Weather Update

December has been a lovely month in Cocle with all kinds of delightful changes in weather, it got SUPER hot and everyone thought the winter, wet season was over, but then it started pouring again. There have been some SUPER nice days in the mix, when the temperature is tolerable and the light is shining and pretty and I feel like I am in some sort of dreamland paradise!

That's the weather. Life has been pretty good too. Pretty slow, but we aren't complaining! The elementary school has closed its doors for the summer, which means the kids will be running wild and free in the jungle for the next three months, which should lead to some mischief. The work season is slowing too almost as if there was a big gasp in the last few months that is now being exhaled forcefully. Our Peace Corps work is chugging along at an equally slow pace. We are idea machines and have all kinds of schemes and plans for great community activities and projects, but the bigger challenge becomes sifting through them all and looking for people and energy to make one or two stick.

I have been a running intermediary, literally jogging at times, between two parties involved in a conversation and using particularly nice water source. On one side is a community who gets hard pressed for water in the summer and on the other is a land owner who is trying to reconcile the kindness in his heart with that little voice in his brain that says, "Stand up for yourself and your family." Whoever said water is gold in these times was right. Being thirsty is no way to live at any time of the year.

We hardly believe it is December. If someone told us it was still May an time had just been joking with us in Panama, we would believe them. The main sticking point has been the weather I guess. One gets used to the four seasons and when they don't change how we feel in our hearts that they should, one feels a little mixed up at times. We miss home for sure, but this remains the adventure of a lifetime! In my opinion, if you only get to go around once, this is a great way to get some kicks and learn about love, life, people, and good ole Mother Earth!

Rock on everybody.

Peace Corps families and consumerism (two separate topics)

Allie Hayes can be said to be credited with the topics of this entry!  She has given us TWO incredibly interesting food for thought things.  One, being the family member of a Peace Corps volunteer.  And two, she has been reading and studying the story of Chris McCandless and his "Into the Wild" adventure so consumerism.  I will address them each in turn.

One, being a family member of a Peace Corps volunteer has got to be incredibly hard!  We are Peace Corps volunteers so we have no idea what it is like to be family back home.  We know all the unknowns, we know we are safe, we know how to eat, we know what bugs are bad, we know our bosses are cool and helpful, in essence we know how we are because we are us!  But, you all playing the home game of Peace Corps have an unending list of unknowns.  We are just in some far away place doing indeterminate things.  All these worries stack on top of your busy lives professionally, socially, artistically, whatever.  Furthermore, it may be of little help when we give updates like, "killed a giant spider today," or "traveling to the city" because that just brings up more questions, like "did the spider bite you first?" and "will you get robbed today?"  So, our dear family members and friends, rest assured that we are doing well.  If we have a home away from home anywhere in the world it is San Juanito, Cocle.  We feel safe and valued (sometimes for the wrong reasons) and life is good.  Keep on fighting the good fight as valiant members of Peace Corps volunteers.  We love you and respect your struggles.

Two, consumerism.  To put it bluntly, we are smacked in the face on a daily basis with our own consumerism here in the campo of Panama and what it means for the environment, our bodies, our minds, and our friends.  When we buy a food item, for example, all the consequences are taken into account in a very real way, more real than we ever experienced in the United States.  We carry that food item and its wrapper into the jungle.  Should it be a heavy food item and we are hiking, the consequences for our bodies, namely our legs, are immediately apparent.  When the food item is consumed, a new problem arises... what to do with its by-products.  Should it be a meat item, the bones are fed to dogs, should it have a shell or peel that goes back to the earth directly or by way of a chicken's digestive system.  Should it have a plastic wrapper we are faced with the storage and disposal tasks.  Storing means attracting cockroaches, dogs, and other even nastier critters.  Disposal means carrying the wrapper back out on the bus and looking for a depository in the city (illegally we think) or, gasp, burning it.  Yes, environmentally conscious readers, we burn trash.  Not just a newspaper or two, but bottles, plastic bags, Q-tips, everything.  This affects our health in a VERY real way!  It also affects our neighbors, who consequently are our friends, because the toxic smoke wafts along with the breeze.  It is amazing how much energy we spend here dealing with our own consumerism.  The difference in the United States seems to be that the consumer is not always responsible for doing the work to clean up their own consumerism.  Is this a sign that Panama is more backwards than the U.S:?  We think not.  How better to put a bridal on your own consumerism than deal with the consequences on all levels every time you buy something?

