for Post Office:Francisco Asmaeil PCTCuerpo de Paz/PanamaApartado 0834-02788Panama, Republica de Panama
For FedEx or UPS:Peace Corps/Panama American EmbassyEdif. 95, Aveinda Vicente BonillaCiudad del Saber, ClaytonCorregimiento de AnconCiudad de PanamaRepublica de Panama
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Santa Clara
When we last left, our hero was in Panama City ready and able to begin his next arduous task: shitting in a latrine. On Sunday, August 19th after a an hour long bus ride west of Panama City he arrives to what will be his new home for the next 3 months, Santa Clara. It is a sleepy rural community of about 400 inhabitants doing their thing to keep on living. Counting Peace Corps teachers and staff and Trainees (me) it is now 450 strong. I am going to stop talking out of the 3rd person now. So i get to my host family (from now on when I say family I mean host family unless otherwise specified) and it´s real different. Well, not so different than what I´ve seen or experienced in Bolivia but I was never this submersed in rural Latin American life before.
The logisitics: One mother 70 years young, deceased father.
7 brothers and sisters ranging from 52 to 35 years old. Many nephews and great nephews (?).
Big family. Really nice people. Really good food. Lots of starch. Big portions.
The Latrine... For the first five days I just couldn´t go. I tried but it defeated me. For those of you who do not know a pit latrine is a deep hole in the ground. You put a make-shift toilet seat on top and set up 4 zinc walls around it and voila you got yourself a place to do business. Trouble is, it smells real bad and bugs are kind of everywhere. It´s really not so bad once you get used to it. I kept telling myself that what I´m smelling really concentrated methane gas and nothing more. Just get scientific with it.
I will not be building pit latrines in my site. They will be compost latrines which are very different. Same story but better. Compost latrines are about 3 or 4 feet OFF the ground. So you do your business into a huge barrel. The difference is you pee in area and poo in the other. The pee goes to a different bucket or has a tube connecting it to some far away area (like 30 feet) from where anyone lives or walks. So everytime you poo you throw some sawdust or ash on top and this stops it from smelling and helps it dry up real fast. Once the barrel is full (approx every six months) you pull it out, cover it and let it sit for another 6 months. When you open it, it will be dry and look and smell and feel like fertilizer. You then put it on some plants or trees, etc. The reason for the separation of pee and poo is because poo cannot dry if the pee is in the picture. So çm you obviously need two barrels and exchange them every 6 months. And that was the compost latrine bit.
More logistics: Spanish class/Culture class/Indigenous Class for 4 hours then one our of lunch then 4 hours of EH Tech class. Remember EH means Environmental Health (my sector). You have to remember all these acroynms with me. Those of us with strong spanish will be more involved with the Santa Clara community these 3 months doing more volunteer work and side projects. Tech class is informative but usually over my head. Lot of engineer jargon when it comes to building aqueducts and just water stuff in general. I´m getting the hang of it though. I got about 9 weeks left before i go to my site all by my lonesome. Speaking of which next week is our "volunteer visit" which means we all go off on our own to visit a volunteer somewhere in the country. I am a trainee right now, not a volunteer in case you didn´t know. So i was assigned to go visit a guy named Joe in Bocas del Toro province. This province is the farthest one west bordering Costa Rica. It is apparently beautiful and 14 hours on a bus away. I gotta get there by speed boat or something after that. All very exciting stuff. I´ll be there for about 4 days not counting the two days it´ll take me to travel. The purpose of the trip is to experience how a PCV lives and ask pertinent questions. Then we go back to training and let our bosses know ohw we feel and if we have changed our minds on how we feel about our placement. Well, I´ve got a lot more to tell but really this is enough.
Oh, by the way today we slit some chickens´ throats and boiled them and plucked the feathers and took out all the organs, etc. It was pretty sweet. It´s good to see the process. It makes you appreciate what you´re eating.
Franco
ps - the malaria medicine makes us trip while we sleep. i´ll see if i can bring a bunch for you, roberto, when i get back. JUST KIDDING, PEACE CORPS!!!
The logisitics: One mother 70 years young, deceased father.
7 brothers and sisters ranging from 52 to 35 years old. Many nephews and great nephews (?).
