¡Bienvenidos a Nuestra Aventura!

Ahhhh, Boquete

2008-04-21T13:14:00.009-05:00

We also were blessed to have recently visited an animal sanctuary during a weekend getaway in Boquete, one of the cool and verdant highland towns that draw us every now and again. In addition to the amazing birds found here, Amanda and I were set upon by monkeys (don't worry, they were friendly monkeys), which was uh, surprising at first.

Attica! Attica! Attica!

Why so blue, bird?

Brian with a white-faced capuchin monkey. (Brian is on the right)

Amanda with...drum roll please...a monkey on her back!

A beautiful ocelot.

Just takin' a nap like monkeys do.

I don't remember what the name of this creature is, but I do remember that it eats fruit and kisses women.

A toucan. All but disapeared from our area, the sanctuary has several and here their beauty may be examined up close.

Amanda in bliss-world.

April fools

2008-04-21T12:39:00.006-05:00

In addition to a few very successful health seminars put on by Amanda & me at the ol' homestead, we've been continually plugging away at our latrine project, having almost reached our goal of 50. Community latrine coverage now stands at around 40%, a happy and distant cry from the 4% that we encountered upon arrival in 2006. Every latrine, built by and sweated for by each family that has one, takes several people out of the "crapping in the woods/streams" equation that so spoils the areas potable water supply. This alone makes our jobs here worthwhile.

Three of the local kids who love to come around occasionally for a visit.

This is our first foray into adding video clips to our blog, so sorry that it's facing sideways. I believe that an updated version of Quicktime is needed, but I'm really not too sure on that. Anyway, this is a shot of a young girl who comes and stays with the family every now and then named Hoga Montezuma. Our host father, Felix, offered here 5 cents to dance for the family which she did. Let's hope she's not still dancing for money 20 years from now.

And then...

2008-04-07T15:03:00.007-05:00

After enjoying ourselves immensely up in Cerro Punta, we headed to our site in Cerro Brisa for a day of "rustic" living.

Amanda, standing in the doorway of our home. Notice the crawling vine on the door frame. It's one of the few that we can keep alive (it's painted on).

Not sure if Alice is looking at the dog, or deciding whether or not she wants to enter the humble abode.

Dad, chillin on the front porch.

A few of the local kids and us spent an hour roasting "pepita de maranjon," which are fresh cashews harvested from local trees.

Our time here must be over soon as the cows look to be finally coming home...

Us!

Dad n Alice

2008-04-02T15:35:00.007-06:00

March was a whirlwind, and a much-appreciated one at that. During the month we built several more latrines, organized and held a kid's health fair, and enjoyed a spectacular visit by my Dad and step-mom, Alice. While their visit only lasted four days before they flew off to see Catie in Guatemala, we had a wonderful time hanging out with them in Panama's highland jungles after so much time apart.

Making coffee at the Cerro Punta cabin we rented with the fam. This is actually the same one we stayed at when Mike came to visit as well. That's our friend Casey (from Kansas) to the left.

Alice and Amanda, enjoying a bit o shade underneath some kind of giant tropical plant.

Alica and my Dad, taking a breather from the taxing nature of vacationing in Panama's beautiful tropical highlands.

The dynamic duo, hiking the "tres cascadas" (three waterfalls) loop trail in the amazing Parque Nacional de Amistad.

In front of the cabin.

Just one of the many bucolic views offered to the Cerro Punta visitor.

On the Tres Cascadas hike with our guide.

Kid's Day

2008-03-28T09:45:00.010-06:00

After we said goodbye and dropped Mike off at the airport, Amanda and I took the 7 hour bus ride back to Cerro Brisa and immediately started planning for Amanda's latest initiative, "Kid's Day."

Just in case there remains any doubt as to which demographic this idea targeted, it was for kids, specifically local kids between the ages of 5 and 12. The event's themes were hand-washing and teeth-brushing, two routine practices that I can't even remember formally learning as a child, but which I often take for granted as two of those "common sense" operations that people just "do." The sad reality is that many people hardly do either one, and the evidence is readily seen in the blackened, rotted teeth of most Cerro Brisa children, and the alarmingly high incidence of intestinal/stomach ailments. Knowing this, Amanda put together a fun-filled day of interactive learning for about 40 local mini-hellions (uh, I mean "darling children") that I really think planted some important seeds.

This chaotic game involves rings of children circling around a balloon and then racing towards a finish line while keeping the balloon from touching the ground. While the game was fun, our restriction that no hands were to touch the balloon while all circles were to be maintained posed some problems. The pile of latrine rock in the picture's right hand corner created some interesting and memorable "challenges" as well.

After the warm-up game, Amanda and I split up and attended to our different age groups. I had the older kids and Amanda the younger. Here I am explaining the latest in cutting edge hand-washing theory.

Amanda, practicing a hand-washing jingle with her group that they continually reference when they come visit us. The idea is that, if remembered, the song will reinforce the lessons taught to them longer and better than through a mere presentation.

The "jabón (soap)/bactería" battle which Amanda scripted and we then staged in front of the uproarious crowd.

At the end of the day, we had all of the participants line up and wash their hands before eating lunch. It was great watching them all try and outdo one another by washing "better" than the one before them.

Wrapping up the day with a little face painting (a la Amanda) and lunch eating. We provided the rice n beans to the group as an extra incentive for them to attend.

Enjoying da grub!

As you can see, the teeth-brushing seminar (at least half of our day) is absent from the above post. All of our pictures from this portion came out either blurry or dark, so you'll just have to take our word for it. During that part we played games including "pin the brush on the mouth," and held extensive question and answer sessions. The kids seemed to already be well informed, with most even claiming to already have their own toothbrush at home. Regardless, through the generosity of Amanda's mom, we were able to provide those who answered a post-seminar quiz correctly with new brushes. And as consolation prizes for those who faltered in the final moment, we gave...candy!

Since January...

2008-03-20T09:42:00.016-06:00

Since January we've been busy. Busy plugging away at the Cerro Brisa latrine project, busy holding health seminars for local kids, busy escaping the amazingly suffocating heat of a tropical isthmus, and busy having a wonderful time hosting Mike, Alice and my dad during their respective visits to our steamy home. But through all the busyness we've also been having a great time getting closer to our host family each day, improving our Spanish, and exploring parts of Panama that make us swoon.

Mike came to visit us in February, and stayed with us for ten days total. We picked him up from the airport in Panama City and whisked him immediately back to our site for three days and nights of beans n rice, sweaty hiking, and generally (very) simple living.

Mike and Aron by the river, showing the rest of us why they are generally regarded as the toughest punks on the block.

Mike, enjoying a "pipa" (green coconut which locals often cut open to drink the sweet water within) with a latrine project family. Yes, yes, we know they don't look happy at all. But they are and I can assure you that once the photo was taken, everyone relaxed into the amiable expressions that they usually carry. There's just something about photos that makes 'em so serious...

Being with Mike in Cerro Brisa was great, and we're really glad that he was able to make it out to visit us. After three days of hiking, visiting, eating (and being eaten by insects), we stole away to the cool, lush Panama highlands at Cerro Punta. Cerro Punta remains one of our favorite Panama destinations due to its cleanliness, altitude (around 6,000 ft!), crisp and dry weather, and location in an amazing tropical cloud forest.

Mike and I during a short hike into the Parque Internacional La Amistad, which is a jungle preserve shared by both Panama and Costa Rica, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and remains breathtakingly primeval.

Mike, lookin' suave against the backdrop of Cerro Punta. This shot was taken at the beginning of an amazing 6-hour hike to the world famous coffee growing region of Boquete.

Towards the end of our hike.

Myself, Amanda and Casey on the last mile into Boquete.

Beautiful!

After Cerro Punta we spent a night eating well and sipping on 25-year port in Boquete to celebrate my birthday. A little rest of this sort was just what we needed after the six-hour journey. We then woke early and headed back down to the lowlands where we met our host family in San Felix, a typical local Panamanian town with a great swimming river nearby. The next five hours were spent jumping off rocks and swimming in the deep river, eating local-made bollos (chicken and corn filled tamale-like things), and waiting out a torrential downpour for our taxi to come and take us back to the house at which we stayed.

Ñata, Polo, and Bebé, sharing a laugh of some kind down by the Río San Felix.

The Río San Felix.

If you've ever sat and wondered where cashews come from, wonder no more. This is the cashew fruit, from which you can see hanging a cashew seed. The seed is removed from its fruit (which is usually then eaten or made into juice), toasted in an open fire, and then opened to reveal its yummy cashew inside. Delicious!

Well soaked and well rested from our highland trip and subsequent river-swim, we made our way back to Panama City and spent a few days at the famous Miraflores Locks (where ships are raised and lowered to navigate canal elevation differences), ate well in "Casco Viejo" (the Old Quarter, filled with beautifully well-preserved French Victorian apartments), and enjoyed the last of Mike.

We look forward to seeing him again this June when we all head off to Ireland for a few weeks. That's right, Ireland. We'll be flying there with the rest of the family this June for a few days of seeing the motherland. While we still don't have specifics, the trip sounds absolutely amazing and we can hardly wait!

And now back to reality.

2008-01-28T17:44:00.000-06:00

Well, we had a wonderful time in California hanging out with Amanda's (and now my) friends and family. But we DID eventually return to Panama and here's what we've been up to the past few weeks.

Enjoying tea with our breakfast at a sidewalk cafe.

Drinking good (but warmish) beer in the wilds of where we live. These Newcastles were a gift from Amanda's brothers, Chris and Eliot. Thanks, they went down great!

The Montero family, happy to see us back at the shack.

We've also been wearing flowers behind our ears!

And cutting zinc roofing for local latrine beneficiaries. I'd like to give a shout-out to "Palacho," the helper to my left.

Amanda, painting the nails of some locals girls who absolutely LOVE coming over for this treat.

Showing off the final makeover.

Here we attended a birthday party for a young girl where a pinata filled with flour was beaten open. As you can see in the leftmost part of this picture, participating in the rush for flour-covered candy afterwards was a man in his mid twenties with an armfull of the goods. Hmm...

And of course, no return to the bliss of domestic routine would be complete without dish-washing, even if it IS on a bamboo platform two hours from electricity.

Bakersfield Pics...

2008-01-28T14:44:00.000-06:00

Keepin it real...

A few of us in the parking lot of Cal State-Bakersfield after Elijah´s soccer practice

Thanks to the generosity of Bob and Susan, we were able to have our teeth cleaned professionally for free. Say Ahhhh!

Unfortunately, we weren't able to bowl for free, despite my near-professional performance at the the local lanes.

Amanda, learning bowling basics from her niece Adrianna.

Guys night out. Amanda's friend Ali scored big with several free tickets to watch the local minor-league hockey team, The Condors, tear it up. It was my first time sitting in a lux box and, like anyone who's ever flown first class, I'm sold!

Amanda, relaxing after dinner with her neice and nephews. From left to right are Joseph, Adrianna, and Elijah.

Amanda with her good friend Noel, at Noel's birthday celebration. We ate at a Cuban restaurant where the mojitos were amazing.

Amanda and I at Mike and Cristina's house party. Excellent food, conversation, drinks, games, and more drinks were had by all!

After dinner shot taken by Susan just before the guys team rocked the ladies in a no-holds-barred Pictionary and Taboo rumble.

Susan, Amanda's mother, demonstrating the true meaning of love, Taboo-style.

While Cristina followed up with an authentic depiction of "twins," the ladies' skill was no match for the ingenuity of the guys' team.

Our visit to Bake Town...

2008-01-16T08:31:00.000-06:00

After a very refreshing and fun filled week in the Napa Valley with my dad and Ruth, Brian and I hopped on a train in Martinez, California for a "beautiful" five hour seneic ride down to Bakersfield where we were greeted by my mom at the station. It felt so good to get that first hug from my mom that I had been missing for the past year and a half. We were off to a great start for two week visit.

The fist night we arrived we were invited to a cocktail party with our friends David and Isabelle. We had wonderful night sipping on yummy drinks and mingling by a fire. I kept thinking what a different world we were in. I even ran into an old Spanish teacher at the party whom I´d had my during my first year in college. She is a wonderful teacher and it was a joy to see her again as well as get to practice conversing a little with her in Spanish.

Over the next couple of weeks we spent a lot of time with family. We had family dinners followed by games like Pictionary, Scattergories, and Guesstures. It blows me away how tiny I feel around my younger brothers. It's fun to give them a hard time, however I have to be a little more careful now! It was also such a joy for me to watch and interact with my niece and nephews as they are growing up so fast. We played with barbies, went to a soccer practice and played video games, and had lots of our own "hang out alone" times together.

One night Brian and I were treated to a fun filled night in Los Angeles by my friends Kristina and her husband Mike. They drove us to dinner and then to see Dancing with the Stars at the Staples Center in downtown. We had a blast! Another night they had us over to dinner at their new house where we ate Mike's delicious stuffed mushrooms, salmon, asparagus and Brian's amazing homemade canolis. Following dinner we played Taboo and Pictionary along with my mom and other friends that came for dinner . It was hilarious, especially after several of their raspberry martinies. Yumm!

Brian and I also joined my good friend Noel for her birthday celebration at a cozy Cuban resturant and then I later went for a second time for a girls night out. That same night Brian joined a couple of my guy friends, brothers and step-dad at a hockey game. Another night my mom hosted a warm, low key friends hang out night which felt so good to hear what everyone was up to, laugh and just... be at home. One morning Brian and I met up at a nice local diner with two of my good friends from high school Jessie and his brother Sergio. They are two of the most motivated and high energy friends I have. It can be so refreshing to be around such positive people.

As much fun as I had with everyone I must say at times I felt a little out of it. I felt I have been almost frozen in time for a while and then brought back. I am clueless when it comes to movies, music, fashion, technology or even politics, which makes conversation difficult sometimes.

My time in Northern and Southern California was amazing. I savored every moment I had with each person. Brian and I both came back feeling refreshed and ready to work hard, appreciate life here and learn what God has for us here in Panama during these final few months.

