Project Management & Leadership Seminar

First of all, YES, we're still here, and YES, we know that our last blog was kind of a "bummer," and YES, we haven't updated it in a while.  So, for all of our loyal fans, we're going to try to get caught up on some of the memorable moments we've had in the past few months.  And we should start with our Project Management & Leadership seminar that we held in our community in 4 days (over 2 weeks) in March.

Before we go into the specifics, we want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who donated funds to our project.  We sought funding through the Peace Corps Partership Program, which links Peace Corps volunteer projects with people in the U.S. through the official website.  We asked for nearly $700 to help us (and the community) make this seminar a reality, and we couldn't have done it on our own.  So thank you to everyone who donated - it was a great success.

First some background info (I'm taking much of this from our project proposal submitted to Peace Corps Washington).  The purpose of the Project Management & Leadership seminar is to help community leaders obtain the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to be proactive and transformational in the community and within their respective organizations. The objectives of the seminar are:

1. To develop a shared understanding of concepts, strategies, and skills which equip community leaders with practical, people-oriented leadership tools applicable to business or project management at individual, group, community and institutional levels.

2. To orient community leaders to the practical, social, emotional, and logistical challenges which await them in the business or project management process.

3. To encourage community members to adopt a proactive approach to leadership, by focusing their efforts and actions on the areas of personal and project development which they have the power to change or influence.

The Project Management & Leadership seminar seeks to cultivate leaders and stimulate positive change beginning on a personal level and eventually extending to an institutional level. Skills and knowledge that will be acquired by community leaders through the implementation of the Project Management & Leadership seminar include the following:

At the individual level -
• How to identify values, goals, projects and priorities to have a clear personal and organizational direction
• How to manage resources of time, information and money using agendas, filing systems, budgeting and tracking of expenses

At the group level -
• How to get the right people involved in organizations and assigning them the right roles and responsibilities
• Defining and implementing productive group norms
• Structuring successful meetings
• Conflict resolution skills
• Designing a project plan based on a common direction

At the community level –
• Empowerment of other community members
• Community involvement through communication and education

At the institutional level –
• Drafting profession letters
• Public speaking and presentation skills
• Protocol and strategies for interacting with agencies

Through the knowledge and skills transferred and cultivated in the Project Management & Leadership conference, leaders grow on a personal level to be positive agents of change in their groups and in the community at large. In the long term, the knowledge and skills gained through the seminar will continue to be transferred to other community leaders and members through practice and future trainings.

At present, the people of our community and the Comarca province of the Ngöbe-Bugle people are going through incredible social and economic change. Since they began to seek the formation of a comarca (reservation) 40 years ago, they have had to organize their family groups into a government recognized at the national level, adapt their economic system from sustainable farming/bartering to a monetary-based system, and end their semi-nomadic way of life. They are now largely bi-lingual, are educated in classical public schools, and have an increased awareness of modern health care. The upshot of these changes is an astonishing population explosion and an increased dependence on the outside world.

To better manage their shifting situation, the community leaders of our region want to learn how to deal with management issues such as: improvement on an individual and family level, leadership of local groups, facilitation of relationships within the community, and interaction with the other Panamanian ethnic groups. While many of the groups will need individual attention, they all need the basic skills, knowledge, and attitudes demonstrated in the Project Management & Leadership seminar.

Conducting a Project Management & Leadership seminar in our community was initially proposed by our two community leader counterparts. Both counterparts attended the national level Project Management & Leadership conference held in March 2009 and returned to the community inspired to pass the concepts, strategies and skills learned on to other community leaders and members of their respective organizations.

In addition to the enthusiasm of the community counterparts to share the Project Management & Leadership curriculum, through the analysis of an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, conducted with numerous groups, community members identified the need for training in the areas and themes covered by the seminar.

Thus, we started the funding and planning process.  In March 2010, it became a reality.  We invited 20 leaders from communities across the Nole Duima district of the Comarca to attend the 4-day seminar.  We had a few people come and go, but overall we had great participation and 15 leaders left the seminar feeling invigorated, empowered, stronger, and ready to tackle the challenges ahead of them in the management of their respective community groups. 

