10 Hours of Sleep

I am proud to say that I’m currently getting at least 9 hours of sleep a night. I’m pretty sure this is more than the recommended amount but who’s counting? I’m in bed by 10:00pm the latest and wake around 7:00am to a leisurely breakfast. I usually read a few chapters of whatever book I’m working on before bed and upon waking, or flip through one of the many Newsweek’s provided to us by the Peace Corps office. I’ve also been studying Spanish a fair amount using a workbook they provided us in training, and reading the newspaper to learn new words. This will be my first blog update after a month in site because well, not much has been happening. During training every minute of our lives was planned, whereas once we arrive in site it’s all up to us. This is liberating but daunting at the same time because every action must be completely self motivated.

This guy was playing the campesino (peasant) at a parade in my neighboring town where there is another Peace Corps Volunteer. Please note his cow foot flask.

Anyway, my main project here is to work with the savings and loans cooperative founded by members of the community two years ago. Currently our “office” is a small room attached to one of the member’s houses, which she also uses to give literacy classes in the afternoon. Our office hours are Mon-Wed-Fri from 2-4pm and Sat 9-12am. As you can see this leaves many free hours for me to fill throughout the day. I’ll talk about that later, but since I didn’t know how a cooperative worked until I got here I will explain a little how our particular coop works. Currently we have around 50 members who are supposed to save $5 a month in the coop. This money is theirs but they cannot take it out at any time like you would with a normal checking account. The members can take all their money out if they resign from the coop; otherwise they actually have to borrow their own money at 4% interest rate. The idea of borrowing ones own money is basically that you are making a promise to yourself to maintain a certain level of savings. Members must be up to date with their $5 monthly savings payments (aportaciones) to be able to borrow, but only about 10 of our members have the proper amounts in their accounts. According to a provision put in to add stability in the early phases of the coop members cannot currently borrow more than they have saved. Hopefully members will soon be able to access credit, which could be a real impetus for growth within the coop. (This could also lead to catastrophe if people default on their loans, which happens all too often). People can also open what is basically a checking account separate from their $5 aportaciones and take that money out as they please. We also offer Ahorro de Navidad accounts which encourage people to save a small amount each week which they then get back around Christmas time. We will be promoting this aggressively in the coming weeks for Christmas 2008. My coop, like most in Panama has quite a few problems, but since mine is so new I feel it has lots of room to grow. I’ve already had two meetings with the Board of Directors, and I succeeded in getting IPACOOP (the governing body of all coop’s in Panama) to come give a seminar to my members. I have a big meeting planned for December where I really hope to kick start things as far as motivating the members and promoting the coop in general. We’ll see what happens.

What else have I been doing with my time you ask? One week I went to the school everyday and introduced myself to all the classes before they go on their summer break in mid-December. When the new school year starts in March I plan to give Junior Achievement classes starting with the 6th grade and working my way down. Junior Achievement here in Panama provides volunteers with materials and lessons plans for hour long classes, once a week, for 6 weeks. Each grade has its own curriculum and the kids get diplomas at the end of the course
6th graders “Our World’,
5th graders “Our Country”
4th graders “Our City”
3rd graders “Our Community”
2nd graders “Our Families”
1st graders “Ourselves.”
All this is done in Spanish, but I may help with English classes in the school as well. Meeting the kids really helped me integrate into the community because now whenever I walk around town they scream my name. It’s a nice feeling and helps me start talking to their parents as well.
In the afternoons (like now) I usually go to FADEPA (Fundacion para la Ayuda de Estudiantes Pariteños). It’s a state funded organization thats basically an after school center for students in my town. They have encyclopedias, a small library, a copy machine, computers (some with internet and some without) and an attendant to help the kids. The internet is high speed and costs 50 cents an hour. Most of the kids come to play games, and watch videos on youtube, but a fair amount come to type papers and research things for homework. I’ll eventually be working there basically as an attendant, charging for internet, etc so that they can increase their hours of operation. I also have an idea to get the kids to write or contribute to wikipedia articles on subjects they are interested in, starting with one about their town.