Big family. Really nice people. Really good food. Lots of starch. Big portions.
The Latrine... For the first five days I just couldn´t go. I tried but it defeated me. For those of you who do not know a pit latrine is a deep hole in the ground. You put a make-shift toilet seat on top and set up 4 zinc walls around it and voila you got yourself a place to do business. Trouble is, it smells real bad and bugs are kind of everywhere. It´s really not so bad once you get used to it. I kept telling myself that what I´m smelling really concentrated methane gas and nothing more. Just get scientific with it.
I will not be building pit latrines in my site. They will be compost latrines which are very different. Same story but better. Compost latrines are about 3 or 4 feet OFF the ground. So you do your business into a huge barrel. The difference is you pee in area and poo in the other. The pee goes to a different bucket or has a tube connecting it to some far away area (like 30 feet) from where anyone lives or walks. So everytime you poo you throw some sawdust or ash on top and this stops it from smelling and helps it dry up real fast. Once the barrel is full (approx every six months) you pull it out, cover it and let it sit for another 6 months. When you open it, it will be dry and look and smell and feel like fertilizer. You then put it on some plants or trees, etc. The reason for the separation of pee and poo is because poo cannot dry if the pee is in the picture. So çm you obviously need two barrels and exchange them every 6 months. And that was the compost latrine bit.
More logistics: Spanish class/Culture class/Indigenous Class for 4 hours then one our of lunch then 4 hours of EH Tech class. Remember EH means Environmental Health (my sector). You have to remember all these acroynms with me. Those of us with strong spanish will be more involved with the Santa Clara community these 3 months doing more volunteer work and side projects. Tech class is informative but usually over my head. Lot of engineer jargon when it comes to building aqueducts and just water stuff in general. I´m getting the hang of it though. I got about 9 weeks left before i go to my site all by my lonesome. Speaking of which next week is our "volunteer visit" which means we all go off on our own to visit a volunteer somewhere in the country. I am a trainee right now, not a volunteer in case you didn´t know. So i was assigned to go visit a guy named Joe in Bocas del Toro province. This province is the farthest one west bordering Costa Rica. It is apparently beautiful and 14 hours on a bus away. I gotta get there by speed boat or something after that. All very exciting stuff. I´ll be there for about 4 days not counting the two days it´ll take me to travel. The purpose of the trip is to experience how a PCV lives and ask pertinent questions. Then we go back to training and let our bosses know ohw we feel and if we have changed our minds on how we feel about our placement. Well, I´ve got a lot more to tell but really this is enough.
Oh, by the way today we slit some chickens´ throats and boiled them and plucked the feathers and took out all the organs, etc. It was pretty sweet. It´s good to see the process. It makes you appreciate what you´re eating.
Franco
ps - the malaria medicine makes us trip while we sleep. i´ll see if i can bring a bunch for you, roberto, when i get back. JUST KIDDING, PEACE CORPS!!!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Comenzo!!!
this is the first chance i've gotten a minute to sit and write. honestly though, i'm in a room full of PCT (Pece Corps Trainees) and es 'muy dificil' to concentrate. So for those of you who are interested in my tumultous day-to-day life thus far. It all started in Arlington, VA on August 13th, Monday morning. We had what is called "Staging" which is a two-day event in a conference room in the Holiday Inn. It was basically a lecture and some skits/interactive dances that illustrate the do's and don'ts of the next couple years. (Tangent: oh my god, it is so hot and muggy in this room. I am sweating my 'poto' off). It was cool because we got to know each other somewhat and we realized that we're not alone which makes everything feel a bit more bearable. There are 42 of us. Overall, these cats are very groovy. Two of us are native speakers and there are a handful that have lived and studied some Spanish in Latin America/Spain (despite Spanish people not really knowing how to speak the language). Ok, so i'm gonna skip the details about training because in spite of it's coolness (a group of mine did an interpretive dance depicting the different crucial points to grassroots development) the next two days have been 'mas cheverre' (that's Panamanian slang for cool). Apparently, they say cool, too and fashion if something's awesome and anti-fashion if something is not (say it in a latino accent... then laugh). So arrived in Panama City and there were a handful of PCV (Peace Corps Volunteers) and staff waiting for us with huge smiles. They arrived exactly one years before us and have one left. They've been extremely helpful and patient with us. We just bombarded them with silly yet pertinent queries. They speak of amazingness and we believe them. They are all smiles and make us feel very easy about the mountain ahead of us. On Sunday, we head out to Santa Clara which is a town with the population of about 5,200. We hear our host families will probably have hot water so I'm pretty psyched about that. Not that where we're at right now (former US army barrack) doesn't have hot water but sooner or later (when we reach our personal specific sites will not).