Christmas/New Year's Extravaganza

2008-01-10T12:11:00.000-06:00

After Thanksgiving, we passed most of our time in site counting down the days until leaving for California and a holiday visit with Amanda's family. We left Cerro Brisa on the 12th of December and, after spending a wonderful night in Panama City dining and hanging out with some of our fellow Peace Corps volunteers, we took off on the 13th for the promised land. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calistoga%2C_California)

My good friend Zane picked us up from San Francisco airport late at nigth and we had the pleasure of spending most of the following day with him before jumping on a San Francisco-Santa Rosa bus to meet Amanda's father and Ruth. We had a great time with Zane as we cruised for a while around the Palo Alto/Mountain View area where he lives. I have to say that there are probably only a handful of friends that I would consider "for life" in the the sense that we could be apart for years and still be able to pick up right where we left off while really enjoying one another's company. Zane is definitely one of them.

After hanging out with Zane for a bit before jumping on the bus (which brought us through some interesting-looking San Francisco neighborhoods as well!), we headed out to Santa Rosa and finally met up with Amanda's family, which she hadn't seen in almost a year-and-a-half. The follwing week was awesome. We enjoyed the beautful Napa Valley climate (crisp and dry), wine (tasted at four local wineries [www.castellodiamorosa.com-a $30M, recreated Tuscan castle; www.bennettlane.com-a beautiful botique winery in an upper valley corner; www.summerswinery.com-a small, high-quality Calistoga winery; www.vincentarroyo.com-my favorite Napa Valley winery, with awesome service, great wine, and that down-home feel] , a few of which don't sell off their premesis), and scenery and had a great time hanging out with family. I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we look forward very much to returning in the (hopefully near) future.

A shot of us and our host-family, the Monteros, seding us off the night before we left. Angela, our host-mother is holding their new daughter(as of yet unnamed) who was born only a few days before.

Visiting with Amanda's great uncle Guido, who just recently turned 94, was undoubtedly one of the highlights of the entire vacation. He's a wonderful host and, while legally blind, can still make a kick-ass Manhattan. (and insists upon it too!) Lesson learned: drink Manhattan's regularly for long life and good health.

A great picture of Amanda and her uncle Guido (usually called "Guy") . After a morning full of deliciously stiff drinks, Amanda (and I) were a bit blitzed, though you may not be able to tell in this picture.

Amanda, Joe, and Guy, all trying to look sober for the camera. Ruth was with us as well, but unfortunately not in the picture as she was the one taking it. We'll just have to get a shot of her when we return next time.

Amanda and I overlooking the amazingly beautiful upper Napa Valley. I'm not sure what grapes are growing in the vineyard rows below us (maybe cabernet?), but I'm sure they're tasty!

The front of the Culinary Institue of America's Napa Valley campus. Blessed is the man or woman who studies here.

A typical work-station for CIA students. Individual classes here run near $1,000, but that seems a small price to pay for learning from the masters.

The main classroom. Awesome.

We'll post about the rest of our trip the next time around. Right now, we leave David to return to our site for the first time in a month! God Bless!

Back Online!!

2008-01-07T14:37:00.001-06:00

Whew! We are finally back online after about a month-and-a-half of Blogger tech errors that prevented anybody (including us!) from viewing our blog! While we're aren't sure of what the problem was, it seems to be fixed (or maybe lying in wait for a future attack) and we have LOTs of events to update everybody on.

Our last entry was in November just before Thanksgiving, and we had a wonderful time in the beautifully lush and cool Panamanian highlands with the rest of Peace Corps-Panama and my stepsister, Catie. Cerro Punta, where we went for the two night party, is by far one of our favorite places in all of Panama and was a wonderful place to spend some time in "friendly" nature and relax. Cool and verdant, with daytime temperatures around 65-70 degrees, it is renowned as a strawberry growing region and one can find many roadside stands selling fresh strawberries-and-cream drinks and mixes to enjoy.

Anyway we had a wonderful time visiting with Catie, and it's only too bad that she couldn't visit longer. However, as she teaches at a school in Guatemala City it is understandable that she needed to return for monday classes. "Que va?" (what can you do?) as they say down here in Panama, an apt phrase for almost any situation.

A front shot of the Los Quetzales lodge and spa, where we gathered and celebrated Thanksgiving with Peace Corps-Panama. (www.losquetzales.com)

Catie and Amanda on a short hike around the lodge through some jaw-droppingly beautiful tropical cloud-forest.

The inside of the Los Quetzales lodge. While tranquil and empty in this picture, just imagine the 130 Peace Corps Panama volunteers packed in and partying for two straight nights!

A moss-covered stream on another hike around the Los Quetzales lodge. There are few places in Panama (or the world for that matter) that I would call "magical" but this is one of them.

More pictures!

2007-11-20T14:52:00.000-06:00

Well, we're off tomorrow to Cerro Punta, Panama, a mountain getaway where we'll celebrate Thanksgiving for two days with the over 130 other Peace Corps-Panama volunteers. But even better than that is that Catie, my stepsister, has confirmed that she'll be joining us for the long weekend from her teaching job in Guatemala! This will be a great week. But before we go, some recent pictures...

Corn huskin' day! Actually it was corn "de-kerneling day, but it just doesn't sound as smooth.

The group.

De-kernelin' corn.

A local coral snake. Extremely poisonous and deadly, this live coral snake was found by Amanda in our backyard.

Two scorpions. These are extremely common in our area of Panama and, though not deadly to healthy people, can deliver a vicious sting. The bodies of these two (not including their claws) each measured about four inches long, and were found alive by Brian. As you can see they are now quite dead.

A shot of the local teachers of Cerro Brisa Elementary school. A tough job that keeps most of them away from their families from monday-friday.

and a few more...

2007-11-13T12:27:00.000-06:00

Work day in the Comarca! Every month or so, the Panama Ministry of Agriculture holds group work days to train community members in advanced agriculture techniques. It is amazing what gets done.

A random shot of our project's zinc roofing arriving at our house. About 5-6 community members showed up to help unload it.

A broader view of the workday mentioned in the first picture. This finca (small farm) is a good example of the average local land plot. I think that's corn growing in rows just below our vantage.

Remember the parades from our previous post? Well, this is our local equivilant. Up and down the street...

This was a new (and likely never to be performed in the US) and extremely dangerous game that local students recently participated in. The object is to ascend a greased-up bamboo pole to grab the bag of candy at the top. It takes a long time to scrape off all of the grease, but eventually one of the kids is able to do it. Some of the falls we witnessed from this game are haunting...

uh...

Amanda and I, and a bunch of animals (Amanda wishes me to add that there is also a piglet attached to the leash in my right hand) . I am not sure why we still have this picture.

October/November pictures

2007-11-13T11:57:00.001-06:00

A view of the "La Grita" parade.

A parade-gymnastics team from one of the local schools. They did their best.

A view of a dancing "pollera" and her partner from our parade route vantage point. The pollera is the dress that she's wearing and is considered the traditional, "typico," dress of Panamanian song and dance.

Typical uniforms of one of the hundreds upon hundreds of schools represented at the weekend parade. After about an hour of this we were ready to go.

La pollera in action!

October/November blues...

2007-11-13T10:54:00.000-06:00

October and November are the rainiest months of the year in our area of Panama. Hands down. Sometimes it is raining as we wake up, and doesn't stop until we go to sleep; three days later. While falling asleep to the pitter-patter of raindrops on our rusty-brown, corrugated tin roof can be comforting, trying to get anything accomplished during the day can be frustrating. As you can imagine, we don't have the resources (ie, movable shelters) to pour concrete slabs in either a dripping or driving rain, and this has slowed the project up considerably. However, while pouring slabs has been put on hold until the bone-dry summer season meets us in mid-December-ish, we have been able to buy all of our needed tin roofing for the latrine project and were even able to nail a few down for qualified (ready) beneficiaries. The bulk of our work will be commencing once the maddening rain lets up. If it ever does. Pray for us.

One may wonder what we do in site when the weather has us trapped like soaked animals in a wood-paneled cage. Why, we read and go on trips, of course! Since the beginning of October, Amanda and I have been from Panama City, down to "the Azuero," and are on our way back up to Cerro Punta for another round of Thanksgiving, just like we did last year.

Our time in Panama City was great. We spent about a week and around 150% of our month's salary. It was totally worth it. We went to the city because at each one-year mark, volunteers must go to the Peace Corps headquarters for a series of medical checkups to make sure that amoebas and worms are not eating us up from the inside. We were clean but some others were not (and are now on medications that will hopefully heal them). Anyway, the week of parties and good restaraunts, taxis and bagels, was a much-needed recharge. We returned to site on October the 28th, and spirited away "otra vez" (once again) for a weekend in the Azuero, to watch the annual "desfiles" (parades) that wind their way through the country every year on November 9th and 10th, in celebration of Panama's (actually Colombia at the time) "first cry of independence" from Spain. The Azuero is the penninsula located below Santiago and encompasses Las Tablas, etc. The bright red dot just to the right of David is the approximate location of our site.

This was our first time to the Azuero, and though the parades seemed endless (24 hours of parading!!!), it was awesome to explore a bit of what is universally considered the heart of Panamanian culture. This is where the Panamanian culture is alive and proud, and festivals such as the annual Carneval (basically Mardi Gras), and "La Grita" (which we attended this past weekend) keep it alive and pumping. Like most of Panama outside of the Panama City metro area, the Azuero is an interesting mix of huge cattle ranches, smaller farms, history-soaked villages, and not a little bit of poverty. This is where you can find the 300 year-old churches surrounded by courtyards and the small, brightly-colored houses that seem to typify Central America our minds. We had a great time.

However, the fun is not even close to being finished, as after the next week of latrine building (weather permitting) and cruising with the Ngobe folks, we're off to the cool, verdant uplands of Cerro Punta to celebrate Thanksgiving with the over one hundred other Peace Corps-Panama volunteers. The tradition lives on. Cerro Punta is quite a magical place. Right by the lodge where we'll all be staying is a national park of untouched, primary high-altitude cloud forest, which is a way of saying cool-temperatured, high-elevation, thick jungle. We are definitely looking forward to a few days of hiking, partying, and reconnecting with everybody before buckling down for the few weeks before heading to California for the holidays. I won't even go into that now because I can foresee that any indulging into imagining our amazing California trip will only lead to depression.

Thus October and November have been both challenging and fun and we look forward to a lot more of the same over the next few months. Mike, my brother, has bought his ticket to come see us in February and we're estatic; already counting the days. We're still waiting on Amanda's friend Noel, who we hope will be joining us as well (ahhh, poetry). And after three weeks of biting my nails I finally received my LSAT score and have all of my applications on their ways to law schools around the country. Now the waiting and speculating and dreaming is great as we guess which one's are suckers enough to let me in!

Until the next update, God Bless!!

And a few pics...

2007-10-05T12:48:00.000-05:00

Friends for life!

Potato sack races during the "Kid´s Day" portion of cultural week. Tough work and good job Amanda, it went really well.

Amanda, leading a presentation for the community and volunteers-in-training.

Preach it Amanda!

A shot of a real-life "dinamica," which are usually corny, roll-your-eyes ice breakers that Panamanians tend to love.

Fall leaves. Need I say more?

If you need a reason to keep on living, here it is: the home-made cannoli. Words will only detract from its awesomeness!

Coming back

2007-10-05T10:55:00.001-05:00

As October and the beginning of our second year rolls around, we definitely feel that we´re entering a new phase of our Peace Corps service. While this new phase is obviously a continuation of our previous year in Panama, we both agree that our more mature relationships with both the community and our proposed projects makes the beginning of our final year feel less like a mystery, and more like a plan. But let me back up some because I realize that we have some ground to cover since our last post a few months ago.

We last posted on our codependent, furry friends who use us for food while we enjoy their cute furriness as a salve to the roughness of our living conditions. Actually, our living conditions are not that bad anymore, and its amazing what one gets used to over time. In fact, one of the key points that bring this new year around for us in a more balanced way is our perception of the community as our home, as opposed to just a difficult place to live. It must have been around 6 or 7 months ago when we first started to feel the stirrings of contentment upon returning back to site after long weekends out. Previously, it felt more like "acceptance" that we were back in site, with a determination to trudge through the weeks until our next opportunity to leave and enjoy other parts of Panama (oftentimes with other Peace Corps volunteers). Now, it almost seems like the days in site pass like they would on pretty much any long, summer day. Staring at the grass and passing the time talking slowly and aimlessly with the people around us reminds me of august during middle-school days, and time often seems to pass in a similarly slow and hazy, stress-free manner. Here´s to the next several months...

That said, since our last post things have been rather busy albeit in unconventional ways. In August and early September, noty nly did we celebrate our 2-year anniversary (!), but we were also quite busy prepping for a week-long "Cultural Week" for approximately 12 volunteers-in-training (VITs). Cultural Week was to be held in our site (Cerro Brisa) during the last week in September, and include various cultural activities and artisan presentations for the VITs, as well as a chance for the locals to be exposed to a bunch of curious, mildly confused Americans who will soon be working in Ngobe communities after their swearing-in on the 25th of October. The week was also to be a great opportunity for the community to get to know the Peace Corps better, and all of the families involved seemed really excited to host individual VITs in their homes. Amanda pretty much planned and executed the entire thing, with myself only helping to prepare the host families, and talk to a few artisans regarding expectations for their presentations. I hear that it all went really well, and I think that Amanda is one of the best event planners that I know. She´s meticulous and detail-oriented, and while she can sometimes get stressed out at times with the overall effort, she never really seems to lose her cool. Well done.

I was unable to actually help during the week intself, as I flew back to New Jersey for a bit more than a week of LSAT taking, pastor meeting, wedding attending, Guinness swilling, and general relaxing-with-the-family, in the beautiful early October weather. I have to say that it was an awesome week. It was so nice to see everyone once again while taking in the early fall atmosphere that I was very tempted to call it quits right then and there. Only one more year to go!

