Photos!

These are the photos that I tried to post last time, but didn't take. Enjoy!

May 18, 2011

Life Lessons as taught by Peace Corps

There are some things that one should never ignore: stop signs, STD’s, Back to the Future marathons, 2-for-1 Happy Hours (unless, of course, you have a drinking problem). For me, amoebas now 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!

"Tito" the crocodile and our fearless leader Javier. My friend's Catherine and Kathryn enjoying the warm waters of Coiba.

Peace Corps looks pretty nice in these photos, huh?

Above: Scarlett Macaws, and some nasty weather on the way back from Isla Coiba.

Above: The main church in Soná, President Ricardo Martinelli's Soná residence, and my friend Simone and I.

Above: some of the outfits for the Queens of the last Carnavale. These cost in the thousands, and they have one for each event for the 5 days of Carnavale. These are some coronation gowns.

Melissa and I at the Azuero Fair, some graffiti that I liked and some very ambitious hermit crabs on a banana peel.

Hermit crab exodus.

One more time...

Okay, here are a few remaining canasta. I've decided, after much consideration, not to bring canasta home with me on this trip since I'm going to California instead of Minnesota and I won't really have the opportunity to try to sell them. So, if you have interest in a specific canasta from one of the last 5 posts, I'll bring it. But, I'm not going to bring any that aren't spoken for. That's the only way I can manage the number of baskets that I have pouring out of my tiny house.

The large butterfly piece is by a woman named Irenia. It's about a 9 inch diameter, about 7 inches high.












This lovely spirally piece is by Isela. It has a 6 inch diameter, about 5 inches tall.









Finally, the Guacamayas (parrots) are by Libia. It's the same size as the last piece.









That's it! If you're interested, let me know! I'm leaving site on Saturday. Much love!

More pics

I'm not going to write a full post. I just thought I'd send along photos I have of more baskets that I'm going to bring home with me. I know, you guys are probably sick of this. I'm going to have to find some other outlet for selling these things. These ones are really exquisite. Hope you enjoy!

ONE BEAUTIFUL CANASTA!

I don't usually create a blog posting around one, single canasta. But, I'm bringing some home in a couple weeks when I go to my friend's wedding, and I'd like to sell all of them. These women trust me to sell their stuff, so I'd like to do so when I have the opportunity. The canasta from my two postings ago are for sale (all the smaller, tightly designed ones). Also, the bigger one's could be made for you if you'd like one (such as the little yellow bag with handle, and the larger yellow and green basket). They generally don't make those, and they tend to run cheaper since they're much easier to make, but they've been making them specially for me, so I'm sure I could get more.

But, here is the photo of the canasta that this posting is centered around. It's done by a woman named Ariseli. She's about 23, pregnant with her first child, sweet and super shy. In fact, it took her two days just to tell me how much she wanted to charge for it. She's asking $80 for it, which I don't think is unfair considering the almost flawless and delicate stitching that it demonstrates.


If you know anyone that would be interested, or if you yourself are interested, let me know. Like I said, I want to know who's interested before dragging all these baskets to California with me.


Despite my disparagement of Valentine's Day, I do want to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! Know that I love and appreciate all the love and support that I've received from you during this journey called Peace Corps. Enjoy your heart shaped, red velvet cake with dark chocolate frosting!

Valentine's Day in Panama

Valentine’s Day always irritated me in the States, probably because you absolutely cannot avoid it. Thankfully there isn’t any Valentine’s Day paraphernalia or racks of cards to make my feel terrible for not having found someone to buy a card for in Panama. In fact, there is virtually no relationship between the Valentine’s Day of the U.S. and the Valentine’s Day of Panama.

Despite that, the internet still manages to remind me, via pop-ups and advertisements, that Valentine’s Day is on Monday. So, in honor of Valentine’s Day, decidedly my least favorite holiday, I’m going to throw those lame “10 Reasons it’s AWESOME to be single on Valentine’s!” out the window, and write my own list. It’s not awesome being single on Valentine’s in the States where everyone and everything constantly reminds you that you’re single. But it is kind of awesome in the developing world. So, my list is titled “10 Reasons it’s AWESOME to be single in the developing world”.

10 REASONS IT’S AWESOME TO BE SINGLE IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD (on Valentine’s Day…or ever, really)

