Lots of fun!

Well alot has happened since the last entry, so let me catch you up...So Thanksgiving was a complete blast, more than 70 volunteers met in Cerro Punta for a huge dinner that a few of us spent two days cooking. I have to say the cooking was almost the funnest part, I love group cooking! So anyway we ate more than we could fit in our bellies and then we hiked up to our cabins in the jungle....amazingly beautiful! The cabins were in the middle of parque de amistad which is shared with Costa Rica. It was so cold up there that we all wore sweaters the entire time, a nice break from sweating 24 hours a day! So yes Thanksgiving was amazing...then we all went back up to our sites for a couple weeks before coming back out again for a week of in-service training. It was so much fun to see everyone again, or at least those that didn´t come to Thanksgiving. We always have a ton of good times when we are together, and it is nice to be able to talk about our sites with someone who understands. So the week was alot of classes and alot of beach time...it was only a 10 minute walk so everyday after class we went down and splashed around. By some random accident we met up with some guy who knew our boss and let us use his villa...so we had free sea kayaks, pool access, beach access and free drinks...what kind of luck do we have? So the whole week I was really excited because Dain was coming on Thursday...technically we were not done with training until Friday but I convinced my boss to let me cut out early so I could make it to the city to meet up with him. So he arrived late Thursday night and we have just been chilling in the city, taking advantage of the beautiful weather and the hotel pool! I have two weeks off so we are making plans to head to the beach for Christmas, visit a few other volunteers sites and hit up the islands before New Years. Lots of grand plans, and I could not be happier to be spending this time with Dain...it has been 7 months since I have seen him but it seems like yesterday, wierd how time is. So anyway to sum it all up things in Panama are as good as I could ask for, it will be a litte strange not being in my site for so long but when I get back I have several projects lined up so it will be easy to just jump back in, especially since Dain will be there to help me. Well I hope all your Thanksgivings were happy and full of family fun, and that you all enjoy the upcoming holidays. Let me know how they all go and don´t forget to drop me a line anytime you want...I couldn´t live without them! Feliz Navidad y prospero Año Nuevo! Un abrazo y beso para todos! Wakan

So like I told you all...I finally got my Nagwa made and it is hot! So the Nagwa is the traditional dress of the Ngobe women, they are most equivelant to a mumu. They were always asking my why I wore pants because around this part of the country absolutely no women wear pants. A funny story about the last volunteer in my site...she also finally got a nagwa and the first time she put it on her little brother looked at her in disbelief and said "you're a girl?!!". Oh yes this is the world we live in!
With my panama hat and my nagwa

Finally on my own!

My hut is finally done and I could not be happier! It was supposed to be done in September, but as with all construction or home improvment projects it took a little longer than expected...us now being in November!

So I cant write much now but I wanted to post a few photos and say hey...but I gotta run to start the big project of cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 100 malnourished volunteers! My friend Adam and I are the two main cooks so we gotta get busy!

So the house was a process but 4 days ago I spent my first night in the hut...and it was awesome. My friend Jon came down from his community an hour up the hill from me, to help me celebrate the big move. We drank wine and cooked dinner over a fogon which is what the Ngobe always use. The great part for us was that we did not have to get out of the hammocks to do the cooking! Really convenient if you ask me!

I gotta run but I just want to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving, I hope you all are spending good time with the familia. I wish I could be there too! Feliz Dia de Gracias! I am grateful that I have so many cool people in my life!

Un abrazo grande,
Wakan

Back from Bocas...life in a yeye site

Well I have just returned from a week long trip to the amazingly beautiful region of Bocas del Toro, which is the picturesque Panama that I look down upon from my mountain top village. We had four long days of Ngobe classes, to apollar our development in the language of the Ngobe. I learned so much this week, I am excited to return to my community and show off how much Ngobe I now speak! So I thought I would share a few important frases with you all to spread the wealth of knowledge...and just in case you happen to run into a Ngobe you will know what to say:
Ñantoro dega: good morning Ñantoro dere: good afternoon
Ja twaita mare: see you later Ja twaita jetebe: see you tomorrow
Ti ta baran kwete: I am eating bananas Ti ta ja totike ngobere: I am learning ngobe
Ti ka bailey bogaibo: my name is bailey from Lajero
Ti nune Oregonte: I am from Oregon

Well there are a couple frases that will probably keep you all puzzled for awhile, as they do with me when I am trying to understand what people are saying to me. They never had a written language until after the Spanish came to Panama, so they are written to be read with a Spanish pronunciation. All of you that are planning on visiting me you better be prepared to bust some of these out for the gente, it would make their day!

OK so back to my trip...I want to explain something about life here in PeaceCorps Panama and how different life can be between on volunteer and another. So there are sites that us volunteers refer to as yeye, which doesn´t really have a translation but it is most commonly used in reference to rich people, in reference to sites, ¨plush¨is probably the best translation. For example, our class was held in the community of a girl from my group named Sarah. Her site is right on the main road (no hiking involved: yeye), all the houses are made of wood and have beautiful wood or cement floors (no dirt floors and ant infestations: yeye), she has water right at her house and has a private shower (no bathing in rivers or public plumas: yeye), she has delivery trucks that bring propane and fresh vegetables right to her front door (no open fires and hiking with heavy chakaras of fresh veggies: yeye), and she has access to electricity so she can charge her cell phone and even watch tv at night if she wanted....definately yeye. So I am guessing that you all get the point...and probably have also guessed that I do not live in a yeye site, but I love it none the less. Sometimes life is better appreciated without all the things that make it easier. So within Panama there are many people that have very yeye communities, electricity, cement houses, cars, beaches, tourism...and the list goes on. And then there are those of us that live so far away from civilization, there is no such thing as a day trip out of site. We hike just to go home, our communities are much poorer than the others in Panama, we definately have no electricity and often times no running water, but the good thing is there are several of us so we stick together so we don´t get too jealous of our yeye counterparts.