My final project that I’ve identified will be to work with a local artisan here in town. He makes beautiful paper-mache devil masks for the festival of corpus cristi (like the one in the above photo). He’s got good demand for his product, but seems to be selling his masks for entirely too little. I hope to help him make his business more profitable and learn how to make some cool masks at the same time.

So basically I have alot of free time at the moment. Things are done at a more leisurely pace in general in this country, which is one of the reasons I came here, so I'm definitely not complaining. But please feel free to write a me snail mail letter, send some interesting articles, or give me a ring. Contact info is on the right hand side of this page, under my picture somewhere. Also check out the Peace Corps Panama Friends link for info about contributing to volunteer projects, etc. Other links have more info about Panama for the truly adventurous. Thats all folks, for now. Ciao!

Panamanian Patriotism

I’m now officially a proud member of the 60^th group of Peace Corps volunteers to serve in Panama since the program began in 1963. We had our swearing in ceremony last week at the Canal Museum in the old part of Panama City. The US ambassador and a few Panamanian officials attended the short ceremony. We celebrated that night in Panama City and headed off for our two day beach vacation the next morning. Our group of about 30 people went to a playa two hours from the capital and enjoyed each others company for the last time in at least a month. We had a little Halloween party, swam in the ocean, and prepared ourselves for our upcoming solo adventures. Good times all around. I lost my flip flops.

So now here I am in my site and thoroughly enjoying myself. The celebrations of the dias patrios of Panama were this weekend, which is the equivalent of the 4^th of July in the states. In honor of the foundation of the Republic of Panama, November 3, 1903 I’d like to present a brief history of the country I now call home. The photo below is me shortly after marching with members of my cooperativa in the parade in my town.

Before Europeans came and discovered the new world the current territory of Panama was inhabited by various indigenous groups, some of whom still exist to this day. Exploration of the isthmus began in the early 1500’s principally by the Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez De Balboa. He discovered the South Sea (the Pacific Ocean) in 1513 and claimed it as part of the Spanish empire. Panamanians refer to their currency which is the US dollar, as balboas because the conquistador’s image appears on coins minted here in Panama. Another famous explorer who figures into Panama’s history is Captain Henry Morgan, who most know for the spiced rum bearing his name. Captain Morgan was not a pirate but rather a “privateer” who waged war for England against the Spanish colonies in the Americas. Morgan made various forays onto the isthmus in the late 1600’s including the sacking of Panama City in which he massacred most of the population and burned the city to the ground. Panama however remained a Spanish colony for over 300 years until Simon Bolivar’s independence movements in South America began to make their way north. On November 10^th, 1821 El Grito de La Villa de Los Santos occurred leading to Panama’s separation from Spain. La villa de Los Santos is a town about half hour from my site and I’ll be traveling there for the celebrations of el grito this weekend. Following Panama’s official separation from Spain on November 28, 1821 the territory became part of Simon Bolivar’s newly founded Republic of Colombia.

Relations between Panama and the government in Colombia remained tenuous with various civil wars and separatist movements emerging over the years. In 1855 the United States completed the Panama Railway, the world’s first transcontinental railroad. The treaty that allowed the US to build the railway was the beginning of a complicated history of US political and military interventions in Panama. The railroad however was a vital link in bringing adventurers west during the gold rush years, and increased speculation about the idea of a canal. The French were the first to tackle the grand project led by Ferdinand de Lesseps, who had recently become famous for successfully completing the Suez Canal. France’s plan for a sea level canal was never realistic from an engineering point of view and was essentially doomed from the start in 1880. Tropical disease, financial problems, and constant floods were the primary causes for the failure of the French effort, which was finally suspended in 1896.

