in the States?

Ha! This is a great question. The people I live with have a great sense of humor and are not afraid to laugh at themselves. Some of the same things that make use laugh at home most definitely make them laugh here. Kids doing funny things, bodily functions, sex, life in general...they aren't ones to hold back. The type of humor that I often find myself missing is sarcasm, play on words, humor that only is only understood by people who are English speakers or from the same cultural background. Something things strike me as funny and I am left cracking my own self up! One example is the crazy t-shirts people wear...see example below. How do you explain why this is funny? You can't. It just is.

- What's the best local meal you've had in Panama? Most memorable?

There are some common foods you will find out throughout all of Panama, like rice, chicken, plantains and yucca (kinda like a potato). You might think the food is similar to Mexican, but it is actually very different. A tortilla here is a small cornmeal cake and you have to search to find things that are spicy. Since we are bordered by both the Pacific and the Caribbean you can also get fish, shrimp and other seafood. Bocas del Toro (the province I live in), you can find lots of fish, lobster and lots of foods made with coconut. One of my most favorite local meals is Rondon, a fish stew cooked with coconut milk, onions, peppers. Add some curry in there and serve over rice. Amazing. Most memorable food experience was probably eating boiled green bananas and white rice everyday for almost three months while living with a host family. Hard to believe but it kinda grows on you after while!

- What surprised (or continues to surprise) you the most about where you work?

Hmmm. I wouldn't say it was was one thing, everything was a surprise. I have never started a job where I didn't have at least some point around which to orient myself. When I arrived, I knew nothing about the culture, was learning the language, didn't know anything about the project I was going to help or understand the thinking of the people who were running it. At least when you are new on the job in the states, people speak English, you understand the business mentality that drives our culture and when all else fails there is usually someone there you can talk it out with.

- Daphne would like to know if you've finally met Carlos, your Latin lover? Also, did the two of you get married in a small, quaint island ceremony, where you exchanged starfish and promised to be together forever?

Sounds so romantic! Unfortunately I haven't had the experience of actually dating a

local, but I still have time, so who knows! I feel like it would complete my cross cultural experience. Don't worry Daph, my ladies will be the first to know when I meet my Latin love.

Thanks for the great questions, keep them coming!

Forgotten what I look like cause it has been so long? Here is a photo from a birthday party I went to last week for the girl in the photo, Amy. Food, cake equals good times.

Vida Volunteers

June is rolling right along here in the tropical paradise that is Bocas. Today the sky is a brillant blue, a slight breeze is blowing and the water looks like there are thousands of little mirrors floating on the surface. Had a fresh mango smoothie for breakfast with a few friends and life is good!

This last Saturday, my community hosted Vida Volunteers, a huge group of medical volunteers who were traveling throughout Costa Rica and Bocas Del Toro. They often work with Peace Corp because we work in areas that they target, so it works great. We can do a lot of the leg work and small details they are not able to. My community was the only stop they made out in the islands so it was a big deal. The week leading up to it was hectic as I worked to coordinate cooks, promote the visit and figure out where they would work. The group consisted of medical students from Wisconsin, a group of dentists from England, and even a group of vets who came to spay, neuter and deworm animals in the community. There were also doctors from Costa Rica and Panama in the mix so it was quite a group. They pulled up at around 8am in three boats, set up the equipment and got down to work within a half and hour! They were very experienced and while the day was exhausting for both them and me, it was very sucessful.

The doctors worked in the community center and formed groups of three to four with a translator.

The dentists worked both inside and outside (as seen in the photo) of the health center. Most of my time was spent helping out here translating and getting the kids to open their mouth! They did a lot of extractions, some fillings and a lot of showing kids how to brush their teeth.

I love this picture because the girl standing in front had two teeth pulled and doesn´t look very happy about it. Perfect poster child for the Glasgow Dental School!

While I avoided going to the school classroom where the vets were working, it was probably the most popular place to be. Everyone was crowding around the windows and door to see their poor dogs being imasculated! The jokes were flying all day. Someone even asked me where the bag of balls ended up at the end of the day and I almost peed in my pants I was laughing so hard.

As compared to my first year here, I feel like something blog worthy is happening all the time! Do my readers have any questions about my life here, Peace Corp, Panama in general? Any special topics I should cover? Please feel free to leave a comment with questions and I will answer them.

Maps Galore

I have recently started working on several tourist information signs which will placed around the community. They will have the history of the community in English and Spanish, a map of the community and a map of the islands. This will help make San Cristobal more tourist friendly, help orient them while walking around and provide some much needed information in English.

So, I was sitting in my hammock the other afternoon, making a few sketches of the community, when I had a moment of inspiration. Why not have a competition among the 3 middle/high school classes to see who could create the best community map? I went to talk to the three professoras and they loved the idea. I was pumped because the kids hardly ever get to do anything creative and I was excited to see what they would come up with.

