Being a House Wife in Panama

               If you ask a female in the Panamanian campo what her job is, she will likely say “ama de casa” which loosely translates to house wife.  Honestly, I admire Panamanian women, especially those in the poorer areas. 

                Here in Loma Bonita I am slowly learning all the day to day tasks of my host mom, Sra. Martina.  On my first day here I got to witness her kill and prepare a chicken for the soup we had at lunch (see pictures below).  Then she taught me how to peal oranges with a knife (no one peals fruit by hand here, you would get quite the stares if you tried).   Finally she taught me how to de-shell the corn.  Basically using a large mallet (see pictures below) you pound the corn until the outside shell comes off.  It took Sra. Martina and I nearly 45 minutes of pounding to get the shells off.  By the end I had mastered the one handed pounding, using the other hand to push the corn where you want it, then switch hands when tired and continue. 

              Once de-shelled we put the corn on a tray and had to shake off the shells.  I was downright awful at this, thankfully Sra. Martina simply laughed at me when I sent corn flying haha.  After 2 years I will master this skill.  Corn, rice and coffee need to be de-shelled exactly the same way, so I will have plenty of opportunities to partake in this activity lol, plus it is a good arm workout J. 

We next cooked the corn.  Once cooked we ground it up (I do not have a photo of this, but it is exactly like what I did with my host parents in Los Mortales, you turn a crank over and over and over again).  With the ground up corn we made tortilla (Sra. Martina cooked the giant tortilla on her fagon with banana leaves covering it, healthier than the also common frying) and we also made bollo.  Bollo is not my favorite Panamanian food, but it’s not awful either, I’m slowly beginning to enjoy it more ha.  Bollo is the ground corn, rolled into a long coil then wrapped in banana leaves and boiled.  It is just very bland and the texture takes a little getting used to. 

I also learned how to make patacones, plantains that are cut, fried, smashed, then fried again.  Exceptionally unhealthy but exceptionally delicious.  And I made chica de naranja (orange juice more or less), by using my new knife pealing skills to peal a passel of oranges, then squeezing them all into a jar, adding water and a type of honey.  That was a pretty standard one haha.  We also have been in the process of making chica de maiz, a heck of a lot of work quite frankly.  First we set corn in a bag with water for a few days until the corn sprouted.  Then we smashed it like we did the dry corn.  Then we cooked it for a solid day.  Then we ground it up.  Now I believe we have to cook it again, not sure, we are finishing tomorrow. 

A few days later I learned how to peal café.  We spent about 3 hours on this process.  First, just like what we did with the corn, we smashed the coffee beans (which had been out in the sun for a while to dry) with a mallet.  We then took advantage of the wind, and picked up the beans and shells and dropped them back into the bucket, the wind blew away the shells and the cleaned beans fell back into the bucket.  Then we shook the beans (still as bad as I was the first time trying to shake the corn).  After they were de-shelled, we washed them and then put them in a huge pot over the fire.  We then continually stirred them as they toasted.  Once toasted we grinded it down to be made into coffee!

Swear in and La Playa

                On March 14^th (Pi Day!)  Group 70 (all 54 of us CEC and TE volunteers) officially swore in as Peace Corps Volunteers!  Our swear in was at the Canal Museum in Casco Viejo, Panama City.  It was a gorgeous building, and the ceremony was very nice.  The Panama Peace Corps Country Director, a representative from MEDUCA (Panama’s education governing body) and a rep from the US Embassy where there, along with all of the staff that has gotten us all this far. 

                After swear in they had quite the spread of food, including awesome desserts (something rarely found in Panama haha).  Then all 54 of us took buses to an island, that I believe is still considered part of Panama City.  There we wondered around and then had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant.  After dinner a majority of the group went to a discoteca.  Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with bronchitis the day before swear in, and was on antibiotics, 2 inhalers, anti-fever meds and cough medicine, so I opted out of the discoteca.  However, a small group of us went and got ice cream before heading back to the “villas” aka dorm rooms where we were staying.  Then with that same group we watched a movie.  It was a nice and calm, relaxing, fun night!