In other news, we were able to realize all of our latrine project funding, and look forward to starting the construction of remaining community latrines as soon as we get back to site. Amanda met me at a nice hotel half-way to Panama city last night, and we´re heading back to Cerro Brisa today. In many ways, it will feel good to get back (it WILL be good, it WILL be good...) and see our friends, our community, and live the way of life we´ve been used to for the past year. Going back to the states made me think a lot about priorities and what I really value in a lifestyle. I love the states and can´t wait to get back, but the juxtaposition in worlds was enlightening not only of what we are blessed with in America, but also of our often gratuitous material wealth which while certainly keeping our economy on fire (jobs ARE important), seems coldly hollow and unaware of the social, personal, and environmental impacts that result. This will make for some interesting thinking as we start our latrine-building, knowing that I-Phone prices just plummeted by a third in the US (and I have to admit I hope to get one when we get back!), and we find life difficult there when it takes us more than 10 minutes to find a parking spot.

Well, it looks like our bus just pulled in to take us back to the entrance community which leads to our site. I hope and pray that everyone is having a great autumn (including those in Hawaii where it may be unnoticable), and continuously counting the amazing comforts and conveniences that we are blessed with in the states. We really are blessed by our levels of social and economic development, and it is definitely worthwhile to step back once in a while to realize this, give thanks, and understand that most of the world cannot even conceptualize the way we live. God Bless!

Freeloaders

2007-08-11T16:45:00.000-05:00

A few archived shots of the critters that freeload off of our good will (and dropped food).

Brian, trying to take a nap on the floor. "Big Cat" and "Mi," trying to take a nap on Brian.

Brian, trying to read. "Mi," trying to read over Brian's shoulder.

They are relentless.

While we can't figure out how she breathes when she does this, "Big Cat" faceplants when she sleeps, covering both her mouth and nose with whatever she's sleeping on. Bizarre.

This is "Big Cat's" new addition to the family, so we'll from now on be calling her "Mama Cat." The kitten is extremely cute and is growing surprisingly fast. After only 4 weeks, he's actually as big as "Mi" who seemed to stop growing after her/his (we can't tell) second month.

Not a cat, but a monkey we met at a Panama cigar shop. Yes, that's a diaper/leash attached to its butt.

This chicken hides its head somewhere at random times. I'm not sure why, or what it's head is doing, but it sure looks strange to come upon a chicken standing in one spot with no head.

AAAHHHH!!!

2007-08-11T16:13:00.000-05:00

This is "Mi" (short for "Minchi," which means "cat" in Ngabere). While we do have other pictures of her on our blog, we thought that this one is the grossest and most true-to-life. (note, her face had been painted by our host-family, which neither added nor took away from her natural appearance)

The Hira

2007-08-11T15:35:00.001-05:00

"Hira" is basically a Panamanian word for tour, or walkabout. While Amanda was in Panama City for a few days for a meeting to discuss preparations for 12 new trainees that will be soon descending on our site for a week, I hit the trails and hiked for a few days around the middle of the comarca to visit a few friends' (Rob and then John) sites. The trails, while incredibly steep at times, were also absolutely jaw-droppingly beautiful and I had a great time.

Hiking down to Rob's site. I wish the photo did the view behind me any amount of justice but, like trying to convey the awe of the Grand Canyon through a square, it may be best left to your imagination.

I met Juaqine Rodrigues on the trail to Rob's site, and had a very interesting conversation with him that helped the time fly by. Behind him is where he lives. Not bad, huh?

A view of Rob's front porch. Rob, whose father is a structural engineer by profession, built this house with the help of his community. Even the boards, table, and radio were all hewn from surrounding trees with some local's chainsaw. Just kidding, the radio was actually carved using a pocketknife.

A view from the walk to John's site. Due to its elevation. and that we're in the middle of the rainy season, every vista was painted with the mist that you see rolling in the background. It was cool and beautiful, until the rolling mist turned into a thunderstorm and soaked me to the bone for an hour!

John, in the house that he built. While you may notice that there are no windows in his place, the bamboo walls let in a surprising amount of natural light, and are more than enough to read by during the daytime.

The inside of John's house, including the hammock where I slept the night in total comfort. It was also a good thing that John's bamboo walls allow for excellent ventillation as we made a mean bean 'n rice combination for dinner that night. With jalepeños.

On the walk back from John's site with Michael, his host-brother. The background is what John gets to see every time he comes home. Wow!

Final view leaving John's site. I definitely look forward to my return.

We have AIDS (info that is)

2007-08-11T14:58:00.000-05:00

Over the past few weeks we've been in site for a surprisingly little amount of time, moving this way and that around Panama while helping out with training incoming groups and presenting AIDS information to interested communities from here to there. Actually, we've only given one STD/AIDS presentation (charla) so far, but Amanda, myself, and our two friends Casey and Jessica have plans to bring the charla country-wide to as many communities as we can. It's a great excuse to travel and see more of Panama while spreading the word about a subject that so few people seem to know very much about (at least in the deeper indigenous areas). So in short, its a fulfilling way to see other communities that we probably wouldn't otherwise find an excuse to see. It also serves as a nice way to fill time until we realize all of our funds for Cerro Brisa Latrine-Fest 2007. Hopefully the funds arrive soon, but until then we are keeping ourselves quite busy (in between reading all the great American classics, of course) and trying to help people along the way.

Look closely but don't touch! This fuzzy looking caterpiller can deliver an itchy, burning sting that can reportedly send small children to the hospital. Then again, small children can send small children to the hospital, so consider yourself doubly warned!

Amanda, presenting the AIDS charla to a group of about 25 teenagers and young adults from Guayabal, Casey's community.

Another shot of Amanda in action. This group was a real pleasure to teach and already knew quite a bit more than we had expected they would. That's Casey, reaching forward, and Jessica, looking enthusiastic over in the corner.

The group.

Jessica and Casey, on an early morning walk back from Casey's town after a few hard but fun days spreading AIDS awareness.

more pics...

2007-07-24T15:37:00.001-05:00

The women in the yellow skirt hosted Brian and me in her family-filled home for 3 nights during training about 8 months ago. It was really nice seeing her and her family again.

Watching a native dance just before we were pulled up to participate.

Watching a boat pass through the Panama Canal's Miraflores locks.

more pics from Lauren´s trip...

2007-07-24T15:17:00.001-05:00

Taking a canoe to the falls.

Watch out for the Piranhas!

Our first bath all week!

Just kidding.

Hiking to the falls.

Finally, a moment to relax!

Lauren´s Visit!

2007-07-24T14:18:00.000-05:00

!Salud!

Drink´n a little Pipa juice.

Enjoying some fresh orange juice comarca style

Sport´n the native Ñaguas

Eating lunch with the fam on our front porch.

Our lovely Panama city buses know as the Diablo Rojos (Red Devils)

Enjoying a fabulous dinner in Boquete, the coffee growing region of Panama, along with a fellow volunteer and good friend Casey.

June, July, August...

2007-07-23T13:08:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone! Our last update was at the end of May and much has happened since then.

In early June we continued on with our latrine project, constructing 23 latrines for the local community. This is very exciting, as all of this latrine-building will hopefully be in addition to what we'll be able to cover once realizing our full funding request for 50 community latrines. If we can proceed in this vein and eventually build the 50 in addition, we may eventually be able to cover every family in our area, which would be an amazing step towards advancing the general health of those both in Cerro Brisa as well as those downstream from its various water sources. (Please click here for more info on how to donate: https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=525-068&)

Of course, we are only helping to build latrines for families that have put forth considerable effort in obtaining one, including attending a required number of training/information sessions, hauling all of the materials needed to build their concrete slabs from our house to theirs (at least 500 pounds worth of materials that often must be carried as far as 1-2 kilometers over muddy, steep terrain!), digging their own 3-meter deep holes to the specifications we require, and helping to mix and pour their cement on work day. All of these requirements, which necessitate an amazing amount of physical effort, ensure to us that beneficiaries are not being "handed" a latrine for free, but are instead paying significantly in sweat and effort in place of any financial burden that they could not meet. The importance of this cannot be overstated, as the international development "community" has justifiably been said to have created many instances of welfare-like mentality among those it tries to help through well-intentioned yet short-sighted "handouts" which can stifle motivation and personal or community "ownership" of specific projects. It is not rare to find finished projects remaining unused and unwanted by people whose health could really benefit from the change. While nice at times, handouts and free stuff often seem to have an uncanny ability to waste money and preclude motivation in development situations of all kinds, something that has not been a problem in our area due to many factors, including the work requirement.

In addition to continuous latrine-building, Amanda and I had the honor to host my sister Lauren and show her around this little isthmus we call home. We first spent a few nights up in Cerro Brisa, hanging out with several of the locals, all of the elementary school´s teachers, and especially our host family, the Monteros, who really enjoyed meeting her and having a great time making "sparks in the dark" with a bag of Wint-O-Green lifesavers that Lauren brought down from the States for them. I´ll never forget falling to sleep with the sounds of their laughter and cheers as each took their turn to make the biggest, baddest sparks of the night. Ahhh, what we take for granted back home...

After the few days in our site, we took Lauren to the highlands of Panama to tour and sample from one of the world's highest-quality coffee regions, Boquete. Boquete is an interesting little town, and rated (by some top retirement magazine) as one of the world's best places to retire as an expat, boasts many great dining options as well as breath-taking scenery and a crisp mountain climate. We spent a few days there as well, indulging in high quality, $10 dinners and cheescake, and generally enjoying our time with our feet up on the balcony of our hostel overlooking a cool mountian brook. Reluctantly, however, we tore ourselves away from Boquete's valley to bus it roughly 10 hours in one day back to Panama City, where we continued to indulge in tasty, cheap dining, and explore some of the area's amazingly preserved national parks. To tie it all together, we took a day and went to the Panama Canal museum, which is an extremely informative exhibit on the history and operation of the canal, and is situated right next to the canal's Miraflores Locks(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraflores_(Panama)) allowing usa to sit with a snack and some tea while watching massive cargo ships rise and falls with the lock's operation. I found the museum truely fascinating and definitely reccomend it to anyone thinking about visiting Panama.

Sadly, all good vacations must come to an end, and after a bit more than a week enjoying Panama and her company, we dropped Lauren off at the airport and returned to our site in the mountains. Lucky for me, only two more months until I return to New Jersey for a week to take the LSAT and watch my good friend Jon Furnari get married, so it won't be long beofre I'm back hanging out with the fam for a short visit. Only 63 more days!!

Since Lauren's trip, we´ve mostly just been cruising back in Cerro Brisa, getting ready to prepare for an AIDS/HIV presentation as well as a few more basic ones covering teeth brushing and hand washing. Its amazing what little understanding of all three topics is evidenced here and God willing before we leave in '08 we can make at least some inroads in closing these knowledge gaps. Please keep us in your prayers and thoughts, and hopefully we'll be able to get on and update you all sooner than we did this last time. Take care!

Visual Aids

2007-05-25T15:20:00.000-05:00

While the following pictures don't offer too much in the way of continuity, they should be fun to look at and somehow actually represent much of daily life here in our site.

Maybe someone else can tell us the name of these flowers, because we have been told that they are deadly poisonous and, while gorgeous, we are not sure why they were planted in the play yard of a local school. Lesson: just because the government puts it where children are told to play, doesn't mean it won't outright kill them.

Amanda, reading spanish books to one of the neighbor kids under our new porch. Although she may have told us, we have yet to figure out why the little girl has tape on her head. Maybe she's trying to hold in her brains or something.

Remember the pictures from a while back of us cutting and pulling palm fronds? Well, this is a picture of the final product of our labors, a new house for our host-family, as you can see being constructed in this picture. That's me in the white shirt in the background.

This is Polo, our host-bro, perched on top of the newly finished palm-house. He's always full of energy, his laugh is infectious, and he's a rare example of a local kid who's mind and imagination are always seeking the stimulation and satisfaction of discovering how the world "out there" works.

Not sure what kind of flower this is either (Amanda probably does, but I don't), but we have several of them growing around our home during the dry season. They don't smell at all, but they are pretty big and make fun additions to our home.

Obviously, this is Amanda. As you can see, she's sitting in the "double" hammock that we bought and in which we can both very comfortably sit and read at the same time. We spend a LOT of time in this position, so I though I'd show you what a good deal of my daily view looks like.

This is the house built by another volunteer in our group, Jack Taylor. I suppose being from Arkansas explains how he has so much skillz building such a sweet wood hut, but I didn't think the people lived THIS nice down there!

Another view but from below. Scan the faces. Look at our postures. I will neither confim nor deny that your assumptions about this group are true.

Notes From Below

2007-05-25T11:41:00.000-05:00

Good morning from the tropics! Right now (that is, as of this writing), Amanda and I are in Panama City, the land of $20k starter homes, for a few days to have lunch with some new married couples from the incoming training group. As we were invited to this event by the Peace Corps, that means that not only do we have an advanced opportunity to talk "couple talk" with people who are likely as scared and confused as we were during training, but also that it is all paid for by the Peace Corps, which is always nice. Of course, while we're here, we plan on helping ourselves to some of what Panama City has to offer, namely; inexpensive yet exciting restaurants, a possible jazz club or two, and cappuchinos, none of the above which are available in the hinterlands whence we came.

In addition to the aformentioned good news, it has been quite an exciting few weeks for us. With our community's motivated assistance, we have completed eleven latrine floors for eleven different beneficiary families. As many of you may already know, we have not yet met our requested project fund, but are blessed to have come across enough donated and borrowed materials to get a good head start on the project for when the money finally materializes. Luckily, this project could never have too much money involved (well, I suppose there IS a limit somewhere), as virtually nobody in our area has a latrine, and we could probably go on building and building these much-needed devices without exhausting their need over the next one-and-a-half-years (that's right!!). Once again, if you feel like your wallet is just gettin' you down, you can throw some of that extra weight our way, and help us fund this much-needed community priority. To read a bit more about it and/or to donate, go here: https://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/donors/contribute/projdetail.cfm?projdesc=525-068&.