By 1899 the United States had established its own commission to investigate the possibility of building a canal through Central America. Initially the popular plan was for a Nicaraguan canal because although it is wider than Panama, it has a large natural lake in the middle of the country. After much deliberation Panama was chosen as the more feasible option and the US paid France $40 million dollars for the rights to the route they had begun, leftover machinery and detailed land surveys. The US now had to deal with the dicey task of obtaining rights from Columbia to build the canal. Having determined the Columbian asking price too high and not wanting to deal with the Columbians in general the US encouraged Panama to declare its independence. On November 3, 1903, with US Naval ships waiting offshore to deter any interference from Columbia, Panama officially declared its independence as a nation. In the controversial treaty that followed Panama granted the US the rights to build its canal as thanks for supporting its independence movement and a payment of $10 million dollars. The US began work on the canal in 1904 and the first ship passed through slightly ahead of schedule in 1914. The majority of the laborers used in both the French and American efforts were of Afro-Caribbean decent but a significant amount of Chinese, Italian, Irish, and of course Americans workers contributed to the success. The US triumphed where the French had failed because we’re better than them. Also helping our cause were major improvements in disease prevention, engineering technology, and infrastructure systems. In September of this year the Panama Canal Authority began a large scale, project to expand the canal by adding new sets off parallel locks to accommodate larger ships. The project is expected to be completed by 2014 and will cost an estimated $5 billion dollars.

According to the initial treaty that brought Panama its independence the US was granted control over the Canal Zone in perpetuity. The Canal Zone was ten miles wide on either side and ran the entire length of the canal. The US maintained a strong military presence in this area where the large majority of American soldiers, canal workers, businessmen and politicians lived with their families. In 1977 the Carter-Torrijos treaty set January 1, 2000 as the official date for the elimination of the Canal Zone and turnover of canal operations to Panama. Between the signing of the treaty and the actual handover the US did stage one military incursion into Panama in 1989. The controversial attack by US troops on parts of Panama City was allegedly in response to the killing of an American soldier and election fraud by then President General Manual Noriega. The military strike lasted only 7 days and resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of General Manual Noriega. There were also an estimated 500 Panamanian casualties, many citizens who were victims of fire in the poor neighborhood of El Chorillo. Since 2000, however the canal has been very successfully operated by the Autoridad de Canal de Panama and relations between the US and Panama are excellent. On a side note Manual Noriega recently completed his prison term in the United States and is expected to be extradited to France to serve trial there, although Panama also wants to try him for various crimes.

Well that just about brings things up to date. Currently Panama’s real estate market continues to boom, although many say a good amount of construction is funded by Columbian drug cartel money. Corruption is still rampant with a handful of established families controlling the majority of business and political decisions. But that’s another topic for another day. For more information on Panama please see the link to the Wikipedia article on the right hand column of this blog. Also please check out the Peace Corps Panama Friends link for information on supporting volunteer programs. Viva Panama!

Sappy Nonsense

Thats a picture of my extended host family above. I had a great time staying with them, and they even got me a hammock as a going away present. I´m definitely going to come back and visit... Now that our ten-week training session has come to an end I thought I’d reflect on some of those very 1^st experiences that I didn’t have time to write about at the moment. Training was intense, but lots of fun. At times it seemed like it would never end, but now it’s over and I feel like I just got here. After one of the very first days of classes we all went to play soccer with some of the locals. I’m not the best futbolisto but I hope to improve while I’m down here and was happy to hit the ground running (literally). As the sun was setting over the green field in hues of pink, purple, and blue I knew I was exactly where I wanted to be. The very next day we went down to a nearby waterfall and swimming hole. It’s surrounded by jungle, small rocks to dive from, and you can go sit under the 6 foot falls. Just knowing that beautiful little places like this exist all over the country confirmed my decision to be here. One of my favorite local snacks I discovered in the early days of training is a small fruit called pifa. It’s kind of shaped like an acorn, but about the size of a lime, and has a pit in the middle. They’re boiled with lots of salt in the water and come out tasting like a very salty sweet potato. I think they’re delicious and they’re sold on the side of the road 5 for a cuata (quarter).

Once a week during training we would take a chartered bus to the nearby city of Chorrera for all day sessions on medical and safety issues. We saw slide shows on bugs, burns, rip tides, rapists and other dangers to avoid. Generally we looked forward to these days because the conference room was wonderfully air conditioned, the food included green vegetables, and coffee was available all day long. The only downside were the sometimes painful vaccinations we received, but it was worth it in the end. (I hear yellow fever isn’t too much fun).

