Thursday, March 24, 2011

Due for an update!

So it’s been awhile since I’ve written last. Guess that means I’ve been really busy huh? Or just super lazy. The latter is much more plausible.


Anyways, the Panama Verde Camp in Parque Nacional Amistad went swimmingly. I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to plan and in the end, my 5 kids that went had a ball. There were 30 kids that went in all from different Panama Verde groups, all (relatively) well-behaved and eager to participate in all the activities. Every day started with activities outside to get to know each other and build teamwork skills, usually really fun. After that we worked on the “Panama Verde Trail” that is located near the visitor center in the park. We built steps and repaired bridges which was harder than I expected in such a jungly environment; the boards rot really quickly making the bridges dangerous just after a couple years of use. In the afternoon we took nature walks around the park and went to the huge waterfalls to swim and hang out. The park is stunningly beautiful, but very cold! I almost died every night because I came unprepared, only 2 sheets and a blanket. It gets into the 40s there, which maybe doesn’t sound that bad to y’all, but that is way too cold to successfully maintain homeostasis for this body. At night we watched environmentally-based films and had discussions about Panama’s resources and conservation status. The last night we had a really funny talent show were the kids showed off their “tamborito” skills (traditional Panamanian song and dance) and the camp counselors did some hilarious skits. All in all, I’d say it was a definite success!! Cant wait to do it again next year!


Carnavales finally came – I was so excited to experience it. Carnavales is a huuuuuuge celebration in a lot of latin and south American countries, with the most popular in Brazil. The celebration ends on Ash Wednesday, so I guess the logic of it is to commit as many sins as you can and party your ass off before you have to give it all up for lent. There are huge parades with semi-truck size tanks of water throughout the main square just to hose people off all day because its so hot. The city closest to me and Panama’s most culture-rich area has the biggest party each year, so of course I had to partake. We had a group of about 10 volunteers that rented a house from a friend of mine in the community for pretty cheap considering we were a 5 minute walk away from downtown. To be quite honest, I think I’m getting too old for this type of party. It was just too much craziness for 4 days straight. Music blaring from every corner, you cant go anywhere without getting hosed down by a “culeco” (semi-truck tank of water) or kids running around with water guns, which believe me after 10 minutes in the panama summer sun/heat here can be extremely welcoming. People drinking waayy past their limit all day and all night, parades during the day and night with awesome fireworks, and to top it off, huge raves until 5am each morning. And all this craziness you could hear clearly from the house we were staying at. However, with all this temptation, I have to say, my house held it together and enjoyed the festivities responsibly. I am SO proud of my friends! Usually visiting groups leave the house destroyed, but people stayed after to help me clean up everything, a HUGE thanks to you guys! I think the only way I will go next year is if I have a visiting friend from the states that wants to partake in the craziness party they’ve ever seen, but I plan on staying a couple days on a local beach near my community to relax afterward, it’s a lot to take!


The school year has started and I’m planning with the teachers what I will be doing. For starters, there is the International Children’s Painting Competition on the Environment is organized every year by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Japan-based Foundation for Global Peace and Environment (FGPE). The rewards are generous, with $2,000 for the first prize (which is a RIDICULOUS amount of money for my people) and a paid trip for the winner and an adult to wherever their annual conference is held (Europe, Africa, etc) which has yet to be announced. The competition is for 6-14 year olds and the theme is “Life in the Forests.” So they will be painting whatever they want about the rainforest as long as it doesn’t have people or domestic animals in it. I’m getting my whole school of 80 students to participate and they are super syked about it. They cant stop talking about what it would feel like to ride in a plane (none of them have ever left Panama, let alone this area of the country). Even though their chances of winning are super slim considering 100 countries participate, it is a chance for them to do something new and exciting, to use their imaginations, which unfortunately is rare in their scholastic experience. In the least, I will put together all their artwork and make a book out of it for the school to have.
I will also start giving computer classes starting next week to 4th, 5th and 6th grade. They are all really excited about that too because after they have finished their exercises, I let them goof around with the games on the computer, which are actually really good mouse/keyboard practice. We’ll also be following the Eco-Calendar (Earth Day, World Oceans Day, etc.) this year and do cool activities like building a school garden, reforestation and all kinds of arts-and-crafts stuff. I’m exciting because there are 2 new teachers that replaced the 2 teachers last year, and they are really sweet and excited about teaching. We’ll see how everything goes!


Right now I’m in the city with a group of volunteers and we will be going to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution on Barro Colorado Island in the canal. The island is 100% protected with all kinds of awesome wildlife, like monkeys and exotic birds. Its solely used for researchers and a refuge for the canal’s flora and fauna. Its really hard to get in so a big Kudos to Chris who set this all up! I’ve been once before with my study abroad group in college but I’d love to visit again now that I have more experience in the arae of research and am starting to develop some future master-thesis ideas. There are a couple people I will be meeting at STRI and staying in contact that have done conservation work in panama. We’ll also be celebrating Chris’s birthday at a nice restaurant (nice= $12 per meal) and going to the movie theatre!! I’m so excited – the only time I get to see movies in the theatre are when I go to the city, which is only a couple times a year. Not even sure what is showing right now, but don’t care!


I haven’t written about Pulgita in a while, but she was super sick for awhile so I finally took the really annoying trip the closest large city near me (3.5 hours with a dog in a carrying case in a super hot, crowded bus with people that don’t like dogs). It turns out she had Lymes disease, which she would have died in a month if I didn’t take her in when I did. Its taken several treatments at the clinic to finally clean it up, but she is doing SO much better! I’ve also got her spayed, which was kind of a fiasco because she bled a lot and had to have a blood transfusion. I know this sounds like thousands of dollars worth of vet-care, which it is in the states, but i’m friends with the vet and she gives me “friend prices,” which are incredibly cheap. She knows I’m a super poor volunteer so she cuts me some slack. Needless to say, we’ve finally got her in good condition, and its obvious because now she is just a ball of energy like a puppy should be. She was awesome at the vet – I was so proud. The doctor gave her shot after shot after shot and poked and prodded and the only thing she did was shake a lot because everything was so painful for her. Poor thing, but she is better and I shouldn’t need to drag her out of the community until September when she is due for her vaccinations! ¡Viva Pulgita!

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