Another exciting advancement began a few weeks ago when, acting on Amanda's desire to help the community bring one of the first reliably functional libraries to the our area of the country, we met with our local school director and Panama's Ministry of Education bureaucrats to get the ball rolling. All involved, including the local teachers and community organizations, were extremely excited at the prospect, despite a preliminary estimate for its hefty price tag (possibly upwards of $10k, but we'll see). If all goes well, this library would really be the first within a four-hour walk and we're hoping to stock it not only with books about the world at large (most of the locals here, and even a few inept grade-school teachers, can't even locate Panama on the world map. Panama?!) but also with some resources out there to help undergird many community members' wish for a local Ngäbere language learning center. While it seems like this particular language is slowly being evaporated within the battles inherent to assimilation, there still exists so much value from its continued use, not to mention the pride that many Ngöbe feel when hearing their preferred tongue used in place of the Spanish that seems to be unrelentingly erasing their indigenous history like chalkboard eraser, eventually leaving no trace they ever existed save for a faint ghost of what was once there. Anyway the plans sound great, Amanda and I are excited, and if anyone knows of organizations or people that are looking to donate to projects such as this, please let us know.

The final and possibly most exciting news for us is that Lauren (my sister to those who don't know) has, after much delay, finally bought her ticket to come out and visit us at the end of June! She'll be here for a week, from June 30th to July 8th, and we have a great itinerary planned out, including a few nights in a rustic, candlelight-lit cabin, perched on a remote mountain ridge in the interior of a sweltering tropical stew. Other than this visit to where we live, we'll be going on a well-rounded canal tour, visiting one of the world's highest quality coffee-regions, and jumping into a waterfall or two. But to be honest, even if we just stayed in a hotel all week (hey, we're game!), we would be equally as thrilled just to see her down here. Here's to 35 more days to go and counting...

Other than all this, Amanda and I chug along, getting to know one another better and better each day. As inspired by another Panama Peace Corps couple, we're determined that if we get anything out of this experience (which we already have), the most important thing we could come away with will be a better developed sense of who we are in relation to God and each other. All of this time together has given us more "real time" together than probably many couples experience in a lifetime, and I know that the extra hours (although not always mutually comfortable) are paying off big-time in how deeply and completely we are learning who one another is/are (whichever is correct). I can't express how blessed we are to be doing this together, and the relationship "glue" that we are earning will undoubtedly last a lifetime. Of course, there is always the (somewhat) remote possibility that we'll go crazy and kill one another first, but that would be kind of romantic too huh? (just kidding by the way, for the more alarmist among us)

Until next time, I'll be continuing to study for the LSAT (law school admissions test), for which I plan on flying home for a week at the end of September, and Amanda will continue to cultivate and clean the new farm plot that has become her pastime in recent weeks (necessarily so, as weeds in the tropics take over within hours of clearing them due to the massive amounts of rain we receive). Take care and God Bless.

How to Build a Sit(ting)-House

2007-04-08T11:27:00.000-05:00

Although we're still waiting for the grant funding to complete the community latrine project (go to: http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.projdetail&projdesc=525-068 if you wish to donate!), we were able to build a few using the donated materials mentioned before, as well as some borrowed cement from a local community member. While we dont have pictures of the latrine floor at this time (just picture a cement slab with a hole in the middle) this is our first latrine house, and almost completes this latrine save for the roof which will come when we get the money.

First you must locate a good site for your latrine sit-house. Here we use the age-old art of divination, but instead of a forked stick, we find that a live chicken held upside-down works best.

The fun starts. Once the site is located a three-meter deep hole must be dug by pick-ax and shovel. It is unbelievably good exercise, but can leave one wanting for the heavy machinery we are so used to in the States. There aint no backhoes hea!

Amanda paying her dues in the mine shaft...er, latrine hole. In this picture she is about two and a half meters down and loving it!

After the hole is dug, you must pour the cement floor (we apologize for the lack of cement floor pictures) and then harvest the posts and wall materials for its enclosure. Here Amanda hauls a 20-yards length of bamboo to the worksite. While she may look relaxed in this picture, the bamboo-hauling stage was possibly one of the more greuling stages of the whole process; they are very heavy and usually found deep in the jungle from where they must be carried out by hand.

The bamboo is split with a machete into roughly meter-length pieces. In the background you can see th wood frame of our latrine house.

One by one, side-by-side, the walls go up.

Almost there! Brian and Felix Jr. ("Polo," just like the fragrance, in Ngabere) put the finishing slabs one the latrine's rear wall. Note how skinny Brian has become and how his pants no longer fit well. Great picture...just great.

The (almost) finished latrine house. Only lacking the roof, the latrine is immediately usable for the duration of the dry season (the roof will allow more comfortable rainy-season usage) and should last 10-15 years at this location. With the cement floor, we included some heavy-duty handles that allows the whole thing to be moved to another future hole once this one is filled, extending the overall lifetime of this latrine by 15-20 years more.

Finally relax, satisfied with a job well done. Felix, our community counterpart, taking a rare breather from working hard with his nephew, Aldemar.

Pulling Palms

2007-04-08T10:51:00.000-05:00

Well, quite a bit has been happening over the last several weeks, which partially explains why we haven't updated the blog recently. However, thanks to modern technology we can save our memories indefinitely and show them to you later...like uh, now.

Here we, along with a few community members, are helping to cut and drag huge palm fronds from several trees out in the mountains. The fronds are commonly used in our area to roof houses, and this is exactly what we are helping to make with them once they are cut, dragged, dry, and ready.

Yep, thats me with the blue shirt on, about 50-60 feet up hacking at 50-60 pound palm fronds with a razor-sharp machete. My ladder can be seen on the left, consisting of only a bamboo stalk which is shimmeyed up with nothing to catch you below but prayer and dirt. Anyway, I made it (down too).

The whole work site. Here you can see the three trees from which we harvested the palm, and the blue-shirted dot looking down at a job well done.

Amanda carrying a load of palm up to a local house for two weeks of drying in the sun. In all we cut and carried abour 50 of these things, and despite their lightweight look, they are quite heavy when freshly cut, and were dragged two-by-two up about a quarter mile uphill to the drying site.

Brian, taking his turn dragging palm. Note the fabulous hat that was recently made for him by one of the locals.

Happy Easter!

2007-04-08T10:30:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone is having a very blessed Easter. Brian and I are spending yet another holiday in a new way. Today for Easter we are quickly finishing up work on the computer before having to heading back to our site.

Brian and I along with about 50 other PC volunteers from our side of the country just spent three nights together on a skinny peninsula for our tri monthly regional meeting. Unfortunately it rained almost the entire time, which made the 1 1/2 hour boat ride quite interesting. We spent a total of 5 nights out on the peninsula for additional language classes and for our regional meeting. We were able to see what life was like out there for other volunteers who live in raised huts over looking the ocean. Brian and I enjoyed the first two days in sunny weather. One day we took a canoe out with the language teacher and a couple other volunteers. The second day I decided to stay back while the others, including Brian went fishing. I was glad I chose to stay behind when I found out from the returning volunteers as they chuckled back that Brian not only threw up but fed the fish 7 or 8 times!

Overall things in our site are feeling more and more comfortable. I can say we have adapted and can find comfort in our little cabin. I have really had a good time being creative with our dinners as I’m always trying to think of new things to cook without refrigeration, electricity or variety of veggies. It has been easier than I would expect.

We have a new pet named Spot. He has been our little bug disposal now for about a month or so. He lives above our door and eats any cockroach, spider, scorpion, or other critter we put in his web. Yes Spot is a huge spider. He looks a little dangerous but is actually harmless, (so we’ve been told). Spot has more than doubled in size since he has come to live with us. Brian loves watching him eat and experimenting with putting new critters in his web. I’m sure our family just thinks us even weirder, they just laugh.

The dry season is coming to an end. Originally we were dreading it, but have come to appreciate it more than the rainy season. We have enjoyed out time down by the stream washing clothes and bathing because it is quiet, cool peaceful and surrounded by a beautiful thick tropical forest. There is no mud and our clothes don’t mold.

Next week Brian and I will be heading off to Panama City with our counterparts to begin two new projects. Even though we are still waiting on our funding for the latrines, we will begin planning two new projects that we have found the community in great need of. Brian will be working on ways to improve our poorly functioning aqua duct system and I will be planning construction and funding for a library for our elementary school.

Brian and I have been able to get our hands dirty as we have built our latrine and helped our host family with a new kitchen. For me labor has been an awesome way for me to get a little recognition from the men in our community that I’m there to work as well and not just as Tochi´s (Brian’s) house wife. I think my labor has spoken louder than me trying to communicate verbally in my cave man Spanish.
Anyway, I found out that I love to dig. Brian and I dug about 3 meters deep with just a pick, shovel and bucket for our latrine. Then we spent a day cutting and caring 5, 15-20 yard bamboo we than spent the next several days cutting and using for our latrine walls and new dish washing station. Another several days we spent cutting and carrying huge palms for our host family’s new kitchen roof.

Our family has introduced us to many new fruits since we have been here and our new favorite one is the marañon, which is the fruit that cashews come from. You can eat the fruit and then take the seed that grows on top of the fruit, roast it, crack it open and then eat the cashew. I made stir fry once with them. They are sooo yummy!

Brian and I are continue to have good health and are well. Brian did get kicked by a horse the other day while they were both reaching for marañon. The horse did a side kick to his elbow which was quite swollen for a few days. His elbow has healed and he probably won’t try to compete for marañon with the horse anymore.

Brian is eagerly waiting to start studying for the LSAT. He will be getting his study books in about a week. In September he will take a week trip to the East coast to take the exam. I think it will bring him the type of outlet he has been missing.
I have found my outlet in daily yoga and scripture reading. I wake up early before anyone else and stretch for about 20-45 minutes and then read for about the same amount of time. I feel more alive, healthy, and clear minded. I have found the extra time to stretch, pray and read the Bible have been so amazing for me. It is my favorite time of the day. One of the verses I’ve been meditating on is 1 Thessalonians 5:8, ¨In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.¨ It has been refreshing for me to go back to the basic teachings of Jesus and meditating on them. I must say I have missed going to church, but I have found a new sense of focus and peace that I’ve gotten in silence without sermons or study groups. It has been very fulfilling.

We keep all of you in our prayers and thoughts. Please email us, send a note in the blog or even write if you get the time because we love to get updates on everyone at home. We miss you all tons!

In Site

2007-02-12T18:45:00.000-06:00

Amanda, playing ball with the kids in the rain!

Oh yeah, I curiously forgot to mention that in our site all families make and burn a life-sized doll to signify the ending of the old year and the beginning of the new. Despite the dangerous mix of excessive alcohol and fire, nobody was burned (that we know of), and some of the more creative dolls were quite impressive. There was even one that was obviously made up to be like Fidel Castro!

Burn 2006, BURN!!!

Us and the Fam, in a waterfall.

The arrival of our free latrine supplies. Many people form the local community showed up to watch and help, which was great!

Not to be outdone by Amanda, I went out and found my own plague of insects to torment my skin with itchy bites! These are from these little no-see-um type fleas and, while annoying and abundant, their itch only lasts about an hour or so.

And finally...the office.

Coffee Time in the Comarca

2007-02-12T17:47:00.000-06:00

Our backyard coffee-making was a great learning experience as we were taught by our host-family to peel, roast, prepare, grind and drink (which we already had a good handle on) the beans from fruit to smile.

After drying the red fruit in the sun for days, you soak it until you're left with only a bean, and pick out all of the sticks and bugs

You then roast the beans (in a roaster if you like, over a fire if you're living in the jungle) until their thin, crispy outer covering starts to come off like a loose paper shell.

Amanda, stirring it up like Bob Marley!

After the shell loosens, you pound the beans with a medieval jousting-looking device (this may be a westernized, non-traditional name for it, but I'm not sure) until all of the shells are loosened and flying through the air.

Once done pounding the beans, we layed them out on a tray-like device to begin seperating the good stuff from the bad (that is, the inner bean from its outer shell)

Felix, our community counter-part and host dad, using a shaking technique to sperate the light, airy outer shells from the inside bean. As you can tell by now, this process is integral to the whole coffee-making process and involves many intermediary steps to arrive at a point of completion.

Back into the fire, as the roasting of the beans, and their associated aroma, begins!

Getting warmer! (and better smelling!)

After about a half-hour of roatsing over a fire, the bean are done, and need to be cooled for about twenty minutes or so.

Amanda, grinding the beans into a "Comarca" consistency. While not as fine as an espresso grind, or any other commercial grind for that matter, it is good enough to dump into hot water for a tasty brew.

Finally, and with smiles on our faces, we enjoy what we worked so hard to make over that last two hours! Bottoms up!

Happy Valentine´s Day!

2007-02-12T16:30:00.000-06:00

WOW! It´s been a long time since the blog was last updated, quite a bit has been going on at our site, and so we have quite a bit to share with everyone.

It seems that we last left you at our mud-fest/soccer match sometime in the middle of December. Well, shortly after this can New Year´s eve/day, which was an amazing display of drunkeness that we hope to avoid next year. Yes, the ugly side of Panama came out in full force on this day, when seemingly the entire community (and reportedly, much of Panama) began a completely unrestrained drinking binge a few days before New Year's, peaking on the actual day, and then supposedly tapering off over the next four or five days. We wouldn't know for sure, as we got out heck out of Dodge the morning of New Year's Day in order to avoid any further "complications" and made our way to the beautiful mountain hamlet named Boquete, where we met up with our friends and felow volunteers, David and Nida, fom he Cleveland area. This escape to the heart of Panama's coffee-growing region was much needed, and as it hosts quite a large population of expats, we were able to relax and eat delicious food in an atmosphere closer to what we're used to (it was also quite chilly up there, which was such a welcome change from the eternal humidity of the rest of the isthmus).