One very memorable experience from training was learning how to kill and cook a chicken. I simply watched all the activities as I hear these tasks are usually the women’s job. This is how it’s done: 1^st you must catch said chicken and tie him upside down by his feet to a tree branch or something similar. This is so the blood goes to his head, making the cleaning process much easier later. Then you slit his throat, let the blood drain out, and finally lop off his head. When you do that last part he’ll start flapping and moving around (like a chicken with its head cut off) as the last nerve and spinal cord connections are severed. The 3^rd step is to briefly dip the whole chicken into boiling water to open his pores so the feathers can be removed. Once that’s done he’s ready to cook. That day we made sancocho which is basically just like chicken soup with lots of cilantro, and ñame (a root crop). I expect similarly prepared sancocho to become one of my mom’s new signature soups upon my return.

Our first chance to explore more of the country during training was our visit to current volunteer sites for a weekend. I traveled with a few other trainees to a town more or less on the Panama-Costa Rica border. We got to learn more about the everyday lives of volunteers, the co-ops they worked with, and the local friends they made. We went to a talent show at the elementary school and received our first exposure to a typical Panamanian social event. It’s probably not that different from what you’d experience in the states; just imagine everything five times more hectic. The hora panameña dictates that everything starts later than expected, usually a half-hour to an hour. The noise-level was off the charts with kids screaming, music constantly blaring, and the MC’s trying to get everyone’s attention to announce the next act. It was fun though and good practice for all the parties I’ll be attending over the next two years.

The best part of the weekend was a beach bash the volunteers organized for us. We got to meet even more of our fellow volunteers, jump in the ocean for the first time, and see how PC Panama parties. The place we stayed at had dorm beds for $5 and a chalkboard where you put tally marks for every 50 cent beer you took from the fridge. I was honest as far as I can remember.

The last thing I wanted to mention was that one day we got to meet the U.S Ambassador here in Panama, William Eaton. He is a great supporter of Peace Corps Panama and extended an open invitation to us all to celebrate Thanksgiving at his house. Overall, training was enjoyable because it gave us a chance to get to know each other better, and ease into life here in Panama as a group. Some people didn’t find the adjustments as simple and so our original group of 42 people has been reduced significantly. Two girls missed their boyfriends, one guy wasn’t into the work, and two more guys were “medically evacuated” under controversial circumstances. We’re hoping the last two will make it back here, but right now we are 37 strong and ready for war (or peace).

I Lied

Making sweeping generalizations about an entire country based on limited experience is never a good idea. Hence, I feel I should clarify a few statements I’ve made based on more recent observations since visiting my site this past weekend.

1) Forks and knives are not just for restaurants. I was served every meal with a complete set of utensils and at one meal I even got a separate salad fork. The fact that I got a salad with lettuce, tomatoes, and onion is incredible in the first place. I think the vegetarians in my group kind of hate me. I also saw my Panamanian host mom using a fork so I know I wasn’t just getting the special gringo treatment. Ultimately though, I found myself longing for my trusty old tablespoon as it allows me to shovel rice in my mouth faster and in greater quantities.

2) Some of the streets in my town have names and since there is regular garbage collection it’s actually illegal to burn trash there. My town has over 6,000 people in it which is huge by Peace Corps standards. Its also unique I think in that the population is very concentrated. It reminds me of an old west town where on the main streets the houses are all connected and people sit in rocking chairs on their porches a few steps up off the ground. My site also has multiple 2 story houses and the only church in Panama with its steeple directly over the central nave.