                The next day after packing up all of us CECers headed to El Palmar, a beach on the Pacific side.  We stayed at a hostel there owned by an American, who spends his life surfing, drinking, and partying on the beach in Panama.  It was a fun two days.  Somehow, I was lucky enough to end up in the only 6 person room, with bunk beds and no air conditioning haha, but honestly it was no big deal.  Although, getting up onto the top bunk with no latter, was a highly interesting and entertaining process. 

                We spent two days hanging out on the beach, drinking pina cooladas, strawberry daiquiris, magaritas and boxed wine, and enjoying doing absolutely nothing.  We even cooked dinner the last night, with TONS of vegetables and had birthday cake for someone’s birthday. 

                Here are a few pictures from swear in and the beach!!

My new home!

So, the biggest news is that I KNOW WHERE I WILL BE LIVING FOR THE NEXT 2 YEARS! I have actually known for almost 3 weeks now, but originally all I had was a piece of paper with a few details, then last week I went on my site visit and got to see my community for the first time!

I will be living in a town called Loma Bonita in the province of Cocle, which is in the very center of Panama.  I am about 3.5 hours from Panama City.  I have yet to find my town on a map lol, but it is in the north western part of cocle about 20 mins from a town called Cope.  It is in the mountains!  The only way to get from Cope to my site is by taking a carro.  The carro's are converted pick up trucks, with roofs over the beds and benches in the back.  Transportation is very inconsistant and people have had to weight up to 3 hours for rides before.  Thankfully it is only about a 5k walk (very hilly but still). 

Although there is a main, paved road through my town, most of the town is dirt roads/trails.  In 4 days I didn't even see all the houses, and their are only 300 people in my community, it is just very spread out and hilly.  Their is no electricity in my town and only cell phone service in certain locations. 

For the 6 days I was there visiting a stayed with a family who lived about a 15 min hike from the main road.  There were 12 people living in the house including 7 children who enjoyed poking me and running away.  Their was an indoor flush toilet and shower, but one evening when I turned on the sink the water was running a nice brown color, yum.  I also got ATTACKED by mosquitos my first night there, 24 bites on just my one foot.  Needless to say, I am not going to live there for my first three months in site, I am living with a woman named Sra. Martina.  I have my own room with a door to the outside, the only downfall is that the latrine and shower are a solid walk through the backyard.  Oh well. 

My community has many orange and coffee farms.  In one day of pasearing (walking from house to house talking to people) I was giving 3 oranges, 2 cups of orange juice, 2 big bananas, 3 little bananas, 1 tangerine and 4 cups of coffee.  This on top of 2 breakfasts.  Yea, it is hard to not gain weight in Panama, since it is considered rude to NOT accept the food you are offered ha, at least it was lots of fruit!

The farmers in the community are working on an ecotourism program that I will probably be helping with, I will also be working in the school, and I am not sure what else yet.  These first 3 months are a time for me to talk to all the community members, observe in the school and get to know the community and what they want/need.  I am the 4th volunteer in my site and there is actually a book written about my community.  Back in I believe the late 70s a woman named Gloria Rudolph lived in the town for 3 plus years, the book is called The Poor People of Panama and is published in english and in spanish. . .kinda crazy. 

I only took a few pics while I was there, so here they are! The thing in the pics that looks like a road is actually a canal of some sort, I still have to learn more about that.  I officially move into my site on march 17th! Tomorrow I swear in and become a real Peace Corps Volunteer. . .it is crazy how fast training has gone!!!!

Tech Week

As part of training we have a tech week.  For tech week all of us CEC trainees head to a current volunteer site, live with host families and spend a week working on our technical skills.  For our tech week we went to El Pilon in the province of Veraguas. 

My host family was quite wealthy, I lucked out on my house for sure.  My "mom" was 29 and my "dad" was 33.  There house was HUGE for Panamanian standards, was gated, had glass in the windows, a NICE indoor bathroom and shower and I even had a ceiling fan in my room.  Plus my family had juice, and gave me fruit with breakfast, it was quite exciting haha. 

