fall into that category. Before Peace Corps, that would have been a given, but I’ve gotten so used to always having some ailment that it seemed reasonable to assume that it would eventually clear up on it’s own. Well, this time it didn’t. I got really sick, probably the sickest I have ever been, at the beginning of April, passed out while throwing up off my deck, and fell off my house. My house is on stilts, and about 5 feet off the ground. I broke my nose, suffered a concussion and spent a week in the hospital in Panama City. On the plus side, I got a black eye and found out that I look kinda awesome with a black eye. I’ve included a photo to prove it, even though I don’t look very happy in the photo. For the record, all of those injuries have been dealt with, and are now better.
Since then, I’ve returned to site, and tried to return to my work. It was pretty slow in April, as I was still healing and having dizzy spells. April is also when Panama celebrates Semana Santa, the week before Easter when everyone basically just drinks. The week after Semana Santa, I went to Isla Coiba on vacation with 7 other volunteers. Here are some selected photos from Coiba (COY-bah). I have an underwater camera, but after a tragic incident in Bocas del Toro when I tried to actually use it as directed, it died and had to have repairs done on it. I went without a camera for several months, but thanks to good ol’ Mom and Dad, it got fixed and returned to me. But since that happened, I’m nervous to take it underwater again. So, I didn’t get any fish or giant turtle pictures, although I saw both. I also saw dolphins, crocodiles (of which I DO have pictures), scarlett macaws, and some howler monkeys, as well as countless bird species. Very cool trip.
Isla Coiba is a World Heritage site, and used to be a penal colony, which is why it went undeveloped long enough to become a national park. When it was still being used as a penal colony, cattle were introduced on the island to sustain the prisoners (it was a self-sustaining penal colony), but have since become feral. So, this primary rainforest has a bunch of feral cattle running around in it, which can’t be eaten because they don’t have vaccinations, and no one’s made the effort to kill. They also have to predators, as there are no large cats on Coiba, so they’re multiplying. Our guide, Javier, a former Peace Corps volunteer himself, said that they’re starting to threaten Coiba’s biodiversity and the World Heritage Society warned Panama that they would lose their sponsership if they didn’t get rid of them. We suggested just letting some big game hunters in to handle it, which I guess was tried once. How boring would that be, though? Hunt feral cattle in primary rainforest! Not only does it sound lame, it doesn’t even sound true. What are feral cattle doing in primary rainforest?
After Isla Coiba, I traveled back north to Soná, a town in western Veraguas, and the hometown of President Ricardo Martinelli. It’s also the community of my friend from high school, Simone Labonte. Simone’s a TE (Teaching English) volunteer working primarily in the school. She’s got a great host family, that fed me so much food, I had to get out of there, and a really sweet community. It’s nice to see other volunteers in good siutations, because more often than not, we only hear about the bad situations and the volunteers that are leaving early as a result. I’ve included a couple photos of Soná and Simone in the same album as Coiba.
Finally, on my tour of Veraguas and the Azuero, I went to Parita, the town of my friend Melissa. It’s about 25 minutes from Chitré, where the Azuero Fair is held every year. As expected, there was greasy food (of which I partook), large animals (one of my favorite things about the fair), and rides. There were also lots of arts and crafts, and vendors of every kind. We missed the cultural dances, unfortunately, but I got a good look at everything. We did go into the little museum showcasing some of the costumes of the Reinas de Carnavale (Carnavale Queens) from this year. They had costumes from Parita, Chitré, and Los Santos. There are some photos included. These dresses cost thousands of dollars, and this is only a fraction of their Carnavale wardrobes. The queens wear different outfits on every float, and there is one every day of Carnavale (Saturday through Fat Tuesday), as well as the coronation dresses, and their payache outfits (payache is the nightclub that opens after dark). The outfits are pretty incredible. The biggest carnavale party happens in Los Santos, with the Reina de Calle Arriba (upper street queen) and the Reina de Calle Abajo (lower street queen) competing for the title of Queen of Carnavale. Each side of town has a big sponser who pays for the floats and parties, and basically whoever’s is more epic, wins. The costumes are just part of the larger competition.
After that whirlwind trip around the country, I’m back in site, working to arrange a meeting with program director in a couple weeks. The time has come for my community to decide whether they want another volunteer after I leave. After nearly two years, and reflecting back on what I’ve tried to do, what’s failed and what’s succeeded, I’m conflicted about whether they should receive a follow-up volunteer. On the one hand, I love my community, and there are a few people that are really smart and motivated, albeit very busy with their own lives, who I think I’ve had an impact on. On the other hand, I feel like my impact specifically as a health volunteer has been minimal. For example, my town told me that I got sick and fell out of my house because I 1) run too much, and 2) ate too much watermelon. They laughed when I told them I had amoebas, because they still don’t believe that amoeba’s exist. The thought of trying to explain it, yet again, is exhausting. There’s another problem, too. That being that some of the women see me as someone to sell their baskets. It created some problems when I went back to the States in March for a wedding, and, even though I’ve explained to them that there is no guarentee that the next volunteer will do the same, they want another volunteer specifically for that purpose. I don’t want to support them getting another volunteer if that’s the only thing they want them for. There are projects that could be developed here, of that I’m certain. I’m just not sure that my town has the motivation to see a project through at this point. Like I said, I’m conflicted.
I think I’ve explained myself, and aired all my grievances. Sorry for the delay. I was busy falling out of my house and spending time in the hospital. And then on vacation. I’d like for my final five months to be fun. I’m going to see if I can borrow a projector from another volunteer and have a few movie nights for my kids. I think that’d be a fun way to spend Saturday nights with my town. I’ll try to keep everyone posted better than I have been.
Much love. Take care!
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