Trabajando

We went to build a stove in a nearby site, up in the mountains, where these guys were working on a new rancho. They're part of a tourism cooperative, and they hope to have public events in this structure. Next door, the co-op has a restaurant, where we built the much-needed stove of mud, sand, and straw.

The stove is much-needed because the cooks are using these fogones, fires surrounded by rocks, behind the restaurant. They have to breathe in a lot of smoke, and the smoke even blows through the dining area at times. The ladies who run the operation are looking forward to using the stove after it cures in 30 days. Co-op members were very kind to us, and they fed us lunch and breakfast. Muy rico!

We posed for this photo with part of our work group. As you can see, the stove is in a new area with a zinc roof. They'll install a chimney when they find the proper metal pipe or other material. This project was a breeze because they had all the supplies ready at the start of the day, and the whole posse worked very hard. Our friend Ellen (second from left), a volunteer in the new tourism and English teaching group, is helping the co-op.

Lisa and Ashley mixed up some mud and sand to coat the outside of the stove so it will look bien pritty. When we were done, it did resemble a huge chocolate cake. We were especially pleased because the stove is in the center of town, so lots of potential stove builders will see it. Let's hope it works well!

The area where we were working is one of our favorite places in Panama. The weather's mas fresco, the mountains are beautiful, they grow coffee here, and the people are really nice like they are in the rest of our province.

This big barn is up in the Comarca Ngabe-Bugle, the indigenous area way west of us. Lisa was up there assisting with a coffee/business seminar run by our good friend Ed from Boston. Ed is the Peace Corps Panama coffee coordinator, and he works with producers to promote organic methods, better business practices, etc. Lisa will return to the Comarca for two more sessions of the seminar.

Thirty-seven people participated in the seminar, including this woman wearing the traditional Ngabe dress. She's seen here with a drawing of her finca (farm). Teams did drawings to help articulate plans for their farming activities. Lisa and Ashley also gave charlas on time management and how to hold effective meetings.

The two young ladies in the center of this photo, Viviana and Yaleyka, are members of our town's Ecoclub. While Matt was in the city working on the PC magazine, they and two other young people accompanied Lisa to a big Ecoclub seminar. Dozens of kids were on hand to form a regional alliance of clubs and discuss environmental protection projects. Participants were given vegetables to plant in their hometowns.

Mateo and Adam posed recently for this photo in our living room. We're trying to put together a big photo album for the family.

In other news, we returned home from the stove project and delivered talks and slideshows to several families on how to make these stoves. Our calendar is getting booked up again, and that's the way it ought to be. Time is flying down here, and we can't believe it's almost October. Happy Birthday, Caitlin!

We forgot to mention in previous posts that Irving Saladino won the Olympic gold medal in the long-jump. Felicidades! He's an amazing athlete, and the Panamanian people are extremely proud. Fortunately, we got to watch him win live on local TV.

And one more news item before we go: the country's largest political party, the PRD (Partido Revolucionario Democratico), had its presidential primary recently after many months of high-profile campaigning. Balbina Herrera defeated Panama City Mayor Juan Carlos Navarro and several other candidates. The election is in May.

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!

Trip Home Part III

Here are more photos from our big trip home. We were quite impressed with Minnesota. And we had a ball staying in downtown St. Paul, dining and touring with a great group of Vermonters and New Yorkers.

We visited this cool park in Minneapolis the day after Tim and Jen's wedding. Jen's dad led an awesome tour of the Twin Cities.


The tour included a stop at the totally huge Mall of America. We bought a great Frisbee here for the kids back in Panama.


Erin and Abby (above) and dad Russ were in Minneapolis to see Erin's brother, so we got to have a long visit.

Matt's has the best burgers in the world! The "Juicy Lucy" is made with cheddar cheese inside the burger. Here we also chowed down on big baskets of fries. This is a classic place and a must for any Twin Cities visitor.

Here's Scott, Lisa, and Cait during Tim and Jen's rehearsal dinner in St. Paul. We had awesome Italian food that night.


Nell, Martha, and Libby posed for a photo at the Italian place. The girls had a great time joking around with Lisa.

Matt and Tim also had a blast. Tim and Jen very generously gave Matt a bottle of really nice French booze and a great book about Colombia.

The wedding was beautiful. Needless to say, Matt was very proud to be the bestman. Cait did the Prayer of the Faithful.

John (left), Tim's dad and Matt's uncle, posed with siblings (l-r) Jean, Mim, Johanna, Margaret, Maura, Mary, Jim, and Martha. The campus where the wedding was held is really nice, and St. Paul in general is a cool place.

Trip Home Part II

We went to the NH Seacoast one day for a ride with Don and nieces Haley and Devin, stopping in Rye for lunch and Newcastle (above) for a look at the bay.

Here's ZZ! She's really big at nearly 10 pounds! And she's still crazy, but she remembered us and slept with us each night in NH.

Haley, Lise, and Devin posed for a photo by the sea in Rye, where we had an awesome lunch of fried clams.

Ace, Emily, and Lisa are seen here in Portland. We got together for beers, lobsters and steamers! Wicked good!

Don, Lise, ZZ, and Joan gathered for a photo before we left to head back to NY for our flight to the Twin Cities for Tim and Jen's wedding (see upcoming blogs!).

Lise, Jim, Jo, Cait, and Scott are seen here at Cale and Christie's wedding in VT. A sunny, lovely day! They got married at the base of a ski slope, and it was really beautiful.

Here's the gang at camp, including Coa, Jack, Monica, and Justin. Notice the patriotic bunting on the house--very cool!

