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.

The one with Bueeeeeeeenas

Buenas!!!
We left Fort Clayton on Sunday to start our 10 week training in Santa Clara. As expected, I was so nervous/excited to meet my host family. All 36 volunteers split up onto 3 busses, and we strategically packed our bags in the order we would be getting off. Santa Clara was only about a ½ hour drive. I was the 3 third stop. The community of Santa Clara is a relatively wealthy community compared to where our sites will be. I have running water, electricity, and an indoor flushing toilette. There is not much of a town though; we have one very small store, a park and some churches…. That’s pretty much it.

Buenas is the most popular Salud (greeting) in Panama. However, the Panamanians (especially the women) like to add a little extra flare to it. They basically hold the “e” as long as possible so it sounds more like Bueeeeeeeenas. In the smaller towns like Santa Clara, you say hello to everyone you see on the street.

My family is wonderful. Even though we can’t say too much to each other (yet), they have been very welcoming and patient with me. There are 3 little girls, Ilka (12), Ilsa (11) and Christy (7,pictured below) the mother is Janis (31) and the father is Cristobal (51). Cristobal works as a repairman for varies companies in neighboring communities. They are such a loving people to each other and to me. You can tell that family is very important to them. One of the first things I had to explain was why I don’t eat meat. I used some good advice that a current PC Volunteer gave me, and told them that I was allergic to meat and it upsets my stomach. They think Americans are crazy anyways, so it really wasn’t a big deal. We all eat lunch and dinner together as a family, which is actually pretty rare in Panama. Most of the other volunteers have to eat alone. Janis is a pretty good cook, I have no complaints other than the fact Panamanians in general like to fry everything in a lot of oil!!! But I have been eating lots of fruit, rice, lentils, beans, eggs, salad, garlic soup and bread…not bad. Mi Madre has a garden where she grows tomatoes and cucumbers, and they are delicious!!!

The first night I was here, we were all sitting out on the patio watching the rain when an old, half clothed drunk guy carrying a large stereo came stumbling to the house. The girls all started giggling and mi padre just shook his head. The man came onto the porch, they chatted a little, mi padre gave him a quarter and then he went on his way. My family told me “welcome to Panama.” Apparently this happens often.

My day’s kind of look like this:
6 am wake up (to a rooster) -shower/study/etc.
8am-noon= Technical class
Noon-1= lunch
1-5=Spanish class
5 on = Dinner/study/sit on the patio with my family and watch the rain/ hang out with other PCT’s

I have been learning sooooo much already. All “CED ers” go to the Tech classes together; the classes are very well structured with a lot of group discussions. Our classroom is a thatched roof hut with no walls, a dirt floor adnd chickens running all around (kinda distracting) . I have Spanish class with only 3 people so I am getting a lot of undivided attention, which is wonderful!!! Hopefully I will be able to carry on a conversation with my host family soon. Or at least say more than just what I want to eat.

So I had to start taking my Malaria pills last week, and PC warned us that they may give us crazy dreams. I have already had a few “vivid” dreams, none of which are good enough to share, but I will keep you updated on that =)

Wednesday was our first day learning how to use the public transit system, which the locals call “Diablo Rojo”, or “Red Devil.” We split up into groups of 4 and did a sort of “Amazing Race” around 2 different neighboring cities. There were PC staff members waiting at each check point and the whole thing took about 4 hours. Our team could have won, but one of the check points was at a grocery store and we were all so excited to see “normal” food, we decided to shop for 45 min. I got peanut butter and crackers!!! What I concluded from this adventure, was that the buses are extremely overcrowded and hot, the bus drivers drive a bit fast and break really hard, and I need to practice my Spanish!!!! It is very important I become comfortable with the bus system because that will be my main mode of transportation for the next 2 years.

We spent the entire day of Friday in a neighboring town. We got two more shots and then listened to lectures on local virus and diseases and sexual assault and rape, kinda depressing stuff. We had 2 hours in the afternoon free, So we all went down to a local hardware store to buy our Machete’s… yes, Matchets! Could you picture 36 “Gringos” all in the same tiny hardware store buying Machete’s? And then walking around the streets as a huge group wielding them ? The boys we all soooooo excited (every little boys dream, right?)

So Saturday morning we had an Agriculture walk, where we learned about different types of trees, birds, insects etc. Ones that we can eat or use to build, and what we should stay away from. After that we made a compost out of a Banana tree, Balbo leaves, manure and ash. Then it was time for the Machete training with the environmental health group. After all the safety precautions we covered, we worked on clearing an area for us to make a garden in a few weeks. Working with a Machete gets tiring really fast. It is still something I am going to need to get use to.

After machete training five of us decided to attempt to find this nearby waterfall that we had heard about. We all asked our families about it in an attempt to try gain some insight as to where to go and how far it was. We got very mixed answers; one madre ever told us it would take a day to walk there. But, we decided to try anyways. Turns out it was only about a half hour walk down the road. We spent a few hours playing around in the water. It was the best shower we have all had in awhile!! This waterfall will for sure be a weekly or by-weekly or even daily hangout spot.