Anyways.  Thanks Allie Hayes for these deep thoughts.  What wisdom for a soon to be 13 year-old!  We love you all out there, stay strong, recycle, and compost!

Don't do tomorrow what you can do today

Hello! I have been wanting to write a day-in-the-life type blog, but kept coming up with excuses why it wasn't a "typical" day. But that draws the deeper philosophical question of what is a typical day anyhow. So according to the age old adage, "don't do tomorrow what you can do today" I am writing a day in the life for today, November 8, 2012. My excuses for it not being a "typical" day are various. At the top of the list is that Lauren isn't here, she is at training already in Santa Rita. I will join her on Sunday and then later I will write another typical day entry. Here goes.
2:38 a.m. I stagger outside in the dark and pee off the side of the porch, then struggle back into the mosquito net. I always have to pee at night here, the current theory is that our bio rhythms have changed so that we digest at night because it is so hot during the day, who knows.
5:42 a.m. Alarm 1 sounds. Roosters have been sounding for some time.
6:10 a.m. Alarm 2 sounds and I get up. As its getting light I can't pee off the porch so I put shorts on and walk to the latrine.
Until 7:00 a.m. I prepare and eat breakfast. I can't just eat any old thing because I might have gastritis. I make pancakes and syrup saving three cakes in a Tupperware for lunch today. I am still hungry so I fry a guineo with cinnamon on it. It wasn't quite ripe enough.
Before I head out the door at 7:20 a.m. I get my things together in a little backpack that I carry almost everywhere. Machete. Sharpener. Water bottle, full. Mosquito repellent. Sun screen. Cell phone, double wrapped in plastic bag for rain. Three large branches to contribute to the day's work.
7:22 a.m. Pass the store and wave at Dario, he's super nice.
7:47 a.m. I have hiked pretty fast so I reach Anacleto's house before I planned to. No one is there so I venture a "Buenos dias" and this sets his dog, ironically named Horse, to barking. Now everyone knows I am here. I see Anacleto's mother up the path and she waves. I ask where Cleto is, to which she responds, "I am fine thank you!" this is all the better, I must remember my manners. I ask her again where Cleto is and she says he went up already.
8:10 a.m. I arrive at the spot where Cristino showed me the route to the fence that we are going to be cleaning around the land that contains the community's water source.
8:16 a.m. I second guess myself and turn around.
Until 10:35 a.m. I wander aimlessly in the mountainous jungle looking for the workers. I eventually set my sticks down, I do not return for them later.
At 10:35 a.m. I find the work group. It's Cristino, Dionicio, Raulin, Ermogeneh, Antonino, and Adolfo. Cleto is out of San Juanito visiting his sick nephew. I spend some time explaining myself and they spend some time chuckling and telling me if I had passed by this and such point at this and such time they would have saw me.
We work cutting vegetation away from the fence until 12:10 p.m. I get a few cuts on my hand from razor sharp grass. Ermogneh tells me that it isn't even the sharpest kind. He tells me about a forest fire that burned down much of the hillside jungle about 10 years ago. I have hear of this event and am immensely interested.
At 12:18 p.m. I detour to the Granja property on my way down with hopes of clomping to the mirador to call Lauren as se would be on her lunch break. In a combination of fatigue, dehydration, the ever changing plant life here and sheer dumbness, I can't find the entrance to the mirador and descend in frustration because I hear and see rain coming.
12:55 a.m. I reach the house again and take my sweat soak clothes off before I even unlock the door.
1:04 p.m. I get my shower tote and swimsuit on, the typical shower-in-the rain gear. Someone else is down at the shower so I turn around hastily for fear it is my 70 something year old Panamanian grandma.
1:17 p.m. I finish up eating the pancakes I had packed for lunch with chocolate frosting on them and was down to shower for real.
2:23 p.m. I sit down to a lunch of rice and tunafish and cucumber. The dog that we call Sir Pees-A-Lot sits with me, but I don't give him anything.
4:21 p.m. I finish hand washing some clothes and hang them up to dry doubting they will dry on this rainy, cloudy day.
It's now 5:02 p.m. And I just flocked an ant out of my chest hair as I am sitting writing this story on my iPod on the front porch. The iPod has been warning me that it will run out of battery soon this whole time. I plan to call Lauren from our neighbors porch soon. I waited around this afternoon because Ermogeneh told me he would come down and play some guitar because his guitar is at the church. I don't know if he will. I am soaking another load of laundry right now too. The extra dirty stuff. I thought I was going to make chicken noodle soup from scratch tonight, but I see that turning quickly into Top Ramen. And that's it. Life's more fun with Lauren around so I will do another one of these. I promise.

