The One About Tech Week

Ok, this one will not be quite as long as “The One About Culture Week .” Our Tech week was spent in the Commarca. As a reminder a commarca is the Panamanian equivalence of a reservation for indians. We were in the Comarcaca Ngäbe Bugle. This is the first time that CED volunteers have gone into the commarca for tech week.

To get to our tech week site, we had to take an 1 ½ Chiva ride through really steep but beautiful mountains! Even though it was probably one of the most beautiful drives I have ever been on, most of my attention was focused on not getting sick…. Which I was successful at thank god. The site was way up in the mountains, a good elevation for growing coffee.

After culture week, I had high expectations for my host family. This week, my host mom turned out to be 2 years younger than me, and had 2 really cute kids. While that was my host family, of course there were about 10 other people that stayed in the house. To tell you the truth, I never was able to figure out how there were all related. They were all very interested in me and would watch my every move. The grandmother only spoke Ngäbere and thought I did too. Our conversations were very interesting to say the least. I would say something to her in Spanish and she would rattle off in Ngäbere while I just stared at her blankly until her daughter stepped in to translate. My food situation was the worst it has been yet. Basically, it was hot white rice in the morning and the same rice, but cold, for dinner. There were also a few boiled bananas thrown in there. Our house was made of what appeared to be branches lined vertically side by side to make walls, the floor was dirt/mud when it rained, the roof was penca, there were no doors, no electricity, the closest latrine was literally a hike away (impossible at night) and the beds (tables) were made of hard wooden planks laid side by side and elevated off the ground. Lucky for me, “miss vegetarian” my family provided me with a lovely cow hide to sleep on. I was the only one who had to sleep on a dead cow all week. Here is a picture of it if you don’t believe me. And below that is a picture of my family in front of part of the house.

The logistics of tech week included splitting up into 7 groups to work with different business in the community. My partner and I were paired to work with a family run business that makes clothes. The first day we interviewed them about their business practices. Then we prepared a “charla,” which is basically a lecture, to give to them. We concluded from our interview that they needed help with basic financial matters. So we put together a presentation and taught them about money management, cost analysis, how to track costs and use a calculator, all in spanish of course. On the last day of tech week we did a community wide charla, were everything kinda came together! I think the really got it! Here is a picture of my group after our personal Charla.

I took advantage of being in such a beautiful spot for that week by hiking every morning. Three of the mornings a few of us did sunrise hikes. Here is a picture from one morning. It was absolutely gorgeous!!! And we could see the Pacific Ocean from up there. Which brings me to my next topic…
After tech week, all 36 trainees meet up for one “free night” we had before heading back to our original training site. After spending 2 straight weeks in very harsh living conditions, and demanding training hours, we were all but ready to have a free night! We rented these sweet little cabanas ($5/per person) that were literally right on the beach. A few of the volunteers actually had water come inside when the tide was high. It was the first time I had been to the Pacific since I have been in Panama, it was great to see what I like to call “my ocean.” We spent the day swimming and surfing. At night we got some awesome Italian. After dinner, we did some dancing at a German bar and then found a big group of people from Boquete. Boquete is a popular mountain town where a lot of gringos live and tourist go, suppose to be beautiful! The next morning I spent surfing a bit more and strolling the beach and collecting seashells. It was a very relaxing and much needed break!
Now, we are back to the same old schedule of training, but not for long! Wednesday I am headed back to Bocas!!!! But this time, I actually get to go to my site. This is the very first time since I have been in Panama that I will not be with someone else from Peace Corps. I am so excited/ nervous/anxious to see my site, and meet the people. We only get to stay in our sites for 4 days to do some assessment on living situations, work possibilities, and just to get a feeling of what to expect. Then we are back to training for 2 more weeks and then I get to go back to my site and actually stay….for 2 years!!!
On a more somber note, the ex-president of panama died on Tuesday. His name was Guillermo Endara. He was the president that lead panama to their independence in 1989. The day after his passing was a day of mourning, no one in panama worked and no kids went to school, everything was closed.
Sorry to end on that note, but it is part of my job to do some cultural exchang .. and I think that is something everyone should know about.
You probably won’t here from me until after my site visit….. Wish me luck!!!
Oh and here are the two links for culture week pictures and Tech week pictures, sorry I forgot it last time =)

http://picasaweb.google.com/maguilar317/CultureWeek?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/maguilar317/TechWeek?feat=directlink

Much Love