The One where she had to learn Ngäbere in Spainish

Buenas,

So site announcement on Wednesday was defiantly the highlight of this week. I am supper stoked about my site. All of you who are thinking about visiting, start planning you trips!!!! There is an airport on Isla Colon (Bocus Island).

There are 10 other trainees who will be going to the Province of Bocus del Toro, and there are currently 21 volunteers already in site there. Some things I have heard from current volunteers about volunteer life in Bocus:
- All the volunteers grow really close because they are so far away from the other volunteers in Panama.
- Cost of living is a bit higher because it is a tourist area so volunteers tend to have to dip into their savings…..…haha, guess I better start saving = /
- It rains the most in this provenience, last year Peace Corps had to evacuate everyone from their sites for 2 weeks due to flooding.
- Very rich in biodiversity, one can still encounter jaguars, tapirs, conejo pintados, sloths, toucans, boa constrictors and several varieties of brightly colored poison dart frogs. These animals are rare to find in Panama because they have all been eaten =( In the water there are Manatees, sea turtles and in the bay I am located at there are MANY dolphins. They say that this is a great place for diving!!!
- Bocus was isolated from the rest of Panama by mountains and think rainforest until 1996!!! Thus, they are very unique in their mix of culture and ethnicities.
- And a final quote from my regional director in Bocus “you are a member of a very select group- only the strongest wills can thrive in this province. The weak have historically all terminated their Peace Corps service early.”

I mentioned in the last post about being in an indigionious community. Let me take a step back and give you a little information about the land layout of Panama. Basically, Panama is split into 12 different sections, physically I mean… so if you look at a map you will see 12 different colors. 7 of these are provinces (like Bocus Del Toro). The Latinos live in the provinces. The other 5 sections of the country are Comarcas. I think the best way to discribe a comarca is to compare them reservations (but a lot bigger) that the Native Americans have in the states. So the 5 comarcas are the land for 7 different indigiounes communities (Ngäbe, Bugle,Kuna, Embera, Woonan, Naso and Bri-Bri) However, some indigionious people have formed other small communities outside of their comarcas, usually on an island or someplace closer to the water. My village is an example of this. So the indigionous group I will be working/living with for 2 years are Ngäbe. And if you are wondering if they each have their own languages, the answer is yes, but most of them will speak Spanish also.

That brings me to the explanation for the title of my blog. Thursday everyone who found out they were going to an indigenous site had to start talking different language classes. So I started learning Ngäbere!!! There was a point in during this language class that I just had to stop and reflect on what exactly was going on….. I was being taught an indigenous language, that is not written and only a few thousand people in the world know, in ANOTHER language that I hardly even speak….. wow.

We all had interviews last week to make sure our Spanish is improving. When I was tested 5 weeks ago, I was at a novice medium level, and now I am at and intermediate medium level. I can now speak in 6 different tenses, It is not to pretty though…. So, I have the option to either continue with Nabere classes or stick with Spanish. I am definitely going to stick with Spanish for the rest of training and then possible start learning more Ngäbere once I get into site.
Moving on….
Friday morning our whole training group had to do a presentation for the community of Santa Clara. It lasted about 3 hours, and the whole thing was in Spanish. I had to present on the economy in Santa Clara. In the afternoon, we got in groups with our spainish classes and each cooked a traditional Panamanian dish. My group cook Lentil soup (yummy) then we all go together for a little fiesta and shared the food. The Spanish teachers brought tradition Panamanian clothes from all over the country for us to wear. I wore a Nagua. It is a traditional dress that the Ngäbe women make and wear, Even though it is not the most flattering of clothes, it is very comfortable.
Here is a picture of me in it =)

On a different note, my host mom has been really sick for about a week. She has the dengue virus which is contracted from a “daytime” mosquito. Without going into much detail, I will just say that this is one sickness that I would never wish upon my worst enemy. It breaks my heart to see her suffer and for her daughters to have to see here like that. It is a constant reminder of how lucky I am (and all you are) to have access to good health care.

