Site Visit

Bahía Ballena! This past weekend for the first time I was finally able to spend some time at my future site. On Wednesday all aspirantes gathered in Coclé to meet their guides and participate in some introductory activities. This meeting reinforced the roles of the volunteer and confronted expectations from the community representatives as well as from ourselves. These were great icebreakers and helped us to know their guides before going off into our sites.

And this all would have been a lot more useful if my guide actually showed up. A day later, Mario finally made it (there were some “logistical” complications…). The PST gave an hour talk to us that night and the next morning, we were on our way. After taking a few busses, we made it to David, where we stayed for the night. As if sitting on a bus for 5 hours wasn’t awkward enough, sharing dinner and a hotel room for the night really gave us some quality time together. It actually worked out, because we got to watch the MLB Playoffs on TV and Mario got to try a new food (A Ngäbe and a Gringo walk into Mexican restaurant…).

After crossing the central divide and getting to Chrique Grande, the small port town and embarkation point for my site, we found Ricardo and loaded up canoe. But not just any canoe – this canoe (like most in the region) was carved out of a tree and has a 15 HP on the back of her. We were cruising in style. 20 minutes later we turned into a small lagoon and I could see little huts tucked into the hills rising from the water. We pulled up to rancho over the water where I unloaded my bags and took a minute to take a look around. The huts began on the waters edge, spaced between boulders and mangroves, and continued up the hill. The land continues to rise far past where the houses stop and the jungle reclaims the land. I dropped off my stuff inside Federico and Lidias house and went pasearing with the help of Mario. We walked to a few different huts and I introduced myself.

After breakfast on Saturday morning, Mario led me up the hill past the houses, aqueduct and to where the jungle opened up to open pastures. We crossed through these and continued up. Three hours later, we reached a spot in the jungle where a few other men were working, the finca. They were clearing the underbrush around the coffee trees. Harvest will be soon and this helps to gather the ripened beans for processing. Every morning, these men walk from 2 to 4 hours up the mountains to the fincas, work all day and return at dusk. On the walk up, I saw a sloth, some toucans and a ton of little frogs and lizards. After around noon Mario and I returned to Ballena for some more pasearing.

Going around and talking to people is awkward, tiring and difficult but very important. I told them who I was, who I worked for, what Peace Corps is and why I was there. Because my site is in the Comarca and its entire population is indigenous, everyone (but me) speaks Ngäbere. There are many who don’t even speak Spanish. There were some who I spoke with for a while and got along with well and others were really uncomfortable. But, it was good to meet some people and get a chance to see a little more of the community.

The time in the fincas was my favorite during the visit. It is here where they open up, laugh and talk freely. I told them that if I was going to be living with them, it was important for me to be working with them as well. Its hard to turn down the extra help and the prospect of a strange white guy swinging a machete around. Although exhausting, clearing the undergrowth with a huge machete is awesome. They can literally cut through just about anything out there. Below the canapé of banana trees are the cafe and cacao trees. Once processed, the fruit is turned into coffee or chocolate. These do not do well in direct sunlight and benefit from growing in the shade of other trees. Literally working hombro a hombro with these guys help me to better understand their work, their land, a ton of new plants and animals but most importantly, their language. I often ask about something in Spanish, to which they respond and then tell me the indigenous word for it. This is followed by them asking me how it is said in English. Truly an intercambio.

Monday, those of us in Ñö Kribo (Northern reaches of the Comerca Ngäbe-Bugle Region) and Bocas del Toro returned to Davíd for the night and to Santa Clara the next day. In total about 12 hour trip. This week is the conclusion of training with preparation for swear-in ceremonies and the beginning of our service.

Along with the Diplomatic Visa in our State Department issued passports, we just received our Administrative Identification from the Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores as well as another ID that exempts us from taxes here in Panama. These, along with our Peace Corps ID’s make us feel pretty official. We will be spending a lot of time in Ciudad del Saber during the next few days with some cross-sector training and last minute stuff before we are off to our sites!