Scenes from the Isthmus

Here are a few pictures that I didn't have anyplace else to put.

This is a guayacane which is sort of the arboreal mascot of Coclé. This picture doesn't do them justice. They are bright yellow, and sort of glow in the middle of the green jungle. I think planting a forest of these and then waiting 50 years for them to grow to full size and bloom would be worth the wait. I keep picturing what that would look like. Sort of a yellow version of Japan's cherry blossoms.

This is a general map of my site from San Miguel Centro at the bottom.

I caught this woodpecker enjoying an orange one day. This was taken 3o feet from my new house.

Rats 1. Shirts 0.

These are Marañon. Believe it or not, these are where cashews come from. Each one of these fruits contains one cashew nut. The fruits themselves are edible and taste a little like apples except not as juicy and with the texture of styrofoam, which isnt as bad as it sounds.

This path was cut by leaf cutter ants, and is probably over 300 feet long in total. Back in the states, I'd see leaf cutter ants in zoos and think how unusal and exotic, but down here they are everywhere. I have nothing but respect for them though. With every rain their house gets washed out (and it rains ALOT,) but they just keep building and never stop. Keep it up guys. Don't listen to anything that silly grasshopper has to say.

Full moon. I thought I'd test out the zoom on my camera one night, and the picture came out well.

Happy Birthday to Me!

So I had a birthday a few days ago, and it was mostly a quiet affair. However, my host family did kill a turkey in my honor, put a table cloth on the table, and we had a little feast of pega barba and pavo de patio. This year also marks the first time in the 11 years that we've known each other Jim and I haven't had some sort of joint celebration. However, given the imminent arrival of Jim Jr. and the demands of grad school I suspect he also had a quiet birthday. Oh well, maybe we're just growing old.

Alright, on to the update. Alot has been going on here the last month or so. We kicked off the month with our regional meeting which allowed me to finally meet all the other volunteers in Coclé and Panamá Oesté. Meeting all the other volunteers allowed me to finally stop wondering if every gringo I saw walking down the street in Penonomé was another volunteer.

After a brief hiatus, Group 62 (that's my group) got together just 30 minutes from Penonomé for our IST conference. This was the first time I had seen most of the group since I headed to my site back in October. As a whole, changes in the group can be described as less weight and more hair. Everyone in the group seems to have lost at least 10 pounds (some of us closer to 30,) and grown more hair either on the head or the face (ladies excluded.) Aside from those physical changes, everyone was pretty much their jolly old selves and seemed to be enjoying their sites.

After IST, I returned briefly to my site before heading out to experience Carnival. Penonomé hosts Panamá's 3rd largest Carnival and I spent 4 days experiencing it in it's entirety.

That's the summary so keep your eyes posted here for the pics.

You're what?... Tin roof, (un)rusted!

So I've been working on building my house for the last few weeks, and it's not quite done, but almost there. I'm hoping to be able to move into the house in about 2 weeks. The house should end up being about 17x14 with a 10 foot ceiling. It may be small by American standards, but here in Panamá that's pretty big. Many families with 3 or 4 kids live in similar size houses. The total bill should run about $400 which is alot on my salary, but once it's built I won't have any rent. I'm definitely looking forward to living on my own. I've missed the privacy and independence of cooking my own meals. Below are some pictures I've taken during construction.

You may wonder how to build a house in the jungle. I believe my fellow volunteer Alan has described the process best.

So I know the burning question in a lot of people's minds is;
How do you build a sweet house in the jungle?
For this I've made a simple easy to use guide for everyone who would like to build their own.

Step 1) Find a community of highly skilled indigenous people, and tell them you'll take pictures of them building a sweet house.

Step 2) Sit back and watch.

Yup, that's basically it. I just saw where they tell me to saw, and hammer where they tell me to hammer.

Putting in the posts to elevate the floor.

Laying out the floor plan.

Jesus, my host father, contemplating what to do next.
Not bad for a day's work.


Putting up the frame for the walls.

The iguana. People couldn't stop laughing the first time I called it a "sawhorse." Apparently, that word doesn't translate well directly.


Riding the iguana.


OSHA?!? Who are they? Panamanian do everything with their machetes, including planing wood. So far no fingers have been lost in the construction of my house.

The two pictures are NOT related, but it wouldn't be a work day without the chicha fuerte.


Frames up, and as usual the sky provides a dramatic backdrop.

Prepping for the roof. Total cost for the roof $280.88.

My new neighbor Gregorio and his son.


Ready for the floor.


Floors almost done.

Each board has to be planed to fit before it can be put down.

And that's the status so far. Roofs on, floors 3/4 done, and we're waiting on the wood for the walls and more nails (which I bought today.)

Hopefully, my next post will be the house fully finished.

Culecos, Tipico, Polleras, and Samba

After a breakfast of sancocho (Panamanian chicken soup,) we'd head out to the culecos. The culecos were nothing more than a large tanker truck filled with water of questionable origin that was sprayed continuously over the crowd while the crowd danced to music from a nearby stage. Most of these culecos were sponsored by local and national politicians. The culeco that you attended revealed your political leanings.

Our group. My wise and mature regional leader is on the far left.

A Panamanian dancer in a tradition pollera.

The Cucuá dancers from San Miguel Centro (near my site.) I may get a chance to see them perform again this weekend.

One of the queens of the samba parade.

x

Betcha didn't know that Penonomé is the Geographic Center of Panamá. Well it is. This stone says so. We will ignore the fact that they are currently in the process of moving the geographic center of Panamá 3 miles down the road. In our hearts this will always be the geographic center of Panamá.