We started by brainstorming the important things they should include on the map, such as the artisan houses, the small stores, the hostel, the local centro de salud, the Christian and Evangelical churches, the schools, athletic fields and cemetery. Each class then divided up to work on a rough draft and once it was approved by everyone then got to work. Below are some photos from the three days it took us to complete the activity.

Above, one of the rough draft sketches. Below, the kids working to color in the final version.Professora Ida's class won first place with their version of San Cristobal, pictured above. The winners were chosen by the tourism group I work with. Most of the community is centered along a central walkway, so the maps begin at the public dock in front and go all the way to the cemetery which marks the beginning of jungle and people's farms.Professora Lilybeth's class took second place with their map.

Third place went to Professora Gloribeth. I was a hard choice and I will be using all the maps on two signs and the third will be posted in the hostel. More photos of the finished signs to come!

Cast of Characters

I have decided to start a new series on my blog highlighting some of the my most favorite people in San Cristobal. My first profile is of one of the grandmothers in my community named Isabel. But no one actually calls her that...¨Ma¨is her nickname of choice. I will say that most of the abuleas, grandmothers, are called that so if there is every confusion she also goes by Isa Cri. Cri literally means ¨big¨in their dialect and since there are also two Isabels, she is the older of the two hence big Isa. She is a member of the artisan group and mother of two of the other women I work with.

When I first arrived, I thought she hated me. She would sort of shout to me in dialect, and when I didn´t know how to respond, she would stare for a minute, give me a wave of her hand and give me a frustrated Ahhh! and walk off. Slowly but surely, we bonded. I could say a few things, and my spanish/dialect combo seemed to win her over and even thought she doesn´t speak any Spanish, but that didn´t seem to hinder our hilarious converstions. She teases me about boys... especially when cute tourists are around, worries about me when I am away, and calls me her hija. I in turn bring her banana bread or brownies and love to be around her cause we always end up cracking up about something.

The other day I was eating some chicken soup that the women´s group had made and just hanging out with the ladies in the artisan group. It was really hot that day, which in Panama means the perfect day for soup. We were all sitting around sweating, some us laying on benches, just talking. Ma, happened to be eating her soup aross the table from me, when she looks down at the chicken foot she had in her hand. She starts to chuckle to herself and when I look over, she holds up the foot in the air, points to it and then points to me. I give her a look of confusion, then she points to her own arm, then me, then the chicken leg again. At this point, she is near the point of tears she is laughing so hard. I realize she is saying that my arm is so white it looks like the chicken leg.
All of the other women start laughing to and I am in tears. Ma, can hardly breathe she is laughing so hard. I happened to have my camera on hand, and we decided to document the moment. I developed this picture for her a week ago and when she saw it, we cracked up all over again. Spending time with her reminds me of my own grandmothers and I will miss her gentle teasing and her laugh.

Stayed tuned for the next installment of cast of charaters! Shout out to former PCV´s Jay and Julia who inspired this blog.

Ojo de Dios

We are heading quickly towards the end of April, which means I am officially entering my last six months of service. It is hard to believe, but true. I feel like there is still so much to do and so little time! I have to remind myself to finish the projects I have started and just enjoy being there. On thing that I am going to put more attention to in these last six months is my Muchachas Guias (girl scout) group. My mom especially sends me project ideas all the time and I need to get on the ball.

A few months ago I promised them that we were going to do an art project called Gods Eyes or Ojo De Dios. Needless to say, I got busy, went home for a vacation and time got away from me. But they didn't forget, cause they don't forget ANYTHING. Every time I walk around in my community at least one of them shouts "when are we going to make ojo de dios Pai?" So finally I said, "tomorrow after school!" After sending them out for twigs and cutting lots of yarn, we got underway. Everyone was busy working and some got the hang of it quicker than others, but in the end they all left with an awesome Gods Eye, some even managed to make two. I took photos of everyone and have seen Gods Eyes appearing in doorways and windows around the community. More photos of craft projects to come!

Home Hangover

I looked forward to it for months, and now is has come and gone. I just got back to Panama from my first trip home since August 2008. At first I was a little nervous that I would get there and feel like I had missed out on everything. That all my friends would be grown up and I would just be their crazy friend with no home, no car, wasting my time in Panama. Some things had changed, but the things that really matter were still the same. My friends were still awesome, family still supportive and in a lot of ways it felt like I had never left. I also realized that this experience has been anything but a waste of time. Seeing the city skyline from a cab and I left the airport, riding around on the bus, speaking Spanish, it felt good to come back. This has become one of the many places I call home.

All in all, I visited three states, took two roadtrips, went to one amazing wedding. I had great lunches, breakfasts, birthday dinners, coffees, walks, waiting room laughs (that ones for you Becky), potluck BBQ's, a spa day with my mom...the list is endless. I enjoyed every minute of it! Looking over my photos, I was reminded what true friendship and love really are and that is what this trip was for me. Below are some photos from my great 3 weeks.