The first day I was there I ended up making a pilgrimage with my family.  We walked from Santiago to Atalaya at night to celebrate a saint.  It took us about 2 hours to walk there.  In Atalaya the line to go into the church was at least 2 hours long so my family opted not to wait, but on the street there were tons of vendors selling various things and tons of people walking around.  It was really quite the event, and we didn't even go on the busiest night.  We had to wait 45 mins to get a bus back to Santiago. 

During tech week we created and hosted a youth camp for children in the community.  We had about 15 kids show up, not bad for minimal advertising in a small community.  It was a lot of fun to interact with the kids, they were adorable.  We also co taught in the classroom with teachers.  I lucked out and was paired with an AWESOME teacher.  My trainee partner and I led an activity about the positives and negatives of different animals, 2 other trainees led an activity about ecosystems and then the 4 of us and the teacher did a story/play with the kids about a rat and a lion (see pictures below).  It was a ton of fun, but semi intimidating to be infront of all those children, teaching in spanish. 

We also did a little bit of work on a trash project that the volunteer was working on.  She was having her youth group stuff all their trash into plastic bottles, compacting VERY well.  Now they are using the bottles to build a their recycling center (see pics below).

We also got to take a boat tour and a hike through some mangroves.  They were gorgeous! (see pics below).

Carnival

So we had 4 days off for Carnival, Feb 19th-22.  Carnival in Panama last's 4 days and 5 nights.  It is celebrated with culecos.  Basically people throw buckets of water on eachother, squirt eachother with water guns, or in some form get eachother wet. 

In our training community, the town celebrated Carnival on Sunday.  In the afternoon there was a dance with culecos.  There was a dj and a big truck with a tank on it filled with water.  People sat on the tank and used a fire hose to spray water on everyone while they danced.  It was quite the event.  People of every age were participating, dancing and getting soaked. 

After the culecos wrapped up everyone went home to eat dinner, then returned for the crowning of the rena (queen).  Basically girls of pretty much any age, compete to be the queen.  They were elaborate dresses/costumes and dance there way out one by one.  Each princess has another girl that dances out with her, acting as her court or something of the sort.  As each girl dances out the girl's family members set off fireworks, shoot confetti, throws candy, blows horns etc to show their spirit.  In some towns the rena competitions involve elaborate floats that go around town the night and day before the competition.  Our competitors ranged in age from about 6 to 17 (kind of awkward to have to judge between a 6 year old and a 17 year old).  3 fellow Peace Corps trainees were actually asked to judge the event, I am quite glad I was not one of them haha. 

After the crowning of the queen there was a dance/party that lasted most of the night.  Being lame I left pretty early with my host family, but seeing as my normal bedtime these days is 8:30pm, staying up until even 10 is pushing it for me haha. 

Here are some pictures of Carnival, unfortunately I have none of the culecos (water and cameras did not seem to be a good idea)

Adventures in Los Mortales

In our free time in our training community, my friend Chelsea and I would go on hiking and running adventures.  There are tons of dirt roads that lead to rivers, farms and other roads.  Sometimes we would drag other trainees to join us.  Here are some pictures from those adventures, they capture some of the beauty of our training community! and Panama in general!

Playing Catch-up

Yes, I am mega behind in my blogging, I know.  I've been exceptionally busy and don't often have internet access.  Also my blogger app that lets me save posts and then publish when I have internet was not working, and the one internet cafe that i frequent when we go to the Peace Corps Office refuses to publish my blogs and simply freezes them so I have to re-write them lol.  So all in all I have been a semi failure at blogging.  However, with my app working and using this as a test post (as to not lose ny good solid picture and info filled posts) I am going to attempt to play catch-up and get everyone caught up on the past few weeks of my life here in Panama.

Also, I apologize if the font is hard to read (it doesn't seem I can change that fact from my app) and that sometimes pics are in the wrong order (again I don't know how to fix that on my app).  SORRY! 

Alright well here goes the attempt to catch everyone up!!