So basically my site is pretty ye ye, which is Panamanian slang for fancy and Peace Corps slang for pretty much anything relatively nicer than what the next person has. Its not that my site is that much nicer than other places we’ve been (it is), but because it’s only a half hour from the provincial capital the mindset seems to be more metropolitan in general. My community counterpart for example is a mother of three, but is also the Vice President of the co-op, and the Chief of the volunteer fire department in town. The guys in the station come to attention and salute her when she walks in. The second day I was in town we made a human chain link along the side of the road to promote breast cancer awareness complete with a sign and pink ribbons. In church on Sunday the women from the health center passed out pamphlets describing how to perform a self breast exam. This is in comparison to Environmental Health volunteers teaching indigenous peoples in the comarcas (reservations) not to shit in the same stream they draw their drinking water from. My town is also very big on festivals and promoting time-honored Panamanian dance, music, and traditional ways of life. There is a party planning committee with its own office in town that maintains a website about on goings in the community. While I was visiting a well known figure in the community, who was a big supporter of these cultural festivals passed away. The very next day the website was updated with a memorial to this man complete with photos and stories about his life. Pretty impressive stuff relative to the conditions some of my companions will be working in.

So you ask, what will I actually be doing? My primary job will be to work with the savings and loans co-op in town. It is only 2 yrs old and has only about 30 active members. My goals will be to help them organize their accounting, encourage people to deposit monthly savings, and increase membership in the co-op. I will also have the opportunity to work with other organizations in town on secondary projects. There is a computer center with internet where I can teach classes, a Panama Verde environmental youth group looking for support, and I'd also like to promote tourism through the community website I mentioned. My town is in most of the tour books on Panama and one of the highlights is a local artisan who makes devil masks for dances at the festival of corpus christi. I'd like to help him with his business in any way possible and he said he'd teach me how to make some sweet masks.

While visiting my site I attended a birthday party and shared some Seco Herrerano with the guys on the porch. Herrerano is the most popular of all brands of the sugarcane liquor seco and is considered the national alcoholic beverage of Panama. Another source of regional pride is the Herrera baseball team which has won the national title 3 years running. While conversing with my new amigos I also discovered that not all Panamanians love Mariano Rivera as I previously stated. He no longer keeps a house in Panama, rarely comes to visit and refuses to play for the national team because he says they aren’t competitive. I can definitely see why this could create a sour feeling and makes me feel comfortable in once again hating the Yankees. Baseball is definitely the most popular sport in Panama and last weekend we organized a softball tournament in our training town. We had 3 Peace Corps volunteer teams, one staff team, and 4 Panamanian teams including one all women’s team. I umpired some of the games and had to make some controversial calls, but overall the tournament was a great success. We had trophies for the winners, and raised about $300 for the town library through team sign-up fees, food sales, and a raffle we held. All in a days work.

Chuleta!!!

Ahh… sitting down to my computer just out of a cold refreshing shower has never felt better. Add to that the tranquil sound of rain falling on my zinc roof, and the power being out, I somehow feel inspired. I now understand why my señora said the last volunteer she hosted enjoyed when the electricity went out. It’s wonderfully quiet right now without the novellas blaring from our TV, or the neighbor’s radios blasting reggaeton. (Please note: I LOVE reggaeton, just not 24/7.) Anyway, the rain hitting our tin roof acts as a natural white noise maker that’s just as soothing as the ones you can buy from Sharper Image for a hundred dollars… and it means it’s getting cooler. It’s a gentle hum I thoroughly enjoy.

For those who have traveled in underdeveloped countries some of these observations may seem quaint or slightly naïve. Since however, this is my first time in such a place please bear with me. I just received a package from my mom. It arrived to the post office in Panama City and was picked up by Peace Corps staff. This got me to thinking about the mail system in general. Outside of Panama City and maybe the provincial capitals there really aren’t street names in this country, let alone addresses on the houses. So for the next two years, like most Panamanians I will travel once a month to the nearest big city with a post office, present my cedula, (social security ID card type thing) and hope mail has arrived. (Hint Hint). Also, in case anyone was wondering Panamanians eat all meals using only a tablespoon. Knives and forks are reserved for restaurants. I’m not really sure why but I’m guessing it has to do with the fact that Panamanians eat proportionally more rice than any other Latin American country. I saw a statistic that said the average panameño eats about 13lbs of rice a month. I'm approaching that number, and I bought my machete today so I think I'm assimilating well.

