February

It’s been about a month since I’ve blogged last. It has been quite an interesting month. I’ve journeyed to the United States and back, as well as all the way to Santa Fe, in the Darien Province in Panama (East of the Canal). I also had a week of In Service Training (IST) with everyone from my training group. Following this week of IST, I hosted Ngobe-Bugle language classes in my village for volunteers in the province of Bocas Del Toro. Basically I’ve spent the last month traveling all around Panama and the USA.
In Service Training was from February 9-13th in Rio Hato, Cocle, Panama. Rio Hato is roughly 10-11 hours of travel from where I live. This training consisted of more language sessions and technical sessions similar to what I went through for Pre Service Training (PST), what I did for the first 2.5 months in Panama. Another facet of IST consisted of being able to see and catch up with all the individuals that I arrived in Panama with. It was great to see everyone!
Following this training, I returned to my village to prepare for a week of language classes with other Bocas Del Toro PCVs and a language teacher from the Peace Corps. 4 other volunteers and the language instructor lived in my village for 5 days. We had daily language classes, and cooked delicious gringo food for my host family. The mornings consisted of language training in Ngobe-Bugle, and the afternoons consisted of training in Spanish. Check out the following pictures from the language class week!

Lulu deciding to climb around on my back while I was cooking.
Piper and I cooking Panamanian hojaldres (fried dough, kind of like small elephant ears).

On Sunday February 22, I received a phone call from my mother in the US informing me that my grandfather had passed away earlier that morning. I received the phone call shortly after my soccer game; we lost by the way. Anyways, after receiving the call, I had to back up a few clothing items and hike out of my site so I could get a bus to Changuinola in order to book a flight home to the US for the funeral. The following morning, I left Changuinola at 5:15 in the morning to make the long journey to Panama City. I traveled from Changuinola to David, took a pit stop in David for lunch and to use the internet a bit, then I traveled all the way to Panama City, arriving at 10:30 PM. I checked into a hotel so I could shower and get a few hours of sleep. I checked out of the hotel at 5:30AM and proceeded to grab a taxi to the airport for my 8:20 flight. After flying from Panama City to Miami, I then had an 8-hour layover in the Miami airport. I grabbed some lunch and coffee and found a nice floor spot next to an outlet so I could use my computer and the Internet to try and catch up on all the news in the US. Basically, I found out that the US economy is falling apart and the United States may not exist when I finish in the Peace Corps. My flight for O’Hare left at 8:15PM EST, and I was giving my mother a hug at the airport at about 10:45PM CST. Returning home for a funeral is not necessarily a happy homecoming, but it was nice because most of my family was in one location. Therefore, I had a much easier time getting to see everyone while I was home. To my grandfather, my you rest in peace. I will always carry with me the many great memories we have forged together. I will continue to celebrate your life with every breath of my own.
While I was home I did get to catch up with friends and family. I spent most of my time hanging out with my family. I did manage to sneak away for one day of snowboarding.

I love snow!

I also made a short trip down to my old college campus and to Indianapolis to visit old friends. I arrived back in Panama on Wednesday March 4.

Upon arriving back to Panama, I traveled to Santa Fe in the Province of the Darien. The Darien is the Province farthest east in Panama. It borders Columbia. The highway into the Darien actually stops at a dense forest before the Columbian border. There technically is no full constructed highway connecting Panama and Columbia. Anyways, since I flew into Panama and was all ready in the middle of the country, I decided to go visit some volunteers in the Darien and help out with a feria (fair). The feria was actually pretty neat. It was very similar to a fair in the US. There were a bunch of food vendors, small farm-like attractions, and fair rides.

I was east of the canal in Santa Fe. Santa Fe is inbetween Metiti and Aqua Fria

Felix is the Regional Leader's cat in the Darien, and yes, he is ferocious

Following the feria, I traveled to David and then to Changuinola in Bocas del Toro where I am now. I will be traveling back to site shortly. Supposedly while I was in the States, my community was going to finish my house. I have doubts that they have, but my fingers are crossed! I’ll post up some pictures soon of my completed house!

Aqui en la lucha,


Kokira