The PML seminar was originally developed by our former boss (MAJOR props to you Zach), and is an incredibly dynamic learning experience for both participants and facilitators.  Participants enjoy lots of "dinamicas" (what we might call "icebreakers," games, energy builders, etc.), skits, and activities in every session to help put new concepts and ideas into practice.  We had the help of 4-6 other volunteers from our area in pulling off this incredible logistical feat (MAJOR props to our facilitators: Meredith, Erin, Eli, Gaurav, Andi and Tyler).  Participants were invited from volunteer facilitator communities.

Things started slowly, but trust in the group built quickly, and everyone adhered to our chosen norms: respect for everyone and positive participation (among others).  I've selected a few photos from the second part of the seminar (Ben has all the rest on his computer) to share with the world!

Participating in a "dinamica" - using only our fingers, we had to lower the tube to the ground as a group.  It took several tries, but...

They did it!  Another great lesson in the importance of communication and teamwork!

Participants literally "fill the bucket" of others - learning to communicate motivating messages and empathy to get the involvement and buy-in of the community.  This lesson can be particularly challenging and FUN.  In the Ngobe culture, people just don't say "thank you" (there's no word in their language), nor do they say things like "good job."  Those words really can mean a lot!

"From your perspective, what do you see on the floor?" - a "dinamica" to teach that communication is not always straight-forward.  People interpret messages in different ways.  This lead into our discussion on promoting your group/project using messaging and logos!

A participant shares his group's logo and it's meaning.

Agripina shares her logo. There aren't many women leaders in general in the Comarca, but I invited quite a few up and coming ladies from our community and they did all women very proud! 

Gaurav teaches about formal letter writing.  And on the wall is literally the LARGEST letter I've ever written!

Checking out some examples of formal letters.  Panama has a LOT of protocol to follow when it comes to writing letters.

Tyler, in the role of Devil, and Andi, as a guardian angel, teach Meredith the "do's and don'ts" of presenting in public in one of our skits.

Participants prepare to present in public.  For some, it was their first time ever to speak in front of a large group. 

The graduates and facilitators with their certificates!  Great job everyone!

Thank you again to our donors, volunteer helpers, and to our community leaders.  It was such an incredible experience to host the seminar and to see so many leaders grow even stronger.  Peace Corps has offered us a lot of quote "Peace Corps moments" - this was another one to remember for the ages.

Worst Week of our Service. We hope...

So, it´s been a rough week.  This is probably one of those blogs best done by both of us, but Ben is off finishing the leadership seminar that we were both supposed to be at.  I´m sure I´ll mess up the details of his part of the bad week, but I´ll try to summarize as best as I can!

!Beware, if you´ve been ¨freaked out¨ by our blog in the past, you probably shouldn´t continue on.  If you do continue, prepare yourself for lots of poo talk!

Last Thursday, Ben traveled to the carribean side of the country to the province of Bocas del Toro for his Agro-Business seminar.  (He´s the co-coordinator of the initiative - he represents the business sector, while another volunteer in our region, Kat, represents the agricultural sector.)  Bocas del Toro is ¨famous¨ for it´s tourism - beautiful islands, surfing, etc (I haven´t been yet).  As such, there´s a lot of gringos roaming around up there.  To get to the beautiful islands, you get off the bus in the town of Almirante, before the end of the bus line, which is in Changuinola.  So, usually lots of gringos get on the bus in David with their large backpacks, and then get off early.  Ben was going to the end of the line for his seminar.  (I´m building to it, it´s like a math question from middle school).  So, what happens when all the other gringos get off the bus in Almirante?  The ayudante (literally, helper, or the guy who takes money and handles baggage on the bus), gives Ben´s large backpack to the other gringos.  Ben arrives in Changuinola with only our computer case.  Mayhem ensues.  The company deduces that they took it off early, but who has it?

