Roughing It

During my 5 day site visit to El Harino, Panamá Oeste, I went through about as many ups and downs as there are minutes in a day.  I will return to the family I just stayed with after Peace Corps Swear-In in July and be with them until mid-August.  This is real poverty.  A latrine filled with flies, a wood-platform bed with no mattress (luckily I brought a small, air-filled one), no cell phone service, and long hikes over mountainous, muddy terrain for basic services are some of the low points.  But there are high points too and more than anything, there sure are interesting points.  Believe it or not, I like bucket baths.  There is something beautiful about pouring cool water on my head while I look up at the jungle all around me (never mind the little fish swimming around my feet).  And my long hike home is absolutely gorgeous.

Bucket Bath!  I also get my drinking water here, but filter it first of course.

Walking home = breathtaking

 This family would surely be considered unusual by US standards.  The man of the house (age 43) is taking care of his ex-wife´s children plus has 4 kids with his newer, 24-year-old wife.  He has a son his wife´s age and grandkids older than his own.  They are all incredibly sweet, caring people.  I am a kid magnet and I love playing with all 5 of the youngest ones that range in age from a few months to 11 (I even still love the baby that peed on me ... diapers do not exist here).  My young host-mom told me that I am part of the family and they will help me in any way possible.  She said she knows what it is like to be alone and told me a story of how she spent a month alone in a hospital when she lost 4 fingers on her right hand in a mill accident while processing rice.  Her struggles are certainly harder than mine.

Yeni, Anayanci, Joel, Diana, Rebeca

The religion talks are getting a bit awkward.  Everyone asks what I am, and very few have ever heard of Judaism (I am not even going to try to explain that I am a cultural Jew, not a religious one).  They ask what my church is like and I try to explain that it is a Jewish temple, not a church.  They ask what the difference is between my religion and theirs.  I try to change the topic since I feel like telling them I don´t think Jesus was God´s son nor my savior will go over very well.  So far I default to saying that in the US we have a lot of religions and they are all very different.  There is a pretty strong divide here between Catholics and Evangelists (my host-family is the latter), so at least I am not picking sides on that one.

Had some awesome talks with my host-dad about campo (a better word for countryside) living.  He has lived in a city before (Panamá) and agrees with me that money does not necessarily make people happy.  He came back to the campo so he can live tranquilo.  We also talked about the importance of taking care of the environment.  One day he showed me around his coffee farm and he taught me a lot about local crops and methods.  He grows so many things: coffee, sugar cane, yuca and other roots, banana, plantain, oranges, etc.  He is a conscientious farmer who is always looking for ways to improve and my brain is spinning with project ideas: compost, pruning, harvesting and processing methods, seed selection and nurseries ... Can´t wait to get started!

Backyard farm full of coffee, yuca, plaintain, etc.

It is hard to limit my conversation topics to exclude technology.  People ask how I communicate with my family, but they really do not know what email is.  I have busted out the camera (which the kids love) but had a hard time explaining that I am not going to print them all, but rather leave them in digital form.  Basically I find myself feeling ashamed every time we talk about things that in the states are completely ordinary, but here are unimaginable and excessive.  I think my kindle might stay packed away for the first few months until I get my own place and privacy ... Juegos de Hambre will just have to wait.

I had some good first pasear-ing experiences.  Met some nice neighbors and many gave me gifts of food.  I know giving things like this to visitors is a common part of the culture here, but I can´t help but feel guilty for taking gifts from people who don´t have much, but it is rude to say no.  At least food is something most don´t have to worry about here since they grow it themselves.

Pineapple and Yuca!

Trash-burning is a big thing in all of Panama and I hate it.  The smoke burns my eyes and makes me cough.  But it is what they have to do.  My host-dad said his cows kept getting sick eating plastic bottles, so he has to burn them to get rid of them.  I explain that in the US we have landfills, but that doesn´t come off as sounding much better for the environment than burning.  We agree that the best solution is to have less trash.

Pig rummaging through trash that will be burned later

I saw a lot of boob this week.  Women are surprisingly open when it comes to breast-feeding.  It seems a little strange that they talk about how scandalous the indigenous people are that wear little clothing, while they are so free with their own bodies.  This will take some getting used to for me.

Culprit of boob sightings

Being a follow-up volunteer will be interesting.  It sounds like the last volunteer did some awesome things and I will have some pretty big shoes to fill.  One perk is after living with my first family until mid-August and then a different family for another month and a half, I will get to move into her old house, which looks wonderful.  And by the time I get there I´m sure it will seem all the more luxurious to me.  That house is also closer to the community and right next to the school (right now I live 30-40 minutes from the school ... Woo exercise!).  In the meantime, if this family can be happy living here always, I can certainly handle roughing it for a few short months.

Future house -- Can`t wait for you to come visit!