Mi Buen Viajes: September 2011

miercoles 28.9.11

Never have I wanted a peanut butter sandwich so bad. Man I missed my latrine. Walking freak show, come one come all. Those are all really good possibilities for what I could have named my post this week. Last week we all headed to tech week, which during tech week we found out it is the hardest week of training. Thanks for the heads up… We had 6 hours in a bus watching the worst movies ever. Gifted hands, Fireproof, there was a reason they didn’t make it to the big screen. When we arrived to the site it was pouring rain, which meant most of our families didn’t come to pick us up. I had to trudge through some raging creeks to get to my house where I was greeted with awkward stares. Yes I am aware I am a gringa (white female). Please stop staring at me. I had the typical rice and beans for dinner and then I went off to my room, which was in my host sister’s house. My bed was made of wood with a cow rawhide on top. Luckily I got my own bed while my family members slept 3 in a bed. I was told I was going to be sleeping in my sister’s house alone but fear not while I was trying to read my book and get ready for bed (yes it was 830pm because what else do you do when it is raining and you don’t have electricity) in popped 4 of my family members to come and stare at me while I read. What a night of restless sleeping. Rule number one: always bring a sleeping pad. Note to self: buy a sleeping pad. I usually woke up every hour or so with one part of my body numb. So each night continued as so. With all the time I had to read I was able to finish “The Secret Life of Bees”. My breakfast was usually yucca or white rice and always white rice for dinner, which I came to like because it is a safe bet. The lemon tea grass was great as well. One day I told my family that I wasn’t a huge fan of yucca so I didn’t get breakfast and that night my dinner was cold. But fear not lunch was always amazing because one lady cooked for us and we all ate together. She cooked some of the best food I’ve had.

Now to the reason we were actually there…technical stuff. During the week we focused mainly on water systems. We surveyed the town to see how much water each family used a day and see how the families dealt with health topics such as washing their hands. Each family only pays 50 cents a month for water and this town was fortunate that they have an abundant source of water that flows all year long. We also walked all of the lines of the aqueduct and surveyed the line so we could take the info and put it onto maps. We presented our findings to the community on that Thursday. Surprisingly we only started 30 minutes late and with about 10-12 people. That is a great turn out! Here we run on Panamanian time so that means that meetings usually don’t start until an hour or two past time at the earliest. Also it is really hard to get people to the meetings so you usually have to bribe them with snacks. We had a solid 20 people for most of the meeting and of course with 10 minutes left there were over 70 people. During the week we also learned how to thermoform PVC so we could fix some problems of the aqueduct, we built a bridge over the creek for the aqueduct and built tap stands at the school. I’d say I’m a pro at cutting rebar with a hacksaw. That hacksaw is so useful. Although tech week started off on a rocky foot I really learned a lot of skills and how to approach a community when I’m “that new white girl that no one knows why she’s here”, which even at the end of tech week people were still wondering about us. I really enjoyed the physical building and I am hoping that working with an aqueduct will be a project of mine in the future. So after a rough week what better way to end it then going to the beach! Most of us headed to Las Lajas beach, although 2 of the guys in our group went to Panama City to watch football. Not sure watching football for 2 days of the next 2 years is a great choice. But hey hopefully my Cowboys won…? Back to the beach, Las Lajas is the widest beach I have seen when it is low tide. We stayed in “Panamanian” cabanas on the beach. I used “Panamanian” because I’m sure when you think of cabanas on the beach you picture some type of high-class resort. Well don’t. Our cabana shacks were awesome though and right on the beach. Las Lajas is beautiful but hidden and not built up yet so we stayed for $5 a person for the night. We headed down the beach to the American-owned hotel for food, fish for dinner and French toast for breakfast. After living on white rice all weekend I had never tasted food so good. After a great beach night it was back to Los Mortales. We were so lucky that we got to watch the same awful movies again for our 6-hour bus ride. Once back in Los Mortales I had a visitor in my latrine. Hellllo cockroach. And then I got another present from down below hellllo rumble in my stomach. I missed you too.

I want to share a haiku that my friend wrote while he was on his volunteer site visit. Enjoy!

rumble from within

giardia, is that you

if so, be gentle.

One of our sexual health presentations. We learned what snowballing was.

The other slide... rainbow party?

A parade in La Chorrera.

In the Comarca Ngabe Bugle for tech week, looking at the aqueduct.

My room and my bed during tech week.

Morning view in the Comarca.

My family's house right below the house where I slept at night.

Sergio and Bri surveying with a water level, following the aqueduct.

The beginning of our tap stand project at the school.

Ngabe children in their traditional clothes.

Putting concrete in the mold to form the tap.

Concrete hands. The first of many.

Traditional dresses.

Lack of clothes is typical.

My group giving a presentation to the community on health.

The sun when the clouds passed in front of it on top of the mountains.

I cut open the aqueduct tube to start the bridge making process for the aqueduct over the creek. Little did I know I would end the process soaking wet.