Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope this finds you all doing well and enjoying the start of the holiday season. I spent yesterday in Cerro Punta, a small town up in the mountains (about 6,000 ft) with the majority of Peace Corps Panama volunteers. We rented out a lodge and hotel and cooked a traditional Thanksgiving meal. It was a lot of fun, but not quite like being home in the states for the holiday.

This article has lots of pictures, so enjoy. Also, the article following this one has my mailing address. If you find yourself traveling within the states or especially internationally please send post cards if you can. The children in my site love to look at pictures, and it would be a great opportunity to teach them about other places around the world. I´ll post anything that´s sent up on my wall (once I have one) for everyone to see. Thanks!

Praying mantis fighting a leaf.

A lot has happened since my last post. I finished with training at the end of October and moved into my site permanently after a weekend of fun on the beach for Halloween. So far things have gone well and I´m enjoying the "real Peace Corps experience" a lot more than training. There are certainly good days and bad days but overall I really love it.

Celebrating the end of Santa Clara.

I´ve spent most of my time so far shadowing my host family around and getting to know the community (about 7 homes, maybe 100 people). I spend about two out of every three days working in the fields with my host dad. We have finished harvesting the season´s rice and have cleaned the fields for the next crop: beans. We´ve also been harvesting some coffee and yucca. Sorry, I´m not a coffee drinker, so I really don´t know if it´s good or not. However, they give me tea made from lemon grass and hot chocolate made from fresh cacao two to three times a day and both are amazing!

Now that´s face painting!

As for meals, all we really eat is rice. I get a bowl for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Occasionally there will be a piece of yucca or some other vegetable, but mainly rice. There was one dinner where I got half a pumpkin, which was pretty good (certainly the change was welcome). We killed an armadillo in the fields a few weeks back, which I was interested in trying, but another family got the meat...I´ll get my chance. Talking to friends at Thanksgiving, I´m pretty lucky to be getting rice. Most of them are eating boiled green bananas three times a day! Once I get my own house built I´ll be cooking for myself and able to carry in food from outside, so I should be eating a wider variety then.

New environmental health volunteers at swear in.

I did try buying 10 pounds of beans and giving them to my family to cook with the rice. They loved the gift, but instead of eating them we immediately went out to the fields to plant them. Hopefully in about three months those 10 pounds will be 30 pounds of beans. However, I imagine they will turn around and plant them again anyway!

Halloween at the beach.

Aside from the armadillo I´ve been surprised at how many snakes and tarantulas I´ve come across. Every few days we come across a snake in the field, and they even let me kill one of them, which they say was quite poisonous...but I´m getting the impression that all snakes, to them, are poisonous. Whenever a snake is spotted there is a lot of yelling and everyone around stops working to help sling rocks at it with hand made sling shots. Once the snake has been hit in the head several times and is no longer moving, someone ("the killer") approaches with a machete and removes the head before posting the body on a stick high in the air to rot and let the birds eat. When you spend six or eight hours at a time picking rice by hand you begin to look forward to the excitement that an occasional snake brings!

Nothing like a Coke to cool you down.

Besides working in the fields I´ve started to design my house. The people in my site live in huts with large sticks and branches for walls and steep grass roofs with mud/dirt floors. I´ve found a spot with a beautiful view of the valley and hills around but will be building on the side of a hill. Consequently I´ve decided to build out of wood (hand cut with a chain saw by someone from a nearby community) and a grass roof. Tomorrow we are supposed to cut the trees down and all the wood should be dry and ready to go by the end of December, if all goes as planned. I hope to be living in my own house by the end of January.

Do you think she knows she´s chewing on the Panamanian flag?

In terms of projects, not a lot happens the first six months of the volunteer's time in site as they become acclimated to the new culture. However, January to March is the dry season and the best time to put holes in the ground for latrines. That said, I´m planning to put 10 to 30 latrines in this dry season so they don´t have to wait another year to see some progress there. Also, I´ll be measuring the water´flow and monitoring 3 to 4 aqueduct systems in both my community and surrounding areas to design for improvements and additions over the coming two years. Currently drinking water is not a problem in Laguna, but there are several small communities scattered nearby that want their own systems set up.