Anyway, after tearing ourselves away from our favorite part of Panama, we returned to our site a few days later to find the people sober (for the most part), safe, and happy. In contrast to everyone laying on the ground as we had left them earlier, they were now relaxing in their hammocks shaking off the residual effects of the previous week's insanity. This was a good thing, as the community latrine project that we're helping with is finally getting under way, and we needed everyone bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the work that was to follow.

First, a bit of background information on the project: as of now 92% of the population of Cerro Brisa (our pueblo=site) craps in the woods or in the streams. Now, normally this wouldn't be much of a problem, and is actually quite an attractive option for many as crapping in rivers is supposed to be refreshing beyond words. But the vast majority of our community also has no access to potable water beyond tat which is drawn from the streams and rivers; yes, the same streams and rivers which they use for their "personal refreshment." As such, the people realized that something should be done.

The outside world kept telling them that they were savages for doing this, even though they had done it as long as can be remembered, and they kept on contracting debilitating intestinal illnesses, which they had also been contracting for as long as can be remembered. So, bucking the romantically technicolor notions that many of us in the states have of indigenous life before western contact, the community decided to approach the Peace Corps and propose a few very western-style projects for the protection of their long-term health, the pit latrine, an aqueduct system, and anything else that can be collectively dreamed up. This is basically where we come in.

Anyway, the local MINSA branch (local=two hours away), which is an acronym that basically means the national ministry of health, was offering area projects 10 combined cubic meters of sand and rock, two items that are essential to the 50 latrines that we hoped to build. After some wrangling and negotiating with one of the local "Chinos" to help deliver the materials (a "Chino" is the popular term here for convenience store. As can be guessed, "Chino" means Chinese and, true to many American stereotypes about Asians, they seem to own almost all of the convenience stores in Panama too...someone should write a dissertation on this), everything came up to our site and we now have two piles, one of rock and one of sand, laying in front of our house. While the actual materials are also essential to the project's completion, it is their arrival as a symbol of progress that means the most to the community. In an area often severely neglected by the rest of Panamanian society, tangible evidence that a project started by themselves and for their collective health is commencing, is a cause for celebration.

However projects in Panama take time, and projects in the Panamanian countryside take forever, so the rock and sand is still sitting in our front yard. But the project is still advancing, and after meeting nearly everyone in the community individually over the last month and reinforcing their roles in this endeavor, we´ve typed, refined, and typed again until we finally submitted a grant proposal for just under $6,000 to complete the project. All we do now is wait and see if we'll receive the funding we're looking for, and as soon as we have the money, we'll finish the project and everyone will be happy! As most types of grants through the Peace Corps (including ours) must also be open to participation by the general public, you too can donate to our project. Simply go to:
http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.volproj
and click on the project next to our name under "Panama." If you do not see our name there, don't worry, it should probably appear within three weeks so if you return periodically to the above link, you'll have your chance and we'll be closer to having our latrines.

Well, aside from our latrine-building project, we were able to get away for the last few days to Panama City, which has been really nice. We mainly came in to take care of some infected bites from God-knows-what on my body at a Peace Corps affiliated doctor, but decided to stick around a bit to enjoy ourselves as well.

While there is no hiding the fact that Panama City is a work in progress, it does boast some great restaurants and fun places to visit and play. One jewel that we discovered this trip in Panama's only legit bagel cafe, which we (we=almost 20 of us volunteers) soaked in for a good 3 hours on Saturday morning; Bill=$5 for the whole 3 hours of giddy fullness. Then at night, we found a fantastic vegetarian "restaurant and chocolateria" at which we asked them to prove their claims and left with flavanoid-induced smiles on our faces and a mental note to return the next time we're in the city; Bill=$25 for the top-end dining experience. Obviously, while Panama City dining is not the pocket-change bargain that one'll find out in the country-side, it still comes in at an attractive 20-30% discount over similar experiences in the US, which is much appreciated by Peace Corps Volunteers surviving on appallingly-low daily stipends (however, which will make for great FAFSA forms when the time for Graduate School financial aid needs arise!).

Well, that's all for now. It looks like we'll be back in our site for a while as the latrine project revs up, and that'll keep us busy. We may come out for a day or two to celebrate my 28th birthday (on February 22nd), but we'll see. If we can stand being completely shut out from almost any contact with the outside world, then we may just stay in the jungle until we turn into banana trees. But hopefully that won't happen, because that would make it quite difficult to update the blog when the next opportunity arises. Either way, until then, Peace & God Bless!

Last Shots for Today!

2006-12-13T11:40:00.000-06:00

A few random shots from around the casa.

Brian and Eidith, dominating Felix and Arron in a little pick-up game of backyard soccer. Note the gravel in the foreground. Here, my distinct advantage in size was quickly pared when forced to tip-toe over this area which the kids could sprint over without any resultant foot-damage. Lesson: control the game, keep it away from the gravel!

The results of the post-game mudfest. That´s Arron on the left (again, our prime suspect in the case of Mimi´s missing eye), Felix in the middle, and Eidith. on the right

Brian, celebrating with all for a game well played!

Some of the kids bringing flowerts to our window in a much cleaner moment. It seems that whenever Amanda notes how much she likes flowers, any kid within earshot will run around striping the land of them and delivering them until begged to stop. (The aspiring sommeliers among us will note that the bottle of wine is indeed of California origin, Carlo Rossi, I believe)

Local Wildlife

2006-12-13T11:16:00.000-06:00

Another parrot. This one is a pet of our neighbors, and speaks Spanish almost non-stop throughout the day, sounding earily like a young Panamanian child talking to itself.

Amanda, being attacked by a ferociously massive butterfly in front of our house. This lasted for at least 10 minutes.

Another shot of the unquenchable beast.

A friendlier, and to Amanda´s delight, furrier animal of the Panamanian jungle, a baby rabbit-type thing. The animal was delivered to us by our host family after seeing pictures of Amanda´s former pet rat. They figured it would be a good idea to provide us with another, similar experience, but it unfortunately died a few days later, probably from many causes.

An appx. 7-ft. boa constricter found in the jungle only about 100 yards or so from the house. While not big enough to kill a human, it could probably take out any medium-sized animal with no problem.

A blurry action-shot of the same snake. True to form, our host-father crushed its head with a machete soon afterwards, allowing us only a few photos. Point made: snakes not welcome near the house.

World AIDS Day

2006-12-13T10:53:00.000-06:00

Some pictures of Amanda and I helping Trisha to organize and run a successful AIDS presentation at the local school.

Proposing the topic wasn´t easy, as to convey the idea that we wished to organize a community presentation to coincide with "World AIDS Day," we only knew how to say in Spanish that we wished for "a day to celebrate AIDS in the world," which is not exactly what we meant and which drew more than a few confused looks. Regardless, the day went off rather well, and I think everyone learned a lot.

Amanda and Trisha at the front of the class, presenting Panama´s AIDS statistics lecture-style.

Trisha and Brian at the back of the classroom, leading an interactive game that illustrated how AIDS can be spread.

The classroom from the back, if you squint you can see Amanda sitting against the wall at the very front.

More or less the same shot, but this time Amanda is standing.

Inside The House

2006-12-13T10:04:00.000-06:00

Immerse yourself...in the world of a Panamanian jungle shack!

These gourds, called calabasas in Spanish, can be cut and carved for a myriad of uses. Here, we are drying them out to use as mugs and hanging herb planters. (or motorcycle helmets)

A view of our "kitchen." As you can see, we have a gas stove, a few shelves, and two silver water filters. Amanda took great pains to cover everything in this area with an easy-wipe sticky paper with a kitchen-tile graphic. I think it looks great.

Now, if you were looking at the kitchen in the above photo, and turned appx. 90 degrees to the right, this is what you´d see; our book shelf down below, and the corner of our bed to the right. Those buckets are filled with water just in case the aqueduct goes out unexpectedly (which it will any day now for the next four-month dry season!) .

Ok, rotate yourself another 90 degrees or so to the right (and, uh... take a step forward) and you´ll see our bed and part of the table; both places that we spend a lot of time.

Finally, take a little step backwards, rotate 90 degrees to the right again, and you´ll see our clothes and "stuff" shelves. That´s our table in the foreground, and the green orb on top is a ripe, undried calabasa, ready for carving. If you were to look towards the right from this location, you would be looking at the kitchen area as seen in the second picture above.

Thanksgiving!

2006-12-13T09:45:00.000-06:00

These three pictures are from our Thanksgiving celebration in the beautiful mountain town of Cerro Punta, and which was a much-needed distraction from our initial month in-site.

The lodge, "Los Quetzales" (www.losquetzales.com), where we stayed, ate, and hiked through the amazing surrounding cloud forest.

Us and some of our Peace Corps friends. From left to right is Amanda, the Jessica, Brian, & Leah.

Although farmers in Cerro Punta seem to grow a variety of crops, strawberries are everywhere, as are small "fresh cream and strawberries" stands to delight the taste buds.

Cleaning House.

2006-12-13T09:09:00.000-06:00

I know that we have been inundating you with pictures lately, but I hope that they´re helping to convey a better image of our lives here than we ever could through text. Either way, by posting more pictures we´re saving a lot of space; with each one being worth 1,000 words, we´d be through our "blogspot.com" space allowance in no time without them!

Here are a few early-morning shots of our hour-and-a-half walk on the road from our house to the "Pan-American Highway," which is the main highway that basically connects everything from Alaska to Chile, and is Panama´s major transportation artery. (for many reasons, political, social, and environmental, the Pan-American stops about 50 miles from Colombia, then restarts south of the border. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interamerican_Highway)

A tree stump that kind of looks like a pig´s head!

Like taking a picture of the Grand Canyon, this shot does reality no justice.

A bridge towards the bottom of our walk. Note the metal floor gapping in several areas. While seemingly not dangerous to walk across, it is a harrowing experience to cross on a "chiva" loaded down with more than 2,000 pounds of people. Most chiva drivers swing to the left to avoid the degraded section, but one likes to speed up and test fate by flying over the wheel-sized gaps´ 20-foot drops. Exciting!

A tough one to see in the madrugada (early-morning hours, but it is a sunrise nonetheless, and a very beautiful one at that!

A few random shots...

2006-11-25T13:01:00.000-06:00

A "Harpy Eagle" that we saw at a local refuge organization. The Harpy is the world's most powerful bird-of-prey, with claws and diving-velocity powerful enough to snatch 100 lb. sloths out of 100 ft. trees with ease.

A young Ngobe girl leading Panama's "Flag Day" parade at the local Cerro Brisa elementary school.

Amanda during Flag Day celebrations, participating in the tried and true "lime-on-the-end-of-a-spoon-in-your-mouth" relay race. We didn't win this one...(note the children in the foreground watching the other racers waaaay down to the left)

"Mimi," the tragically one-eyed pet dog of the Montero family. True to how Panamanians seem to regard their pets, the family heartily laughs everytime we bemoan the fact that Mimi lost her eye to a local kid's well-aimed marble.

"Kenya" (we think), a cousin of the Montero family, who lives nearby and whose brother is the prime suspect in the case of Mimi's missing eye.

No, not a tree with an afro! This is a termite (or maybe an ant?) nest about the size of two basketballs. They are everywhere, and are burned by the Ngobe during funerals to ward off evil spirits.

Around the House....

2006-11-25T11:34:00.000-06:00

Backyard table at our host-family's house. We usually eat outside only for special occasions as it frequently rains most of the day during the dry wet season, which ends in mid-December

The view towards the right from the door of our small "studio." This road is our link to the outside world, and a two 4x4 pick-ups (called "chivas") packed full of people travel its appx. one-hour length roughly 4-5 times per day. While the ride is dangerous and uncomfortable, one can jump on the back of the pick-up and hold dearly onto its welded iron bars, while it skips and slides over the mud-trenched and cliff-flanked rock road for a mere .75 .

A view of our front door and porch area from the direction of the road. The hombre, Felix Montero, is the father of the family in whose home we reside. His family is one of the hardest-working, friendliest, and involved families we have as of yet encountered in Panama. The woman on the right is Heather Ballance, the volunteer Amanda & I replaced in Cerro Brisa (our community), who was a great help to us during our initial site orientation.

A wider view of the whole house. As you can see, our "studio" is attached to the rest of the Montero house, but we have our own entrance and personal space, which makes it feel very private and comfortable. We hope to remain here for the duration of our two-year service

Felix Montero, holding out a "baby" venemous snake that he found while clearing land near his house with the pictured machete. I am not sure what the name of thise snake is, but he assured us that it could kill us quite efficiently.

A closer view of the above snake. Don't worry, it is quite dead.

Brian, doing what he does best.

Amanda sucking on/eating cacao seeds from the cacao fruit. If you've never done this before, its really hard to explain (trust me), but it is definitely one of the tastier experiences we've had thusfar.

WooooooOOO.....PICTURES!!!

2006-11-25T10:41:00.000-06:00

Swear-In day! This is a (admittedly poor) photo of our Environ. Health training group shortly after swearing-in at the Panama Canal Museum.

Shortly after swearing-in, our whole group (appx. 34 volunteers) went to the beach for a few days and, as it coincided with Halloween, rather spontaneously organized a costume party at which the theme needed to evoke "Panama" in some meaningful way.

As tumbling garbage is an excessively common site in many (most?) Panamanian towns, streets, yards, sidewalks, etc, our dynamic duo took advantage of its low cost and easy acquisition to use it for our guise. Yes, we were garbage for Halloween.

Creativity abounded, with our friend Casey (from Kansas) donning the familiar garb of a government policy representative. Not long ago, Panama held a popular referendum to widen the canal, before which the federal government went throughout the country to promote their (obvious) opinion in its favor. (side note: the widening was, thankfully and overwhelmingly, approved by appx. 80% of voters. VOTA SI!)

Our new site/ home...

2006-11-25T10:19:00.000-06:00

Hey Everyone!