So, until Sunday we are hear having some lectures and interviews to help us on our placing of the site (village or town) and what specific job and project we will start in 3 months. In addition to all that, today we had swimming tests in order to be evaluated. This is because some sites are only reachable by boat rides (the ones farther west). Or some sites in order to be reached you must ford a river oregon trail (or hill) style.
the next three months are going to make it clearer. There are 42 of us and 21 are EH (Environmental Health) and the other half are CED (Community Economic Development). There are shit ton of acroynms and one day I will have it all down or on the other hand I might not. The CEDs will probably have electricity and running water and live in Latino communities in decent size towns (500 to a couple thousand). EHers will most likely be in indigenous communities far away from Panama City where 80% of the 3 million Panamanians live. I am an EHer. I told my APCD (Assistant Peace Corps Director) that I'm on the fence about whether I prefer an indigenous community or Latino. They both have their ups and ups. With the indigenous I would be in the highlands most probably which i love on many levels. Mountains are my forte and I wanna hike a lot. Also, it's not as warm and humid. I am hairy and the humidty here makes Miami look like San Francisco. Indigenous communities are so warm and welcoming and humble. At least, that's the vibe I got from working with and engaging them in Guatemala and Bolivia. The Latino communities are enticing also because it is a culture that I would love to reconnect with. Moreover, on a more selfish note I want to play soccer and dance salsa all the time. With the Latinos the chance is greater. There is no salsa with the indigenous and limited soccer. It's not so selfish though because I'm sure I'd start a futbol club for the kids if they don't have one. Or at least join one. Hey Niraj! Our TT (Technical Trainer) looks exactly like you but a Panamanian version. Pictures shortly. Ok, I have rambled on for long enough. Sorry for its incoherence and bland overview. So much has happened and I am very tired. We played futbol for a long time tonight. God, there is a groovy intensity to my near future.
It's all too much,
Franco
So, until Sunday we are hear having some lectures and interviews to help us on our placing of the site (village or town) and what specific job and project we will start in 3 months. In addition to all that, today we had swimming tests in order to be evaluated. This is because some sites are only reachable by boat rides (the ones farther west). Or some sites in order to be reached you must ford a river oregon trail (or hill) style.
the next three months are going to make it clearer. There are 42 of us and 21 are EH (Environmental Health) and the other half are CED (Community Economic Development). There are shit ton of acroynms and one day I will have it all down or on the other hand I might not. The CEDs will probably have electricity and running water and live in Latino communities in decent size towns (500 to a couple thousand). EHers will most likely be in indigenous communities far away from Panama City where 80% of the 3 million Panamanians live. I am an EHer. I told my APCD (Assistant Peace Corps Director) that I'm on the fence about whether I prefer an indigenous community or Latino. They both have their ups and ups. With the indigenous I would be in the highlands most probably which i love on many levels. Mountains are my forte and I wanna hike a lot. Also, it's not as warm and humid. I am hairy and the humidty here makes Miami look like San Francisco. Indigenous communities are so warm and welcoming and humble. At least, that's the vibe I got from working with and engaging them in Guatemala and Bolivia. The Latino communities are enticing also because it is a culture that I would love to reconnect with. Moreover, on a more selfish note I want to play soccer and dance salsa all the time. With the Latinos the chance is greater. There is no salsa with the indigenous and limited soccer. It's not so selfish though because I'm sure I'd start a futbol club for the kids if they don't have one. Or at least join one. Hey Niraj! Our TT (Technical Trainer) looks exactly like you but a Panamanian version. Pictures shortly. Ok, I have rambled on for long enough. Sorry for its incoherence and bland overview. So much has happened and I am very tired. We played futbol for a long time tonight. God, there is a groovy intensity to my near future.
It's all too much,
Franco
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