Left: We took a day trip to visit another EH volunteer in central Panama. We hit a few ruts near the end of the trip that were over a foot deep.
Right: This is where my training group stayed near Panama City for the first 4 days. We were right near the Miraflores Locks. It was luxurious!
Last Sunday, my EH group moved in with host families in a small community about 1.5 hours outside of Panama City. I am living with a retired couple about 15 minutes walking distance outside of the community center. My host father, in his low 80s, maintains his corn fields and uses his machete daily for cutting yucca (potato-like root) and clearing brush. My host mother, in her mid 60s, enjoys tending her flowers and cooks. They have 6 children and a lot of grandchildren, most of who live in the nearest city to our small village.
The house has a tv/entrance room, 2 bedrooms, and a kitchen/back room. My bedroom is right in the middle of the house and has windows to the other rooms. There is a shower in the back and an outhouse outside the house. My host mother prepares a lot of rice based dishes, with beans, chicken, or beef on top. The locals aren’t too big on non-starchy vegetables here, so I am lucky to get a salad usually once a day. I usually have deep fried something for breakfast which has taken some getting used to.
Usually, in the morning we have Spanish class from 8-12. My Spanish teacher travels from Panama City every day and holds class for me and my 3 classmates on a family’s back porch in the village. A pet parrot and a little dog are out on the porch with us during class. After class, I walk home for lunch (15 min), eat, take a mid day shower and sometimes a siesta in the hammock, and walk back to town.
In the afternoon we have technical class. So far we have mostly been learning about what our role will be in the community and how the educational aspect of our project is more important than the infrastructure we implement. I do agree whole-heartedly with the development techniques we have been studying, but the main issue is that it is does not work for many other NGOs and aid groups because of the lack of time that other groups are willing to commit to a specific project.
I have really been enjoying working with my EH group. There are 13 males and 8 females, and the majority have either an engineering or construction background. I am one of three who just graduated from college, but most of the group is under age 31. Besides that there are 2 in their mid thirties, and one retired environmental engineering consultant from Mass! One guy in my group has spent the last 5 years in Worcester at WPI, although he’s from Texas. I found out that another guy in my group was in Japan through another YFU scholarship the same summer that I was there!
Interesting story- On Friday, we went into the nearest city for some training classes, and then my group of 21 walked to the hardware store to purchase machetes and get them sharpened. We also had an extra hour to do some shopping or get something to eat. Apparently, on Saturday there was a local news headline ¨Gringos in La Chorrera Carrying Machetes¨ - I´m so mad I missed it!
Yesterday (Saturday) we had a machete and farming workshop. The farmer across the street from my house showed us his crops (yucca, 2 varieties of corn, plantain, banana, spices, papaya, etc) and the different types of trees, and then we cleared an area for a field with machetes and planted corn.
This coming Thursday through Monday, I am going to visit another volunteer who is stationed on an indigenous reservation in central western Panama called Comarca (Reservation) Nogble-Bugle. About 80% of my EH training group will be placed in an indigenous community, because over 90% of people in these areas live in impoverished conditions, sometimes without clean drinking water. On most indigenous reservations, Spanish is the second language.
If you have made it this far in the post, here are some interesting facts about Panama!
- The common form of transport is called Diablo Rojo (Red Devil) which are retired US schoolbuses, completely painted over with anything from biblical quotes to animals to pretty ladies.
- North is the Caribbean/Atlantic, and South is the Pacific Ocean.
- With the Panamanian Spanish accent, s´s are dropped. Tres (3) is ¨tre¨ and Pescado (fish) is pecado.
- Bars (for men only) in the towns here are called Jardines (gardens). From walking by, I have seen no sign of plants or flowers though.
- The American dollar is used here but it is called the Balboa. The coins here are the same size as American coins but have different people on them.
It is a good thing I enjoyed my visit to the Comarca Nobe Bugle, because half of the trainees in my group will be placed there, and most of the rest will be in other indigenous sites where Spanish is the second language. Starting next week, my training group will spend 10 days in a Darien (province nearest to Colombia) community doing technical projects such as building pit and composting latrines. The week after that, we will find out our community placement! 