Brian and I have now been in our site now for almost a month! It has been an adjustment, like everything has been in Panama, but we definitely have been adjusting well. Overall, we are happy, healthy and glad to be doing what we´re doing.... a lot of reading! We have begun doing some work in our community, but it is always slow moving for most new volunteers during the first few months, which allows for a lot of reading time. I think Brian as already read something like 10 books in only the last four weeks!!

A little about our living situation: We live in a good size room that is attached to our counterpart's family's house. The former volunteer lived in the same room for a year. Usually one stays with a family for 3 months and then moves out on their own, but they invited her to stay longer, which she did and which we also hope to do. Our room is big enough for a full size bed, a table, three shelves and a little cooking area. We also have two windows and our own entrance. We have our privacy and I have been busy trying my best to create a cosy home for Brian and I. Trying to find a balance between creating a relatively comfortable home for us while not being too ostentatious can be a challenge, however, as appointments that we consider basic and essential for our sanity are still often out of reach for the majority of our community.

Our counterpart, Felix Montero and his family are better than we could have hoped for. Felix is super-motivated and way ahead of his community. He does it all including; maintaining his diversified organic vegetable/fruit garden, his tilapia (fresh-water fish) farm, building a house for his neighbor ( as well as other things for people in the community), acting as president for the parent committee at the school (kind of like a PTA), helping with the aquaduct committee (which maintains the system), latrine committee (which wil have more work to do once we help to build them), and a number of other things. Lately he has been requesting for us to give talks about AIDS and HIV, which is almost unheard of for someone in an indigenous community to take such a great interest in. Therefore, Brian and I have set up a two day seminar on HIV and AIDS for both young adults and adults for next week in celebration of world HIV/AIDS awareness day. Felix is an amazing person with lots of energy who I know will keep Brian and I on our toes. We also recently hosted a presentation by the Panamanian Ministry of Health in our community regarding basic nutrition, which went really well even after an unanticipated 2 hr delay!

Hi wife Angela and two kids, Felix Jr. (10) and Nata (19) are also wonderful. They have been hospitable and respectful above and beyond our expectations. Each day they make us three meals for which we are very thankful. The food is simple and usualy fried, but tasty. We also have one of the only latrines in the community near our house and have a cement area for taking bucket showers (with plastic-tarp walls, which makes bathing in breezy conditions rather interesting!). The family also has two dogs, a horse and many chickens, roosters and ducks.

Our community sits on a ridge in the mountains surrounded by other small communities above us and below. We live right off the dirt road which makes getting to and from our site pretty easy. We usualy have the option of taking a chiva (small truck) up and down the moutain (about 1 hr.) or walking (1 1/2hrs.). We are surrounded by lush trees with amazing views. We have one school in our community with an uncounted number of kids in grades k-8. The teachers are mostly latino and who commute in from towns outside of the area. They are very friendly and great to have around. We have already been invited to eat at a teacher's house for Christmas. In addition to the teachers most people in our indigenous Ngobe community are also very friendly, while are usually very shy at first.

So far, we have yet to have very many problems with unwanted critters. We do have these little gnats that come out during dusk which will eat you alive before you even notice. Thankfully, they don´t itch too much (unlike thier unbelievably evil cousin, the chigger) and if you don´t scratch thier bites go away within a day or two. Other than the nightly moths, roaches, and occasional palm-sized spider, we can´t really complain. However.....

The other morning Brian woke me up around 4:30am saying he though there was a bat in our mosquito netting (which we seal ourselves in during the night). I was half asleep and told him to go back to sleep. He kept saying he thought one was in our net and I kept telling him he must have been dreaming. Finally after his persitance I picked my head up to look up and as soon as I did a bat came charging at my face! We both dove under the sheet as Brian shouted, "lets hide!!" I began cracking up so hard and we both giggled like little kids under the sheet trying to figure out what to do. I finally slid out and we were able to get the bat out with a broom. I still laugh when I think about it and can hear him saying "let´s hide". (side-note: Brian swears the bat had a wing-span the size of an eagle)

Brian and I also had our first overnight guest on Monday. Another volunteer (Casey) from our group walked a few hrs from his site to come to our first health presentation. We then showed him around the area and roasted marshmallows and made smores on our propane stove. Ahhh the simple pleasures in life!

The next day we made our journey together as we travelled to an amazing town named Cerra Punta. It´s close to the Costa Rican boarder and at a higher elevation than Denver. There about 120 Peace Corps volunteers met at a local cabin/lodge resort to celebrate Thanksgiving. The town was misty in the mornings and evenings while sunny during the day, but always a little nippy. I took my first hot bath in months, which was like a slice of heaven. We went on a beautiful guided hike though a tropical forest over bridges and streams and past jungle foilage of every kind. The hillsides were covered in rich agriculture and flowers, and it seemed that strawberries were the local crop of choice. The only bummer was that we didn´t get to eat until about 8:30 at night because the cooks (PC volunteers) ran so far behind (we were scheduled to start at 3:00-ish. In addition, aswe we are the newest volunteer group we were forced to eat last, not leaving much of a variety of food left. But overall we ate well and had a very nice time.

Yesterday on the way back to our site, we arrived in our provincial capitol named David. David is a rather uninteresting city that supports many of the sterotypes associated with chaotic, dirty Latin American cities. Regardless, we spent the night so we could buy a few things and update the blog and will be returning to our site today.

We hope all is well with everyone, and hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Brian and I are both very thankful for the blessing of having you all as our family and friends, and we look forward to future Thanksgivings in your company.

Update!

2006-10-25T17:36:00.000-05:00

Well, training is finally over for us, and we're excited that tomorrow (Thursday the 26th) we'll be sworn in by the Ambassador as official volunteers. We're pretty excited, both for the swearing-in and the after party, and also to finally et this ball called Peace Corps rolling. Although we both don't have too many gripes about our training experience, we're definitely excited to get into our site and working on some real projects.

I've also been meaning to mention that due to some difficulties with our previous site (yes, yes, the one with the baby anteater and the Kuna-by-the-lake village), Amanda and I have actually changed sites and suffice it to say that we're both very happy with the change. We've already seen the site, but unfortunately did not yet take any pictures, so I'll need to update that in the future when we can. It's quite different from the Kuna site, is on a ridgeline in the Western part of Panama, and is high enough to actually be quite cool in the evening. Also, we'll be moving right into the house of another volunteer who is leaving this week, so many of her accumulated comforts will transfer to us (unless she takes them with her, that is). We look forward to it and will update the blog as soon as possible.

As for the two of us, we have been enjoying the past few days in Panama City at the Peace Corps headquarters, allowing our bug bites to heal and enjoying a few days of air-conditioning and hot showers. We wish that all of you could be there with us tomorrow, but we do hope to provide some pictures of the ceremony that everyone can enjoy. Although the internet will be available in the near future, we are now moving to our two-year site, and it will take some time to scope out the local computer scene (the nearest electricity is an hour away!) and update the blog. Until then, God Bless, and we'll hopefully not be too long in our return to cyberworld.

Cleaning house.

2006-10-16T18:26:00.000-05:00

Here´s some extra shots that we´ve been meaning to upload, but haven´t had the time. I believe that they´re all from our two-week cultural/technical weeks that we ¨went through¨ not long ago.

Amanda with a few other volunteers, building a composting latrine.

Brian and Roenel (another PC Volunteer) putting the finishing work on an outdoor grill/stove.

Pound that block into place, Amanda! Placing blocks into cement is not easy, but Amanda had the technique down in no time.

Familiar dress for the Latino boys out in the countryside. The hat is considered ¨very Panamanian,¨ and can be seen throughout the country on men big and...small.

Amanda with the latrines again! This is the same latrine from the above pictures and as you can see, is progressing nicely.

Unfortunately, the wages of latrine-building are strange insect bites. We haven´t yet identified the origins of these very itchy bites on Amanda´s leg, but suspect chiggers.

More bites...definitely chiggers, whose itchiness is well beyond reason.

Well, that´s all for now. We have two more weeks and we´ll hopefully be back in site. Please pray for our resolve and the next two weeks out here!

And...

2006-10-16T14:58:00.000-05:00

For those of you who read this site for more than just the articles!

A rather flattering view of Icanti.

Brian at break fast ...mmm, fried plantains anyone?

The inside of our host family´s home. This is where we´ll be living for the first three months of our two-year service! Note our two ¨beds¨ in the foreground.

Side view of our ¨beds,¨ along with our pretty, sheer-blue mosquito net. We take home fashions to the next level out here in the jungle.

The princess underneath her canopy. Although seemingly in an awkward position with her elbows up like that, Amanda can assure you that she was very comfortable when this photo was taken.

Kuna? Amanda? Both! Amanda was honored to be lent this ¨mola,¨ which is the traditional, hand-stitched apliqué for which the Kuna are world-renowned.

Heaven...both for this little baby anteater and Amanda, who melted into¨fuzzy-animal bliss¨ when this little guy decided to curl up in her lap for a...uh...nap.

The folks. This is Mr. and Mrs. Gonzalez, our host-family in Icanti. Mr. Gonzalez is one of the three ¨Sialas,¨ who are basically the chiefs of the Kuna social hierarchy.

Well...

2006-10-16T11:48:00.000-05:00

We´re back! By this I mean not that we´re back in the US, but rather from our latest foray into the wilds of the Panamanian jungle. When we last updated the blog, Amanda and I were relaxing at a hotel in Panama City, soaking up as much deliciously-idle time as we possibly could. Since returning from this brief indulgement, we sailed through another week of Spanish class back at our training site, then started on a 5-day visit to the pueblo which would soon be our home for two years! Needless to say, we were both very excited, but also anxious, to finally realize a view of where we´ll be living for 730 days based on observation, rather than through the exaggerated vision of our own imaginations.

We left from a government-sponsored training site, where members of our future community came to pick us up and participate in a couple of days worth of presentations regarding our roles as Peace Corps volunteers in their villages.

This was an important two days, as I believe that it helped us all start on the same page, while dispeling any (commonly held) ideas that we were moving out into the jungle with endless amounts of money for whatever the comunity could agree on. As expected, this clarification disappointed some who thought we would be their golden egg layed at last; a group of Americans come with Quixotic ideals and deep pockets to fulfill the farthest-reaching dreams of all who could rub our lamps. However, our job descriptions embody more complexity and (thankfully) far more sustainability than many would prefer. While many of our counterparts would rather an instant source of funds and labor, we are, ideally, here to organize and teach communities how to realize funds, labor and technical know-how...rather than just dropping it into their laps. In this way, communities are able to change themselves, which is often a radically better alternative than handing out improperly-vetted community grants. But I digress...

Our site is roughly 4 hours by bus from Panama city to a road-side pueblo centered around a police checkpoint. Here we de-bus, and jump onto a boat (usually a dugout canoe with a 15 HP-motor attached) for an approximatly 1-hour boatride across a stunning lake, finally landing at the shores of Agua Clara (also known as Icanti, and I´ll use these names interchangably from here on out). Once you step off of the boat, you´re in a different world; all of the homes are made of sticks and thatched-roof (called penca, in Panama), about half of the children run around naked (these are usually the obnoxious ones who probably tore off their own clothes and are synonymous with the kids from our own memories who ran around our neighborhoods with red-juice stains on their upper lips and were always found near the origins of trouble), and widespread malnutrition is obvious.

With about 1000 people there, and one latrine (a euphamism for a big hole-in-the-ground), you can imagine that many people look for easier alternatives, like the river for their ¨personal-disposal¨ needs. Needless to say, there is no internet, but there are generators to power the single most ubiquitous household item in Panama´s developing world: TVs. Despite being able to satisfy our weekly need for trashy Spanish soap-operas, it will be a difficult two years, as new beginnings usually are, but Amanda and I have resolved to stick it out.

On the positive side, we were welcomed officially by the three Silas (one of which is our host-father), who are the village chiefs and through whom everything related to the village is decided. Our host family, which consists of two extremely nice empty-nesters, is an amazing blessing, and staying with them in their spacious home until we get on our feet is an unbeatable alternative to living in one of the other homes (which are often dark, smoky, and packed with sick children).

As may have been noted before, Kuna culture is extremely strong and proud, despite the inevitable changes that come with outside contact, and Kuna is the first language of every person that we met. While both a curse and a blessing at times, the maintenance of their ancient language is testament to their ability to both prioritize and preserve their culture above almost everything else. We´ll definitely expand on this further as we discover more of their intricacies and customs, but suffice it to say that for now we´re both excited and bewildered at the possibilty of coming back to the States with broken abilities in both Spanish and Kuna. With seemingly three-quarters of Icanti speaking Kuna, I anticipate having to prioritize studying Spanish quite a bit on our own time in order return fluent, which still remains one of our most important goals during Peace Corps service.

I realize that this entry has become quite long, so I´ll just say that we had a challenging time for the five days that we were at our site, and even considered coming back home. I am thankfull that we have one another for encouragment and support, for laughs at the right time and conversation to help in the ¨escape.¨ We´re determine to stick it out, malaria and all, with the knowledge that, during moments of clarity, and when looking back on the experience years from now, we´ll know it to be one of the best, most rewarding times of our lives...(but check back with us in two years on that one).

In Lala Land...

2006-10-01T11:45:00.000-05:00

Brian just finished up two weeks of cultural and technical training while I had one week of cultural and technical training and one week of Spanish classes. After our first week of training at different volunteer sites I went back to Santa Clara and stayed with our host family. It was really nice to be back in a home with showers and a bed. Our host family takes good care of us. My Spanish teacher came to my house everyday for 5 hrs. I had no one to speak English to so I think I learned a lot.

It has been one year and almost a month since Brian and I got married and were unable to celebrate our anniversary on the real day as we were at opposite ends of the country. Finally we were able to plan one night in the city together. I had been counting down the days until Brian and I were to meet in the city on Saturday and I was VERY pleasantly surprised to see him a day early in Santa Clara!! He told our family that he came to steal me away a day early. So he whisked me away to the city.

