Bushline-Panama Vive!

Spending a lot of summers in Alaska as a kid, I always enjoyed listening to Bushline on the radio. It was a radio program as a means of communication for people without telephone access who lived in the bush. A message could be called in and it would be announced over the radio, and there was also an awesome theme song which is probably actually why I enjoyed listening.

Anyways, Bushline is thriving in my part of Panama and I listened to it with my host family last night. I have found another source of night time entertainment! Not that I expect to hear any messages directed towards myself, but it is always interesting to listen to other people’s business.

My first week in site went smoothly- I quickly got used to waking up at 6 am and going to sleep before 9 am. (Peace Corps should start a new ad campaign- “Tired of sleep depravity? Join Peace Corps!”) Then on Sunday after lunch, my host sister asked me if I was going to the culto later that evening. Thanks to training, I knew that Ngabe Christians hold all-night vigils for the deceased, and in this case an 80 year old woman died a month ago. I walked over to the neighbor’s house around 7 pm with my host parents, and the wall-less structure was already full with people sitting on logs. We were offered liquid cacao (unsweetened hot cocao) for a caffeine boost. After sitting around for a long while, a two hour long sermon commenced, followed with more cacao and coffee. I did catch a few personal personal shout outs to me during the sermon, which is another new experience for me here. The whole thing reminded me of a middle school sleepover: it was really fun staying up late for the first few hours, and after that I just wanted to go home and curl up in my own bed.

I was going strong until my host mom pulled me aside in a very secretive manner and told me that I could go sleep in the hammocks out back if I wanted to. I shed my pride and agreed. I didn’t realize that she was going to come with me and guard me with a flashlight, but soon enough she was asleep as well. She woke me up at 3 am to have rice and coffee, and then we snuck out early around 4:45 am. My host father stayed up the entire night and then walked to school to teach in the morning! I have lots of bug bites to prove my attendance at the event.

Note: I am wearing my trimmest, sleekest nagua in the above photo. I didn’t realize until viewing the photo how wide it is. These dresses are used for everyday wear, not just for church or meetings. People ask me why I am not wearing a nagua every time I wear my gringa clothes.