i'm back from a few weeks of traveling around, so here's the down low on my trip. (and sorry it's so long. but it's 2 weeks of my life, okay?)

these two weeks were split between a technical week (visiting a volunteer to learn about the technical aspects of being a business volunteer), visiting the business sector conference, and a culture week (where each trainee went to visit a volunteer in their future province to learn about the culture there). despite the trip's ups and downs, i had a really good time overall.

the first week was basically staying in a hotel and traveling to the volunteer's site in the province of veraguas every day. we got to meet the people she works with and a really amazing man who knows a lot about running cooperatives in panamá. we also visited santa fé, a beautiful town up in the mountains, to visit a few community organizations and a coffee plant. staying in the hotel was cool because we got to watch cable t.v., swim in the pool, and go to the supermarket and buy things like chips and salsa every night. it was nice to just relax with the other trainees and have some fun. sure, some of the talks we had to sit through were a bit boring, some of the activities were a bit hectic, and we got a few noise complaints at the hotel (so there was definitely some drama that week) but it was still nice to get out of our training town and do something new.

that saturday we went to the sector conference which was at a spa resort up in the mountains of the chiriquí reigon. it was beautiful and, get this, COLD. there, current volunteers shared about their work and it just made me excited to get into my site and start doing things. also, some of us went out that night to celebrate a birthday. we went to a couple of clubs and dance dance danced! needless to say, i had a great time. ;)

the second week i went to visit a volunteer in the province of coclé, where i will be living. i really had an amazing week. so i'm gonna break it down for you day by day.

day 1: not much happened. when i went to meet my host family for the week i walked up to a porch full of about 15 people staring at me, silently. ¡suuuuupppeeerrrr incómodo! but they turned out to be a super cool family. there were tons of kids around waiting for me to get home everyday and play games with them. and the food was so much better than what i've been getting at my training site. and when i left my host mom said she had grown used to waiting for me every day and would miss me. i'm totally going to visit them again in the future.

day 2: we got to go work with a group that has a small organic farm and chopear en el monte (machete overgrowth). my machete skills are definitely lacking, but i'm going to work on it. one day i will be a master of the machete. just wait.

day 3: a woman that i just met gave me a bracelet she beaded so that "i could always remember her." then we saw how panamá hats are made. it was wayyyyy awesome. they cut the palm, shred it, dye and dry it, weave it, and then sew the hat together. all in all, it takes about a month to make one. and then the artists gets $10, while the person in the city who does almost nothing makes like $80. wtf? so now i have a goal of making my own hat while i am here.

day 4: we visited a man who grows orchids. i was in heaven. he grows all these different types by tying them into a tree and then the plant grows onto it. they were beautiful and i also now have a goal of having an orchid garden while i am here.

day 5: we woke up early and hiked up to the town's aqueduct. good thing i brought rubber boots because it was muddddddddy and we had to cross multiple streams. then we visited an organic farm and got to learn about vanilla production (a long, long process, there is a reason it's expensive). later that day we had a little going away party and a man played his accordion for us and his sons played the drums. he even made a little speech for us with a bit of english in it. he was obviously very nervous, but he did a really good job. that night, all of the kids at my house were in my bed and sang me songs and then gave me 5 trillion hugs goodbye.

so that week was great. the town was up in the mountains and full of little rivers. everyone was so nice and happy to have us there. i can only hope that my town will be as beautiful and welcoming.

so, in the spirit of my last entry (which was cut short because my time on the internet cut out) i am going to write only about things that i like about panamá. here we go.


#1 okay, this is obvious for everyone who knows me. reggaetón. (duh.) some people say that it's boring and just the same beat over and over again. obviously they haven't had the life changing experience of seeing daddy yankee on stage with explosions and dancing hoochies in the background. i don't have a radio, so i am not sure what the radio stations are like (i don't know if they could beat la kalle) but i do hear reggaeton quite a bit. blaring out of people houses, in the background during technical training, at the kiddie dance party, on the bus, etc. and speaking of the bus, here comes number 2.

#2 diablos rojos. that's what they call the buses here. it means red devils. apparently they call the buses that because they have been known to hit and kill people. hmmmmmm...not so positive. but there are good things. in a very latin american fashion they drive fast, don't stop all the way (let's hope i don't fall out of one again), and, occasionally, people sell things on them. and of course, they blast music. actually, the other day i got on a bus full of school kids that was blasting a techno song with one line, girls who like sex are bad. ridiculous! and hilarious as well.

#3 light up bugs. i didn't have these growing up in the bay area, so i don't know the technical name. but they are awesome and when i don't have a flashlight, they help me find my way home. (okay, not really.) but they are still super cool.

#4 hair styles. ladies from chile, you will be happy to hear that the mini mullet is living on in panamá. you know i´m happy. even worse, women have them too sometimes. but it's more of a sculpted mullet on them, if that makes any sense. they have this tight curly hair that is like shaved into a shape of a mullet but is actually helmet like. oh, and the men line up their hair. which is something that doesn't happen enough in the states. but here, it's standard. ¡que bueno!

