Welcome to Buena Esperanza!!!
Here it is…… my home for the next two years. Not bad huh?
I tried not to take to many pictures because I didn’t want to come in looking like a tourist. But I managed to snap a few photos when no one was around.
So here is how it went down... Last Tuesday we had a conference in the province of Cocle. All 36 of us each had a “community guide” who traveled from our community to pick us up. This was so amazing because I would say about 70% if not more of these community guides had never traveled out of their province before.
My guide proved to be a bit shy during the conference. I could tell he felt a bit uncomfortable being out of his element. After a very full day at the conference, we headed out, for my third, 2 day journey across the country to Bocus!! However, this time I had to add on a 2 hour boat ride to the end of it. Of course, because this is Panama, once we got off the bus in Almerante and it was time to catch the boat it was pouring rain!!!! We were sitting under this tiny zinc roof next to the water when all the sudden my guide muttered something really fast in Spanish and just ran off into the rain. I had absolutely no idea where he was going and when/if he was coming back. Turned out, he did come back…. 3 hours later!
However, those 3 hours turned out to be very entertaining. I conversed with an interesting aray of people. My first visitor was an indigenous woman selling oranges, she was very interested in me, she told me she didn’t have name and did not know how old she was or where she was from. She sat quiety right next to me for the entire time I waited. My next visitors were 2 old Latino men who had a very intense conversation that lasted about an hour about whether or not Peace Corps was part of the CIA or not. I decided to stay out of it and once they were done, the bought me an orange from my Indian friend, handed it to me and went on their way. Next was a young kid, in his teens old who seemed really motivated about his future (which is kinda rare here) He sat and talked to me about what he wants to study in college and how he really wanted to learn how to speak English. Right when we were in the middle of minie English lesson my next visitor showed up. This one was an extremely drunk cowboy who spoke nonsense to the three of us for about 20 min , while we all tried not to laugh. Then he stood up real ubrubtly, bought an orange from my no-named friend, handed it to me stumbled on his way. My final visitor was a professor from Bocus island. He didn’t say much to me, he walked by, asked what I was doing, I told him I was with Peace Corps, then he bought another orange from me friend, handed it to me and walked away silently. So 3 hours and 3 oranges later my guide final showed up. I never actually did find out where he went…..So, I parted ways with the Orange selling Indian woman and the motivated teenager and begin the 2 hour boat journey to Buena Ezperanza.
Basically, the only reason this boat ride took 2 hours is because the boat we were riding in was a very narrow dug out canoe, that leaked and had a 15 horse power motor. We loaded all my stuff (two years worth) into this tiny little boat, I sat on top of my bags indian style. Behind me, my guide maneuvered the boat while scooping buckets of water out so we didn’t sink…. Did I mention it was still pouring rain. Regardless, of course I still had a big smile on my face!
By the time we arrived at site, it was dark. A few of the community members met us at the dock to carry my bags to my host families house.
So by now, I kind of know what to expect with a host family. However, this family caught me a little of gaurd when I walked into a room that had 10 kids all under the age of eleven!!!! Needless to say it was a long 4 days in that house! Here is a picture of some of the kids… There were cute
yea, but only to a certain point. Anyway, my 3 days in the community were pretty jam packed. I had 2 community wide meetings planned where I had to give a speech about me, Peace Corps and what my role in the community will be. Also, my guide and I went to every single house in the community (about 40 houses). Everyone was very welcoming. The People in my community live a very simple life. They all have farms (fincas) and live off their land. Like I noted before, there are no latrines, no aqueducts and no electricity. Because of the tourism in the region, they have had a lot more western influence and have a desire for a higher standard of living. They are also not as traditional as other Nogabe sites. While they still speak their own dialect, they do not were the traditional dress. They do however all have Ngabe names, as do I! Drumroll.... My new name that my community will call me from now on is.....Meti. Has a ring to it dont you think?
As of now, I am not exactly sure which way my work will take me within the community. They have many needs and a lot of potential!!!
I am very much looking forward to beginning my 2 year adventure with the people of Buena Ezperanza! Only 2 more weeks of training!
I hope everyone is doing well back home!
I am starting to realize how much I am going to miss seasons. I can’t believe that it snowed 5 inches in Tahoe already... Even though it is probably all gone by now. It is also strange to me that this is my first Fall in 16 years that I am not going “back to School."
On another note, if you haven’t read a book called Siddhartha, I think you should =) It is a small book, you can read in a day. Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse…. I am sure a lot of you have read it already. I am not sure why it never crossed my path until now. Wonderful book!
Peace for now!
Michelle
Here are a few pictures from the Ceremony. The First Picture on the left is the CED (Community Economic Development) Group. The one on the right is the EH (Environmental Health) group. And the last photo is 
the US Ambassador in the middle with our Peace Corps Country Director to her right, and a director of a national service orgainization to her left.