At least we didn't have to eat the cat.

This Panamanian birthday party we went to was both a wonderful and terrible experience at the same time and here's why. We felt special to be invited so far in advance to an event, a little over a week notice. That a family in our community would think of us in their invites is pretty neat. Being a slight bit clever and increasingly culturally sensitive we showed up a casual 2 hours late, which seems to be very much the norm here. The event was at the other end of town so we had hiked pretty far, but we did our best to arrive clean and spiffy. La Señora looked a slight bit terrified to see us and while we were awfully late in our culture, we were quite early in hers. The house was a bustle of activity; a dance of cooking, rearranging, and doing what needs to be done in a household of 8 people. The Señor of the house, a four foot nothing strong man named Clemente, informed us his son went to collect a cake from the city, a good 3 hours travel time away, and his daughter, the cumpleanera or birthday girl, had gone to collect the image of the Virgin from the next town. We sat dutifully confined to the front room for a while, but felt restless in the heat. Lauren had to use the latrine so she ventured into the house. In a flurry of barking the household pack of ankle biting dogs did their duty and bit Lauren's foot. Luckily she had hiking boots on. As she passed the kitchen she couldn't help but notice the partially skinned animal that resembled a tiny pig that Senor Clemente was working on. This mystery would continue to develop so stay tuned. As we weren't really interacting with anyone directly we felt okay to duck outside and take advantage of the cell phone service that the outskirts of town enjoy and went out to call home. As we crossed the threshold we startled another of the ankle biting dogs and noticed a long black furry tail in his mouth. This deepened the mystery of just what kind of animal was being prepared for us in the kitchen. Just as I was engaging in a conversation with my dad, Clemente shuffled out to talk. Lauren asked him what the animal was in there to which he responded a gato del monte or mountain cat. And to our further duress he informed us that the meat is bien rico or pretty rich and they do eat it. As the minutes turned to hours we sat. Clemente wandered in and out and we managed to get him talking about the history of the school. He told the story in a quiet voice that was barely a match for the blasting tipico music in the background. At about five the image of the Virgin, which to our untrained eyes resembled an ultra tacky statue of the Virgin Mary, arrived and there was a ten minute labor to position it among the other Virgins that had been there all along. The cooking continued and we sat watching the sun move lower and lower quietly resigning ourselves to walking back in the dark, which is not overly fun and through snake country not overly safe either. Around about six thirty la Señora
came in and asked us if we had to go soon. As politely as we could we responded with a firm yes. As it turned out, we were the only guests invited so much hinged on us enjoying ourselves. To our great relief she brought us heaping plates of arroz con pollo or chicken and rice, the jungle cat was left smoking for another day. They watched us eat. As we finished up and made ready to say goodbye, Jose, the son who had gone some 4 hours earlier for the cake, returned with the cake. Being the only guests, we felt obligated to stay so sat again as lengthy cake preparations were made. As the family gathered around the cake we were prompted to sing the birthday song in English, then we sang in Spanish, then Jose put in a CD, which blared a 15 minute birthday ballad. Its chorus said roughly, "everyone at this meeting hopes your birthday is good." A match was stuck in the cake and blown out by the cumpleanera. They watched as we ate cake. As we finished up and once again made ready to say goodbye the birthday girl asked for some pictures with her family. All of the sudden a skinny guy we had never seen before emerged from the shadows and draped his arms over the 19 year old cumpleanera. After many photos were taken and retaken we were left guessing who this lucky suitor was and why he all of the sudden appeared to grope the cumpleanera for photos. We said our goodbyes, slightly shell-shocked by the whole event and left. It had been a long afternoon, but hey... at least we didn't have to eat the cat.