#5 ¡machetes! well, this just brings it full circle to daddy yankee and #1. but really, machetes are everywhere. and you can even bring them into the tienda or bank with you. awesome! although, if people get drunk and angry, there may be a machete fight. and those are deadly. some people here have seen them before. (bad, but, what a story to tell your friend back home.) i am thinking of sending a couple home for christmas to ray and tal. mom, do i have you're approval? (hahaha, yeah right.)

so yes, panamá has good things to offer.


in other news...


i got my site assignment! i'll be going to the coclé province. which is funny because a couple people had already started calling me coclé instead of coco as a joke. my town is actually kinda big (4,000 people!) and less than 3 hours from panamá city. my main job is to work with a youth cooperative.

i'm not so sure how i feel about the work. i came here to do business work and was really excited to work with panamanian entrepreneurs, and now i'll be working with an elementary school group instead. i do love youth development, but i don't know if that is what i want my work here to be about. i thought that would be more my escape from work. but we'll see. when i get to visit the community in a few weeks i will get to know more about what exactly the group does and how i will help. so for now, i'm not too excited or anything, but i'm not totally upset either. like i said, we'll see.


lastly, we're going to travel for the next 2 weeks. i get to go to a bunch of places all over panamá as part of my training. it should be fun. so no one will probably hear from me until october, but i should have some good pictures and stories by then.

miss you all!!!!!!!! love you!!!! and, email me updates!

actually, i realized that my last entry was overall a negative one. so here is nothing but positive things.


last night we went to a dance party that the youth group was throwing in the community center. now ya´ll know i loooooooove to dance, so i was excited about that. there were kids dancing who must have been three or four along with the teenagers and the gringos. some gringas and i got some of the teen boys sitting along the wall to teach us how to dance típico, which was quite awkward but also quite fun. they were embarrassed at first, but i think they secretly loved it. and later they blasted some reggaeton, which made my night.


and here´s a picture with some of my favorite gringas here. we happened to match one day so we decided we are now a girl group a la spice girls. yee yee!

(sorry it´s sideways, i have 20 seconds left on the net)

¡felicidades a mi! i made it out alive.


as a trainee, every day has a full schedule. class, class, and more class. and then some charlas about skin eating infectious diseases and diarreaha. fun. so i was excited to have a free day today, but it came with a catch: spend time with your host family and learn about their culture.

i know, i know. that sounds cool, right? well maybe if you´re learning how to dance típico or going to the beach with your family it would be cool. but when you live with two elderly people who only go to church and watch tv it is not. espescially when you think they hate you. (side note: my host family thinks i don´t eat- because i am a vegetarian and believe in a thing called portions, that i leave the house without saying anything - which NEVER has happened, and that i hate their four year old granddaughter- with whom i play, share my food, etc.)

so today i was blessed with the wonderful experience of going to church with my host family. they are evangelicals, a religion about which i have limited knowledge. except for the fact that the services are long. and today´s service was no exception. it was FOUR HOURS LONG. although i am not religious i am open to learning about different religions, but today was a bit much.

music was an important part of the service, which would be cool if it sounded like kirk franklin but it was more like random noises piercing your ear drums. they had a nice set of drums, which they didn´t really know how to play, and a nice keyboard, which they only put on beat maker mode and hit two keys in the liking of bum bum pshhh. over that lovely music there was everyone singing at a different pace. and we had to stand through each ten minute song clapping our hands with joy.

another interesting part was the precher´s sermon. it was about how all you need is god, an idea that many religions embrace. but then he went on to say that the reason this country has problems is that the people here aren´t religious enough. and that people who say that the country needs constitutional reform and law changes are wrong. that all the country needs is god. i understand the importance of spirituality and it´s role in peace, but to tell a room full of poor and struggling people that all they need to do is believe in god to overcome those things does not settle well in my stomach. and then the preacher went on to point out that developed countries like the usa and russia have prostitutes and drugs and other problems because they haven´t accepted god. AND, all of the people in the church were giving him amen´s left and right. i didn´t really know what to think of it all.

after this experience, i don´t think i´ll be going to any more evangelical services in panamá. i think that four hours was enough.

and i sure hope that my host family likes me a bit more after this morning.

i´m giving in and starting a blog. today i say goodbye to mass emails and hello to the publication of my life on the internet. hopefully i can keep ya´ll entertained.


so today i got back from visiting a current volunteer in the province of colón. it was the perfect break from training. life as an aspirante has been pretty challenging (class all day, not so great food, having a 7pm cerfew, walking up a hill to use the latrine at 4am, etc) and i needed to get away.

i stayed at the volunteer´s house and explored her community. her town is beautiful. it´s small (300 people) and it´s in the middle of the jungle. there are all sorts of animals around (toucans, monkeys, snakes, and more), and it´s only 20 minutes from the atlantic coast. talk about lucky.

saturday we got to see what she does. she works with an ecotourism group and we got to see the trails it has set up and eat at its restaurant. here´s a picture from a the mirador of one sendero:
then we walked around town. we saw the school where she teaches english and met her neighbors. in a town that small, you know everyone. it was great. one kid even showed us his pet iguana. in the afternoon, we had a baseball game with the local kids. they play with a ball that is kinda like a tennis ball and bat with their arm. it was a lot of fun, even if i didn´t make it to first base most of the time.

sunday morning we went to the beach and had so much fun. the weather was perfect, the water was warm, and we got to talk with some locals. in the afternoon, 2 young folks and an old man from the volunteer´s community met up with us. the old man was short and couldn´t wade in very far. we all thought he was going to drown but then he beat us all in ¨how long can you hold your breath¨contests. who would have thought!

now i´m in panama city and about to head back to my training town for hours upon hours of learning what is a swat analysis and sitting in spanish class. i´m just waiting for the next get away.


hasta luego,
coco





*this is an added story that doesn´t have much to do with my life here. it´s just funny.

i was sitting on the internet last week and an older gentlemen looked over to me. ¨linda, can you help me? i don´t know much about internet,¨ he said. so i began to help him with google. i had to show him how a search works and how to click on links. that part was easy. the hard part has trying not to make a face because he was searching erectile disfunction. AWKWARRRRRRD!
okay, that´s it with the rediculous stories for now.