Day 288

October 24, 2012

Tropical Illness Update:

Several weeks ago, I woke up with an earache. I didn’t want to bother the Duty Officer with a call on the weekend, so I waited until Monday to call to ask if I could go into the clinic near me to get it checked out—we have to get permission from the Peace Corps office before we seek medical attention.

I hopped on a bus and headed to Torti to the Centro de Salud (Health Center). This was not a pleasant experience. I waited quite a while; they didn’t really know what paperwork to fill out in the reception office for a gringa, so it took over an hour just to get my name on the list to be seen by the doctor. Also, all the clinic staff took the opportunity to come up to me to ask if I would tutor their children in English or give computer classes in the clinic—I told them I would have to get back to them on that being that I currently could not hear out of one of my ears.

The doctor looked in my ear and gave me drops and antibiotics for an ear infection. I left content. I woke up the next morning not feeling any better. I headed into the city to be seen by the Peace Corps doctor. She said it also looked like an infection, but that she would send me to an ENT the next day. So Wednesday, I went to see the ENT, who informed me that I did not have an ear infection but instead had ‘hongos’ (Spanish for mushrooms or fungus) growing in my ear, and that the antibiotics were killing the good bacteria in my ear trying to fight off the hongos. Of course, just my luck. The ENT pulled out a couple, instant relief, and told me that I would need to come back several times.

I have since been back twice. All hongos have been removed, the holes in my ear have closed up, and I can hear again!!! I am not allowed to scuba dive or blow my nose for a while. The scuba diving ban I can deal with, the nose blowing has been a little bit more difficult—I caught a cold from the AC in the hostel I was staying at in the city while I was there for my last appointment.

Stay tuned, after being burned by an acid beetle and supporting a small eco-system inside my head, who knows what is next.

Sorry, there are not pictures to accompany this blog post.  

Day 275

10/11/2012

On Thursday, the teachers at the school in Loma Bonita hosted a grand fiesta. Several schools from around the area came to present dances and poetry readings and other aspects of their cultures. The area of Panama that I live in is probably one of the most diverse areas in the country with several different indigenous groups, latinos and people of African descent. It was a really great opportunity to see dances from schools representing these different cultures.

Being the ‘Gringa,’ the teachers didn’t quite know what to do with me. I don’t quite fit into any of the existing categories in the community, so at events like this one people don’t know where to put me—am I a guest of honor, regular community member, just that annoying white girl that follows people around? Well, on this day I had the great honor (hint of sarcasm) of sitting up on stage with the important guests. On one side of me was the nun from down the road, and on my other side was the senator of the province—with your friendly, local gringa squished right in the middle. 

My life is quickly becoming that game of ‘which one of these things doesn’t belong.’

It really was a cool event, though. Check out the pictures. 

This rancho was built within a couple of weeks specifically for this event.
This community can get stuff done...when they're pressed for time! 

Local nun and other important guests dancing.
Gringa silently sitting in background trying to hide from possible embarrassment
from being asked to dance in front of everyone (it happens!). 

At these events, girls 'compete' to be named Queen for the year.
These were the contestants for the Environmental Queen category.
All the outfits are made out of natural materials. 

Dancing Congo. Too cute.
The main dance in Panama is called Tipico, and this style (Congo) has been influenced and developed by people of African descent living in Panama. The style of dance is very different from the Latino version, as well as the Pollera (the dress the girl is wearing). 

Kids from one of the schools in an indigenous community near by dancing.
These girls are wearing parumas, very stylish--I think they could be a big hit in the states!

Some of the kids from Loma Bonita dancing tipico.

Parade for the Queen. 

Day 269

Update from the home front:



Added some shelve. This might not seem like a big deal to you, but it took me some work and a lot of creative thinking. Neither I nor my neighbor had a saw, so I used my machete to cut the wood.
That bag of dog food on the floor is what I use to try to entice the neighbor's cat to hang out near my house (to scare away the bats).




Huge cucumber! I left for a week and this was waiting for me when I got home. I thought it would be too big for me to eat all by myself in a day, so I fed it to the Iguanas. They didn't like it. We have some of the most picking Iguanas.



Day 265

October 1, 2012

This past week was spent traveling all over Panama with the Panamanian equivalent of the EPA (ANAM). We started off at 4am on Monday. Three community members and I stood on the side of the highway with all our stuff, waiting for the ANAM bus to pick us up. Remember that meeting my dad and I went on a couple of weeks before, well we went there and then another hour in boat. Our destination was the ANCON Natural Reserve, which is the largest private protected area in Panama and is included in the National Park System.