Friday night we ate cheese, bread, and sliced apples while sipping on wine and listening to live jazz music. Yesterday we slept in, had a restful day to ourselves and went to a very romantic candle-lit Japanese/Italian fusion resturant. Afterwards we went to another great restaurant and shared cheescake and martinis. It was so much fun to get dressed up and wear makeup; I felt like a women again. Brian and I have really appreciated this time of privacy, HOT showers, a comfortable bed, being in airconditioning, having no adjenda and just having some quality time together. We will stay at our hotel until our 3pm checkout time and then head off to the mall to enjoy a little more airconditioning, phone/computer time before we head back to Santa Clara (our training site).

Next week we will have more technical training and Spanish classes. The second week we will be visiting our Kuna site for the first time to see what our future community will be like. The third week we will have more training in Santa Clara and finally we will be swearing in on our fourth week as official Peace Corps Volunteers!! (On the 26th of October)

A few more shots...

2006-10-01T11:42:00.000-05:00

...from the last few weeks.

Our host family at our training site. From left to right is Luis, Daniel, Christobel, Luis (Sr.), and of course, Aura (Sra.) Sanchez. They are awesome people and take very good care of us.

If you´ve ever seen the movie ¨Outbreak,¨ then you´ll know the connotations this monkey had for us. Regardless, it was cute, so we played with it and let it breathe all over us.

The Outbreak monkey on my shoulder. Note its long tail and scary teeth.

It´s always a trip to hear parrots speaking in Spanish!

If you look closely, you´ll see about five or six howler monkeys in this tree. They are ubiquitous in the area where we´ll be living, and occasionally scream in unison in deep base. It makes them sound much bigger than they really are and, while entertaining, can be somewhat disconcerting when heard from the deeps of the jungle!

VIVA PANAMA!!

Picture Time!!!

2006-10-01T10:35:00.000-05:00

Here´s some recent shots from our last several weeks on the world´s greatest isthmus!

Our two favorite volunteers, on a boat in Chagras National Park. This river, which is relatively pristine, was our shower for a few days!

This is the Embera village that Amanda mentioned in our last entry. It´s located right on the banks of the above river. Note that the homes are all elevated at least 10 feet above the ground!

Amanda and a few Embera girls from the village. As understanding one another wasn´t easy, it wasn´t until later that we realized that the majority of their conversation was inquiring about another Peace Corps volunteer that they all had a crush on!

A fine example of neo-thatch Junglian style architecture, in its purest form.
Although not similar to our future hut, this one is rather typical of the style in Panama, and in which many Peace Corps volunteers spend their two years.

Hanging out at an amazing waterfall! I´d say we spent at least two or three hours jumping and swimming at this wonderfully picturesque retreat.

Our friend and fellow Peace Corps volunteer, Yemiymah hanging out at the waterfall. She is from Chicago where, although it claims many beautiful public fountains and parks, cannot boast of waterfalls of this caliber.

We wear our mantle of suffering and service for our country with pride and gratefulness. Thanks Uncle Sam!

HOLA Familia y Amigos!!!

2006-09-25T15:08:00.000-05:00

(a work in progress over the past week)
Brian and I have been quite busy! Right now we are in the middle of our two weeks of cultural and technical training which is being held in different volunteer sites.

We had an amazing visit to an Embera indigenous village that you had to take a canoe to get to. The Embera are known for their beautiful weaved baskets. If any of you saw the movie, ¨The End of the Spear¨ then you might remember the group of ingenious people in the movie. Well the villagers in the movie are the same people we lived with for a few days. The dad in the hut we stayed in was one of the villagers who speared one of the missionaries in the movie! Their huts were elevated quite high reaching into the trees. You had to climb carved out tree trunks (as a ladder) to get up in them. The floors were made out of really flexible wood that gave when you walked on it. It is a type of wood that despite the flexibility it is actually really sturdy. However, I couldn't help but feel a little uneasy walking on it.

Another thing that took me off guard was that most families in this village had TVs!!! Often the women don´t wear shirts and the men traditionally wear nothing but a small beaded skirt over a loin cloth. The interior of the huts didn´t have much of anything in them but I was shocked to find most huts had TVs We have noticed that almost all Panamanians have a TV no matter how undeveloped of a place one might live in. All you need is a simple generator.

One day we took a canoe up the river to an amazing waterfall. It was so refreshing to swim in such clean water and play in the water fall. On our way back we did run into a poisonous snake! It ended up swimming away though...feeww!

The second site was not as .... lets just say comfortable. Yesterday I had one of my most challenging days. I almost had a nervous breakdown. I woke up with bites all over my body that burned and itched. Most often the bites are from a little red bug that bits, sits in your skin and sucks your blood. They make you long for the days when mosquitoes were your only worry. We had been working pretty hard building a latrine for two days while sleeping on a hard floor at night. My body really ached. We had only a dirty river to bathe in. This river is often used for washing dishes, clothes, for bathing and crapping in.

The hut we were staying in had a ton of bats, giant spiders,cockroaches and a wasp´s nest. I was feeling so miserable when I went to pick up a 30 lb. bag of sand to start working when I noticed there was chicken crap all over it which smeared all over my shirt. I almost lost it at that point. I started laughing and crying at the same time. I decided I would sit out and pull myself together for the afternoon.

Today Brian and I are split up again as he continues on to get more technical training and I head back to Santa Clara for additional Spanish classes. I miss him already but I know it will pay off later. I will take a bus on Saturday and meet him in the city where we plan on spending the night and finally celebrate our first year anniversary. We are very excited to stay in a hotel and have hot showers for a night!

We have been learning more and more about the site where we will eventually be living for the next two years, and which is sounding better and better all the time. I can´t wait to share more about the Kuna community that we will live in with all of you as we learn about them ourselves. I hear they are very organized and work really hard at keeping their traditions, language, and culture alive. If you want to learn more about our Kuna site, you can google the words KUNA and LAGO BAYANO, which is the lake that our village will be on. The name of the village is AGUA CLARA, which may help as well.

We think about all of you all the time while trying to imagine what you are doing at the moment. It´s usually something really nice like sitting in air conditioning or sipping on a cold drink. So far what I miss most is a washer and dryer and ice. There´s nothing like drinking warm milk on a warm day... yummy!

Even though we have the occasional rough day, I am often reminded why we are here and how blessed I am. I find joy in small things like the beautiful butterflies and the cool leaf cutter ants. I feel
so so blessed to have such a wonderful husband to share this experience with. Brian is such a motivator and brings me such comfort when I need it the most. Thanks for all of your prayers and emails. Even through the challenges we are doing really well.

Address...

2006-09-20T15:50:00.000-05:00

(Our Name (s)!)
CUERPO DE PAZ - PANAMA
Apartado 0834-02788
Panamá, Republica de Panamá

dos fotografias...

2006-08-27T16:51:00.000-05:00

Los Hijos y yo jugamos a las barrajas (I definitely set the bar high with my win this game):

Our training site in the jungle (note: this is NOT where we live, only where we learn machete skills and the like):

Hola De Panama!!!!! (Parte Primero)

2006-08-27T09:23:00.000-05:00

Well, we´ve been in Panama for about two weeks now, although at times (ie, all of the time) it feels like two years. We´re living in a small, rural village about an hour outside of Panama City, where it literally rains at least once a day...sometimes all day. And when it rains here, its rains HARD! Full on lightning and thunder and massive new rivers crossing previously dry exit routes. Luckily, nobody has of yet been swept away!

The family that Amanda and I are living with are great. I must say that we lucked out pretty nicely, as some volunteers are in much tougher situations. Our family consists of nuesta madre, nuestra padre, y tres hermanos (brothers) qien tienen nueve años (Christofer-9 years old), doce años (Luis-12 years old), y trece años (Jose-13 years old). Although a bit reticent at first, the boys are warming up to us nicely, although last night´s whooping I gave them at Gin Rummy may have set that back a bit...

Our town, Santa Clara, is not the Santa Clara of the previous post. Ours is in the mountainous jungle, very far from the beach. But we´ve been able to see quite a few crazy jungle animals already, such as massive numbers of leaf-cutter ants (these suckers are BIG), a big sloth in a bush (which upon discovery was soon afterwards pelted with rocks by the local youth), and a bunch of little spider monkeys swooping through the trees (we saw them during machete-training class in the Jungle). Of course, we´ve also seen a bunch of spiders, snakes, and mosquitos, but we dont really get the same exotic feeling from those as we get from the others. As with many poor rural areas, there are also a lot of stray dogs, most of them obviously not healthy, but so far quite friendly, which is good as Amanda likes to feed them whatever happens to be in her hand at the time (they are then inseperable from us for the rest of the DAY!).

Overall, the people in our village seem to be pretty nice, although our limited (but growing) Spanish ability doesn´t really afford us the luxury of actually being able to understand what they tell us. Instead, we´ve been integrating ourselves somewhat to the local populace through barefoot soccer, which usually takes the form of an ¨us vs. them¨game. Trying to endear ourselves to the Panamanians aside, the first game we destroyed them 3-0, but then lost the next 3-1. Of course, I think the oldest kid on the other team is 16 years old, no joke, with several around 12 or so, but we still need to play to our limits to even keep pace!

I did promise to update on the side-effects of our anti-malarial medication. Apparently, one of the more common side-effects is ¨vivid dreams,¨ with the occasional ¨losing touch with reality¨as a rarer, and more severe one. While I don´t think either one of us has lost touch with reality (although, would we really be able to tell?) our dreams have been quite interesting. Lets just say they´re more ¨realistic,¨ not scary or anything, but definitely feeling more like reality when actually dreaming. I guess its hard to describe accurately, but try google-ing ¨chloroquine dreams,¨ and I´m sure that something interesting will come up. Actually, there was one volunteer in our group who repeatedly dreamt that she was being murdered (seriously) which prompted a change in medication that we all appreciated. Ás for us, we really don´t mind, and I imagine that our experiences are more favorable than actually contracting malaria...

Well, as soon as we get our two-year assignment, we´ll let you know. There are several possibilities, including a ¨frontier¨ area towards Colombia that the Panamanian government is trying to develop to inhibit incursions by cross-border rebels. Oh the excitement! Until then, Hasta Luego!

Contact Info...

2006-08-16T07:37:00.000-05:00

Here's some address that will be good for at least the next 3 months for letters, packages, etc. If there are any changes, I'll post them!

(by fedex, UPS, etc.)
Peace Corps/Panamá American EmbassyEdif. 95, Ave. Vicente Bonilla
Ciudad del Saber, Clayton
Corregimiento de Ancón
Ciudad de Panamá
República de Panamá
Tel: 507.317.0038 Fax: 507.317.0809
Atentamente: Your Name

(by regular mail)
-Volunteer's Name
Cuerpo de Paz/Panamá
Apartado postal 0834-02788
Panamá, República de Panamá

Trainee-ing

2006-08-15T17:24:00.000-05:00

Orientation is effectively over. After approximately 41 hours of team building exercises and administrative details (not continuous), 37 new "trainees" (including us, the TrainORS) will be leaving for Panama tomorrow at around 1:30 pm. I have to say, I've been vacillating through the last few days from exhilaration to dread, from confidence to cluelessness, and back again, but have always been looking forward to tomorrow's inevitability. 27 months seems like such a long time and while this is time away from family, friends, and familiarity, it is also 27 month of adventure, character development, and excitement with Amanda.

The group we're with seems pretty diverse. There are people from all over the states, ranging in age from 21-30, and all with an engaging sense of humor (and just a few quirks). I must admit that I expected a different "type" of individual, and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of business majors with us (I guess I expected more "Environmental Conservation" and "Creative Writing"-type people, you know the stereotype!). We've already had some great discussions, and I feel that training for three months together will certainly be a good experience.
Our Peace Corps training site for the next three months will be in "Santa Clara, Panama," which looks like this:

Seriously...

Boardshorts and bikinis aside, Panama is still a very formal place, where how one dresses is received as a direct reflection of the respect one feels for whomever they're meeting with. Throughout training, the Peace Corps has definitely impressed this reality upon us, and so Amanda and I will be going out tonight to try and find some covered shoes for her that she feels will be more acceptable than some of the open-toed one's that we brought. And a big "Gracias" to my brother Mike, who came through in a heroic Fed-exing of my four dress pants that I left at home, hanging in the closet. Whoops! Here's a shout out to you, Mike. (MIKE!)

Well, we don't have too much longer to go, we're almost there and it still seems almost unbelievable. We'll update again when we get there, but this begins the stretch when we aren't completely sure about internet availability. Hopefully it will be easily accessible.

Until then take care, God Bless, and don't worry too much about us, because as you can see in the above picture...we'll be fine.

Well...

2006-08-13T20:23:00.000-05:00

...we certainly have had a wonderful time here in New Jersey over the past couple of months. While not expecting to leave for the Peace Corps from here, this unexpected blessing has allowed us to see many friends and family, and have a whole lot of fun. Thanks to all of our loved ones here who made our trip so special. While here, we:

Visited Albert Einstein's house and went blueberry picking down by Princeton, which were baked into an exquisite blueberry soup by night's end. (note: when attempting a blueberry crisp, be sure to use a thickener!)

Fished the Jersey Shore several times for Striped Bass, Bluefish, Fluke, and the occasional pile of seaweed.

Visited New York several times for some great adventures with family and friends.

Spent time with two of Amanda's brothers at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan, along with many of the city's other cultural Meccas.

Spent a night at a remote & wonderfully restored, 18th century lighthouse in the middle of Newport Harbor, Rhode Island.

(If you're interested, visit www.roseislandlighthouse.org for more information)

I wish we could post all of our memories here, but suffice it to say that we had a great time. Thanks again for the love everyone has shown to us, and we look forward to visiting again in the future! Tomorrow morning, we leave for our two-day orientation in Washington, DC, then...ON TO PANAMA!!!!

Engineering a Safe Digression...

