Photos

It's been awhile since my last post but I don't have a lot of time so this one is going to be mostly photos (a crowd favorite) with brief explanations. Enjoy!

My friend Deb has a Girl Scouts troupe with an indigenous tribe in Chagras National Park, near Panama City, about five hours from where I live. We decided to have an AIDS awareness training as an excuse to bring our two troupes together, which turned into an excellent cross cultural experience. Deb's girls are the ones standing, in traditional Embera skirts and my girls are the ones sitting down, in traditional Panamanian skirts.

A group of us had to go to Panama City for random reasons (including seeing the new Batman movie in English, only offered in the capital) and went out to dinner at an all you can eat Italian place. From back left to front right: Jake (chewing on Jen's ear), Jen, Danny, Me, Dennis (on the left), Deb, Lydia, and the Captain.

And then the long awaited arrival of Aunt Jenny and Cousin Maddie. We had daily morning photos, as well as a word and a phrase of the day. The first few days they got their words down great but towards the end of the week enthusiasm waned...

Jenny rented a car, which was the most wonderful thing ever. I didn't realize how much I loved Panama until I didn't have to ride crowded, smelly, hot buses everywhere I went. You can't come to Panama without going to the canal so we swung by the Miraflores Locks and watched a ship go through. It would probably have been more exciting if we didn't have locks where we come from, too.

We stayed at an awesome hotel that was slightly less awesome because the water park was closed down during the week. There were monkeys in cages and this crazy bird. The monkeys weren't so big on having their photos taken but this guy was all about posing. He followed us everywhere.

While staying in the city we went to my friend Deb's site, my favorite place to take visitors because it's so cool to see an indigenous site. Maddie, Jenny, and I rode in a motorized dug out canoe. I feel terrible but I don't remember this guy's name. He was our guide, and Jenny's Panamanian boyfriend. It's a shame you can't see how short his beaded skirt was- he has great legs. There's a plant in the jungle that has a fruit filled with a clear liquid that becomes dark navy blue after it touches your skin. The dye lasts between one and two weeks so we got a couple of tattoos while we were there. As you can tell from Maddie's face, she felt it made her a badass. After Deb's site we went on a really long but joyous-singing-filled car ride to the Caribbean coast, getting there just in time to see the sun set. Maddie, squeezing the sun.

Maddie's boyfriend, Fran (pronounced Frahn). They left a few weeks ago but he still asks about her. Poor kid is heartbroken. The cutest thing is that neither one ever had any idea what the other one was saying.

We spent a couple of days at my house in Atalaya, enjoying the hammocks on my front porch and a couple of aguaceros (crazy beautiful rain storms).Jenny decided to take advantage of the rain one day and clean our filthy car. The rain just happened to coincide with a terrific thunder and lightening storm and Jenny nearly gave my neighbor a heart attack, she was so scared for Jenny's safety. She later lectured Jenny in Spanish, which I dutifully translated while simultaneously promising my neighbor that Jenny would never do anything like that ever again. One day I dragged Maddie and Jenny with me to La Mesa, the community of my friend, the Captain. A group of volunteers and I were doing an AIDS/HIV awareness day for 120 locals. In the photo are Shawn, Dennis, Me, and Deb. I'm glad Maddie and Jenny got a chance to meet all of my friends and they were really good sports to sit there during our all-Spanish presentations and amuse themselves. The next day we went to the beach but I don't have those pictures- they are on Jenny's camera. After Maddie and Jenny left Panama I had two more visitors. Every year there are 2 new groups of volunteers that arrive in Panama. The first group arrives in April, the second in August. During the second week of their training, each volunteer goes and stays for 4 days with a current volunteer. My aspirantes (trainees) were Piper and Monica. It was a blast having them stay with me. We ate cheesecake, saw a movie, played cards, and did a little work on the side.Last week there was a Volunteer Advisory Committee (VAC) meeting in the city of David. I am the treasure of VAC. There are 4 of us on the VAC board (including the Captain and my best friend CoCo) and we are the voice of the 160 volunteers currently serving in Panama. A lot of volunteers came out for the meeting and we had a really great time with Gringo Dance Parties, great food, a basketball game, and bowling. Above: Whitney, Jen, Joanna, and me. This is my living room wall. It is where I put all of the cards that have been sent to me. (My birthday is October 12, hint, hint). Every time I get a new card or photo I put it on the wall and the people in my community come look and ask me questions. My uncle Jeff sent me a photo of his house covered in snow last year. They love that photo. This guy is awesome. You can't tell but he is actually really big, at least 4 inches long. This might be one of my favorite photos I've taken here.

