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.