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!