That evening, they thought maybe it would come in on the next bus, it didn´t.  So, with everything closing for the day, Ben decides to take up the hunt the next day.  Friday he goes to Almirante and asks around.   He talks to the police and tries to get the water taxi manifest with passenger names so he can find the other tourists.  He calls our office, because the bag had his Panamanian i.d., and he files a report.  Then he goes out to the touristy island and actually finds this couple in a park.  They tell him that when they got in the taxi, the driver put the bag in the back and they didn´t realize it until they arrived at the boat launch, where they refused the bag and the taxi driver said he´d take it back.  Back where? 

Ben goes back to Almirante, talks to cab drivers in the area and using a description from the tourists, they figure out who it is.  They try to flag him down, he won´t stop.  That took all day.  That night he wrote up a statement and estimated the value of everything lost.  $1,275!!!!! Saturday, Ben goes to the DIJ (roughly the department of justice) to actually file a report ¨denouncing¨ what happened.  They take him to Almirante yet again and to the house of the cab driver.  He wasn´t allowed inside, but the guy was apparently very defensive and no one saw anything.  Then they were supposed to go to the office of the cooperative that runs the bus company to file the complaint so we can get some amount of compensation and they were closed, and wouldn´t be open until Monday.  Everything, EVERYTHING takes so much time here. 

Ben couldn´t stay because of the leadership seminar he´s now at, so he left saying he´d come back again to file the report with the company.  So, the bag is gone, and in it - the camera, back up hard drive, the backpack itself, all of his Ngobe clothes made for him, other nice clothes, shoes, toiletries, medications, well, just about everything of value that we own now.  What a blow.  And it´s gone.

We´ve come to terms with it more now, but after giving up so many material posessions and comforts just to be here and do this, it´s hard to lose pretty much the only things of value that we did have.  So, now we´re at Saturday.

I´d been in our community agonizing over this issue waiting for phone updates.  Saturday I came down to attend the going away party of our former regional leader.  But when I arrived in San Felix, I decided that I really just needed to see Ben, and the heat was killing me, so I jumped on a bus to David.  About an hour after I arrived, the diarrhea started.  To set the stage, a week earlier, I came to David and went to the clinic for 6 months of recurring symptoms of diarrhea, and was diagnosed with giardia.  I got my medications and left.  So, diarrhea again, story of my life.  Never have I had so much diarrhea in my life as in this year and a half, hell, never have I had so much as I have the last 4 days.  It came on fast and violent. 

By the time Ben arrived in David that night, it had quickly escalated into nearly constant, extremely painful diarrhea, and I lost my appetite.  We went to bed and I didn´t sleep because I was up probably over 50 times with the diarrhea.  At some point in the middle of the night, I noticed the blood.  LOTS of blood in the diarrhea (how many times will I say diarrhea?)  It wasn´t getting any better.  I felt faint, had a raging fever, still had the pain, if not more, and couldn´t face sitting on a bus for 5 hours in the morning to go to our seminar (you´re not allowed to poop in the toilets on the buses in Panama).  I woke Ben up by saying I was going to the hospital.  I got there at 8am to be told that the doctor would arrive at 930am.  I dozed off a couple times and finally was in, and almost immediately admitted into the hospital.

I waited some more, got my first IV, and then got the poop and pee cups- what a relief, I was going to explode.  They ran those tests as well as blood tests and came back with the exciting results.  Giardia (not gone), a bacterial infection AND amoebas!  I´m such an overachiever.  All three of those alone give people wicked diarrhea.  Monday they seemed to get ready to discharge me until I said I still had diarrhea.  Then the main doctor came and said that because of where I live, and how bad I really was, I needed to stay until everything was dead, that meant at least 2 more days there.  Yesterday, at about 1am, the nurse came to give me new meds (I think they loved waking me up) and she blew threw the vein my IV was in on my left hand.  Time to try a new vein, new hand.  First try she blows my vein.  So, the third attempt goes in on the side of my right hand.  My hands are messed up now.  Typing this pretty much sucks.

But, I was discharged today after four days of laying around watching American TV channels and receiving about 10 gallons of medicines through my IV.  I feel MUCH better (aside from the hands), and I have a mountain of medications to take over the next week. 

