Trying to drink from a fire hydrant..

Its been too long since I’ve been able to write but each time I attempt to access el internet my endeavors go unanswered… but alas, here I am! I just wanted to say that I’m sorry if I’ve missed birthdays and special events but I can’t call out to anyone with the cell I have and for some reason I haven’t been receiving calls from the U.S. every time, especially if my phone is off. Sorry if each entry has increasingly more errors but I’m starting to lose my proficiency in English, not that it was that great to begin with ;)

Wednesday the 2nd was a huge day for everyone in our PC 65 group… we found out where we will be spending the next 2 years of our lives … before we even came to Panama we had to send an updated resume and an essay about our skills and experiences - these last couple weeks our group leaders have been reviewing that in addition to evaluating our worth ethic, our language skills and our personalities in order to best place us in the communities for the coming years. So on Wednesday we all met as a whole group in a nearby city to receive the news, along with a sex talk from the coolest doctor in the world (Lourdes) and more needles. I’ve had an idea of where they were going to send me but I was EXTATIC to find out that I will be going to El Cortezo in the Azuero of Panama. The Azuero is the large peninsula coming out of the bottom half of the country. We received packets of information on the region along with possible projects we will be working on. I’ll first start with info on the area straight from the packet…

I’ll be in the region of Los Santos at the bottom of the Azuero Peninsula. Below me and very close are several beautiful beaches known for good surf. To the west of me is a large mountain range and to the right is mostly land that has been heavily deforested for agriculture and pastures. However, where I’ll be is right in the middle and beautiful is its own way - lots of rolling hills and a nice river running right next to my community. The azuero is entirely latino (opposed to indigenous where some of the volunteers will be heading) and known as the land of the cowboys J “Azuerenses” (Azuerians) pride themselves on being very hard workers, as well as very intense “fiesteros” (partyers). I’ve heard that this region seriously knows how to throw down along with having the country’s most hospitable, nicest and outgoing people. The area is also the cradle of Panama tradition and folklore, and they are very proud of their heritage. They are known for celebrating tradition and have frequent parties and festivals featuring Tamborito and Tipico music, polleras and bailes. Polleras is a very traditional Panamanian dance where the women wear an extremely beautiful and equally expensive dress (thousands of dollars) and wear Tembleques in there hair which are really intricate beaded flower ornaments, which I will be buying as soon as I get there b/c they are friggin awesome. The region also has Matanzas, or literally “slaughters” of cow, pig, or even several dozen chickens and are prepared the whole day with music and lots of drinking (of course, it’s the azuero!) This might be something I have to get used to as I will be living with muchos cowboys and will become an expert on how to ride a horse and laso cattle, which we already had a lesson during tech week and I LOVED IT. They also have lots of Juntas which are all day work events that end in a small party. There are juntas for harvesting rice, building a house, just about anything that takes a large group of people to accomplish. Tamborito is a tradition call and response style of singing with strong West African influence and is very common the Azuero. Not to mention my favorite call EVER, the grito, which we will also be receiving a lesson on how to do, especially us future azuerians. It’s hard to describe but any man that has grown up on a cattle farm in Panama can do it. Its kind of a short yoddle-call thing that originated to animarse, or keep one’s spirits and energy up for a long day of work, but is also used to communicate across farms. They even recognize individual calls and who they are coming from, from really far away. I’ve almost got mine down … practice makes perfect. And last but DEFINITELY not least, Los Santos is where Carnival is celebrated, which is pretty much like Mardi Gras but the entire country goes to Los Santos to celebrate. My packet ’o’ info describes it as so: “The word Carnival has its origins in the latin words carne and vale, loosely translating to a despedida (going away party) of the pleasures of the flesh that one will be giving up for lent. It involves being drenched with water while dancing in the streets, food, song, and elaborate parade floats. Carnaval in Las Tablas and Chitre is by far the largest and most celebrated in the country.” The best part is - Carnival happens in my region of Los Santos so I don’t have to take vacation days to celebrate it while every other volunteer in Panama does (muaha). *hint hint* Anyone thinking of visiting me in Panama and is looking to have a good time, that would be the week to come (Feb 16-20)!!