La gente nos cuida

This is Alex writing this from Lauren's account.

For our final community analysis meeting Alex changed the lyrics of one of his songs and played it in appreciation of all the support we have received in our first three months in San Juanito. I'll do Spanish and English.

Cuando llegamos aqui
No sabiamos nada
Ni como usar in machete
Estabamos perdido en la selva
Pero la gente nos cuido
Nos cuido bien
Es por ellos estamos feliz
A veces andamos en los senderos
A veces andamos en bus
A veces andamos a su finca
Pero siempre encontramos con sonrisa
Y la gente nos cuido
Nos cuido bien
Es por ellos estamos feliz
Anacleto como guia
Irenes y la familia
Raul como cordinador de la casita anexo
Benigno construyo la ventana
Guadalupe a la granja
Abuelo Cholo quiere mas cafe
Muchas gracias

When we arrived here
We didn't know anything
Not even how to use a machete
We were lost in the jungle
But the people cared for us
Cared for us well
It is because of them we are happy
Sometimes we go on the trails
Sometimes we go in a bus
Sometimes we go to your farm
But we always find a smile
And the people cared for us
Cared for us well
It it because of them we are happy
Anacleto as a guide
Irenes and the family
Raul as the coordinator of the house annex
Benigno built the window
Guadalupe at the farm
Grandpa Hillbilly wants more coffee
Thanks very much

It was a pretty big hit. As proof of Alex's words Cleto then sang a beautiful decima of welcome to Cuerpo de Paz that he wrote especially for the meeting. As if you needed more proof that la gente nos cuido bien here is a copy of the bill we drew up for the house annex project.

Our cash expenses = $272
Value of donated materials = $73
Number of organized work groups = 5
Number of unofficial work groups = 3
Number of workdays accrued = 48
Cash equivalent of labor = $480
Total value of all donations = $557

The result is a fantastic new room with three beautiful windows, a lovely smooth floor, a zinc roof to keep us dry, and fine mud walls to keep the scary night out.

Sometimes we wonder who are the true volunteers?

Regardless, you can see the people care for us well.

And then...The New Home Owners.

We have officially moved out of our host family's mud hut and into our very own mud hut. The construction is mas o menos finished...one of our windows is nailed shut because the hinges aren't on yet, our little concrete sink's drain isn't finished so we use a 5 gallon bucket to catch the water and when it reaches it's capacity of dirty agua we throw it out the window...

Our first night in the house, after a delicious American dinner of garlic pasta and chorizo, Alex spotted our first scorpion in the house. He cut the tail off with his machete and the pinchers chased him around before he was able to completely kill it. And then...we saw it. A HUGE white tarantula, the size of a dinner plate, on the eave of our roof. Lauren screams and says we have to kill it. But we can't reach it with our machetes. Sooo Lauren goes to the neighbors to get a Panamanian that has experience in killing this giant dangerous spiders. They tell us to be careful because they jump. We stand there looking up at it as it creepily moves around debating what's the best way to kill it...when it disappears..
:bad words bad words: then Raul shows up and asks what's all the commotion about? We tell him there's a arana blanca and we lost it. He says there's probably a hole in the wall and it crawled inside. He leaves and comes back with a ladder. He climbs up to the hole and starts poking sticks in it to get the spider to come out. When it finally comes out its mad and Raul screams and almost falls off the ladder before slicing it with a machete. But it falls back into the hole. He quickly mixes up some more mud in the dark and fills the hole. Right now as I'm writing this there's still a dead tarantula in the wall of our house. Yay. Needless to say we're thankful for our mosquito net and we tucked it in extra tight that night.

As new home owners in Panama, the night times are full of challenges, but there are day time challenges too.

Day numero dos en la casa.

