I get this look ALOT!

Not really joking, I get similar looks all the time. Luckily, the timing on this shot was perfect as this kid was checking out my camera and try to figure out what the heck it was.

A Coclesano Christmas

Merry Christmas!

This is my Christmas tree this year, as assembled by Jadi.


Christmas is still four days away, but already the big Christmas celebration has taken place in my community. About a week ago, 8 wise men from the Panama Ports Company came to town bearing gifts. Instead of gold, frankinsence, and myrrh, they brought gifts that a child might actually want, namely toys. The Panama Ports Company built the school, and this has become an annual tradition for the town. About a month ago, the town submitted a list with the names and ages of every child person in town. Those names were then submitted to a toy drive held by the Panama Ports Company, and each child in town received gifts personally addressed to them and wrapped by the staff of the Panama Ports Company. Some children received a dozen small, individually wrapped gifts while others received one large bag or box. In addition, the head of each family received a bag of food. Finally, there was the distribution of second hand clothes. This process resembled a rugby scrum formed around several bags indentified by age age and sex, for example girls ages 10-13.

Here are some photos of the general chaos that last for about 4 hours, just like a normal Christmas at home.

Waiting in line for gifts.

A broader view of the gift line.

Waiting in line for goodies.

Receiving a bag of food. Contents: canned fish, rice, powered milk, etc.

Showing off the gifts and posing for publicity photos.

The photos went on for a while.

Enjoying the new toys.

Shortwave Radio Broadcasts

This post is really for the other volunteers in Panama, and I'm not sure if any of you guys are actually reading this blog, but here is a list of shortwave radio broadcasts for those who are (and have shortwave radios. So I guess it is really just a reminder for myself.)

VOA - America's finest shortwave radio broadcast. There is really only one hour of programming per day that gets repeated at different times.

9.345 - 7:00AM-8:00AM and 8:00AM-9:00AM
12.12 - 9:00AM-10:00AM and 10:00AM-11:00AM
9:49 - 5:00PM-6:00PM and 6:00PM-7:00PM
7:325 - 8:00PM-9:00PM - This signal is the strongest and clearest signal. Also, while it is the last show of the day in Panama time, it is the first show of the day in Universal time (0100 UMT.)

BBC - Better programing, weaker signal. It took me forever to find the BBC shows, because I couldn't receive them without an external wire antenna plugged in, so if you go looking for them keep that in mind. The BBC broadcasts for several hours each day on these channels so I wont bother tossing the hours down. Your best luck will be with the first two which alternate as the stronger signal depending on wheather conditions.

15.40
17.83
21.47

Honorable Mentions (i.e. English speaking broadcasts from non-English speaking countries.)

9.57 - China Radio International - 7:00PM-8:00Pm
7.325 - Radio Austria - 7:00PM-8:00PM - Sadly, December 31st will be the last english speaking broadcast. This was an excellent program, though entirely focused on Austria.
11.69 - Deutchavela - 4:00PM-5:00PM
9.55 - Radio Havana Cuba - Great Cuban music and the occasional broadcast in English.

Just Cause?

19 years ago today, on Dec. 20th, 1989, the US invaded Panama (Operation Just Cause.) The cause was probably not so just, but the question of whether the invasion was good for Panama is more complicated. With almost 20 years of hindsight, I think that Panama is probably better off than it would have been, under Noriega or his successor. Today Panama has one of the strongest democracies in Central and South America, as well as one of the fastest growing economies. Living down here, I can see evidence of recent change and development all around me, and it's hard to imagine what the country was like even 10 years ago. With the US military presence gone, and the Canal fully under Panamanian control, Panamanians seem to harbor very few negative feelings toward the US. Even fewer have good memories of the Noriega years. While Omar Torrijos maybe celebrated as a hero and benevolent dictator, there are no such feelings for Noriega.

New House, New Family

A couple of weeks ago, I switched houses as part of my genius plan to get to know the community. My new house is on the other side of town, and roughly an hour walk from my old house. In fact, you already know my new family because I lived with them during my site visit. So here is a re-introduction:

This is the family.

And this is the house (compound.) The second floor of the house has the bedrooms, while the 2 panka (grass) roof houses to the left (only 1 is visible) are the living room and kitchen.

This is Yadi (pronounced Jadi,) the oldest of the kids. In this picture, she's practicing the traditional method of removing the rice husks. There's nothing complicated about it, you just pound the rice with that heavy club until the husks break open.

This is Sultan, the king of Quebrada Grande. Here he is seen ruling over two of his subjects (the pigs.) It should also be noted that the pigs...ahem..."huevos" have since disappeared with a little assistance from my Leatherman.

Two of the newest family members. These gansitos (baby geese) are a couple of weeks old now.

The Floods Are Over

Panama is finally beginning to return to normal after the floods, and all Volunteers are safely back in their sites. I would like to encourage everyone again to take a look through their blogs listed to the right of this post. Those blogs will be able to explain everything that happened better than I can.

