El Toro

Bull riding. Inhuman. Unsafe. But super fun to watch!

This weekend one of my teachers invited me to go to a fiesta in her home town. This mainly consisted of the younger guys bull riding during the day and then everyone getting wasted at night. It was fun sitting up on the fence watching the guys ride, and then chase them around until they could get them in the pen. Its totally a test of who is brave and manly enough to do it. Thank goodness no one was seriously hurt! At night they have a cantadera with is just some guys singing and I am to understand that they are mostly insulting each other, but my spanish isn´t that good yet to understand singing. And if it wasn´t obvious enough that I was the only gringa there, the cantadero gave me saludos while he was singing. He was the host dad of another volunteer and introduced himself. While he was singing he said "Saludos to Amy who came all the way from New York." Oh and did I mention that this is broadcast on the radio too? Que pena.

The next day we went to another fiesta with more bull riding, but this time it was way more dangerous. The bulls were a lot bigger and a lot angrier. Several guys got dangerously bucked off.  One of the guys who was like the rodeo clown got the wind knocked out of him and went to the hospital. Another guy was really drunk and got bucked off. He was on the ground not moving and no one got him out of the way. The bull came back around and messed up his face. Another trip to the hospital.  It makes me think of that country song Chicks Dig It. So dumb and dangerous, but the chicks dig it.

I'm back!

Sorry about last post folks! I was feeling kinda bummed...but as soon as I got back to site I was back in the groove! No worries its all good :) I got to go hang out with my Panamanian mom, Melania, and order was restored in my little world.

The poroto (red bean) harvest is in full swing and everyone is working to get everything out of the fields before it gets damaged. I helped the teacher carry food to the fields for her workers. And I helped my neighbor Mila get rid of all the dirt and dead leaves so they could sell them. I am waiting for my personal cut since their pig ate mine!

One of the G70 aspirantes, Kathleen, came to visit my site this weekend. It was nice to have someone at the house and to just hang out. It was cool because we had things going on for her to see! There was another little fiesta for the kids where they played games and got gifts. And we went to a baseball game is Chepo which Los Virotales won! Woot woot! I have apparently become the "madrina" to the team and I am going to be getting some type of shirt. I am not quite sure what kind of shirt this will be since they don't even have matching uniforms.

In  my happiness of being back, of course something had to go wrong. I got fairly ill Monday night from who knows what. And let me tell you, vomiting in a latrine is as horrible as it sounds. I felt awful and weak the next day, but by Wednesday I was almost all better. Gotta love Panama and its surprise illnesses! NOT.

City vs Campo

There is a reason I don't like leaving site. I am perfectly content in my little house in Los Virotales, living minimally. Then I spent two weeks "afuera" and I start to remember. Hey electricity is pretty awesome! Same thing goes for AC, television, internet, and ice cream. I feel totally disconnected to my life there. I feel more American again. And I don't like it one bit! I really want to get back and get into my groove, but I feel like it might be a little harder this time. At the same time I feel a like my town is drawing me back, like I need to be there. Peace Corps life, why must you be so difficult?!

Group 70

Unfortunately we had two of our three members of the CEC staff leave the Peace Corps. And that put the program in a bit of a pickle, the new group of volunteers got here last week, with no one to train them. So current volunteers were recruited to help out. I helped out with week one. So basically I have not been in site for most of January. Myself and a PC Response volunteer, Cat, talked about the role of volunteers in development, agency relations, and community analysis. And Saturday we will get them started on their home garden! I have really enjoyed training, it makes me feel a bit more PC, not just some girl hanging out in the campo. This new group is excellent! Super motivated and full of great ideas! I have no doubt they will do great. And one of them is coming to visit my house next weekend to see the life of a volunteer. Best of luck G70!

The Stypas in Panama

My family visited me :)

And we spent a very tiring but fun filled week together. We stayed at the Decameron for most of the time, which was a bit yeye for my tastes. But  with the beach, tasty food, and hot showers I'm not complaining. We made the trek to Los Virotales in a Toyota Corolla (ask my dad how that went). Everyone was surprised we actually made it in the tiny car. My community was beyond excited to have them visit! I think around 30 people came to my house to visit and meet them. Which was fun, but incredibly tiring for me since I had to translate everything. My dad my a 2 year old boy cry. He was scared of this tall white man and would not go near him! Poor guy! I loved being able to show them where I live and what I am doing and that they got to meet my Panamanian family. We did some good touristy things like El Valle, the Canal, and Casco Viejo. I hope I get more visitors soon!

Peace Corps Goal 3. Check.

Training of Volunteers

I will start with the bad news. The CEC program specialist and training specialist have both decided to leave Peace Corps. And PC Panama is in a crunch because the new group comes January 11th.

Good news. I was asked to be a trainer! There are eight current volunteers who are going to be responsible for the technical training of the new group of CEC volunteers I would like to give a shout out to Daisy, Ally, and Lauren my fellow G68 girls who will be doing training also!  I had to come to Panama City to go over expectation and prep for training. We reworked the agenda and created the lesson plans. My partner and I are going to facilitate the sessions on the role of  the volunteer in development, agency relations, community analysis, and help to start and organic garden in the training community.

It makes me feel really good that my bosses thought I would be great for this! It's really easy to get down on yourself when things aren't going very quickly. I needed this little confidence boost!

Lejos

My community is really spread out, so normally I am walking a lot. But recently Ollie and I have been trekking it. I went to go visit my closest volunteer Ally, who live about an hour away going there, but an hour and a half walking back. Very hilly. And I went to the graduation in La Desbarancada, which took about an hour and a half, but fairly good roads. Then I went to Loma Ranchito which is another near by community to look for some knives for a friend. That was over an hour, one way, on a horse that was a bit to big for me. I could hardly sit the next day. Ollie and I have been sleeping well!

 I am out exploring but everything is bien lejos!