The Dry Season

Well, it’s the end of the rainy season as we know it down here in Panama, and I feel fine. Even if this rainy season, wasn’t that rainy. This, of course, made this rainy season a lot more hot and humid. Now the weather is in the process of changing. Over the next 4 months, I’ll be living in a climate that each day is the same, i.e. hot, sunny, and windy. To prepare myself for this, I’ve come up with a Pros and Cons list of living day to day likes this. Let’s start with the Cons first…

Cons

• Without any clouds, the sun attacks you with more vengeance than the vendetta fueled killings at the end of The Godfather I and II combined. Sunscreen is a constant companion during these times.
• Each day I wake up, I feel like Bill Murray’s character in Groundhog Day. Although the dates change, each day feels the same. Sun is out by 6:20am. By 8:30am it gets hot. By 9:30am it gets really hot. By 12:30pm forget about it. By 6:30pm the sun is down and it’s much cooler. Perhaps I can use this time to better myself like Murray’s character and learn jazz piano, ice sculpting and French. Since it’s too hot to do ice sculpting, I doubt I’ll be doing the other two things either. Such a waste, I know.
• Because it’s dry and windy, dust blows everywhere. This isn’t too much fun for your eyes or trying to keep a clean house.

Pros:

• With the sun always out, it’s pretty easy to keep a nice tan.
• Great beach weather. And guess what? I don't live that far from the beach!
• After being offered up as a sacrifice to the mosquito gods for the past seven months, it'll be nice not having them around for a while.
  
• You don’t have to worry about making plans around the weather.
• The locals will be saying things like ‘bastante sol’ or ‘demasiado sol’ which is fun to hear.
• Once again, I don’t have to worry about shoveling snow.

And you know what, that reason alone is impossible to top. That’s one thing I don’t miss about home. Keep shoveling that snow.

The Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving marked the second straight year being away from my family for my favorite holiday. Last year, I celebrated the day with a small group of volunteers. This year, more than 100 volunteers descended upon Cerra Punta (up near the Costa Rican border) for a two day Turkeyfest.

After about 8 hours of traveling on Wednesday – which was short compared to some friends – we kicked off the two days with some relaxing and a few drinks. The next day featured dinner around 5, phone calls to family and more drinking and dancing. Somehow, I didn’t get to do two of my favorite things on Thanksgiving – watch football and a post dinner nap. Don’t worry, though, I will more than make up for missing out on those two things next year.

While it was sad to be away from family again, it was great to be with my other family. One thing that made things easier was the surrounding area made me feel like I was home in West Virginia. Cerra Punta is tucked inside the mountains and the landscape reminded me of being near Elkins, West Virginia. We even had a stream running down the outside of our room. Plus, the weather was actually cool there. I was wearing a light sweater Thanksgiving day, which never happens in my community. I’m more likely to be wearing a layer of sweat.

Of course, the main key to any Thanksgiving is the meal. And after some false starts with getting the turkeys in the oven, things tured out very good. Just a notch below my Aunt Randy’s cooking., though.

The Shrimping

A couple weeks ago, I went with my counterpart Sergio to the shrimp tanks just a little outside my community. My counterpart had been tending the tanks for a couple months and now it was time to start harvesting some of the shrimp.

A couple points of note: Because it had been unseasonably dry during the beginning part of the rainy season, the harvesting of the shrimp was pushed back some. Also, to help feed the shrimp, Sergio would busted up a coconut and throw it into the water. This struck me as strange. But then again, quite a few things strike me strange here.

So off we went. Sergio’s brother Carlo went as well. They were there with their nets and I was there to take photos.

As you can see they pull the net over their shoulder. Wait, why am I explaining this? I have video that explains it a lot better than I would ever do it: (Note- I tried to embed the video, but wasn't successful, so you can watch the link here.)

I just hope my dad doesn't see people wadding around in knee deep water and start having ‘Nam flashbacks.

In the end, we (I use this term roughly, because I did throw the net and caught a couple shrimp) caught about 70 pounds of shrimp. For my work, Sergio gave me a few…

…and they were delicious.

The Despadida, Part II

Coming off the high of Independence Day here in Panama yesterday, I would like you direct your attention to the fabulous write-up that panablog (RIP) had last year regarding this festive day. You can read it right here.

In my world, this past weekend I attended another going away party (despadida) for another friend (Rob) that lived in my region. Now you might be wondering why all these despadidas all of a sudden. Well, Peace Corps Panama operates on a cycle that features two different groups that come down each year. The odd number groups arrive in April and go to site in July. While the even number groups arrive in August and go to site at the end of October. That means while one new group is coming into site, another group is closing service and heading home. So this past month featured Group 60 finishing up and going home, while Group 64 made their arrivals at site. Meanwhile, I’m Group 62 and stuck right in the middle. Next October, our group will be finishing up and Group 66 will be arriving. Doors closing, doors opening, etc. If the previous paragraph didn’t make sense to you, don’t worry. In the grand scheme of this thing called life, it shouldn’t even make a blimp on your radar screen.

However, here is something that makes sense to a lot of you – a fun time! So let’s talk about that. Saturday, I ventured over (up?) to my friend’s Rob site. Rob and I are both Community and Economic Development Volunteers, so we share that bond. But it goes a step further. We are connected by a river. The river runs through his town and bears that name. Meanwhile, I live at the mouth of the river and have the name of the river in my community’s name as well. In that case, we are like kindred spirits.