So this is cool, next week (Aug 26th-sep 1st) we are doing “site visits.” This is where PCT (trainees) go stay with current PCV (volunteers) at their site. This gives us a chance to really get a better understanding of what a CED volunteer actually does, living conditions etc. While most trainees are going solo, I have been partnered up with another woman (I think because we are going the furthest). But I have to say, I think we got the best site visit =) We will be going to the Province of Bocus Del Torro (there are 9 provinces in Panama). We have to leave Wednesday afternoon (everyone else is leaving Thursday morning) . We take three different long bus rides to end up in the Bocus Del Torro Province. Then we have to get on two different water Taxis and go way out to an island in the Caribbean ocean……Sweet huh? Our hosts name is Piper, just like my cousin =) I will report next week on how that adventure turned out.

Today, we are in panama city. We went to Casco Viejo for a few hours, Pretty neat out there. It was amazing to see the difference between the ¨Campo¨ and the city. The umfare distribution of weath is very apparent.

I forgot to mention this last time, but if any of you may be worried about my health/safety (Pop), you should know that Panama is the Peace Corps Medical “hub” for all of central and South America. Meaning, if anything happens to a volunteer in another country they fly them to the Peace Corps Panama medical office, and since I am already here, my chances are good (knock on wood) =)

And a few more things.
1.It rains every day…. Once a day, usually in the afternoon. Hard, but not long.
2.There are many many insects, enough said.
3.I hope everyone knows about Alonso Edward and Irving Saladino If you don’t, google them!!! They have been a pretty big deal around here!!!
4. It is really hard to type in english on a spanish keyboard.

Miss you all!!!

Until next time,
Miche

The One with her first few days in Panama.

I made it!!! And it is so wonderfully amazing here, I am not sure I am going to be able to put it into words.

So backing up about a week….. I flew to DC last Monday. I have never been to the East coast so this was very thrilling. I had half a day to check out as much of the city as possible. Luckily our Hotel was in a prime location. I woke up with the sun on Tuesday morning and did as much as I possibly could in 6 ½ hours. First stop was the Pentagon memorial and Arlington cemetery. I got a chance to pay my respects at Kennedy’s gravesite in Arlington (after all he is the reason I am here). Then it was back on the Metro to DC for the self guided, world wind tour of all the monuments and the Smithsonian’s. Ever since I took an aviation history course my 2^nd year at Poly, I have wanted to see the Air and Space Smithsonian, more specifically the Spirit of St. Louis and the Wright Flyer. I was literally like a kid in a candy shop when I entered that museum. I don’t think I have every taken so many pictures in one place =) I also got a chance to spend about an hour (not nearly enough time) in the Natural Science museum.

So, once I was exhausted and nice a sweaty from running all around town, it was time to meet my group…. Wonderful first impression! We had a 6 hour meeting Peace Corps calls “staging.” I immediately felt comfortable with the people. The dynamics of our group are as follows: 36 people, ranging in age from 22-63, 2 married couples, 21 in Community Economic Development (what I am doing) and the other 15 are doing Environmental Health, we are split pretty much 50/50 in gender. I am still learning where they are all from, but I would say a good 70% or more are from the East Coast. There are 3 other Californians, and one guy that even went to POLY!!! (he graduated in 06). Everyone is wonderful, they each bring their own dynamic and culture to the group. They all have such a great sense of humor which makes the long days much more enjoyable.

So in a nut shell, here is what the past week has looked like...
On Wednesday we flew from DC to Miami to Panama City. For the past 3 nights we have been staying at an old United States military base, when we owned the Canal. It is called Fort Clayton. This is where Peace Corps Panama’s headquarters are. We are literally right next to the canal. We have really been living in luxury here, we have; running water, hot showers, air conditioning, catered meals, T.V, internet etc. This will all change very soon. So the 3 days here we have had orientation which included language testing, safety overview from the American Embassy, LOTS of shots and much more!

Today we went to our first site visit. All the CED’s left at 6 am and it was a 4 hour drive to the province of Colon. This was our first time seeing how a volunteer actually lives and works. Her community was fairly large, about 200 people. Her main projects included a Co-op, computer classes and an agriculture tourism project. The community was so happy to have us there. You could tell they had been preparing for days. There were masses amount of food which included: beef with special spices, yucca, tomatoes, vegetable medley, papaya, coconut bread, amazing lemon grass tea, tamales wrapped in banana leaves, star fruit, chicken cooked with spices and served with rice, beans, and vegetables.

There are 3 other vegetarians in my group, and so far we have not had trouble keeping our diet. This might change when we start living with our host families.

Tonight is our last night at Clayton. Tomorrow we head to Santa Clara to start our official training.

I am so excited to meet my host family, and begin the language, technical, and cultural trainings.

The closest internet will be a ½ hour bus ride away, but I will try to get to a computer at least once a week.

Also, next time I blog I will tell you more about what I have learned about Panama and Panamanians. Things are very different here, and I am sure I have only scratched the surface.

I hope you are all doing well back in the States.

Until next time,

Miche