My host dad harvesting rice.

That´s about it for today. I don´t think I´ll be able to access a computer again until Christmas time, but I´ll try to post some more pictures and information then.

I love hearing from all of you, please continue emailing me (roblittle@gmail.com) as you have time. For now, enjoy the rest of the pictures and Happy Holidays!

My host dad with a snake we killed.

Some of my host siblings.

View from La Laguna.

The rain moving in on La Laguna.

Fishing in the Lagoon.

That would be an avocado shell she´s eating with.

Contact Information

I have had some requests for my mailing address, here you go:

Roberto Pequeño
Cuerpo de Paz-Panama
Edificio 104, 1er Piso
Avenida Vicente Bonilla
Ciudad del Saber, Clayton
Panama, Rep. de Panama


Note: This address only works for mail and packages sent through the US Post Office. The courier address (DHL, Fedex, etc.) is different. If you would like that address please email me. Packages sent through private couriers are very expensive and (from volunteers experiences) not any more reliable.

Mail takes about 2 to 4 weeks to reach Panamá. Once it´s here I have to pick it up in the office or have someone get it for me, so it could be up to another month (total of two months) before the mail gets to my hands. I apologize in advance if my response is slow, but I love getting mail and will respond to all.

Also, for safety reasons Peace Corps has given me a cell phone for my two year service. I can receive texts and calls from the states for free and would love to hear from you all. Please let me know via email if you would like my number and I´ll gladly send it on.

I hope this finds everyone doing well. I´ll post another update soon.

Pequeño.

A Visit to La Laguna

This past week I was able to visit my site, La Laguna, for the first time and I've got an interesting and exciting two years ahead of me. A word about the pictures first. I haven't been too good about taking pictures in the past few weeks. I refrained from using my camera in La Laguna during my visit. I would like to avoid revealing technological gadgets until I have lived there for a little while. Consequently, the only picture below of La Laguna is from quite some distance. I promise there will be many more of my site in the future.

Hato Chami, where I start my hike to La Laguna.

Last weekend Peace Corps held a conference for all new volunteers to meet their counterparts from their future sites and then travel home with him/her after some informational sessions. My counterpart was one of a few who did not show up the first day for the conference. Word quickly traveled back that he had gotten cold feet and not left La Laguna. It turns out that he had never been on a bus before (he's 44 years old) and was scared to make the 10 hour trip to the conference center. A fellow Peace Corps volunteer made the trek up to La Laguna and traveled with him back to the conference center, teaching him how to use the bus system along the way.

I could tell from the moment I meet him that he was intimidated by all the activity around him in such a foreign location (not to mention that we Americans were towering above his five-foot, 110 pound frame). Once we started talking he quickly opened up about La Laguna and the details of my work for the next two years. Things quickly ended at the conference and we were off to La Laguna.

Hiking in to La Laguna (bad lighting, sorry).

The truck ride up to Hato Chami, where I start my hike, easily matches America's best offroading trails. There were countless occasions where we had to get out and push the truck through ruts several feet deep, or use picks and shovels to clear the road. After several hours of bouncing around the back of a truck we arrived in Chami and began the hour hike down in to La Laguna. I was quickly overwhelmed by the beautiful mountains and views around me and still can't believe that it will be my home for the next two years.

The sunrise over the interamerican highway.

I spent four days in site and counted just seven homes in La Laguna. The people that work there are subsistence farmers, living completely off the land and having no steady income of money to buy things that they can´t make themselves. I spent two days exploring parts of the valley with my counterpart, learning about the land, and harvesting rice, tomatoes, and lettuce (which we ate for every meal I was there). The community has a small aqueduct system which works well during the raining season (8 months of the year) but lacks water during the dry season. I expect to work with them to expand the system, but it appears that latrines will be the first order of business.

