I arrived in Panama over a year ago with 2 years of middle school Spanish, 3 ½ years of high school Spanish, and 2 semesters of college advanced Spanish. What this all amounted to: I could proficiently read and write, but could barely speak or understand Panamanian Spanish.
The following are 9 Spanish words that I did not know before arriving in Panama that are all necessary for any conversation (in a rural setting).
1. Foco- flashlight.
Between the hours of 6 pm and 6 am, a foco is necessary to do just about anything. I use a headlamp but most Panamanians have the head-clamping-flashlight-on-shoulder technique mastered in order to free up both hands to cook, sew, wash dishes, carry multiple children, etc.
There are more or less two types of families in my community – those who have a family member working outside of the Comarca who sends money, and those who live solely off subsistence agriculture. However, statistically it is difficult to economically differentiate between these two types of families because both would be classified as “unemployed”.
Through observance I have discovered an easy way to quantify the financial status of a family- the Foco to Person (F:P) ratio. An ideal ratio would be 1 working foco for every 1 person. My host family that has 1 professional family member just about reaches the F:P ratio of 1:1. However, my neighbors who live solely off the land are lucky to have a F:P of 1:7. Unsurprisingly, the kids are not doing so hot in school because they can’t study after 6 pm since the mom is using the foco to cook.
Cooking with foco.
2. Pasear – to visit.
The house visit: one of the most beautiful parts about rural Panamanian culture, but you better follow the rules. I learned through trial and mostly error.
Visiting
a) Unplanned visits are standard. Just walk right in.
b) Announce your intentions. Ti nigi basara nete. Yo estoy paseando aqui. I am visiting here.
c) Take a seat and stay awhile.
d) Eat/drink whatever is given to you. If you have a plastic baggie with you, it is okay to dump the food in the bag and bring it home to share with your family.
e) Abrupt departures are alright, especially if it looks like it will rain or get dark soon.
f) *Bonus points* My 88 year old host grandmother goes to pasear with her own cup in her bag to save the host the trouble. However, she is a professional pasear-er – she often stays the night at the house she is visiting.
Receiving visitors
a) Give the visitor a chair/stump/bucket to sit on.
b) Due to the structure of most Ngabe houses, your guest will be able to see what you are cooking. If you have any food or coffee ready, share it with your visitor.
c) If you don’t have anything ready and the visitor isn’t a nearby neighbor, at least make some extremely sugary coffee for him or her. Brownie points if you start cooking a meal to share with the person. If the visitor starts packing up to go, instruct him to wait for the coffee/food.
d) Talk about the weather and when/if the rain will come today.
e) If you have just harvested anything, give some of it to the visitor. This is usually cue for the visitor to leave.
f) As the visitor is leaving, thank them for the visit. Gracias para la visita.
3) Pereza - Laziness.
____ me da pereza. ____ gives me lazy/ makes me lazy.
This phrase is the bread and butter of any pasear-ing conversation. These days, it’s “The rain makes me lazy.” In a few months, the hot sun will be the culprit. Other possible options are the mud, work, walking up a hill, waiting for transportation, etc.
Solution: Mid-day naps are not looked down upon in rural tropical culture to quitar la pereza (to get rid of the laziness).
Sometimes everyone gets a little bit of pereza.
4) Pena- Shame/Embarrassment.
Me da pena. It gives me shame.
I spent my first 3 months in my community battling against pena. Women would pretend they didn’t recognize me on the trail. No one participated in my meetings. My 2nd host dad pretended I didn’t exist for 1 ½ months.
Solution: Be obnoxiously outgoing. Which is not in my persona, but I got over it.
4) Vivora- Snake.
I knew the word culebra for snake but one uses that around here. I coexist with spiders and scorpions, but I never hear stories about them so they don’t worry me. Vivora, on the other hand – everyone has a story to tell about a lost horse, dog, finger, or worse – child. When a vivora is killed it is hung up on a tree to warn others. So far I have been blissfully vivora free.
5) Bochinche – Gossip.
I wouldn’t say bochinche is a good thing or a bad thing, just necessary. I contribute to it too because I visit many family that don’t talk to one another. Common conversation: ME: “Your neighbor 2 houses away had a baby last night [in her house…obviously].” THEM: “Oh really? Girl or boy?”.
Of course gossip can also be ugly, and it did get that way with my whole Jose debacle. My volunteer friends and I have become overly integrated into Panamanian culture and we also shamelessly bochinchar about one another when we meet up or talk on the phone. “Did you hear that Suzy had Dengue fever?”
6) Cochino – Dirty/Nasty
Every time a toddler starts eating chicken poop on the ground, or a baby touches a mangy dog, the mom shouts out “COCHINO!” It is also the best way to describe a muddy path, a pig, or an unswept floor. Or probably me, after hiking.
7) Ahora – Later
In Spanish class I learned that ahora means “now”. Not true. Ahorita means “soon”, ahorita mismo means “really soon.” Seeing someone get up and start doing something means “now.”
8) Bulla (boo-ya) – Noise
DEJA LA BULLA! – Leave the noise!
That’s what I yell at my dog when he’s barking too much. Moms also hurl this phrase at children playing too loudly.
A common house-visiting conversation is about what life is like in the United States as opposed to the Panamanian countryside. The common perception of the U.S. is that there is lots of bulla and dirty air and danger and money. I do my best to defend my country by saying it has its countryside and peace as well. It’s funny what one considers bulla, because for my first few months here, pigs and roosters and barking dogs and late night/ early morning Christian song singers kept me awake more than any city traffic jam ever has in the States.
Marching bands: A major source of bulla
Spanish speakers or students out there: Are these words familiar slang or are they campo Panamanianisms?
**I know the numbers are messed up, but due to the fact that Blogger can count better than I can, it won't be fixed.
Hilarious!! Many of these (all except snake and gossip, are gossip was just plain old chisme) are the same in Nicaragua...it took me a while to pick up the whole ahorita vs. ahora. I'm not sure this is used much in Panama but "Como no" threw me at first as well- it's a casual way of saying yes (as in, "why not?").
ReplyDeleteI spent a lot to time paseando.
Yup! I second that comment, haha...Its basically all the same here in Nicaragua except for the snake(culebra) and gossip (chisme)
ReplyDeleteCant wait to visit!