So, it´s been a full week.  Not a good week.  But we rise up and continue on!  Earlier this week, we both discussed that this was probably a much better time in our service to experience these setbacks, rather than earlier.  I´m looking forward to seeing Ben sometime soon (everything this week made even harder by not seeing each other but for one night) and we know that we´ve probably got something good coming our way soon!  Things can be replaced, and my health is restored!

February & March 2010 - In Photos

We've been busy in the last few months, so we've decided to post a few photos from our many adventures to help everyone catch up - but don't you fret, we've still got more to post about, including our VERY successful leadership conference that we just finished!  These photos start with a few from our trip to Boquete with my friend Michele and her mom, who visited from the states.  From there we've got some pictures from our community, the birthday of a friend, and our quick vacation to San Blas (aka the Comarca Kuna Yala) on the Caribbean coast.  Enjoy!

River above Boquete.

Yay Peace Corps!

Me, by a waterfall (not huge, but not bad for Panama!)

Watch out for cars falling off cliffs around this corner!

This business works REALLY hard, they have a 25 hour a day schedule.

This chiva is *pretty* full!

Playing with the neighbor girls - they're pretty awesome!

And the neighbor boys.  They love hamming it up!

Hello grasshopper!  We found this lady laying eggs outside the school.

David, with our cat, in a hat.

I'm drawing the Chilean and Argentine coasts on our world map.

In mid-February the freakishly strong winds came back and ripped the "rancho" off our house one night.

I took this picture from my "seat" on the spare tire in the back of the chiva. There were quite a few people riding down with us that day.

Celebrating Andi's birthday with a flaming flan!  Ben wanted us to use trick candles.  The flan was tiny.  Ben almost burnt his hands, but it was a good time!

Latrine in San Blas - where does the poop go?

Huts in Carti, Comarca Kuna Yala (San Blas)

San Blas gorgeousness from Devil Island.  Looking at Dog Island.

The huts on the beach on "our" island.

Beautiful!  We swam over here to enjoy Dog Island for a while.

Combing the reef for cool sea creatures.

One of those sea creatures, a large sea urchin, stung Ben.

Then, the next day he stabbed his hand with his knife while peeling coconut flesh.

Meligo's grandkids!  Isabella's babies!

All the animals are interested when the Spink's wash dishes.  2 dogs, 1 cat and a chicken...

This guy was on Ben's neck when washing dishes the other day.

"What are you painting?"

Ben and I recently decided to take on the popular task of painting a world map in our community.  We started thinking about this early on in our service, based on the popularity of the world map we have hanging in our house.  Community members often pop by to say hi, stare at all of the stuff we have, and to look at the world map and ask questions about places they've heard about.  "Where is Haiti?"  "Where is Panama?"  "Wow, we're TINY!"  At this point, we could continue on to a probably much more interesting blog topic "What it feels like to live in a zoo exhibit..." but we're not. 

The map's popularity sparked an idea - lets paint one at the school!  We'd be helping community members to learn about the world, and geography, and it's a physical piece of work that we can leave in the community (working in business concepts doesn't always give us that "we've accomplished a lot" feeling).  We approached the director of the school at the end of the last school year (December) about painting over the summer and finishing the map before the next year started (early March).  In early February Ben and I received a small amount of funding from a Peace Corps Panama volunteer organization, and we got to work.

The World Map project actually is something pretty well organized (developed by a Peace Corps volunteer) and popular.  We used a book to help us with each step of the process.  Step one - pick a place and get it ready!  The school director decided that the best spot would be the new school library.  For the record, the library is only full of textbooks and a couple of really outdated Encyclopedias -in ENGLISH.  Ben and I went to work deciding how big the map would be (6 feet by 12 feet), measuring it out on the wall and scrubbing the wall.  Even though the library was only built a year ago, the wall was covered in dirty hand and foot prints and other various interesting items. 

Step two - paint the whole rectangle in "ocean blue."  Step three - From there we drew grid lines covering the whole area - each grid was 2.5 inches square, which meant a total of over 1,500 grid squares.  Why a grid? - so we could use much smaller photocopied grids from the book to basically free-hand draw the world onto the wall.  Why paint it blue first?  So we wouldn't have to paint all those coasts twice (with the color of the country and then the blue - what a GREAT idea!)  In hindsight, we drew our gridlines too dark.  We realized this when we had to erase all those lines and ripped a lot of flesh off of our fingers in doing so.