Currently there is just one latrine in Laguna. Most people go to the bathroom in the creek that flows through town. This is the same creek that they bathe in and is also their water source when the aqueduct is dry. I told the community that upon my return at the end of the month I'll visit every home and start the planning and soliciting of funds to bring latrines to the town. Word quickly spread of this and before I left I had people showing up to my cot who had walked for up to two hours to ask if they too could have a latrine. They are all willing to work to help build the latrines, but they don't have the resources to bring in the necessary materials from outside, which will be my job.

Gecko that fell on me during class in the rainforest.

The third day in site I woke up to my counterpart standing over me telling me to hurry up and get ready, we were going for a hike. I got dressed and we started hiking. About an hour later we arrived at the top of the highest point in the center of the valley. There were a dozen or so men who were all waiting, dressed in their nicest clothes. I was introduced to the men and asked to explain Peace Corps and my work for the next two years. I gladly obliged but first asked that they each tell me their names and where they were from. The men went around in a circle and would say their names and turn around and point far off into the distance and say in a thick Ngäbere accent, "Vivo alla." (I live there). At times I saw the top of a grass hut, other times I saw smoke billowing from the rainforest, and yet other times I saw nothing but the vast sea of green that is Panama. The men all walked from around the valley to explain their need for water and latrines. They asked if I could help them...I was overwhelmed with it all.

My last night in site as I was sitting on the dirt floor in the poorly lit hut, watching the women peal the rice, one of the children of the house finally had the courage to come close to me. As he approached me I watched with wonder about what he was thinking. After about a minute of standing next to me, looking at me, he touched my arm with his finger and then placed his arm next to mine. I looked up at the dad, on the other side of the room, who was already beginning to explain that I was the first white person the boy had ever seen. I tried as best I could to hide my astonishment but somehow I think that it was a bigger adjustment for them than it was for me. As the night went on I was served my usual rice, tomatoes, and lettuce out of a large shell that resembles a half of a coconut, eating with my hands, and listening as the ten or so people around me chatted in a tribal language I can't even begin to understand. It was there that it finally hit me, a huge smile came over me, and I felt like I was immersed in something so unbelievably foreign and new...as if I had been dropped into an advertisement for Peace Corps.

Two Weeks of Work and Play

It´s been three weeks since I posted last to this site. I spent the first two weeks outside of Santa Clara, our training site, going through what Peace Corps calls "Cultural Week" and "Training Week". Cultural week for me was spent in a Ngäbe site close to my future home of La Laguna. This was my first opportunity to spend time with Ngäbes, working with them, talking with them, and living with them. Culturally they are quite different from the Panamanian Latinos.

Traditional Nagua dresses.

The Ngäbes tend to be very quiet people, especially around outsiders. Additionally, they traditionally speak their own indigenous language, Ngäbere, (which I am slowly learning) among themselves, not Spanish. This made communication a little difficult, but I still learned a lot. I was intrigued with the number of questions that they had for me about the U.S., especially about the Indians that live in the U.S. Here in Panama, Indigenous groups are treated very poorly by the Latinos, primarily because of their poverty level. My family was very curious how their lifestyle compared to the lifestyle of Indians in the U.S.

The Battery!

Most Ngäbes have no more than a sixth grade education. Consequently, I was caught off guard a lot by questions they would ask and about how to answer them. Things like, where else in the world do people speak Spanish? What part of the pig is the fat? Is the United States bigger than Panama? It created some pretty interesting conversations.

Cleaning a pig for dinner.

The Ngäbe women wear dresses called Naguas (top picture). They are traditionally very bright in color and all hand made. There was one young girl the first week who didn´t wear a Nagua because she was always getting it dirty. She had so much energy the community called her "The Battery" (second picture). She was a cute little girl and quite entertaining.

For us the meals consisted of rice, beans, and bananas. At times we would get yucca, potatoes, or some other form of vegetable. For special occasions the families pull out cans of sardines or spam. Although, towards the end of the two weeks Peace Corps purchased a pig from the community to cook and eat (above). I can´t recall too many times in my life where I have feed an animal in the morning with my leftovers and eaten the same animal for dinner. The meat was amazing!

Ngäbe children dancing.

