Ya cumplí 23

(written on 1-26-11)

As far as I can tell, Ngabes do not celebrate birthdays so I did not have high expectations, but I ended up having a great birthday week.

I went to the nearest beach on the Pacific side to celebrate New Years with my Peace Corps friends a few days after 2011 had actually started. In transit I had bought a cake mix and frosting on a whim at the huge, exciting supermarket in David that actually sells such things. My dreams of cake became a reality when I asked the German cabin owners if I could borrow their oven, and they offered to bake the cake for me. The cake was then dubbed ¨German chocolate cake¨. My friends made a matchstick candle. Much later in the night, my friend Jessica demanded that the 10 or so in our group go around and say something they like about me. I was extremely bashful at the time, and now it seems super cheesy, but it was so sweet!

Back in the Comarca (reservation), the day before my birthday my host brother Domingo invited me to visit Boquete with him, which is a highland town in western Panama famous for its coffee farms, cooler climate, and high population of retired North Americans. His offer had nothing to do with my birthday, but of course I accepted. If I had a car, Boquete would be 2 hours away but with public transport it took 5 hours each way so it turned out to be quite the long day trip. In Boquete we visited the coffee farm where Domingo´s brother-in-law works, the farm where he used to work, and some beautiful flower gardens. Although there are plenty of coffee tours available to tourists for $25, it was great walking through the farms with Domingo, talking to the people, and seeing the somewhat squalid living conditions. Although Boquete is far outside the Comarca, seasonal coffee labor (harvesting) is almost soley provided by Ngabes.

Interesting fact about birthdays in my area- it is a common conversational question to ask, ¨When is your birthday?¨. In Spanish, this literally translates to, ¨When are you going to complete?¨ If the birthday is yet to come in the calendar year, the custom is to provide the date, for example January 7. However, if the date has already passed in the calendar year (as mine has), then all I have to say is ¨Ya cumplí 23¨ or ¨I already completed 23,¨ and no further questions are asked about what the specific date is. This system definitely took some getting used to when I arrived in November, because most people had already completed their birthdays! (After rereading this paragraph I think I am making this sound more confusing than it actually is. Oh Well.)


Other life update: My house is still wall less, which is the norm in my area, but I can´t live there alone until it has walls for safety reasons. Who would have guessed that 2 different types of agency permissions have to be obtained before cutting down trees. It has been a huge headache.