I am leaving today for two weeks of "travel training" in Panama. The first week is called “culture week.” All 36 trainees are split up depending on what region of the country your site is. Ironically, culture week for the Bocus Del Toro group is going be held at the same place I went for my site visit 2 weeks ago. We will be living with host families in the community and our days will be jam packed with different cultural presentations. After a week here, we will travel into the Commarca Ngäbe-Bugle. Here we will meet up with the rest of the CED group for what is called “Tech week.” This is where we will get a chance to put into practice all the skills we have been learning during training. Then it is back to Santa Clara.

I will be able to get online at least once within the next 2 weeks, but I will most likely not be updating my blog until I get back to Santa Clara.

Also, I made a big purchase this week and bought a cell phone. I have put my number on facebook, but if you don’t have access to that and would like my number just shoot me an e-mail or ask my mom or pop. If you get an international calling card, it should be pretty easy to call me for only about 5-10 cents a minute.

I hope you were all able to view some of my pictures. I have kinda become the designated photographer for the group and Picasa is the way I will be sharing my pictures with you guys at home as well as the other volunteers here in panama. So if you are wondering why I put up so many pictures of the same thing, it is so that the if the volunteer wants a certain picture they are able to choose which one they like best. I have also made 2 videos since I have been here, but I have yet to find a computer that will allow me to upload them. I should have said this a long time ago, but a special thank you to everyone how helped me get my “dream camera” I still have a lot to learn about it, but I am very happy with my purchase and excited I will be able to capture these next 2 years.

And here are a few more links

http://picasaweb.google.com/maguilar317/CultureDay?feat=directlink This is from culture day

and this is from my site visit, the same place I am going back to this week http://picasaweb.google.com/maguilar317/SiteVisit?feat=directlink

Ok, so for all of you who told me not to make my entries shorter….there you are =)
Paz
~Michelle

The One With the BIG News!!!!

Today was the day!!!!!

I found out where I will be living for the next 2 years of my life and I couldn't be happier.
Here are the details....

Proviece: Bocus Del Toro
Village Name: Buena Esperanza (idiginous Ngabe community)
Population: 290 people
Possible work: Working with a women's artesanry group, helping them with basic business practices and marketing towards the tourist in Bocus island (isla Colon). They also have expressed interest in taking advantage of their location by making something for the tourist to take advantage of, such as a local restaurant or a "parking spot" for tourist yachts. They also want to learn some basic English to communicate with tourists and want to form some sort of youth group. (lots of work!!!!)
Previous Volunteer? : No, I will be the first
Other Details: No electricity, no running water (except for some rain catching systems), no latrines, and I will have to build my own house....
I am on a peninsula that sticks out into the Caribbean ocean. I have to take two boats to get to my site. I am only about a 30 min boat ride away from Isla Colon, which is a large tourist town. This is where I will have to do my grocery shopping, use Internet, and go to the health center when need be.
There are lots of other volunteers that will be relatively close.
I am leaving on Saturday for "culture week" in Bocus but I will not be able to go to my site until week 8 of training, so 4 more weeks.

I will add more to the blog soon..... time to go celebrate with all the other trainees!!!!!
Miss you all
Also check out this site for some pictures from Santa Clara http://picasaweb.google.es/maguilar317/SantaClara?feat=directlink and here are some pictres from Panama City http://picasaweb.google.es/maguilar317/Panama?feat=directlink and here are some pictures of when I was in DC, which seem like forever ago http://picasaweb.google.es/maguilar317/DC?feat=directlink

The one with the National Geographic sized Spider

Ok, so if you know me at all, you know that I was bound to have a “spider story.” I am praying to god that the story I am about to share with you will be the worst of what I will encounter in the next 26 months. From the reactions I have gotten from the current volunteers I have told this to; my story pretty much tops the charts.