We're back in Panama now after an amazing few weeks back in the States. Thanks to our family and friends for everything! We had great food and, most importantly, wonderful visits. Sorry we didn't get photos with everyone. As we said above, though, photos and captions from Minnesota will be on future blogs. Meanwhile, we hope you're all well. Thanks for reading, and thanks again for all the hospitality!

Everything's cool in Panama, except the weather. We returned to days in the high 90s, making it feel like it felt in May. We got our house in order and mostly laid low last week. Next week we'll resume teaching, starting off with big slideshows of our grand tour. We're also preparing for our big HIV/AIDS/health fair in a few weeks. Our buddy Andres, the chief planner of the event, won a grant for $1,000 to fund food, shirts, transport, etc. We hope to get a group of young people from our town to attend.

One more thing: Diane, that letter you wrote was awesome!

Trip Home Part I

We got to take the boat out on Lake Champlain in some nice weather. If you look closely, you can see the Green Mountains in the background.

Here's our new niece Amber! She and her mother and father, Tina and Ed, are doing fine in their Maine home.

Matt and Lisa had a nice visit at 505 with Gramma and several aunts and uncles and cousins. It was great to be there!

Here we are at Cale and Christie's wedding, also in the Green Mountains. We had lots of fun and ate lots of great food, especially cheese.

Cait, Mason, Father R. and Scott posed for a photo after Mason's Baptism. We are very proud godparents!

This photo shows one of the government buildings in downtown San Jose, Costa Rica, and some of the mountains that ring the city. Our trip there from the border by bus was very scenic and quite comfy.

This is the street scene outside our hotel. San Jose is nice, and the weather was very refreshing, with temps in the 60s and 70s.

We had a great trip home for our vacation. These are some photos of the first leg of our trip. It's been great seeing our families and friends in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine! Good times and awesome food! Today we're headed to Tim's wedding in the Twin Cities and we can't wait to get there. We'll post more info and photos soon. Happy summer and thanks for all the hospitality!

Panama update: our little baby host-brother now has a name! He's Adam, just like our pal from Texas.

Dar-ing the Luz

Here's our new host brother! He spent a week or so in the hospital, but they say he's doing OK, thanks be to God.

Glenny and her new brother came over to say Hola. He's really cute, but he doesn't have a name yet. It can be really difficult picking a name in Panama.

Reina and the baby greeted neighbors one afternoon in front of our house. They were watching dad Arturo lay blocks on the walls of our addition. The girl on the right, Angelica, is a cousin and one of our favorite English students.

Our next door neighbor, landlady and good friend Reina gave birth, or as they say in Spanish, "Ella dio la luz." Translated directly, Reina gave the light on June 6 (my niece Devin's Birthday) to a beautiful baby boy, who as of this posting has yet to be named!

I've been thinking a lot about childbirth because several of my best friends recently had kids and our sisters are now new moms (bienvenidos a Mason and Amber!). In the campo of Panama, things work a bit differently than in the city or in the US. For example, in the city (where I've sat in a lot of doctors' waiting rooms) tons of parental magazines advertise the latest and greatest super-dooper must-have car seats, cribs, strollers, bottles, breast pumps, high chairs and toys. Recently I read an article in the daily Panamanian newspaper La Prensa about how difficult and expensive it is to plan a baby shower because of all the 21st century gear the baby will need. In the campo, babies sleep in cloth hammocks hanging in living rooms and on porches. As they get older, many kids play in handmade wooden playpens, with smooth sticks as bars.

Also in the campo, some babies don't get names before they leave the hospital, or for many weeks after. Other volunteers have told me that part of the reason they don't name babies right away is because they are superstitious. The name thing must have something to do with fearing the baby might die soon after birth, which still happens too often in this part of the world.

Glenny, Reina's teenage daughter, told us that the baby had been crying a lot at night and therefore it must be the witches (brujas) creeping into the baby's room and bothering him. So she placed a few charms around the room to keep the witches out.

One night her brother Boli came into our house wearing a hooded sweatshirt. Our site is a sauna and there is never any reason to even think about wearing long sleaves, let alone a sweatshirt. We asked him if he was feeling sick. He told us that no he was not sick, but that he had just been holding the baby and at night or in the early morning one has to wear a sweatshirt while holding the baby because if your skin is cool that coolness can tranfser to the baby's skin in the form of a cold spirit from the sky.

But Gracias a Dios, the baby is fine and really cute. Older brother Arturito (Little Arturo), when asked how the baby was after visiting the hospital, said, "Es blanquito (he's really white)!" They love little white kids.

Since he doesn't have a name yet, we've spent many afternoons coming up with some possibilities: Antonio, Juan Jose, Cristobal, Alejandro, Frederico, Marco, Conrad. When we decide on one we like, Boli will go over to his mom to see what she thinks. They like our options, but they're still deciding. The baby can't have a name that someone else in town already has, which is why you see a lot of made-up names (Yaxelys and Nellys are two pals of ours). Boli, whose name is Bolivar, wants his new little brother to be named Lex after Lex Luther from Superman. Boli pronounces it like lakes. They also like Alexis, but our town already has two of them.

Hopefully, el nino will have a name by the time we get home from the States. We leave for Leg I of our trip, a bus ride to San Jose, Saturday!

Lisa's Birthday

Lise and her pals got dressed up in Panamanian clubwear to go out dancing for her birthday (the boys wore their normal clothes). Most people don't go out to clubs until 11 pm, so the club we went to was taken over at 8 by our big group of Gringos. A lot of people were in town for a PC meeting. We know the DJ--his mom was our host mother--and he made sure we were treated nicely. But the clubs here insist on playing crappy techno music so loud that it shakes your guts and makes your ears ring for days. We must say, however, that Lise had a very nice B-Day thanks to our buddies and the many good wishes of family and friends back home. Thanks, everybody!