Theres all the daily things that seem simple, like doing laundry, showering, cleaning the house, watering the plants, cooking meals, and taking out the trash. But in Panama nothing is easy. For example, when you live in a mud hut, there's endless amounts of uh...mud. After multiple times of getting on our hands and knees with a brush and scrubbing the entire floor, we've barley made a dent, and when the water goes out it makes showering, cooking, doing laundry, and watering the plants pretty hard. Since there's no public waste system in the rural communities of Panama, taking out the trash has a different meaning. There's two options 1) burn it. (who likes the smell of burning trash near your house?) 2) dig a big ass whole and bury it. As you can see both are great environmental friendly ways to dispose of garbage. As it gets dark at 7'o clock and the water returns we can start cooking dinner. This is always fun with no electricity but it's great that there's two of us, one of us to cook, and one of us to patrol the house with a machete and can of Raid. As it turns out neither on of us has a solid understanding of how to prepare chicken in the campo, because we've always prepared chicken out of a nice little package cut into perfect pieces ready to go. So when we have a pound of campo chicken from la tienda. (a bloody rib cage with the breast and wing still attached) we are at a loss. Lauren could be heard saying " I need my daddy to show me how to clean this chicken." As we started to figure out the chicken and got it cooking, the smell attracted a mama dog looking for food. She just walked right in the house. Lauren and Alex having a soft spot in their hearts for animals, feed her later. During all of this Alex emptied a can of Raid on the invasion of over ten thousand ants. The rain forced them out of the ground and onto our walls. At first it was just little lines of them, but soon it turned into what looked like a six lane highway of ants.

Like usual were keeping our spirits high and laughing it all off. In truth were excited about our first house together in the jungle of Panama. We've finished our community analysis and at the end of October well have been in Panama for 6 months. It's time to start in on those projects and for people to come visit us! :)

Hola de nuestra familia anfintriona

We asked our host brother Baukti (Juan Bautista Hernandez, a precocious 5 year-old who talks nonstop from dawn til dusk and sometimes in his sleep too, says his mama) to tell us what to write to the United States. Here is what he told us:

<<Tu haces mucho trabajos en la casita como naranjas tu y Lorena tiene miedo de los bichos en el rió y que Alej come todo lo que la mama cocina para los niños, un niño que se llama Juan Bautista Hernandez, y que Lorena come papas y aquí en la casa de Baukti hay papas y que Alejandro come yucas, un cuarto amarillo que le dieron a Alejandro y Alejandro toma foto y Lorena también toma foto. Los patos que tenemos en la casa (Mama lo interrumpio y mando que el persiguiera las gallinas, el las persigo del patio)... y la casa de la Mama de Baukti, también tienes que hacer el mapa TU, y Lorena y Alejendro comen tajadas y macarrones con pollo y chicha de pina y que Alejandro me enseno muchas canciones. Ahhhha yo se, ellos fueron a la Granja. Una paisana que tenemos en la casa de Juan Bautista Hernandez (salto de la mesa y casi se cayo, pero acabo de bañarse así este seria una cosa muy mala), Lorena casi se comió un pollo de Milton y que iba a comerla frito y que Lorena se duerme temprano porque Lorena tiene mucho miedo de los bichos. Mas nada. Que Maudy hace tembleques para ella que le hagan una pollera. Ya mas nada. Y que a Lorena no le gusta el ligado y que le encantan los macarrones. Quiero conocer a las amigas de Lorena. Y que también quiero conocer a sus padres. Y que mas? Que mas? Mas nada. Que mas? Que mas? Que mas? Y que Lorena come pipas y huevos y torta de huevo y le encanta toda la comida pero no come mucho, solo come un parte y Alejandro come el restado.>>

...which I will translate to English for you all, without correcting any grammar because this is how he actually talks, nonstop...