So there is already a volunteer in my site (Jonathon) and I will be 4th volunteer to have served in this community, which is extremely rare to have more than 3 volunteers total in a certain community. Everyone tells me that the only reason Fransisco (group leader of my group CEC: Community Education Conservation) keeps placing volunteers there is because its his favorite community in Panama and it harbors the best chef in all the sites of volunteers, which I might add will be my host mom for the first couple months in siteJ As encouraging as this sounds, I would like to believe he has kept putting volunteers there because the projects are so important…. Haha. Some of the projects I will be working on are a group called Grupo Conservacionista Flora y Fauna which has gotten a pretty grant to start a breeding colony for Conejo Pintados, or Pacas. These creatures are part of the rodent family but are really large, one of the largest rodents on earth, next to the capybara. They are really cute and once domesticated are like little dogs. They are VERY endangered because their meat is considered a delicacy and some of the richest meat in Latin America… so they are hunted all over the country. When I get in site I will be getting hopefully approx. 25 domesticated Paca’s to start the breeding program. This program’s objective for the next several years will be mainly be to establish a healthy colony of Paca’s for future release into the wild and also to sell for consumption… which is someone that will be difficult for me to handle but I know it’s the best way to conserve the wild populations of Pacas in Panama. There is also a group called Ecologico Renacer which a Green Iguana breeding program already very structured and managed pretty well without the help of the current volunteer. It was established for the same reason: iguanas are hunted for their meat and are also endangered. The third project which I will be working on is the brain child and baby of Jonathon, who is actually extending his service until October this year to make sure I’m trained properly in all the hard work that will need to be carried out during my service, which is also very rare and I am blessed by this opportunity. This group is called Brisas de La Montana (Mountain Breezes) which is a cooperative which manages loans and credit along with discounted agriculture products for the camposinos (farmers) in the community. I don’t know much about it but Jonathon has lived there for 2 years and obviously knows the community really well and knows what they need, so I will be his pupil until he leaves in Octubre. Another possible group (if I have time) is to start a Panama Verde group, which is an environmental group for Panama’s youth to educate on the importance of conserving Panama’s biodiversity and resources. This would entail taking kids to zoos, camping trips, hikes and science fairs - which is sweet. But we’ll see, I wont know until I get in site.

Anyways, that was a lot of information. Trust me, I know. This whole training process has been one of the most mentally taxing periods of my life. Training here is described as “trying to drink from a fire hydrant.“ Not only are you bombared by massive amounts of information on technical training but you are continually switching from Spanish to English back to Spanish, sometimes in the same sentence if you are really tired. We are all losing our English and sometimes find it easier to use a Spanish word b/c we cant remember it in English. There are also words in Spanish that just aren’t a word in English, for instance: Pasear, which means “to go from house to house to hang out and get to know people.” That is an extremely important activity in panama and you will absolutely not be successful or respected in your community until you do lots of pasearing to every house you can go to.

We recently had our 2nd Spanish interview and I moved up from Spanish intermediate medium to intermediate high. There are 9 levels: novice low, medium, high, intermediate low, medium, high and advanced low, medium and high. You have to get to at least intermediate medium at the end of training, so I’m all good with that. But my goal is to get to advanced low in the next few weeks, which will make moving into my community A LOT easier. I’m to the point where I don’t need to translate anymore and its much easier to just relax and listen to what they are saying than to try and translate it in my head. It’s a strange feeling to just understand whats being said without having to understand it in English first. Its also reaaaalllyyy nice to not have to plan what you’re going to say in your heard before saying it, just starting to talk as soon as you have a thought and figuring out how to say it as you go…. that is a huge weight off my back. I’m also enjoying learning all the modismos of Panama, which there are LOTS. Like “Que Sopa?” which is just “Que Paso” (whats up?) switched around - it’s a popular greeting of the youth here. They like to switch around the spelling of some words, which confuses the hell out me sometimes. The more we speak the language, the more we are realizing how similar Spanish is to English and that we really have it easy compared to other PC countries. it’s a running joke that if you don’t know the word in Spanish, esp if it is a process or technical word, just say the English word with a Spanish accent and 75% of the time they will know what you are trying to say.

I would like to add that I have been moved to another host family in a the community of Santa Clara (10 minute bus ride from my other community) for reasons that I can’t really go into here, but I am extremely happy with my new family and Santa Clara is an AWESOME place to live. it’s the community where SAS (sustainable agriculture systems) volunteers are training from group 65 which is a super laid back chill group that I really enjoy pasearing with every day. Its also where “El Chorro” is, a really pretty waterfall and charco (swimming hole) is that I can go to whenever I want with the other sassers. It also has a loma (hill) where you can go up and see most of Santa Clara and watch the raddest sunsets you’ll ever see.. The skies here are extraordinary. Anytime during the day the sky is filled with a thousand shades of blue, white and grey and that mixed with a setting sun is just breathtaking each night.

Needless to say, this has been one of the most enjoyable and fun times of my life and I’m super excited for the upcoming weeks before we have Swear-In in Panama City.