2006-08-11T14:52:00.000-05:00

It looks like things are getting pretty crazy again up in the air. Maybe I'm slow, but I still find it hard to believe that there exist people who are so deranged that disintegrating planes-full of people in mid-air seems like a reasonable goal. While not an advocate of the death penalty, it is nonetheless emotionally hard to not want these individuals put down. Thank God we try not to base our laws on emotion but rather on reasoned and rational arguments. If guilty, I hope they sit in prison for a long, long time.

Interestingly, one thing I've noticed living back in Jersey, is that the pulse of these types of world affairs is so much more palpable here in the NYC area than it ever was when living in Honolulu. While we had the occasional fighter-plane flyover in Honolulu, and we were still included in the nation's color-coded threat scale (In Hawaii, I think it maintained a "coral blue" on the threat scale), it always felt like the safest place on Earth.

Although life obviously moves on, and one cannot be paralyzed with continuous worry about if/when the next attack will occur, it does become somewhat disconcerting to always see local areas mentioned as either targets or staging areas for these sinister events. For example, the bombing of the Twin Towers in 1993 was orchestrated from a Muslim clerics office in Jersey City, while the U-Haul used in the bombing was rented from a place in Cranford (again, NJ) only 3 or 4 miles from this computer. (kind of funny side note: a big break for this case occurred when one of the terrorists came back to the rental place to try and claim his deposit after blowing up the truck!)

The 9/11 plane that ended up crashing in Pennsylvania, and was reportedly on its way to DC, flew out of Newark, NJ, from the same terminal I've used countless times. All of the original anthrax letters that were sent to Congress and the NY Times by some deranged individual had New Jersey postal origins. And recently, some group was busted for planning to blow up the PATH train from New Jersey to NYC, a route that my family and myself takes regularly. Now these England-based bombers wish to destroy airliners bound, in part, to New York City. Aside from the fact that many of our friends and neighbors worked at the World Trade Center, and with most people around here knowing (at least about) someone who was killed, it maybe that the worry of another future attack is helping to keep many that I've asked cool to the idea of seeing the new Nicholas Cage 9/11 movie.

It's not that I'm expecting to be caught up in a whirlwind of death or anything, but I must admit that in this context, my views on both national and airport security have changed somewhat, with more of an appreciation now for some of the necessary security hassles than I had back when I was only flying from Honolulu to Maui. It is unfortunate, but I cannot think of a more efficient way to control for some of the obvious risks than to search passengers just before they get onto the plane. I know that El Al (Israel's national airline) has a policy of intensively screening every passenger before allowing them to get on, but they also conduct even stricter searches at their gates, so much so that at 5 out of 6 of the US airports they fly from, they are the only airlines with a specialized secondary screening (including hand inspections of all carry-ons) for all passengers. Additionally, I imagine that many of those rejected as future passengers by El Al security are of a targeted demographic, a practice that would be (righly or wrongly) vigorously contested by many if practiced in America. Regardless, given all the craziness, I must say that when we leave Monday morning from NYC to DC, I certainly won't be complaining when they ask for my shoes. (Full Disclosure: Then again, we did switch our NYC to DC flight...to Amtrak!)

Weakest what?

2006-08-04T14:01:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had to fill out an application or some kind of an "interview"-type form that asks you what your "strengths" and "weaknesses" are? Well, if anyone ever plans on applying to the Peace Corps, be prepared to answer that question in addition to questions regarding work experience and what your greatest hopes and dreams are, numerous times.

We received an e-mail a few days ago that asks us to replicate our previous answers to a new Peace Corps person, this time for purposes of helping to determine our specific placement site. To be sure, this is all very exciting, sort of like coming to the point in a car purchase when you begin to explore the available extras after already having determined the make and model (we're almost there!). But it feels like the salesman (person) is asking me over and over if I would use cup holders or the A/C!

Just now a thought occurs to me; maybe their repetitious inquisition is really a cry for creativity. I mean, who sits and really tries to figure out their "greatest weakness" for an application? Most of us put something down to makes us look unwittingly qualified like, "I sometimes have a hard time letting go of the team mission..." or "I often find it difficult to stand aside and not be a leader;" puhleeeese. I think I'll be going for creativity points this time, folks; "I have a heroin addiction," or "My craving for agony-driven wailing oftentimes supersedes my professional goals," come to mind as two possibilities. I'll report later if things go awry.

But really...when a question arises that has been identically answered numerous times through the same (uber-vertically aligned) organization, one would think that all of this duplication could be more easily remedied with their simple purchase of...a fax machine.

2006-07-08T19:48:00.000-05:00

This is a quick link to some of the world's most dangerous snakes. Where do these specimens live? In Panama!!

http://www.czbrats.com/Facts/snakes.htm

Panamania!

2006-07-06T14:14:00.000-05:00

Well, the last few weeks have been a mixture of both prep and pleasure for Amanda and me. Along with the necessary readying of all sorts of additional Peace Corps forms, the sending out for our Peace Corps passports, and generally trying to figure out what we want to bring with us, we've been doing quite a bit of extracurricular activities.

We spent a few days up in Toronto for my friend's brother's wedding, which was beautiful. Other than its traffic (and the bitter cold I imagine tortures its denizens during the 9 winter months they have up there), I could definitely see myself living in Toronto. The neighborhoods were all very nice and clean and seemingly very ethnically diverse. In fact, while we were up there, more than one person claimed that it was the most ethnically diverse city in the world, something that I wouldn't doubt based on the number of flag-bedecked cars I saw zipping around the area. And although it isn't Quebec, there still existed a noticeably French bent to the city's general character. We found quite a few French talk shows on the AM dial, and the crowd we viewed the France/England World Cup game with was majorly tilted towards their continental brethren. I suppose it would be premature to declare "le commencement de l'invasion franÃ§aise," but it nonetheless felt very much like being in a foreign country despite it only being...er...Canada...eh?

Speaking of foreign lands, we've learned a bit more about Panama from a second packet of information which arrived from the Peace Corps the other day. Interestingly, while Panamanians enjoy the highest GDP per capita in all of Central America, nearly 40% of its people still live in poverty, mostly in (surprise) majority-indigenous areas. The above map demarcates the majority-indigenous regions with stripes. From what I gather, these are some of the areas where Amanda and I are most likely to be sent, and are comprised of mixed mountainous/white sand beach terrain. Either option sounds nice. The "Bocas-del-Toro region in the top-left corner of the screen is where some of Panama's nicest beaches are, and if anyone anticipates visiting us during our 27 months, you should really hope that we end up there! However, many of the other provinces also have amazing beaches and a quick Google of "Panama Beach Images" will drop your jaw. The diving and surfing are supposed to be excellent in some areas (not that we're...uh...going there for that) but in fact, I do hope to have an opportunity to visit the beaches with Amanda once we have some free time.

Chiriqui is another province that I wouldn't mind being sent to, and can be located in the bottom-left most section of the above map, right by Costa Rica. Keeping in mind that our priority is to go where we're needed, I see no inherent conflict of interest with being placed in a certain locale from which we might directly benefit, as we (I?) would in Chiriqui, the epicenter of Panama's coffee-growing region. While Panama is Central America's smallest coffee-growing country, producing around 270,000 100-pound bags each year (the equivalent of neighboring Costa Rica's one month contribution), they have a reputation for beating out more distinguished regions like Kona and Jamaica in blind tastings. They produce both filler for the mass-production robusta market and some of the highest quality arabica beans for the more sophisticated palate, something I hope to investigate in more depth once in country. If we do end up in Chiriqui I will look around for the best coffee I can find and report on it later.

Apparently, coffee-growing isn't the only category in which Panema shines. Skimming an eclectic mix of sources on Panama's ecology, I find that one of the most consistent claims is for Panama as one of the world's best venues for bird-watching. Now, I don't believe that either Amanda nor I consider ourselves in any way amateur birders, but I have to admit that it will be exciting to wake up to Parrots, Macaws, and Toucans (think "Fruit Loops") frolicking through the canopy. Who knows, maybe this will spark some kind of life-long passion for photographing birds in their native habitat; or maybe their incessant noises will drive us insane and compel us to poison all the birds by our home upon return. Well, crazier things have happened! But I digress...

Thankfully much of this interaction with nature seems probable, given that Panama has already put aside more than 25% of its land for conservation, and around 50% of it is still heavily forested. However, environmental degredation is a significant problem in many areas, such as in the Darien region in the bottom-right corner of the above map, near the Colombian border (I don' t think the Peace Corps will be sending us here due to some recent Colombian-paramilitary linked kidnappings). Parts of this region seems to have become heavily deforested due to some long-standing, but unsustainable cultural practices. Apparently, many in the Darien attach an intrinsic "manliness" to cutting down trees, and manly men from all over will go to great lengths to find and kill the biggest tree that they can in order to prove their worth. I am not sure what the wood is then used for, if at all, but several sources have agreed that the seductive attraction of chopping down trees has actually distracted enough men out of circulation to make a significant impact on the local dating scene. I know, this last part sounded somewhat far-fetched to me too, but why not, they have tree-chopping and we have Sony Playstation, so are we really all that different?

Opening Salvos

2006-06-22T15:32:00.000-05:00

Aloha Everyone!

I'd like to start by saying "Thank You" once again to everyone in Hawaii for the wonderful and deeply appreciated send-off that we received; you'll always be considered family, and we eagerly look forward to coming back for a nice long visit after our 27 months is up.

Well, I know that many of us (yes, myself included) have been waiting for this first (substantive) post with bated breath, wondering at the fate of our two Peace Corps-bound world travelers (that would be Amanda and & I...uh, in the third person). Finally, after roughly a year-and-a-half of applying, waiting, negotiating and cajoling, we have been officially invited to an exciting assignment as "Environmental Health" volunteers in Panama! We leave New Jersey on August 14th for a two-day "orientation" in Washington, D.C., followed by a three month training session with a home stay roughly two hours outside of Panama City. After that, we officially become volunteers and begin our two years of service in a place that only God knows! (Really!, not even the Peace Corps knows exactly where we'll end up!)

Now, this wasn't the first assignment that we were offered by the Peace Corps, it was the second. The first was actually an unofficial "telephone offer" from our placement officer (note: although "Corps" is a prominent word in the organization's title, and "officer" is bandied about quite a bit when describing one's position in it, there are no "ranks," and the Peace Corps is likely one of the least military-like organizations I've ever come across in my life) to toil in the "Eastern Caribbean" for the next 27 months. The Peace Corps defines the Eastern Caribbean as Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada and Carriacou, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, and St. Kitts and Nevis. Now, although I have never physically been to any of these islands, I am sure that I've dreamt of them. I imagine that a little over two years of sweat and anguish near the beaches of any of these places would be the sacrificial experience that we both yearned for from the beginning. However, we declined this offer without fear of being delayed another, as it was unofficially offered over the telephone. Amanda & I both felt that we had spent a lot of money, used a lot of time, and dealt with a lot of uncertainty in order to achieve placement in a Spanish-speaking country, none of which is represented in this island group. Nothing against the Creole and "Island Carib" widely spoken in this area, but we've been excited for a while now at the chance to come back to the States fluent in a language that we'll actually be able to use outside of extremely limited neighborhoods.

Anyway, when we received a large blue package in the mail last week from the Peace Corps, we knew that the "official" placement offer lay within. As rejecting an official offer puts one back into the hopper with everyone else vying for a spot (a further delay that we weren't up for), we were a quite nervous about opening it and seeing where we'd likely end up; we had no idea if it was going to be Vietnam, Kenya, Jamaica or Canada (well, we were 99% sure about this last one). But there it was, Panama.

I was a bit hesitant at first, as knowing virtually nothing about the country, the two things that initially crossed my mind when I thought of Panama were:

General Manuel Noriega, a semi-recent dictator known for decapitating his most vocal critics and encouraging the passage of drugs through his country on the way to the US, &

2. Malaria, and the approximately 30,000 workers that it killed during the construction of the Panama Canal.

Thankfully, a 1989 US invasion landed General Noriega in prison, returning the country to its formerly stable norm, and malaria can be prevented by using one of the many anti-malarial prophylactics provided by the Peace Corps via our tax dollars, the side-effects of which I am rather excited about and will be reporting on later.

However, even a cursory investigation into what Panama is today reveals a geographically and culturally diverse country enjoying a generally warm historical relationship with the United States. The Peace Corps has been there since 1963 (not continuously as General Noriega wasn't too keen on American "do-gooders" running around the country-side, and put the whole idea on hold), and is reportedly one of the safest and most professional offices in the Peace Corps system. Needless to say, we are pretty excited.

Biologically, Panama offers a climate similar to Hawaii's (although likely much hotter and more humid at times), with mango and papaya trees ubiquitously represented among other, more exotically endemic fruit trees. I haven't yet acquired an idea of what some of these fruit varieties are, but be sure that an assessment is on its way once I see, taste, and learn to pronounce them. It is also to note that Panama is a country of seasons; the "wet" season begins in May and usually ends by mid-December, while the rest of the year is "dry."

Geographically, Panama is an isthmus, that is, it is edged by water on two sides. It is sandwiched between Costa Rica and Colombia (the latter which we tend not to mention due to the way its name raises eyebrows and causes loved ones to instantly fear for the worst). Interestingly, Panama was actually once a part of Colombia, something I hope to explore in a later post when discussing the formation of the canal. It is known for its beaches and many, many islands, but not so well known for the fact the its narrow profile is bisected longways by the continental divide, lending some obviously dramatic physical background to its character.

Until we leave on the 14th of August, Amanda is finishing up her Spanish classes at picturesque Seton Hall University, which is only about a 20 minute drive , and ends on the 29th. After that, we'll be hanging around quite a bit, catching up and preparing for our departure, so feel free to call us at any time (...any time that we're likely to be awake, please). There's actually quite a bit to do until then, and I'll be expanding shortly with a bit more information about Panama, the work we'll most likely be doing there, and life in general.

We're now off to watch the Somerset Patriots dominate the Camden Riversharks in the titanic arena of minor-league baseball so until next time, thank you for patiently anticipating this first post, and I look forward to updating at least monthly during the next three years for as long as we are able. Till next time, Take care and God Bless!