Tuesday, September 9, 2008

A Year in Panama

Here´s our cooperative´s traditional dance group dancing during the co-op´s annual meeting. The girls are wearing polleras, Panama´s traditional dress.

Lisa kept the vote total during the election of officers at the annual meeting. Voting took forever, as every one of the 150 members who showed up voted for 3 candidates by stating their names out loud, in front of everyone.

Here´s the beach we got to visit after our recent business plan seminar. Turtles nest here and the townspeople make sure they´re protected.

This shot looks back at the mainland from the beach. The boats, or lanchas, in the background are built by one of the guys whose family fed us during the weekend. We had really great fried corvina, the best fish down here, not to mention excellent rice and beans and fried pork.

This bar and mountain are in El Valle de Anton. The PC Gender and Development organization had a meeting there (at a pizza restaurant, not the bar). The mist-covered mountains here are really beautiful.

This is our good friend Amilkar, who taught himself to speak English. He studies physics at the big university in Panama City, and we hope one day he´ll come to the States to get a degree at MIT or RPI.

Boli helped Lisa clear the area for their new vegetable garden (huerto). People love to cut grass and weeds with a machete, stooped over so the blade cuts almost parallel to the ground. It´s not much fun.

This is the big cage full of iguanas our friend Angelica keeps in her backyard. Her family eats one or two a month. They say it tastes like chicken, but we have yet to try some.

Boli, Adam, Lisa, and Glenny (l-r) posed for this shot in our living room. Adam´s gut is growing muy rapido. But he´s really cute!

In mid-August we marked our 1-year anniversary in Panama! To celebrate, everyone in our group has to go to the city to submit to all kinds of medical testing so the PC can see what´s been crawling around in our bellies for the last 12 months. We´ll also get a chance to catch up with the whole gang from training.

Speaking of training, Lisa spent a week near the city teaching new business volunteers about PC stuff, including how to assess your community´s needs. Matt stayed home to teach English, visit with the neighbors, and read the Milagro Beanfield War, a great book. Reina and the kids made sure he was fed. One night they made Matt fried beef with rice and salad, which everyone ate while watching the Red Sox beat the Yankees. They carry almost every Yankees game here on one of the networks everyone gets.

When Lisa got back, we hosted a new couple working in the business program for a weekend visit. We did the same thing a year ago when we were trainees, getting a chance to see how volunteers live. Our guests last week, Ben and Lisa, were really fun and they got to witness our cooperative´s annual meeting. The huge event featured lots of financial stuff, the election of new officers, and tons of food. They slaughtered a cow and grilled it and many folks, including Lisa and Lisa, helped make bollos (steamed cornmeal things shaped like sausages) the night before. Sadly, the discoteca scheduled for after the meeting was canceled because the DJ backed out at the last moment. We still had a great time, though.

In other work news, 30 teenagers from our town filled a bus to go to the health fair we helped organize in our buddy Andrew´s site an hour away. Our group, which filled a whole bus we chartered for the occassion, was really into it. They participated in all the charlas and games and had a lot of laughs. We also had a great lunch of chicken, rice, and potato salad made for the 100-person fair by a local restaurant (fonda) owner. Lisa and our friend Ashley gave lectures on HIV and AIDS and Matt and buddy Shawn talked about self esteem. Another 10 volunteers led other charlas and helped keep things running smoothly. The Red Cross and other agencies were also on hand, so the day was a big success.

A few days ago, we helped people in a nearby coastal town prepare business plans. Lisa worked with a lady named Florentina who hopes to open a restaurant, and Matt worked with a young guy named Oliver who wants to build three cabanas for tourists. Five other volunteers worked with people on similar ventures. The attendees can now go to banks or other sources with very professional business plans that include all kinds of stuff like income projections for the next five years. When we finished our work, we got to swim in the ocean and beneath a waterfall. Lisa also held little baby turtles that nest on the beach.

Later this month, we´re compiling information on our area for tourism guides and we´re going to build another lorena stove up in the mountains. Matt´s also heading to Panama City to work on the next edition of the PC Panama magazine.

Back in our site, everyone seems good. Reina´s baby Adam is getting bigger every day and the kids are working on a garden with Lisa. This week they aim to start their long-awaited compost pile to improve the soil. The land is all cleared and ready to go. Some yucca and tomatoes and pineapple are already started.

In leisure news, we got a cool cloth hammock and strung it up in our living room. When the sun´s not out, or if you`ve got a really good breeze running through the house, you can sit in it during the day. But it´s most comfortable for morning and evening reading. It is the rainy season, but it remains hot, hot, hot most days in sugar country.

But we ain´t complaining! We´re ready to be here for another year, si Dios quiere. As always, thanks for reading our blog. And Go Red Sox!

4 comments:

Tim said...

A year! Holy Cow. Well, it certainly sounds as if you guys have hit your stride and are really settled in. It is all such an big accomplishment. Congratulations to you and I'm wicked proud of you guys.
-Ace

Tim said...

http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/1154729,CST-NWS-gor10.article

Hey Sheehey,
10 years ago we would have been prime suspects in this ape-caper.
Ahh, Kids!

callaghanse said...

Matt, the Milagro Beanfield War is a GREAT book!!

Glad to hear that one year later things are going well for you guys! We think about you guys often and we have a picture of you both on our fridge and we play the picture name game with Seamus periodically.

I'm still a slacker and haven't sent your package. I'm using the excuse that I got caught up in getting Seamus ready for preschool. It actually was an annoying struggle, but I will explain all in the letter I will one day send.

Hope you are both well and enjoy the hammock. I'm hoping to get one for my birthday!!

-Sue

Lisa and Matt said...

Dear Ace, Sue and DR, thanks for writing! We miss you guys, and we miss the fiestas we used to have, with all the great food and drink. Hope you all had and will have awesome birthdays! Eat some apple pie for us!