I could have been a vet...

Ollie is what you would call a typical male. Fighting, eating too much, chasing the ladies, jealous, and aggressive  I finally decided to put an end to this troublesome situation.

Months ago I tried to get a vet to neuter him. I wanted a sedative and painkillers. After back and forth, the vet finally came, but I wasn't there. I got tired of the shenanigans and decided to do it campo style. But my plan was to grab the dog and let the guy do his job while I was far away unable to see. Unfortunately this is not what happened.

I am the only one who can grab my dog without him getting mad. So I did. Then they told me to put him on his back. So I did. Then I had to close his eyes so they could put a y-shaped branch on his neck so he couldn't wiggle his head too much and bite. So I did. All a mistake. Then I had to hold down his chest and grab his back legs while the guy cut. And with my close proximity to the situation I had to look. It was a lot quicker and smoother than I thought it would be. I have never heard a dog cry like that. I honestly didn't know whether to cry or vomit or both. Luckily I did neither, but I did not eat dinner later that night.

Ollie is fine and healing up. He stopped bleeding quickly and has only some minor swelling. They tell me him licking it will heal it.

I helped, but next time I think I'll leave it to the professionals.

Stove Update

We are moving along on the stove front. 10 completely built and 6 bases built with many more work days planned. And 3 stoves already being used!

The process can be slow but seeing results is amazing!

Campo Birthday

It's my birthday, I'll kill a chicken if I want to.

Birthdays basically mean you have to kill a chicken. I was very Panamanian about getting on this task, and waited until the last minute. And no one wanted to sell me one. I sort of guilted on of my favorite crazy old ladies into selling me one. So the Sunday before my birthday I stopped by and picked it up, carrying it 30 minutes to Melania's house. It almost pecked me in the face as I tried opening one of the gates. Not cool. Melania was laughing at me as I walked in the house with this chicken, she didn't think I was really going to buy it.

We got to work right away. Melania killing the chicken (I wasn't going to do that) and I was cutting up the veggies. We made arroz con  pollo. Rice cooked with small pieces of chicken and cabbage, carrots, onions, and pepper. Potato salad with beets. Fruit punch. Funfetti cake. All the essentials.

No one knew the words to happy birthday. It took about an hour to get them to finally sing to me and then they sang it more or less correctly, with only a few made up parts ie "and blow out the candles." It was incredibly sweet and I absolutely loved it!!

Excellent celebration of my quarter century!

Junta de Amy

I held my first junta  or work day and I have to say it was pretty fun! Out in the campo people have juntas when there is a lot of work to to, like building ranchos, or more importantly my rancho. I set a date and invited the people. I advertised it on the white board at the store. Twelve guys came along with three ladies to cook. In the morning the guys were cutting and carrying the palm. Around 10 the teacher carried the huge load in her car and they started putting it on the roof. Seven pounds of beef and ten pounds of rice late they ate and continued working. As with any good junta there was chicha de maize or a sweet corn drink. Often it is fuerte or alcoholic, but I went for the sweet option. It's Peace Corps people, gotta keep it g-rated. They finished just before the rain came...and guess what...my porch was dry!

Stove 1 Success!

The building has begun!

As part of the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas grant seminar, 6 volunteers and their counterparts along with several Peace Corps staff came to Los Virotales to build two stoves, and Eco-Justa (the kind I am building for my project) and a tower stove. After weeks of running around like a crazy person trying to organize everything and worrying that something would go wrong, the day was an amazing success!

Everyone arrived at 8:30 am and started off with an intro by yours truly and then the "stove expert" Sixto took over the show. He explained to everyone the process of how to build the stove. Everyone helped a little, whether it be mixing cement or sifting sand or laying the bricks. Asking questions and taking notes. I got the best Panamanian cooks, my host mom and grandma to help cook a tasty lunch of chicken, lentils, rice, and a cabbage and carrot salad. Ollie only fought once.

The second part of the day we built a tower stove, another type of stove many volunteers are using. This type is preferred by some due to the fact that is is free. You need to get some wood to make the molds for the bricks, and the bricks and "cement" are dirt and horse poop. Same thing, everyone got their hands dirty and asked questions.

I was beyond happy with the support of Peace Corps and my community to pull this day off. The families of each stove did their part in providing materials and helping with lunch and coffee breaks. Several people stopped by just to check out what was going on.

Definitely a Peace Corps high!

One year meeting

As part of the Peace Corps Panama process, each volunteer has a one year meeting in which a supervisor comes to check in on the work you are doing and the see what you have planned for the coming year. They also come to address any problems or difficulties one may have.

The first meeting I had scheduled I did not want to have. I was not in a great place, things were not moving forward. I felt the office had no clue what was going on. I was afraid of what people would say to my boss. I felt like I had nothing to show for my year of work. It was also to be held at a bad time, during school vacation when lots of people were traveling or had family visiting. And for all this one person showed up to my meeting. One. For as much as I did not want to have this meeting, it really sucked when no one came.

Then I went home for two weeks and quite frankly it made me feel worse. Everyone talking about what a great job I was doing, so proud of me, etc. When that was certainly not the way I felt.

Once I returned things began to change, work was rolling in and my stove grant was approved. All the solicitation and planning in the past year was finally paying off. Time for round two of the meeting. This time I went house to house telling people, I did not rely on sending notes. I notified people far in advance so no one would plan a junta for cutting rice.  I kept reminding people. I was so ready for this meeting. Then the day before the meeting a woman died. I had no clue what to do. I called my boss and he said he would come, and just play it by ear. Turns out 8 people showed up and the meeting went amazing. All the feedback was positive from the community members. I printed photos of things we have done in the past year. And I talked about some of the things I have planned. And they gave me suggestions of things they would like to work on too. My boss left happy with me and I left happy with me too.

I have been slowly learning that everyone is not interested in working with me, and that is ok. I have found the people who really are motivated to work and want to learn about new techniques and have been working more closely with and supporting them. And now I go forward, newly energized and ready to work!

Afredo on the yegua

This past weekend I went to my first amanecida or dance that lasts all night. We arrived at about 10 and it lasted until 7:30am. Tipico dancing all night with Nenito and Alfredo. It was awesome!  It was jam packed with so many people you could hardly move. My feet got so dirty from other people stepping on them. And how else would you finish the night? Why of course with Nenito playing the accordion on a donkey and Alfredo on a yegua (female horse)! Yes folks this is real. They rode around playing the last song on a donkey and a horse. I nearly got trampled by people as the horse got scared and started bucking. I love Panama J