Here in Cocle, we had 12 straight days of rain, but because the watersheds around my community are relatively small the flooding was not as bad as other locations. With that said, during my return from my last trip to town, I ended up hiking back in the rain. About half way through my trip, I had to cross a small stream. Normally, this stream is about a foot deep, but when I arrived it was 3 feet deep and quickly rising. I decided not to cross, and made a dash for the closest house to take shelter out of the rain. The small stream eventually crested at 6-7 feet higher than normal, and I ended up waiting for 3.5 hours for the stream level to fall. When I had only an hour of light left, I decided I had to make the attempt to cross. I hoisted my backpack up over my head and waded across the stream which was twice it's normal width, and the water rose up to my navel. I made it across safely, but thoroughly soaked, and managed to make it home just before dark.

Pega What?!?

If I had to choose one Panamanian dish to eat for the remainder of my stay in Panama it would be Pega Barba. Pega Barba is one of those dishes that is served as part of a feast and usually cooked in amounts meant to serve 20 or more. The best description I can come up with is solid chicken soup. It's made by shaving yucca down to its corazon (heart) and the boiling the yucca until it becomes a paste or glue (pega.) While the pega is cooking a guisao or chicken stew is made using onions, peppers, and whatever other vegetables they care to use. The stew broth is then added to the pega, and cooked until thouroghly mixed. Then served with the chicken on top, and often accompanied with rice and/or noodles. It's delicious and has that filling "stick to your ribs" property.

PS I'll try to get a picture next time it's made.

I'll just end up walkin' In the cold November rain

GNR could've been talking about Panama when they wrote November Rain. November is by far Panamas rainiest month, and this November has been no different. Substantial flooding has occurred in the western half of the country, and has left several volunteers stranded in their sites. Other volunteers in the provinces of Chiriqui, Bocas del Toro, and the Comara Ngobe-Bugle have been assisting the Panamian government with relief efforts. Fortunately, all volunteers in the area are reported to be safe, and are in the process of heading to their consolidation points for an official head count. I'm sure that if you read some of the blogs that I have linked to on the right side of the screen, you'll find that they have some interesting stories to tell over the next few weeks.

At this point, you may be wondering how my site fared. Since, I'm posting here, I am obviously safe and sound. My site received much of the same rain that fell in the western part of the country, and we had 8 straight days of rain (3 of those days were heavy rain,) probably 9 days since its still raining today. However, because my community is nestled within the foothills of central Cocle (where many of the larger rivers begin,) the watersheds of all the surrounding streams and rivers are relatively small. As a result, my community doesn't need to worry about major flooding. The rivers and streams may rise 2-4 feet and prevent the usual crossings by foot or chiva, but the floodwaters quickly recede within an hour or two when the rain stops.

To those volunteers in the western half of the country, good luck and please pass along your stories. I know many of you will have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving Day.

A Walk in the Woods

I recently finished reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods (which has been on my to read list for a few years now,) and was struck by the parallels in the book between hiking the Appalachian Trail to Peace Corps service in Panama. Descriptions of the diet (mainly starches,) reactions to arriving in towns, the amount of physical exertion required, the stunning natural beauty, and the rapid disappearance of that same beauty all have their parallels here in Peace Corps Panama. So if you want a good appreciation of life here in Panama reading a Walk in the Woods may help you understand life here a little more. Even if it doesn't, it's excellent reading.

Tour of the town

The town church which is near the school and is the only other community building in town.

One of the many stream crossings in town. This is the one closest to my house that I cross every day.

My house where I'm living for my first month.

One of the many chorros, or waterfalls in the town. This one is about 6 feet tall. I'm told there is a waterfall that is 30 feet tall near my house, but I have yet to find it.

This is the school building, and the "center" of town. About 40 students attend the school for grades 1-6. The school is one of the only concrete structures in town and serves as the meeting spot for all community wide events. Its also the only place in town with electricity, and has a television for the community to use.

A beautiful spot in town, and an example of the landscape.

Celebration Time!

A fer-de-lance or equis snake. The most common of the poisonous snakes in Panama. My host father killed this one near our house.

The men of Group 62 at our Swear-In Ceremony in front of the Ambassador's House.
Other people have the full group which I need to get.

One of the many beautiful streams in my village.

Most of the group at the beach in Santa Clara celebrating after swear-in.

Obama Wins!

So by now all of you probably know by now that Obama won! And equally importantly Obama won Virginia. Once a Republican stronghold Virginia is now likely a blue state similar to Pennsylvania for years to come. I was able to vote thanks to a federal absentee ballot which was delivered to the Virginia Elections Board directly thanks t0 the wondrous powers of the diplomatic mail pouch which bypassed the painfully slow Panamanian mail system. It's good to have those diplomatic connections.

The Graduate

Training is finally over and this afternoon we swear in as official volunteers. It's a relief to finally be done with training and I think all 34 of us are ready to head to our communities and get started on our work. We'll have the next couple of days to celebrate, and then we head to our sites on Sunday. I'm ready but can admit to being a little nervous about living in a site that has no electricity, running water, or cell phone signal and requires a 2 hour hike to the nearest road to leave. However, I'm looking forward to it, and believe I will eventually adjust.