Beautiful California! Driving to San Jose from Los Angeles, we took Hwy 46 which cuts through the middle of the state over to the coast. All of the wildflowers were in bloom, oranges, yellows and purples.

Family time in Idaho with sister, stepmom, Dad and two brothers. Below, making pizza in my Dad's home made bread oven.

With my mom and grandma in Ashland.
With my ladies at my old college roomate, Sarah's wedding.

Liz and Kuna (dog) spending some quality cuddle time in the backseat on our roadtrip up to San Jose from LA.

I also realized that people actually read my blog! I will try to keep it for my numerous fans :)

More latrine fun!

The year is off to a busy start, just the way I like it. After my Global Brigades group left, my focus became finishing off the small composting latrine project that was started by the previous volunteer in my community. I didn't have very much money left to work with, but after revaluating what supplies were needed, it turned out we had just enough to finish the last latrine that had been started over a year ago. In total that would leave us with three finished latrines. After a long day of getting concrete, sand, gravel and other supplies to the work site, two of my fellow bocas Environmental Health volunteers Jesse and Harold came out to help. Here are a few photos from our 3 days of work.




Our crew of helpers and errand runners. These are the kids who live in the house where we were building the latrine.
Taking one of many breaks for cold soda at one of the stores in my site. There is nothing better than a cold Squirt out of glass bottle.

Jesse building the "table" inside the box. The table is made to support the weight of the concrete that gets poured on top. This layer forms the floor of the latrine.

This is how the latrine looked before we started. What you see is a concrete "box" that is dividing in half. Part of the problem is that it is on a hill so water seeps in from the front. Since the point of a composting latrine is to keep the material inside dry, that is a bit of a problem.

Jesse and I applying a layer of waterproofing concrete to the inside of the "box" to keep it dry. I have no idea why, but I really like this part. It is meticulous and you into this zen mood applying it

Looking at our handywork. The buckets are put in to leave holes in the floor for the seats. There is still work to do such as installing the seats and building the "casita" or house that encloses the latrine. More photos to follow!

Global Brigades in San Cristobal

My new year is off to a busy start here in Panama. The 4th through the 8th, my community hosted a group of univesity student who came through a student volunteer/development agency called Global Brigades. The idea of Global Bridages is that groups of students get together to form a club or "brigade" on their university campus. There are several different focuses a brigade can have including medical, architecture, engineering and buisness...it depends on the knowledge of the students. The group is then paired up to a project in a host country. Here in Panama, they have relationships with governmental agencies as well as Peace Corp. Different project proposals which outline the details of what the students would be working on are submitted to the group, who then decide what they want to work on. I wrote a proposal to have a buisness brigade come and work with my tourism group. My proposal was picked up by a brigade of 8 students from University of Pennsylvania. All and all they spent a week in my community during their winter break, the first part was talking with people to get an idea of what the needs were and they planning trainings in the second part. In addition to the training component, the brigade also brings a investment component of $100 per student. Throughout the whole week they talk to the group and me about how the money can be best spent then at the end of their time, they present the group with a detailed list of where the money is going to go. It was a lot of work on their part and mine but it was a great experience. My group as well as other store owners in my community recieved accounting training and they came up with new ideas of how we can improve tourism. They also invested in materials for a rainwater shower, flyers, a sign to put out front of the community and a donation to the school. Even though they have gone home they will continue to follow up on the project through me and my community.

Below are some photos from the week.

We also did fun cultural activities like making tye dye t-shirts will dyes made from plants. Super fun!

The group working on a sign to put out front of the community. It says "Welcome to San Cristobal. A Ngobe community."

The group giving an accounting presentation to the tourism group and to the other buisness owners in the community.

Welcome 2010!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday back home. I was thinking of all my loved ones and sending best wishes your way. I spent Christamas in San Cristóbal and made spiced cider and Swedish gingerbread cookies to share with my friends and neighbors. It brought a little of my holiday traditions here to the tropics. 2010 has taken me by suprise and I can´t believe that this is my last year here. Looking back 2009 has been an amazing time...I can only imagine what this next year will bring. So far, it looks to be very productive and I have lots of work ahead.

One great suprise that appeared in my inbox the other day was a copy of this article which appeared in a national newspaper here in Panama, La Prensa. It is a huge boost to my group and they were just as shocked as I was. The photo is of the hostel we are working on and was taken when the US ambassador came to visit my site last September. It even mentions there work with Peace Corp ( that would be me!). The headline reads ¨San Cristóbal and Salt Creek: Examples of Ethnotourism¨and the strip in yellow says ¨On Bastimentos Island, Bocas Del Toro, two indigenous villages proudly show their culture¨. It goes on to talk about what the community offers tourists and how they have recieved support from Peace Corp. It also mentions my counterpart, Esperanza by name and talks about her leadership. It was a great moment to see their hard work pay off!