Step four - Draw!  This wasn't so bad, and went a bit faster than we expected it too, but we drew everything very detailed - which just meant that painting would be even more detailed.  Which leads to the obvious next step, five, Painting!  We bought 4 colors of paint, red, blue, yellow and white and mixed other colors from those.  Painting went much slower than drawing, and Ben ended up doing most of the super detailed countries (the colors red, purple, and part of yellow) and I painted the light green, green, blue, pink, orange, and most of yellow.

Step six - we drew a few extra items - the Panamanian flag, the Peace Corps logo, and a compass rose, and painted them as well.  Step seven - erasing the gridlines - BOO!  This took over 30 rectangular erasers (we're not talking the small erasers on the ends of pencils), and much of the flesh off our hands.  Step eight -  sealing the map.  We hit a speed bump here.  When we bought our sealant we conveniently did NOT notice that it said it was white, in ENGLISH on the can.  OY.  So, we were working on the map two days before the school year started when we discovered this.  The next day, I made an insanely fast trip to David (leaving site at 5am, and getting off the chiva back in site at 3pm) so I could exchange the sealant for a transparent one, and get back to get a coat on in the afternoon.  The next day, step nine - labeling!  After one coat of sealant, we labeled the countries and oceans with black permanent marker, added our beautiful signatures, and then slapped on two more coats of sealant and called it done on the first day of school as the kids watched.

All in all, it took 2 weeks of time - we're not talking 2 work weeks in the states!  14 whole days, 8+ hours a day.  It was a lot, but it's great!  And more important that this physical reminder of our service, we're already educating people with it.  All throughout the process of painting, children and adults would pop in to watch us work, and it was amazing how often we were asked what we were painting - they had no recognition of it being a world map (even when it was done).  We were also often asked if it was just a map of Panama.  Nope, the WHOLE world!  The kids have already really enjoyed reading off all the names of the countries (in Spanish, of course) and the teachers are already using it in some of their lessons. 

When things slow down a little for us, we also hope to teach a few lessons here and there at the school on geography and world events.  In the meantime, at least most people in the community can now identify that 1. it's the world, 2. where Panama is, and 3. they can say that Panama is pretty important to the world despite it's size!

Reverse Camping

We are getting ready for bed, a rest too short for our weary bodies. Our stay with our families was too short as well. We'll be asleep only a few hours before we have to get up to catch a 5am flight back to Panama City. It's been three weeks since we were in site; I'm sure that our cat has made the most of it.

During our first week out, Felix (a family name that also happens to be the "sainted" name of the town at our entrance off the interamericana) feasted on the toads and birds that dwell around our jungle shack while we were in the City for training-of-trainers. Then, I'm sure he chased the neighbor's female vixen in heat while we visited my parents in Phoenix. And towards the end of our vacation, he surely warmed himself in the new-summer's sun that dries out our muddy yard while we slogged through the slush in Virginia.

As our thoughts turn towards our shack like iron filings toward a magnet, a phrase that Lisa and I have been bantering around comes to mind: "reverse camping". We realized a few weeks ago that much of our activities could be described to the people back home, who would be and have been pumping us for information, in much the same terms and timelines as camping, only in reverse.

We plan our outtings to the world of electricity and hot water (hopefully) in much the same manner as one goes about planning a camping trip in the United States. We get our clothes and essentials together. We assess the food situation. We check on the life of our batteries. We pack our bags. Headlamps? Check. Lighter and candles? Check. Cash and cards? Check. We lock up the house. We hike down a wooded path.

The major difference between camping and reverse camping is that we do much of it backwards. The batteries that we checked are not coming with us. The food situation we apprised tells us how much to bring back home. The essentials that we are lacking will be bought on the trip, not before or on the way out. The hike through the woods (albeit in our case rather short) is to get to a car and down the mountain rather than into a camp site.