More Blogs to Read

If you take a look to the right, you'll see links to the blogs of some of my fellow volunteers. I recommend you check them out since they have some interesting stories, and topics that I forgot to mention. Perhaps more importantly, they have some great pictures so give them a read and feel free to discuss any of their posts or ask any questions here.

Is anyone a used horse salesman?

So one thing from the trip that became abundantly clear is that I´m going to need to buy a horse (and a saddle.) Anyone have any advice? How old is too old? I know 3 years is probably preferred, but where I´m at I´ll be lucky if the horses ribs aren´t visible. What health problems do I need to be aware of?

This is where I´m going to live

So we got to visit our future sites this week for 5 and half days, and to tell the truth I´m still processing the visit, so you´ll all have to check back here in about a week to find out what I´m thinking. Initial impressions: isolate, beautiful, and muddy.

One of my community counterparts (José) and his family who hosted my stay this week. I won´t be living with his family during my first 3 months, but I will be working with him in the future.

José standing in front of a large tree.

My sole connection to the outside world, the public phone. Thats the satelitte dish to the right.

My community is down below, before the mountain range.

My first toucan sighting! This one is a pet of the families in my community.

More of the jungle.

La Vaina

Peace Corps Panama has a quarterly newsletter called La Vaina (slang for "you know that thing, the one with the name you can´t remember right now") The latest issue can be found at the address below along with an awful picture of yours truly.

http://www.pcpfpanama.org/lavaina/index.html

Culture Week and Tech Week

So you haven´t heard from me for a few weeks, but that´s because so much has been going on. A couple weeks ago I found out where I´m going to living for the next two years. My site will be in a small mountain town in the province of Coclè due west of Panama City. I haven´t had the opportunity to visit my site yet (I´ll be doing that next week,) but I did get to spend a week in the town of Membrillo and learn about the culture of Coclè. The community we visited was group of artisans who make wood and soapstone carvings. They produce some gorgeous art in Membrillo. We followed that with a trip to a Ngabere site in Cerro Iglesia for Tech Week. We spent the week building a couple of composting latrines and learning the other technical skills we will need once we get to our sites.

Good Parrot.

Seth and I making tamales during Culture Week.

On top of a small hill behind the property of my host family during culture week. That´s my host father and two of his sons in the middle. On the left is Seth, who will be the closest Volunteer to me, and on the right is the other Josh in our group.

Planting rice at the granja (farm.) A hard day´s work in the sun.

Making sugar cane juice. This machine is the traditional way of making sugar. The sugar cane would be crushed into a juice which would then be boiled to form discs of hardened sugar. We drank the juice straight from the machine which resembled muddy water and was unbelievably sweet.

This is where chocolate comes from (a cacao pod.) The pod is about a foot in length and contains quarter sized seeds that are used to make chocolate. The seeds a have a gooey white coating that is sweet, tart, and tastes a little like apple.

A loro (medium sized parrot) sitting in a tree.

Balsa wood carvings done by one of the families in Membrillo. The white bird on the left is a harpy eagle, national bird of Panama.

These 2 pictures are from the beach at Las Lajas where we went to relax for a night following Culture Week and Tech Week. The beach is even prettier then the pictures, and for $5 a night the price was right.

Thoughts on Panama

So a couple of people have asked me for my thoughts on Panama. I´ve been hesitant to go into too much detail, because we´ve been given some strict rules on what we can and can´t post. In summary, the rules break down as follows:

1) Don´t post any negative opinions of the country or Peace Corps.
2) Don´t post anything controversial.
3) Don´t post any information that can be used to identify the specific location of a Peace Corps volunteer.

So that basically leaves 2 categories of posts:

1) Observational/Descriptive
2) Positive opinions

So now that you know all that, here are a few thoughts:

Panama is definitely a divided country with a huge income gap between urban and rural populations. As volunteers, we will be working with poorest people in the country. The people here have been very friendly and generous, our host training community has been especially welcoming. The country has amazing natural beauty and diversity, and a unique culture. While not as a culturally diverse as the US, Panama has latino, idigineous, african-antillean, and chinese populations that have mixed to create a very unique place. I´m looking forward to the next 2 years in this amazing country. Also, the US could learn a thing or two from Panamas public transportation system which provides cheap transportation to anywhere in the country.

Now for the question and answer period, what do you want to know?

Pics from our First Site Visit.

Last week we had our first visit to a volunteers site. I got to visit a volunteer near Bocas del Toro who is leaving in October. The site was amazing with a white sand beach within 10 minutes walk from her house. This is not my future site, but it was my first taste of the Peace Corps lifestyle.

From left to right: Andrea, Ryan, Jesse, and Joe. We were visiting Joe´s house in Bocas del Torro.

A Ngobe girl. For some reason, the Ngobes never smile in photographs.

A composting latrine similar to the ones I may be building. We worked on this one during my visit.

The house of the volunteer with whom I stayed.

Cute Ngobe kids on the beach.





On the beach near the Bocas del Torro region.