Well they have their benefits and sometimes I am a little jealous, especially when she tells me that she can hop on a bus and visit another volunteer in 15 minutes! She can also hop on a bus and be on an island in 30 minutes! Wow, what a different world I live in! Anywho...just wanted to let you know all volunteers do not live the hard life like me! But I am hard core!

So I am heading back into my site for just a couple days before hiking back out for our grand Thanksgiving celebration in Cerro Punta, where the weather is like Oregon and the food is even better! We are doing a big group dinner with like 100 volunteers, which should be a total blast. I gotta run but I will try to post some new pics next time! Lots of love from Panama! Ja twaita!

6 months in Panama

Can you believe I have actually been gone 6 months already...it has flown by like I never thought possible! And the holidays are here which makes the times very festive...Panama has two Independence Days...one from Spain and one from Columbia...and they are both in November. So as one would probably guess this month is one of pure celebration...and us Americans have Thanksgiving to add to the pile. All of the volunteers in Panama are getting together for a big Thanksgiving celebration, so just know I wont be alone!

Well news from in site...I have been really busy doing site development for a new volunteer and working very closely with one of the Agriculture agencies here in Panama. I spent the last week straight hiking back and forth between my site and a new site that we have been developing about 1 1/2 hike away, preparing the community for the arrival of the new volunteer...and then spending a few days getting her and all her stuff up the hill to her new site. Needless to say this has been a week of way too much hiking. As an example...last monday I had to hike over there just to drop off a note saying we would be a day late arriving. There are no other forms of communication here...so I literally hike over 3 hours just to hand a note to a women that spoke no spanish and turn around and hike right back. At least the scenery is beautiful...and I have a new neighbor!

The other thing that has been taking up most of my time has been working with this agency called MIDA, who the tecnico that I have been working with just kind of took a shine to me so I have been going to their meetings and representing PeaceCorps in the planning and design of new sites for their proyecto. This is a little nerve-racking but has been very important in forming a relationship between our program and theirs...but it means being professional. I have to dress up real nice and try to speak my best spanish while I give presentations to representatives from all over Panama. I am not sure how I was appointed this position, but it feels nice to be doing something so productive. MIDA brings well funded ag. projects to communities all over Panama, and due to my involvement with them they are going to bring a project to my community...so we can build lots of rice/fish tanks and do tons of other fun stuff that would otherwise be imposible due to funding.

Other than these bits of fun, my life has consisted of lots of hanging out with the women....due to the fact that almost all the men left for the coffee harvest. I now have a nagwa...the traditional dress of the Ngobe women and my hut is done. I will be moving in next week when I get a lock for the door. I will be sure to take lots of pics and send them with the next update.

That is all for now but I hope all is well back in the states...and I will be seeing you all in July!

Just to start

Well I have started this blog as a way to share my experience here in Panama with all of you. Hopefully this will make it easier for me to update you all on my life, and share my pictures with you. To start I should probably explain what I am up to for those of you who dont know, just a brief summary...

I am in the PeaceCorps. I live in the mountains of Panama with an indigenous group called the Ngobe, who live in thatched huts and wear a traditional dress called a Nagwa, with the beautiful dientes of different colors. I work in sustainable agriculture, helping them move away from slash-and-burn or the worse option of over abundant chemical use...and toward a future of organic agriculture. I work in soil conservation, organic fertilizers, fish/rice tanks and lots of other fun ag. tecniques that might not be so easily explained. I spend most of my days hiking to fincas and working with farmers while explaining what I mean by organic...a term most of them have never heard of.

I live the life that they live...for three months now I have been living with a family. My family is huge, and I like it that way. I have like 9 brothers and sisters, too many cousins to count and we all live happily in a one room house. This will be changing soon due to the fact that my little hut is now complete. No more than 10ft by 10ft, but all of it mine and that is what counts! It is really cute, or quaint is probably a better word. A thatched roof with tabla (wood) walls it cost me all of $100 to build and worth every penny for the increase in privacy. Due this soon to come change in residency my diet will soon be making a much needed change in direction. Up until now I have been eating what the family eats...which isn't much. We eat plain yucca and plain rice....and not much else. I am excited and at the same time feeling a little guilty that I will be eating better than them. I am hoping to produce much of my own vegetables from my little huerto I have growing in front of my new house. So far I have beans, corn, squash, tomato, pepper, basil, lemongrass, cucumber and hopefully lots more to come.

Every two weeks or so I take a much needed trip into the nearest city, my regional capital...David. In order to do this I have to hike out 2 hours and hop a bus for another two hours, but all this travel is so worth it to be able to check my email, eat real food, drink a beer, sleep in a bed, take a hot shower and enjoy air conditioning. This is my time to spend with my fellow volunteers, we meet up for some much needed conversation in English and just plain fun. The people I have met here in PeaceCorps are some of the coolest people I have ever met (could I expect any different from PeaceCorps?), and without them I don't know if I could ever survive this experience. There are a few that I know will be friends for life...and if nothing else, that has made this experience well worth the struggles.

Well that is my life in short. I hope that fills you all in and I will try to keep you posted on a semi-regular basis! I hope to have some pictures up here soon to share with you all the beauty of Panama!

Un abrazo, (A hug)
Wakan