I spent the second week in a different Ngäbe site, called Junquito, near Costa Rica. I worked with other Peace Corps volunteers to construct a composting latrine and lived with a Ngäbe family for the week. The last day that we were in site, the community had a performance for us to demonstrate their traditional cultural dance. We decided that we could teach them a thing or two about American culture and shared the Hokie Pokie (sp?) in return!

My family´s composting latrine, without the walls.

The mother of the family I stayed with in Junquito is the same age as I am down to the day, she was born within a few hours of me (I´m 23). The three children in the picture above are all hers. Her fourth child, the oldest, isn´t in the picture....he´s 9! Do the math, it´s sad, but common for Ngäbes.

Another interesting thing about the Ngäbes is that they all have a Latino name and a Ngäbere name. So when a bunch of gringos walked into the village to construct some latrines, the first thing the community did was give us all Ngäbere names. I quickly received the name Kwra (Tiger) and was referred to as such throughout the week. When I returned to Santa Clara and told my family about the experience, they told me that Jaguars and Pumas are common in the area of Panama I will be working in and decided that Tarzan would be a fitting name for me...so I am now referred to as Tarzan around my house in Santa Clara.

Sunset on the Pacific Ocean.

We finished the two weeks up with a stop at the beach for a night, and treated ourselves to the ridiculously overpriced $0.70 beers. But, the sunset made it all worth it.

Sorry this entry is a bit scattered and not too personal. I feel like a lot goes on that I want to share, but my time in front of the computer is always limited. Consequently I just end up sharing the facts, and not the experiences that come with them. I´ll work on that over the next two years, and try to share both the good and the bad that comes with this experience.

Tomorrow I head out to La Laguna, for a week long visit of my site. I´ll be returning for two more weeks of training after the week long visit and then be officially sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer and begin my two year service. I open the invitation to all of you to come and visit if you are interested, just give me a heads up!

Thanks for reading!

Rob

La Laguna, My Future Peace Corps Home...

I would like to preface this by mentioning that these pictures are not of my future site, just pictures that I have taken in the month that I have been here.

This past Wednesday all of us in training were presented with a packet of information on our future site for the next two years (starting at the end of October). I am very pleased with what the Peace Corps office here has picked out for me and eager to go visit.

Boy carrying yucca home from the farm.

I am going to a site called ¨La Laguna" high up in the mountains of Panama. Here are some of the details included in my packet:

"La Laguna is the quintessential Peace Corps site! La Laguna lays high in the mountains next to a small lake with 360 degrees of mountain views around it. The Ngäbe culture is strong, and they rarely see outsiders. The community is reached by one of the most interesting chiva (truck) rides in Panama, followed by an hour hike during which you will be able to see for views that extend for over a hundred miles. You will live and eat in the beginning with a host family in a traditional Nedrini house: bamboo walls and a grass roof. The temperature varies in the mountains - it can be hot and sunny all day, and quite chilly at night! The community will help you build your house and you will fit right in."

Traditional Nedrini homes in Bocas del Toro.

Looking at a map of Panama, start at Panama City and travel west (that sounds odd, but look at a map and you will see that Panama runs east-west, not north-south) along the interamerican highway. Before you get to the city of David (close to Costa Rica) you pass through a town called San Felix. From there I travel 2-4 hours (depending on the weather) by truck up into the mountains (North) and then hike for an hour (East) to La Laguna. The Peace Corps office can´t find a map of Panama that includes La Laguna. A year ago a Peace Corps volunteer stumbled upon it and went through the motions to solidify a future volunteer from my group to work with the community.

Two girls at a dance in Santa Clara.

La Laguna has between 100 and 150 people living in 12 homes. Currently there is a small water system that takes clean water to the school, but it only works part of the year. I have been asked to carry water through the town to all of the houses as well as build a storage tank for water for the community. Additionally, they would like more springs tapped into the system to ensure water year round and account for growth over the next 20 years. Sounds like I´ll be busy for the next two years!

Peace Corps volunteers working on a rain water collection system.