So that's it for the photos. Hopefully I'll get more up soon and get a chance to talk more about the stuff that's going on down here. I have really been loving this crazy Peace Corps life lately! :)

June and July

I came to Panama 2 weeks shy of a year ago with 41 other volunteers. Over the course of the last 11+ months we've lost 10 people for various reasons but the hardest for me was my friend Kelly. Kelly, CoCo, and I (photo) have been close since we left the training community last October and we were all geographically close too, within two hours of each other. But Kelly hadn't really been feeling the Peace Corps life for awhile and she left Panama for good the same day that I flew back to the states to spend a couple of weeks with my friends and family.


One of the nice things about Peace Corps is that, although they encourage you to serve the full 27 months and they do their best to make it a productive and successful tour, it is pretty easy to leave if you decide it isn't working. I'm really bummed that Kelly is gone but you have to do what's right for you.

Anyway, after saying goodbye to Kelly at the airport in Panama City I flew to Portland. It felt amazing to be home. My mom, Dad, and little brother Justin met me at the airport. I was only in Portland for 12 days and it went by crazy fast. The reason I flew back was for my best friend's wedding reception (photo) but I took advantage of the opportunity to see a movie (so expensive!), drive cars (the freedom!), and eat lots and lots of great food. I gained back about 7 pounds from the 50 I'd lost in the previous 10 months, but I've lost those seven again, being back in Panama. For some reason I just don't have as much of an appetite when my options are white rice and lentils.

Christy's wedding reception was beautiful and it was really great to spend time with her. My parents were really amazing and they threw me a huge party the Saturday before I left so I got the chance to see all of my friends and family. Thank you so much to all of you who drove from far away lands to come do relay races, drink cocktails, and jam out on Rock Band!

On July 1st I flew out of Portland at 4:30am with my friend Adie (who I've known since I was 8) and her boyfriend's sister, Liz. We landed in Panama City (photo) that night and hopped a 3 hour bus ride to Santiago, where we stayed in a hotel. The next day Adie and Liz met up with a friend in Santiago and headed to Boquete, while I went home to unwind. A couple of days later I met up with most of my Peace Corps buddies at my friend Captain's house in La Mesa where we had a July 4th celebration. Late that night we busted out sparklers and sang an alcohol inspired rendition of the Star Spangled Banner for all to enjoy.
I didn't see much of Adie and Liz during their trip, which actually worked out pretty well. As much as I love to have visitors, it can be expensive for me to run around the country with them, especially since I've already seen most of the touristy places. Which is why I love it when people come down in pairs. :) Adie and Liz were able to see Boquete, El Valle, and Bocas del Torro.

Towards the end of their trip they visited me in my site and then we went to Santa Clara where we stayed in a (slightly stinky) cabin on the beach, swam in the warm ocean, and soaked up some hammock time in little thatch-roofed huts. It was pretty perfect.


We met a music teacher from Florida who had never left the country before, was traveling alone, and didn't speak a word of Spanish. He totally cracked us up. Adie and Liz (photo) sampled all of Panama's national beers (nothing to write home about) and suffered through some not so pleasant restaurant food. We then parted ways, me back to Atalaya, and them on to Panama City to tour the canal and fly home.


After Adie and Liz left it was time to get back to work. I was invited to join a few of my friends doing an AIDS charla (presentation) in the Comarca. A little background- the Comarca Ngobe-Bugle is a large chunk of land in central western Panama that is similar to an Indian Reservation in the states. The indigenous tribes of Panama have been forced off their lands and into designated areas where they have sovereignty, more or less. The individual communities are very impoverished, living on less than $2 per day, generally. Because they receive government handouts they've learned to rely on handouts almost exclusively. The handouts, however, are hardly sufficient and the children are malnourished. There are some that believe the insufficient supplies are intentional, but that's another blog all together.

Anyway, my friends and I went to the site of a friend of ours in the Comarca. His house is a simple wooden structure on stilts with the most amazing view of the jungle. The picture hardly does it justice- you can't tell, but the Pacific Ocean is clearly visible in the distance. The level of education in the Comarca (and throughout most of Panama) leaves a lot to be desired and one of our goals as Peace Corps volunteers is to spread the word about AIDS, among other things. We presented our information to just over 70 Ngobe children around the age of 10. It was a lot of fun and a really great experience for all us.

