Site Visit

So this weekend we were sent on a site visit to another volunteer to see what PCV life is like.. first off, I would like to write out some of the directions to Diedra's site which is about a 5 hour trip from where we are staying near panama city. This is how PC works, they kind of just throw you out there - trial by fire- have you heard of TIA (this is africa)? Well we have TIPC (this is peace corps). Now remember, Im terrible with directions in ENGLISH and I did this all alone - Im pretty proud of myself. Translation will be in ( ) when needed.

-take a chitre bus from the albrook terminal, preferably leaving around 7am and no later than 8am to be safe on time. (Keep in mind, peace corps made us take a bus into headquarters to get money for the trip before we were supposed to leave, and the office doesnt open until 8am, i didnt get into this terminal until after 9am...TIPC) about 3-4 hours, depending on stops.
-upon arriving to the chitre terminal, go to the line of buses (little ones) and find the Las Mina transport (it is a couple to the right of the Panama City departing bus spot it youre looking at the line of buses from the inside the terminal) about 1.5 hours depending on stops.
-when you arrive in Las Minas, the bus will leave you in the centro of town by the church and several mini-supers. Look for the El Toro transport(a pickup with a tarp over the back and benches inside.) There are several different pickups that run the route so itll either be a blue, silver, red or white pickup with El Toro on the windshield. The normal afternoon run times are 12:30pm and 2:30pm and it usually parks in front of the mini-super Melisa (the red bigger one directly facing the church) but sometimes parks in random spots. If its between the 2 run times it just might not have arrived yet. They usually leave pretty much on time, but be prepared in case they leave 15 mins early of 30 mins late - it happens (if full they might leave earlier, if emptyish they leave later.) about 1.5 hours, depending on stops.
-tell the transport driver to leave you at la entrada de La Loma donde vive la gringa en el toro (at the entrance where the white girl lives) its at the end of the line for this transport - if they dont leave you in my entrada, they will leave you down by a small tienda and the school.
-Once in El Toro we'll hike 45 minutes backcountry to my community.

So these directions we're just a WEE BIT unnerving, but dont worry Ma, I made it there and back safely (internet access is my proof). Her community was called La Loma de Montuouso and was BEAUTIFUL. It was nestled in the mountains in the Azuera Peninsula region of Panama. I was probably the 3rd white person these people had ever seen, and let me just put it this way, I was a celebrity for 4 days. Kids stared and followed us wherever we went. Their accents were way too thick for me to understand anything they were saying, so I just let my volunteer Diedra do all the translating. She is working on a reforestation project because her community is right on the edge of a forest reserve. The first day we went up into the jungle to collect baby pine plants for their project with several of the community women. I saw a coral snake and capuchin monkeys. They also let me ride their horse on the way down, which was scary because it was reaallly steep and muddy. The rest of the weekend we kind of just chilled out at her awesome little mountain cabin, and i decided that I want my site to be way up in the mountains, it was WAY nicer in temperature (fresca).

So I'm back in Nuevo and the next several days we travel to Chorrero for more needles and presentations, woo! Somehow they have lost all my vaccination records that I spent SO MUCH TIME looking for during the application process, so I have to go ahead and get everything again. TIPC.

Some Differences...

Panama is an interesting place... here are some differences that we've noticed thus far....

-every other house has a rooster and don't let ANYONE fool you, they crow at every hour, not just sunrise and sunset.
- lets just say the waste system here is a little "behind" and so you can't put your toilet paper in the toilet after you use it, you have to put it in a trash can next to the toilet
- there transportation system is quite possibly the closest thing to a video game that reality can offer ... they are called "diablo rojos" which means Red Devils ... each one is completely covered in really bright, colorful graffiti of either religious icons or trampy looking women, or both. They pimp the buses' exhaust system out with these huge pipes that come up from the bottom of the bus to far above it. Inside is the best part, they are trippier than my bedroom in highschool. They have black lights, strobe lights, blacklight paint, tassels, beads, you name it all over the bus, and sometimes there is salsa or reaggeton playing. Also, at night, you can't see where you are going, and the drivers are insanely ballsey so you feel like your on a amusement park ride.