La Laguna is not a Latino site, it is a Ngäbe (Gnaw-bay) site. The Ngäbe people are believed to have descended from the Mayans but no one really knows. The women wear bright dresses and they typically have very large families. Also, Spanish is their second language. They speak Ngäbere among themselves. I have been told that my Spanish will likely be better than many of theirs. Consequently, I am now taking Ngäbere classes. The language is more similar to Spanish than English, but the pronunciation is completely different and going to be a difficult hurdle to get over. Additionally, the Ngäbere teachers don´t speak English, only Spanish. So, I am learning their language through Spanish.

I am running out of time for today. I´ll be out in the countryside for the next two weeks working with volunteers on their projects. I´ll post more information when I return.

Thanks for reading.

Rob

The start of Peace Corps Training...

Since leaving the States about four weeks ago I feel like I´ve witnessed a fair amount of Panamanian culture. But something tells me what I´ve seen won´t even compare to what´s ahead of me in the next two years.

Look in the bag!

I live in a small town (about 1,000 people) called Santa Clara, outside of Panama City. Santa Clara is the location of Peace Corps training, and where the 33 new Peace Corps volunteers are all living and studying until the end of October. Each of us lives with our own host family in this small, quiet community. I live with a retired military officer and a nurse, who have two children: 14 and 25. For Panama, they are a well educated and affluent family. However, there is still a drastic difference from the United States. We have running water to the house, most of the time, but no bathroom. There´s a pit toilet in the backyard, but you have to work your way through all the chickens to get to it. The house is small and made of concrete block, but we do have electricity. Arturo´s (my host father) very proud of the fact that he owns a car, as not many in the community do, and he spends much of his time helping those who can´t pay for transportation to/from the city (an hour away).

Out in the Campo (countryside).

As a Peace Corps volunteer, I am working in the Environmental Health sector. There are about 15 of us in this batch of volunteers. Our work revolves around aqueducts (providing clean water), latrines, and health education. As an engineer, I´ll be working more with aqueducts and latrines than with education. Aqueduct work can involve anything from trouble shooting existing water systems to installing new systems from the ground up. Most of the work with water is located in the indigenous areas of Panama, where small communities bath, wash, drink, and go to the restroom all in the same river. As a volunteer I will help look for springs and design/build a gravity flow system to get fresh water to the communities. In some instances volunteers have to go as far as 10 or 15 kilometers (about 6 to 9 miles) to get clean water. The pipe carrying the water needs to be buried 28 inches underground back to the community, often traversing thick rain forests and geographical obstacles.

Bocas del Toro.

As for the work with latrines, some of the indigenous people use pit latrines, others use the river. To help encourage sanitary living situations, Peace Corps promotes a compost latrine. To keep this simple, a compost latrine is a way of turning human waste into "dry earth" or material that is safe to spread on open ground and even crops (although that´s a little more difficult to convince people of with little, if any, education).

The walk to class.

So far training has been interesting, but I am eager to move on to my site where I will spend the next two years. Right now we spend half our days in language training and the other half in technical training. For technical training we learn about how to work with the resources available in this country to improve the water and restroom situation. We´ve built rain water collection systems off of tin roofs, learned how to poor concrete, worked with machetes and organic gardens, and gone out into the countryside to troubleshoot an existing water system. Also, Peace Corps brings in existing volunteers to talk with us about what to expect and how to adjust.

We have been able to do a fair amount of traveling so far, from the Darien (bordering Columbia) to Bocas del Toro (bordering Costa Rica). I´ll do my best to attach some photos to this article, but the computers here are very slow so be patient with me. For today, I´m out of time. I hope that this gives you an idea of what life is like down here in Panama. I´ll write again soon.

Rob

Welcome to my website!

Friends and Family -

I am not big on mass emails updating you all on my Peace Corps experience. However, computer access is not easy to find in the parts of Panama where I am living and working, and I want to be able to share my experience with you all equally well. Consequently, this blog seems like the best option to keep you all up to date, and to serve as an electronic journal for myself. I invite you all to share this site with whomever you like.

I am always excited to open up my email box and find updates from you all, so please email me when you can (roblittle@gmail.com).

With that, enjoy the site.

Rob