1. Traveling sucks. 16 hours on a bus is not fun, no matter who’s at the other end of the ride. If I make that trip, it’s generally so I can sit on a beach with my girlfriends, and that’s ALWAYS worth it.
2. I look BOMB in Panamanian clothes! And most boyfriend’s are not real cool with girlfriends throwing on skin tight jeans and mesh to dance with random Latino guys. Good thing I don’t have one!
3. I can’t help being dirty. It’s not that I don’t try to be clean, it’s just that it’s hard to maintain cleanliness in 90 degree heat in the jungle. All that extra scrubbing and primping and spritzing is exhausting, and my water supply is limited, so it’s great that I feel no obligation to do it.
4. Sometimes I enjoy basking is the inappropriate attention from Panamanian men. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes, like when I get free drinks or free rides, I enjoy the attention I get from Latino men. Especially when I know I look like crap and they tell me I look guapa (hot, basically). Who says chivalry is dead?
5. I get sick a lot more. This one could go either way. It’s nice to have someone to help out when you’re sick, but I’m the kind of person that wants my mom to make me soup, not my boyfriend to bring me extra Kleenex because he’s grossed out by the snot on my face. Mom, wanna come visit again?
6. The ladies in my town think I’m badass. You’re not married? You don’t have kids!? I’m like a pioneer woman in their eyes. Going to college, getting a job, joining Peace Corps, living my life. They’ve come around, so now the question isn’t, “when will you get married?” but “what are you going to go back to college for, Molly?” Let the liberation begin.
7. Infidelity + Telenovelas = bloodlust. I’ve met only a handful of Panamanian men that are faithful and trustworthy. The rest cheat, a lot. To make matters worse, Panamanian women watch a lot of Telenovelas (soap operas) where people are always getting stabbed or shot at for cheating and lying. No wonder there are so many crimes of passion in this country. Just happy I’m not a part of it in any way.
8. I have no money. Phone calls, visits, food, entertainment. This is the stuff of relationships, and it all has a price. And on $340/month, I just can’t afford it. Even booty calls are precipitated by a “call”, and when I’m running low on saldo (phone $), I’d rather use it to text a girlfriend something funny. It’s all about prioritizing.
9. No one has any idea what or when Valentine’s Day is in Panama. It’s awesome! No one knows what it celebrates, no one bakes heart-shaped cakes for their sweetie, no one buys cards or chocolates, no one sees rom-coms after a romantic dinner out. I love it. It’s just like every other day.
10. Someday I won’t be single and living in a developing country. And I’m looking forward to that, too. But right now, I only have to worry about myself and my dog, and that’s fine. I know that there will come a day when I’m married, maybe with kids, and will wonder why I didn’t take advantage of my crazy, fun, adventurous single gal years. I don’t want that to be my prevailing thought in the future, so I vow to enjoy flying solo for as long as it lasts.

Honestly, I don’t actually hate V-day. I like the part about chocolate and cake. It’s nice to call someone and say I love you, and hear it back. I just hate all the commercialization, because it’s centered around couples, so what do the rest of us do? Call our mothers, I s’pose. I think it should be about everyone we love, and everyone that’s been there for us. So, to all of you that have supported me throughout my service and my life, I love you and wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day. Bake your heart shaped cakes and eat them too. Don’t forget to send me a piece.

Charlas and canasta

I suppose it's time for me to update my loyal audience. Although, I don't know why you guys remain loyal. I'm probably the worst blogger in the short and varied history of blogging. Ah, well. I don't expect to be good at everything, and I more than achieve that low bar, I should say. Let's all celebrate mediocrity!

So, since arriving back in Panama from the holiday jaunt in the States (of which I've included the traditional family photo with the addition of Jeepers, on my lap, my parent's new dog), I've begun my health seminar, had increased interest is basket selling (of which I posted some new, beautiful photos), and finally met with my water committee again. Although, that was really on the sly. They happened to be meeting, and I happened upon them and invited myself. Gotta work with what I get. I did get them to invite me to a meeting with the community next week. So that's something.

The health charlas have been going well. This week we were going to do nutrition, but a woman from my community passed away last week, and the service is all weekend. Instead of trying to compete with that, I postponed it until next weekend. I have to notify people of that, but I'm pretty sure they've already figured it out. I'm getting really into the charlas. They're fun for me because I get to engage them in a different way. Surprisingly, the part of the class where they talk the most is at the end. They come up to me and ask all the questions that they were too embarrassed to ask during the class. So, I've added that as part of the class. It's "sit and talk" time, where we drink our juice or coffee and eat our chips or cookies and discuss the class. We'll see how it goes when I give the nutrition charla next week. This seminar has sparked my interest in medicine, in an interesting turn of events. I don't know how I got from theater to medicine. Life is an interesting, winding road...

Alright, for the baskets that I promised. The first is by a woman named Tereza. It has the big, bright flowers on it. It's about a ten inch diameter, really solid workmanship. Gorgeous piece. I swear, if I had the money, I'd live in a house made of baskets. Every time I see a new one, I want to buy it!


The next one is by a woman name Laira. It's beautiful, and it's OVAL shaped, which is very uncommon. The work is also really exquisite. Once again, a basket I'd love to buy.

This next basket is by a woman named Lulu. She's actually named Ubelia, but everyone calls her Lulu. It's smaller, but nice quality with an interesting jungle pattern to it. I like it a lot. Nice natural colors, too.

Alright, and the following are a different kind a basket, made from a material called nahuala (pronounced nah-wall-uh) that they use for more utilitarian purposes. I requested a few for friends that were interested in having them for their homes, but they've started gifting me baskets, so some of these were gifts to me that are just beautiful! They're a sturdier material, and the colors are all made from roots, fruits, or mud. The women that made these are named Laira (same as above), Elvira and Diesila.

And that's all I have for now. I'll post again in February when I'm further through my health charla with some more photos. Thanks for returning to read, especially when I neglect you. I've got some interesting stuff going on right now, so it'll more fun to blog, I think.

Oh, if you're interested in any of these baskets, email me (mpetersen84@gmail.com) and I'll let you know the price. I'll in the States again the first week of March, so I'm going to bring stuff back with me. Thanks for all your support!