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!