While I thoroughly enjoy working with my Girl Scouts and my EcoClub, I hope to focus more on AIDS charlas in the future. It is tempting to believe that AIDS, while problematic everywhere, is mostly an issue in Africa. Sadly, it is rapidly spreading throughout Latin America and the education, due to inadequate information and funding as well as the abstinence promoting Catholic government, is severly lacking. Also, it just feels good to know that you are making a difference in a child's life. (And the silly games and condom demonstrations are just plain fun!) :)

Busy, Busy, Busy

I feel like I've been going nonstop for over a month now. It feels like there is always something going on or something about to happen that I have to prepare for. Last month went by crazy fast- it's hard to believe I've been here almost 10 months now.

A couple of weeks ago I went out with all the kids (about 300 of them) from the elementary school and we planted trees. It was crazy and frustrating, but it was also a lot of fun.

We divided into groups of about 20 kids per teacher and then took a bus to a predetermined area, where the kids were set loose with a few shovels and boxes full of plants. In all honesty, I think the machete happy boys killed more trees than we actually planted, but it's the thought that counts? 

At one point the kids headed off into the hills and started planting random plants in random places (abandoning our mission to stop soil erosion near the river) but the view up on the hillside was pretty amazing. This photo is what most of the area I 

live in looks like.

The following weekend I had a mini- Project Management and Leadership workshop with my friend CoCo for my youth cooperative. We had around 40 15-18 year old boys attend and it was a lot of fun. We taught them about public speaking, working in teams, planning for the future, and self-esteem.

We played a couple of games, including one about filling buckets. In the Panamanian school system there is not typically very much encouragement or positive reinfo

rcement. CoCo and I passed out slips of paper and tape and asked that the boys right nice things and tape them to each other's backs. At first they were too cool for it but soon everyone had pieces of paper all over them. Even CoCo and I got a good amount of compliments. One of the boys told me he liked my sandals.

We also played an ice-breaker called Hombre, Rifle, Tigre (Man, Rifle, Tiger). It is exactly like rock, paper, scissors, except that each of the two groups takes the position of the character they've chosen on the count of three. Man wields Rifle, Rifle kills Tiger, and Tiger kills man. The funny thing is that, without fail, Panamanians always choose Rifle so it is always a draw when two groups of Panamanians play each other. CoCo then inserted herself into one of the groups and after a lot of persuasion, convinced her group to be Hombre and they ended up winning.

I think overall, the mini-PML went really well. This is me and some of the boys in my co-op. They are a really great group. The two kids on the right are from CoCo's youth co-op, about 2 hours from my site. They came down to help us out and hopefully we'll be able to go up to their co-op and do a mini-PML for them in a couple of months.

Right after the PML ended, I headed to Costa Rica for my flight to Honduras (the Costa Rican airport is hundreds of dollars cheaper than the Panama airport). But in order to get to Costa Rica Dennis and I had to spend 9 hours on a bus, which was about as fun as it sounds.

Our first stop once we got to Honduras were the Mayan ruins in Copán. I'd never been to anything like it before and it was pretty awesome to wander around and imagine what it had been like so many years earlier. I took a ton of pictures but these two give you a pretty good idea of what it was like.










There were tons of these beautiful rainbow colored parrots all over the place. They were really loud, although they weren't saying anything that I could understand.



After Copán we headed to La Ceiba and then onto the Bay Island of Utila. The Bay Islands are home to the second largest coral reef in the world (the Great Barrier Reef in Australia being the largest) and have world famous scuba diving. Because there are so many dive shops on the islands Utila is also one of the cheapest places to dive. I am not a certified diver but I was able to scuba dive for the very first time for only $60! It was beautiful and addicting and everything you can imagine. We swam with squid (just little ones) and there was so much purple on the reef- it was amazing. I didn't have an underwater camera so I don't have any pictures but this is the view from the hallway of our hotel room.

I only had a week in Honduras and then I flew back to Costa Rica. The photo from the airplane is of the huge lake in Nicaragua, I think.

So, now I'm back in Panama, which is kind of a relief, in some ways. The trip was incredible but also stressful because of all the traveling and how much everything cost. I've gotten used to Panama and how inexpensive everything is, so it's nice to be back. I've got less than two weeks before I leave for the U.S, though, which I'm sure will give me even more sticker shock. But I can't wait to visit and see everyone again, although 12 days is already feeling like too little time stateside. Oh well, I'll take what I can get!