I will attempt to make this story short, mostly for my sake because it is difficult to relive the experience … So last Tuesday when I was in my Spanish class. The four of us were in the middle of a lesson when one of the guys in my class started yelling “holy spider, holy spider” and pointing at a large mound of dirt behind my teacher. Of course all of us turned our attention to the direction he was pointing, and sure enough there was a tarantula about the size of a dinner plate. It literally looked like the mound of dirt had legs. Now, I could understand why you may think I am exaggerating and I probably would have thought I was too if I didn’t see what happened next. Within seconds of us turning our attention to this freak of nature the spider stretched out one of its legs and snatched a bird that was passing by….. yes, a bird. The bird was probably twice the size of a typical humming bird, so it was no small defeat. All the other surrounding birds started freaking out, flying is circles and diving down at the spider. But this monstrous spider was able to kill the bird and carry it into the side of the dirt mound most likely to feast on it for the next week. After hyperventilating for a few minutes, I decided it was time to put my mosquito net over my bed!!

Moving on. Last Wednesday I left for my volunteer visit. In case you didn’t read my last blog, I was going to an Island in the Caribbean, which is part of the province of Bocus Del Torro. Total travel time one way was about 12 hours. We took a 7 hour bus ride from Panama City to David. Supposedly this bus ride is the “coldest place in Panama” because they keep the air conditioning on so high. I came prepared, so it wasn’t too bad. We all stayed the night in David where I got to enjoy the first hot shower I have had in 2 ½ weeks, it was beautiful! The next day we took another 4 ½ hour bus ride across Bocus to the Caribbean Ocean. This drive was absolutely gorgeous. I told one of the trainees I was sitting next to “I think I just feel in love with Panama.” I think it was the first time that we truly got a taste of what Panama has to offer. It was only about a 20 minutes between our last sight of the Pacific Ocean and our first sight of the Atlantic. Once we arrived on the shores of the Caribbean ocean, we took a water taxi to Island colon. This is the capital of the Bocas province; it is a large tourist attraction for surfers and has a big ex-patriot population. After spending a few hours on this island we caught another water taxi to the next island. This island was only a half hour boat ride way, but boy was it different than Island Colon. It was beautiful, don’t get me wrong. Let’s just say that the indigenous people (the Ngobe) that live there don’t exactly have all the same amenities that the ex-patriots do 30 minutes away. We spent 3 days here. The volunteer gave us a good idea of what her life was like. One day, we had one of the locals take us on a walk through the farm. He pointed out different medicinal plants and gave us sugar cane and Cacao (chocolate) to eat. The next day, the volunteer had her weekly Girl Scout meeting. This was so wonderful!!! The volunteer asked me to lead a yoga exercise with the girls. The absolutely loved it. Here is a picture of them holding one of the poses.

The town had between 700- 800 people. There was no running water and the only latrine was for the volunteer (and us). We showered in a waterfall that was close by, and she got her drinking water from the rain. The volunteer was a very impressive cook, with what limited supplies she had. One night we had amazing veggie burgers on homemade coconut bread. And one night we made Cacao brownies. We constructed a makeshift oven on the stove using a tuna can…. Pretty cool!

All in all it was a great site visit. It gave me a lot to think about as far as where I can picture myself serving for 2 years.

Today, we had a one on one interview with our APCDs (basically my boss), we talked about potential sites. He told me that he has one in mind for me, he didn’t give me too much detail as far as where it is located but he did tell me that it is a small indigenous community where I could be working with tourism, artisans and children. He also said it would be a “really really really really rustic site” I am guessing that means no water/running water etc. I am so anxious to find out!!!! One week from today I will know.

That is all this time. I will try my best to keep my blog entries shorter; I know you all have busy lives.

Until next time.

Paz (peace in Spanish)

p.s I tried to upload a short video that I made but the computer connect was way to slow. I will try again another time.