We also spend much of our time at home acting like Americans do while camping. We shower in the water from a mountain stream. We cook over a small propane stove. We eat only items that are non-parishable or that we picked up recently at a local food stand. We wash our dishes and clothes outside. An unusual amount of time is spent reading in the hammock or sitting with people (the latter being a major pasttime for much of the world outside America and doesn't necessarily mean we talk much, just sitting with someone is gratifying.)

There is a freshness to our camping lives as well. Every day holds the promise of something new. Every day we are likely to learn something new about ourselves, our friends, our worldview, human nature, simple trivia, or an number of sundry facts and truths. Our time is our own. Our culture is what we make of it, as a couple or as a small group of volunteers getting together. We can come and go as we please. Much like being out on a weekend retreat, we are free.

Not everything is analogous, however. Unlike a pleasure trip to a national park (though some volunteers in Panama actually live in a national park), that much free time ends up meaning plenty of time to do our work. All the independence puts more pressure on us alone to do it right. There is no one else to blame. If something goes wrong, no one else culpable. No one else is even around to affect it. We are it, total and complete.

Some PCVs hate that liberty and its burden, and they leave. Some learn to live with misgivings about success and how to define it, tell themselves everyone feels the same and accomplishes little, and they focus on the goals cultural exchange. Some throw themselves into every available project and task so that they will know with certainty that they did everything they could, but risk burning out. Some find a serene bonhomie in their core, learning more about themselves and about the art of self-direction, of honest self-appraisal and impetus.

I believe that this last discovery is one of the prime motivations for becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer. We know going in that helping people improve their own lives will not be easy, so the challenges are guaranteed. We are understand that our personality will be magnified in a new culture, so self-awareness is assured. We are conscious of our choice to leave everything that makes us comfortable, so we recognize that we will have to redefine our comfort zone. We know we are leaving our family and friends, so we've got to know that we will be all alone. And one is never so alone as in a crowd of strangers.

Like camping, part of being a PCV is getting out there on our own. Some of the appeal the self-directed and self-apprasing of going solo. And much of the experience truly is seeing just how far you can go. "How far will you go?"

Forces at Work

There are strange forces that act upon our world, turning it inexorably towards the future. Usually we are in sync with them, understanding them intuitively and matching ourselves accordingly, but occasionally we will be out of step, or they take an odd turn, and we are reminded that there are things we just don't get, and maybe never will. Yet the wheel keeps on turning, and those things that are ground down take on a new shape that matches with world and are back in sync.

For us, these forces peeked out through the chickens.

One day, as Lisa and I lounged in our hammock together, the heat of summer slipping through grip of another soggy winter, I whispered to her, "Look at the chickens." I had to whisper, for the forces of the world were strong and strange. I immediately knew we were out of step with them. Lisa raised her head from her book and gave a little gasp.

All of the chickens that are normally in constant motion (peeking, stratching, clucking, raping or being raped, and generally annoying us) had been pushed down on their sides with just one wing or leg sticking out. Or maybe as if they'd fallen out of the sky, but chickens don't fly and they weren't hurt. It was an odd position, and one that they seemed unable to overcome. A rooster might try to stand up and peck at a hen, but after moving for a second or two, they'd lay back down in the same position. We were fine, but the planets must have lined up funny for them. Maybe Jupiter was in the chicken coop.

This went on for a half hour or so. The weather was warm, but not too hot. The breeze blew, but not too hard or too soft. The sun was out, but so were some clouds. For us, it was a normal day. But for the chickens, something had pushed them to the ground and held them there. Then, all at once, the entire flock stood up, and, in normal chicken fashion, clucked, and stratched, and pecked, and went on with their stupid lives as though nothing had occurred.

Something similar happens every year here. During the beginning of November, when we American foreigners look forward to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years, anticipating some a few days off with family and some feasting and football, the Panamanians are already in full swing with their Mes de Patria (Patriotic Month).

There are so many days off for the kids at school, that they essentially stop going, especially in the campo where the teachers already only work Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The farmers still go to the fields to harvest, but now there are juntas with fermented corn drink randomly sprinkled throughout. The women look after the children and stay inside out of the heavy rains hoping for a sunny morning to wash all the dirty laundry. And every few days, there is another national or provincial holiday.