I’ve recently discovered that our training town is extra hot and humid compared to most other parts of the country. We just returned from a two week adventure that took us across Panama
and back (albeit the country is not that big). We began with a “Technical Training Week” at a volunteer’s site to get more hands on experience working with coops. The people in her town were intimidated by the thought of a horde of gringos invading their homes so we got to stay in a hotel for a full week. Swimming pool, AC, and cable TV made for a great time. We also managed to party hard and get yelled at by hotel management, but what can you expect when you put a bunch of pent up Americans in a hotel? We did actually get some work done including giving a charla (presentation) in Spanish on HIV/AIDS to a group of 9^th graders. We met an amazing guy who was basically the cooperativa king in this particular region. He only had a 6^th grade education like many older people here in Panama, but was an incredible speaker and a great inspiration. After tech week we traveled up into the mountains of Chiriqui for a CED sector conference. It was legitimately cold enough up there to wear a long sleeve shirt which was a wonderful feeling. We also got to meet the other business volunteers and learn about their projects. This area is where most of the volunteers will go for Thanksgiving and it sounds like a great time. We rent out a very cozy lodge complete with fireplaces and take over the kitchen to prepare dinner. Hopefully someone will make me an apple pie, but I’m guessing it won’t compete with Aunt Sue’s.

For the 3^rd leg of the trip we headed to the respective regions where our sites will be for a “Culture Week”. This town was also in the mountains so it was nice and cool. I shat in a latrine and took an outdoor shower for the 1^st time since I’ve been in Panama. It wasn’t that bad actually, but certainly not something I want to have to get used to. We took some hikes, planted rice, shoveled cow shit to make fertilizer, and generally got a little dirtier than usual. The last night the town threw a little party for us where we learned how to dance the “tipica” and ate guess what? More arroz con pollo! Good times.

PS: chuleta means porkchop, but is usually said in place of a swear word that refers to female anatomy starting with the "chu" sound. Kind of like how we say "fudge". Hence, when something noteworthy happens you can expect to hear "chuuuuuuuuuleta" accompanied by a finger snapping noise. Its may favorite. Below is a picture of one of the "Diablos Rojos" I mentioned before.

Yankees en Diablos Rojos

Right now I am a trainee, but today was the day we’ve all been waiting for; site assignments. After I am officially sworn in on October 25, I will be a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Herrera province. I'll be in a big town of about 8,000 people, near the provincial capital of Chitre and 4 hours from Panama city. I'll have all the comforts I asked for and its less than a half hour from the ocean. The best carnaval celebrations take place in the nearby area of Las Tablas, and the Azuero peninsula is supposed to be rich with culture in general. I don't think I could have asked for a better placement.

A little more about the feel of Panama. It’s hot… and humid. I don’t think I’ve stopped sweating since I got here. This however means cold showers are a welcome relief, rather than a painful necessity. It cools down at night enough to sleep comfortably and the rains that come almost every afternoon help. The dry season, which runs from January to April is less humid, but without the rain to cool things down. We’ll see which is the lesser of two evils. The air here is also often tainted with the smell of burning trash. I don’t think I’ve seen a garbage can in this country and hence no regular collection. Most Panamanians simply torch their waste in a pile in their backyards. Hmmm, what else? There are lots of stray dogs, or that’s to say few people keep their dogs indoors and well fed. I think they’re in heat because lately there have been packs of dogs rolling through the streets trying to hump each other. Yesterday I saw two dogs attack and practically tear a smaller dog in two before someone broke it up. My señora’s daughter and son-in-law however have two beautiful & healthy black labs they keep fenced in their yard as guard dogs.

On Sunday I got the chance to go into Panama City and watch American football at the sportsbook in Casino Veneto. It’s the nicest hotel/casino in the city and was a fun escape. The buses in and around Panama City are called “Diablos Rojos” (Red Devils). They are old yellow school buses from the USA that are just as uncomfortable as when I rode them in elementary school. They are usually painted inside and out with various air-brush designs of lions, scantily clad women, bible scenes, or cartoon characters like Yosemite Sam and the Tasmanian Devil. Many have big speakers systems, feather boas, pom-poms, and various other tacky yet amazing pieces of flair. Dorsal fins on top, black or red lights inside they look like party buses, but are usually crowded with tired Panamanians heading to or from work. There is a competition every year for the most pimped out bus, which would definitely be a site to see.