We pulled up in the boat and all hopped out on what looked like a deserted beach. We were told that we were going to camp, so we all scouted out spots on the beach (turns out we didn’t have to camp, we had to suffer through sleeping in the cabanas meant for tourists—it’s a hard life). We spent the afternoon walking around the reserve and just hanging out. Unfortunately, we had to get up early the next morning and head out.

Wednesday morning started off our travels again. We got up at 3am to catch the first bus to the city, where we met up with the rest of the ANAM crew to head to the beach on the other half of the country. After a 12-hour bus ride with made it to the site of another PC volunteer. There is a turtle conservation and education center. The first night we just headed to bed. The next day was an all day long conference where we learned about making stoves, making soap out of used cooking oil, the national parks in the area… We then hiked up to a waterfall and swam in our clothes.

That night, all of the PC volunteers headed out to the beach to look for turtle nests. Within a couple of minutes, we found two nests side by side. We took out the eggs and started walking down the beach to the turtle nursery. On the way, we came across a turtle laying her eggs. We waited for her to finish and collected those eggs as well. When we reached the nursery, we found that one of the nests had hatched, unexpectedly. Half of the group rounded up the little turtles in the nursery and passed them to the rest of us outside to set free on the beach. Needless to say, it was a good night.

Four different types of turtles lay their eggs on this beach, and none of these nest will hatch unless they are collected and replanted in the nursery. Local dogs scout out the beach and eat all the eggs, and those that aren’t eaten by dogs are collected and sold on the black market. It was really cool to be able to be a part of their sea turtle conservation project.

We hit a rock on the way over, so the men had to flip the boat and repair the hole. 

Two members from my community, Manolo and Jose. First time in a boat for the both of them,
and the farther east they have ever traveled.

The three men to the right are all from Loma Bonita, chit chatting about the Darien.

A couple of lost eggs, sad.



Bag of turtle eggs




A couple of little turtles that escaped the nest. They are now swimming out in the Pacific.



Day 250

September 16, 2012

Well, I know it has been a little while, and this blog is a little late, but things have been getting kind of busy down here.

My dad just left after his week long visit to the jungle. I think he had a good time, though the blister beetle did make an encore appearance. After picking my dad up late from the airport on Monday night, we headed back to the hotel for a couple of hours of sleep. My dad had the once in a lifetime opportunity to head out the next morning at 3am in order to catch the first bus to the Darien, so I could make it to my regional meeting. After 6 hours in bus, 30 minutes in scary minivan type transportation, and a total of an hour and a half in boat (though about an hour of that was waiting at the port) we made it to La Palma, the capitol of the Darien province. I had a great time, and I think my dad did too. After the meeting we headed to a cute hotel and had beers on the back porch. Most of the other volunteers thought my dad was a volunteer too and were curious about where his site was—welcome to the group Dad!

The next morning we had coffee and the Panamanian version of Beignets and hit the road again. We made it back to Loma Bonita just in time for dinner and to set up the hammock, which my dad spent just about all of his time in. We spent Thursday in Torti, using the Internet and eating cheesecake and drinking beer!

Saturday, my dad, another volunteer (Sara) and I headed up to visit the water source for the community. We have been having some trouble with our aqueduct, which is pretty common in this part of the country. The water source, which is a pipe in the river up in the mountains, gets clogged after rains, and the filter connected to the aqueduct does not function properly. The water committee of Loma Bonita has asked for my help in improving the water quality in the community—they have more faith in my abilities/knowledge of water systems than they should. Anyways, I have been telling the committee that I would like to see the water source in order to get a better idea of what we are working with. The committee, after putting this off for months, decided that Saturday was the day for the trip. It really was an amazing hike, and something that I was very proud to get to share with my dad.

After we got back down, we headed straight to the cantina and drank a caja (24 beers), and then headed home to scarf down some spaghetti, shower, pack up and get on a bus to head to the city—my dad left early the next morning.

All in all, it was a good trip, though not quite as restful as I had promised. I was really happy to have been able to share so much of Panama with my Dad; I hope he enjoyed it too. Everyone is still asking about you Dad, and are disappointed that they didn’t get to see more of you. They all want to know when you’re coming down again! 

Big tree that the men now call dos Saras (they call me Sara in my community)

Barney accompanied us to the Darien

Trusty Darien Transport

About to get on the boat out to La Palma

Full boat, there was also a box of very scared chickens. That green boat is the 'border control'
we were stopped by them at least 10 times on the way out. 

Lost gringos in La Palma

Beers on the back porch

Heading back

Dad and Manolo, my community guide, on our way up to the jungle

Me and members of the water community. The school and my house is way out there in the distance.

Following our fearless guide...

That little pipe in the background brings all the water to Loma Bonita. 

Water Source, notice pipe in river

Learning all about water collection

Not sure what they're talking about--I don't think either of
them knows either.

It's the PanaVersion of that Cesar Millan Dog Whisperer guy