A taste of the Comarca - from Lisa´s perspective!

Right now I´m sitting in David, stinky and dirty from a week in the Comarca, and waiting for a hotel room for the night. We (Ben & I) were in the Comarca this past week for our culture week visiting another current volunteer along with 5 other aspirantes (trainees) from our group. We arrived Sunday afternoon and went off with host families. Ben and I were placed with a family that lived far up the mountain, but once you got up the mountain along the road, we also had to slide/hike down a muddy mountain cliff to their home. And talk about a bit of culture shock. Life is hard in the Comarca, and will be hard in the Comarca, but after a week there, and coming back to civilization, I really feel that it´s the place where we are needed most.

The family we lived with had 8 children, 2 adults, and last week, us. Their house had a zinc roof on some logs, and a few small sheets of zinc around the outside that formed bits of walls. Inside there were 5 platforms for beds and nothing else. The first night was uncomfortable and awkward. We arrived and unpacked a few things and set up our bed area with mosquito net, and then we were stared at all night until our host dad woke up and tried to communicate with us. We´d heard stories from current volunteers about experiences in the Comarca with a family of 12, being stared at, eating food you can´t see in the dark, and knowing that you´re being talked about and laughed at as you hear ¨gringo...¨, and our night definitely fit the mold. The people were very shy the whole time we were there, but were opening up to us somewhat as time passed. We ate our breakfasts and dinners with the host family, and food was typically boiled plantains, overcooked white rice and maybe a bit of beans. Lunches were with the group of aspirantes and were rice and beans. I won´t lie - I didn´t like the food. And I miss cooking. Living with a host family for 3 months after swearing in will be challenging, but I think we´re ready.

Now, to the fun stuff. On Wednesday I got pink eye, and full on, in both eyes, pink eye. They were both goopy and gross on Wednesday and into Thursday, which is even more disgusting in a place where you´re always covered in mud (I´m officially in love with my rubber boots- FYI). Yesterday my eyes apparently looked like they were going to leak blood at any second, and today they still look wicked (my first look in the mirror), but are ¨much better than before.¨

Also, on Thursday, Ben and I trekked down to the quebrada (creek) to bathe after class and I slipped on wet rocks and fell on both of my arms and my back - hard. I´ve got some nasty bruises and a pretty sore back now. AND... I have more bug bites than I´ve ever had in my whole life, easily. I look like I´m diseased on my arms. Andrea counted 15 bites on the back of my neck this morning (all new from yesterday), and my neck is probably the least bitten part of my body aside from my face.

So, I´m a mess, but have had a lot of good laughs at myself over the week! Everything else from the week was great - we did a lot of hiking up the mountain to different places. We visited a coop farm one day, and on Thursday we went to a presentation by a local artisan group. They make really awesome dresses and bags, and we got to watch them break down the fibers in leaves that they use to make string. I´m very excited to learn more about the local artisans and the type of work I may be doing in our community soon!

What else? I used a machete for the first time in my life to make leña (firewood) and actually was doing pretty well with it (i.e., no missing fingers, toes or legs!). Wednesday we went to the school in the community and presented charlas about the world map and the continents to each grade level and then shared a lunch with the teachers. And we didn´t miss the electricity. The area was gorgeous, much cooler than the city and it rained quite a bit.

I also shed some tears from frustration. Like when I was walking to class with full on pink eye, and Ben noticed that I had an army of Ngobe children following behind me. I turned around to smile at them, and they saw my eyes and said ¨BREN!¨ Which means ¨sick¨in Ngobere. I later joked that that would probably become my Ngobere name at this rate! We also had an uncomfortable night our second night with the host family because several drunk men showed up at the house and were arguing with our host dad about how much money they got from us for staying for the week. They spent a lot of time talking about that and staring at our stuff. We also got lots of questions about how much EVERYTHING costs. And no matter what you say, it´s a ton when your host dad makes $5 a day working hard at a farm.

I was telling a friend this morning though on the way to David that this feels right. We´re not here to be comfortable, and we knew it wouldn´t be. This was just a taste, but there´s so much we can learn from the people, and so much we can give as well. And I´m ready for it - red eyes, bruises, bites and all!!

Tonight I have a night in luxury - my first hot shower since the states, AC, and maybe some mexican food, before going off to tech week in Chiriqui near Costa Rica. Ben is heading toward Veraguas right now for his tech week, and said he´ll be checking in here to give his perspectives soon!