“You do lots of work at the little house like your oranges and Lorena is scared of the bugs in the river and that Alej eats all that the mother cooks for the kids, a kid named Juan Bautista Hernandez, and that Lorena eats potatoes and here in Baukti's house there are potatoes and that Alejandro eats yuca, a yellow room that they gave to Alejandro and Alejandro takes photo and Lorena also takes photo. The ducks that we have at the house (Mama interrupts him, which she often does because he talks nonstop, and tells him to chase the chickens, he chases them off the porch, returns, and resumes talking as if nothing happened)... and Baukti's mom's house, also you have to make the map YOU, and Lorena and Alejandro eat tajadas and spaghetti with chicken and pineapple juice and that Alejandro taught me lots of songs. Ahhhhha I know, they went to the Granja. A pheasant that we have at the house of Juan Bautista Hernandez (he jumps from the table and almost falls, but he just took a bath so this would be a very bad thing because there is a dirt floor), Lorena almost ate herself Milton's chicken and that she was going to eat it fried and that Lorena falls asleep early because Lorena is really scared of the bugs. That's it. (At this point we begin writing Maudy's part, see below, but Baukti cannot contain himself and sporadically asks to add more and more to his part, which I faithfully do). That Maudy makes tembleques for herself so that they make her a pollera. Okay, that's it. And that Lorena doesn't like liver and that she loves spaghetti. I want to meet Lorena's friends. And that I also want to meet your parents. And what else? What else? That's it. What else? What else? What else? And that Lorena eats fresh coconuts and eggs and omlettes and she loves all the food but doesn't eat much, she only eats a part and Alejandro eats the rest.”

Maudy our host sister (an elegant, bright-eyed 12 year-old who loves to swim and do crafts) saw that Baukti was writing to the United States and she decided she wanted to as well. Maudy says,

<<Alejandro le gusta jugar fútbol y es el arbitro (se rió). También juega béisbol con Baukti. Lorena le corta la barba de Alej. Y Alejandro le corta el cabello de Lorena. Que mas, que mas, que mas? Lorena es muy bonita. (Baukti dice, “Y Alejandro tiene mucho pelo”). Baukti y Alejandro tienen una banda. A Baukti le gustan mucho las canciones de Justin Bieber (Baukti dice, “También diga que no me gustan nada las canciones de Justin Bieber porque Maudy las llevo para la casa de Diana”). Esperamos a conocer a la familia de Alejandro y Lorena. Y que yo quiero conocer a la hermana de Lorena y la de Alejandro. Desde ya les queremos decir Feliz Navidad y que traigan dulces de Halloween. Ya chao!>>

...which translates to...

“Alejandro likes to play soccer and he is the referee (she laughs). Also, he plays baseball with Baukti. Lorena cuts Alejandro's beard. And Alejandro cuts Lorena's hair. What else, what else, what else? Lauren is very pretty. (Baukti says, “And Alejandro has a lot of hair”). Baukti and Alejandro have a band. Baukti really likes Justin Bieber songs (Baukti says, “Also say that I don't like Justin Bieber songs because Maudy took them back to Diana's house!”) We want to meet Alejandro and Lorena's family. And that I want to meet Lorena's sister and Alejandro's too. From here we want to tell them Merry Christmas and that they bring Halloween candy. That's all bye!”

Upon hearing how much fun all this is Irenes (our 31 year-old host mom, a wise and powerful young woman with a fierce kindness in her heart) flees to the kitchen and Maudy adds a message from her. Irenes says, through Maudy,

<<Alejandro y Lorena se portan muy bien y que han aprendido muy rápida en Panamá. Ella esta muy encantada que ustedes estén en la casa de ella.>>

...which means...

“Alejandro and Lorena behave very well and have learned very quickly in Panama. She is very pleased that you are in her house.”

Having fun bringing us messages, Maudy runs to her dad Jeronimo (our 32 year-old host dad, who has been playing accordion all afternoon in the living room) and delivers the following message from him, again through Maudy,

<<Dice que se siente contento de tenerlos aquí en la casa y entre ustedes y mi papa han compartido muchos momentos especiales y que entre Alejandro y Jeronimo (mi papa) han compartido canciones Panameñas y de los Estados Unidos y se siente muy contento de tener un amigo mas en Panamá.>>

...which means...

“He says that he feels happy to have them here in the house and you guys have shared many special moments and between Alejandro and Jeronimo (my dad) you have shared Panamanian songs and songs from the United States and he feels very happy to have another friend in Panama.”

Milton (our 14 year-old host brother, who is probably the most reserved young professional man we have ever met) politely declined to comment.

And that folks, is our lovely host family. Sorry if this post has been confusing, but there is SO MUCH in here that sums up our lives right now. You have no idea.