Rob lives in a much different site than my friend Franco who was profiled earlier on this very blog. That meant, it was going to be a different type of party, but there was one common theme – awesome Azuero people. Rob’s primary work was with a small savings and loan cooperative. They were the people that put together the party. And quite the party they put together. The master of ceremonies had an agenda and an array of speeches and special guests lined up. It started off with a touching speech from the president of the co-op. He thanked Rob for his work in the development of the community. It was quite a speech. From there, two different groups of dancers stopped by and gave a great show for the party attendees:



More speeches and some wonderful gifts to Rob followed. It was all very touching. It was quite obvious the community had a deep affection for not only the work Rob did, but Rob himself. The cake they made for him really showed it:


On the left is a photo of Rob in his traditional dance outfit of the community. On the right is the depiction of the time Rob rode the bull in his community. Isn’t it awesome? The cake was very good, by the way, too.

I’ll miss Rob, but he’s got a bright future ahead of him. Good luck, slugger.

The Yearning/Craving

KRAMER: Do you ever yearn?
GEORGE: Yearn? Do I yearn?
KRAMER: I yearn.
GEORGE: You yearn.
KRAMER: Oh, yes. Yes, I yearn. Often, I...I sit...and yearn. Have you yearned?
GEORGE: Well, not recently. I craved. I crave all the time, constant craving...but I haven't yearned.

That last line from George about sums up my feelings pretty, pretty good about being away from American food for 14 months. I’m not going to lie, at times it has been difficult, but I’ve never yearned. Just constant craving. With that in mind, here are some things that I’ve craved:

My Mom’s Homemade Chicken Pot Pie: It might even been better reheated.

My Aunt Randy’s Fresh Green Beans: Boy, I’m going to miss these at Thanksgiving.

The Baconator: Greatest sandwich ever? Just kidding, I’ve never had one of these before.

Colasessano Pepporoni Roll: Fresh out of the oven. Covered in sauce and cheese. Mmmmm.

Pad Thai: Preferably from Thai Tanic in DC.

Arby’s 5 for 5 Roast Beef: Yes, I know they cut it down to 4 for 5, but this is my list. So it’s 5 for 5.

My Aunt Rai’s Mashed Potatoes: Whipped perfectly, always. Another thing I’ll miss at Thanksgiving.

A Juicy Steak: At this point, I would take about anything.

A Spicy …

…you know what, I better quit before my craving turns into yearning.

The One Year Left

One of my favorite moments from the Larry Bird SportsCentury – and there are a lot of them – is when Billy Cunningham, the coach of the 76ers of the time asked Red Auerbach, the general manger of the Boston Celtics, why he drafted Larry Bird when Auerbach knew that Bird was not going to join the Celtics until the following year. Red responded simply, “do you know how short of a time period one year is?” Of course, it turned out perfectly for the Celtics. Bird joined them the next year. The Celtics had at the time the biggest turnaround in NBA history. Bird won three MVPs, three championships and went down in history as one of the five greatest players ever.

What does this have to do with me? Well, I can now use the Auerbach quote because I have one year left in Panama. It fits the situation, right? Well, it does in my book.

With one year down, I have to say I have enjoyed my time greatly. And I am looking forward to the possibilities that the second year could hold in store.

With that in mind, it is likely that I won’t be updating my blog quite as much during the next year. Why? Well, because this coming year might not be as (mis)adventurous as the past year. Being more familiar with the territory and repeating a lot of the same things, I likely won’t be repeating the same stories. Plus, I’m not a good enough writer to put a different spin on things and make them more interesting. But who knows. The next year might be even more interesting.

Stay tuned.

The Despadida

Once again, I am going to spotlight my friend, Franco. However, this will be the last time, as this past Saturday, I went back to his community (along with some other volunteers) for his going away party or as they say in Spanish, his despadida.

Franco was one of the first actual volunteers in the field that I got to know. He came in a year ahead of me, where he also lived in the same region I do. Having much in common, we became fast friends. Things got off to a fast start when during culture week, I, along with some other new volunteers, helped Franco carry a pig over to his site. He planned to use the next year to fatten up the pig and then carve it up for his going away party.

So I couldn’t miss the despadidad. I mean, quid pro quo. You don’t help someone carry a pig and not get a couple slices, right?

That brings us to this past Saturday. We made it to Franco’s site in the early afternoon just before the rain arrived. Franco, anxious to get to the party, decided it would be a good idea to walk in the rain. So that meant we had to go down this in the rain:


I somehow managed to slide halfway down it without getting that muddy. A miracle, really.

From there the party’s festivities picked up. The pig was cut up and delicious. There was some dancing and a general festive atmosphere. All the while, the rain continued. The party broke up a little past dark (there is no electricity at Franco’s site) so us gringos headed back to his place. And that’s when things got a bit nuts.

By this time, the trail leading back to Franco’s home was a complete mess. When we made it back to his house, we were covered and mud and looked like we just spent the weekend at Woodstock.

But it was all in good fun. I’m going to miss hanging out with Franco, even if he thinks soccer is the best sport. It’s kind of odd when a friend of yours down here leaves, because they go back to life in the states, while you’re left trying to fill the void.

But enough self loathing. Franco’s got a bright future ahead of him. Good luck, buddy.