Being a Mets fan it’s tough to admit that the New York Yankees really are America and overall the worlds most popular team. Here in Panama every game is broadcast on public television because Mariano Rivera, one of the best closers in baseball is Panamanian. Almedo Sainz of the Dodgers and Carlos Lee of the Houston Astros are also big leaguers from Panama but no one gets as much love down here as Mariano.

1st Impressions

We arrived in Panama on August 15th after a two day “staging event” in Washington, DC. Our group of 42 people has already been reduced to 40 people after two girls left within the first two weeks for personal reasons. Our group is half Community Economic Development (CED), and half Environmental Health (EH) volunteers. There are four married couples in our group (which I hear is a lot), as well as two older retired guys. Everyone else is between 22 and 30 years old, and all are college graduates. Our training is taking place in a small community of about 2,500 people an hour from Panama City. We are living with host families all of whom have electricity and running water. I have an indoor shower and toilet, but some people have bucket showers and latrines. My host señora is a 60 year old retired widow. Her two sons and daughter live with their families on all three sides of our house. Her kids and grandkids are always stopping by so there is never a dull moment. She is very friendly, cooks good food, and does my laundry. What more could I ask for?

I love Panamanian food so far. For lunch or dinner I get a heaping plate of rice, potatoes, or spaghetti accompanied by beans or lentils and chicken or meat. Some people in our group complain, especially the vegetarians but I find it all delicious. Panameños fry almost everything they eat. “Hojaldres” which are basically just fried dough are scrumptious and can be eaten at any time of the day. Panameños also eat a lot of hot dogs, I think mostly because it’s cheap meat. I got two hot dogs served to me for breakfast the other day. I also tried cow tongue recently and it was pretty good, better than a hot dog at least. If I ever get a craving for something familiar I only have to travel to one of the larger cities where you can find most American fast food chains including McDonalds, KFC, Subway, and Pizza Hut. There are also Chinese restaurants everywhere and most corner stores even in small towns are owned by “chinos”.

From The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough: “Days and nights were made a living hell by bichos, the local designation for ticks, chiggers, spiders, ants, mosquitos, flies or any other crawling, buzzing, stinging form of insect life for which no one had a name.” Thankfully I have a mosquito net (and a fan) that keeps me cool and bug free at night, but the workers who built the Panama Canal in the late 1800’s were not as lucky. On a recent trip to the beach sans mosquitero I got at least 100 chigger bites on my legs and arms. Chiggers actually go into your skin and live there but die quickly and are relatively harmless. Bot fly’s on the other hand lay their eggs in your skin and eventually grow into fingernail sized larvae that have to be suffocated and squeezed out. I’m hoping to avoid those, youtube it and you’ll see why.

Most Panameños keep gallinas de patio (porch chickens) that they kill occasionally for celebrations. Since they control what the chickens eat they say the meat is tastier. My señora has about five roosters that all start crowing promptly at 3:30am, but I’m already getting used to it. Our front and back doors are always open to keep the house cool and so we get a lot of visitors. A hairy tarantula strolled into my house the other night startling my señora. She said she hadn’t seen anything like it in years and called over her son who took care of it with a few machete swipes. Bats fly in at least once every evening but usually find their way out after a few circles around the room. These are fruit bats, but there are also vampire bats here in Panama. According to my señora they live in caves and usually bite cattle, horses, and other livestock. They also bite humans (we met a volunteer who got bit) and aim for the spots where blood lets out the quickest such as fingers, toes, and nose. Geckos are limpias de la casa because they take care of a lot of the bugs, but their droppings look a lot like mouse turds. I was happy to discover that the shit next to my pillow wasn’t from a rodent but a friendly gecko. I really like my mosquito net.