The 3rd and 5th, the 10th and 12th, the 15th, 22nd, and 28th were all times when our entire corregimiento (county) were all celebrating something or other with alcohol. (And we had our Thanksgiving on the 26th.) At each of these gatherings, men and women, and sometimes children, got drunk and had fist fights. Just the other day, we watched as every 20 minutes or so three to six fights broke out as men pulled off shirts and circled up. Mostly these are all in good fun, though sometimes they are used to settle old grudges. Luckily, we seemed to be exempt from the sparring, which is good because the people are powerfully built and tough as coffin nails.

This may be the time of year when foreigners feel the most out of sync with the rest of the country. Last year, we were brand new so everything was unusual. This year, we did our best to present ourselves but drink moderately, dance but not arouse jealousy, and still have some kind of forward motion with our work.

In the end, we mostly just enjoyed the company of our friends (both Panamanian and American) and get a lot of reading done. Nevertheless, we still felt the strange forces of a wheel we were not perfectly matched up to, which seemed to knocked down the chickens and men alike.

A Study in Muddy...

Mud.  You learn to love it, or at best, you get by, because you have to during this time of year in Panama.  And even though we live at an altitude of 3,000 feet or so, we still deal with a lot of the brown, mucky, boot sucky stuff.

Our house is situated in a fairly level area, with about 5 other homes in the family group - on the edge of a decent sized field that the kids in the area like to use to play various sports, or just run around like crazy.  This field is actually a secret lake in the rainy season.  When the rain starts, the ground will soak up some of the water, but not anymore!

What this means is that life in a dirt floored house, situated on level with the secret lake, gets quite interesting as the rains get harder and more consistent.  Before you fret too much, know that our dirt floor inside the house actually stays pretty nice and dry, thanks to some draining ditches that Ben dug around the house to divert the water flow.  We do drag in a lot of mud though, and stepping even a foot outside our house now is a dangerous activity without rubber boots.

Oh how we love our rubber boots.  Almost like 4-wheel drive in the mud - you can go just about anywhere and not worry - unless the mud gets as deep and sticky as it now is around the house.  A trip to our water faucet, a mere 5 feet or so away involves inches of mud, and the trip to the latrine is much more perilous.  Thinking about showering?  Wear your rubber boots, then strip out of them into flip flops to shower, then try to dry your feet without getting your towel muddy so you can put the boots back on to get to the house in one piece.  But we careful, you'll probably have to stop at the faucet to wash off the mud that you've splattered onto your upper legs, arms, back or any other exposed flesh.

I've started a bit of a mantra when going into and out of the house.  Boots go on, boots go off... Boots go on, boots go off.  Why so much on and off though?  Well, if you keep them on, your feet don't breathe - so you end up with moist foot rot.  Which you're going to get anyways from wearing socks for 5 days on end (yeah, we do, we don't have many pairs) and putting them into and out of the boots so much, but - it won't be as bad as it could have been.

Once we leave the house area, we have to slog through 6 or more inches of mud/lake to get to the horse gate, climb up the path to the main road, and then you're safe - heck you may not even need the boots - but don't you dare not wear them and think you could just wear other shoes and wash off the mud.  No, this path is deceptive.  It's muddy yeah, but part of it is pretty solid - and MOLDY.  That mold is slippery.  So, avoid the mold right?  Ha!  Then you're in the 6 inches of mud just to the sides of that moldy hardpacked path. What to choose?  Either way involves shuffling along, and a lot of concentration.

Case in point: we returned to site one day - laden down with our backpacks, computer case, and bags of food.  We get to the top of the gentle slope down to the horse gate, and start inching our way down.  I'm wearing my crocs (stupid idea).  I'm about halfway there, and have already slid around a bit, when a girl yells "BEI!" - I say "Hola" and watch my feet fly up in front of my face, as I fall on all my bags, and slide into the mud.  She ran into the house to inform everyone of my hilarious act.  After much cursing, I found my footing and worked my way to the house to scrub up every inch of my body and salvage the bags.

Sometimes you've got to embrace the mud.  I also recently played a game of baseball with the area kids in the secret lake.  The water receded - but I was fooled.  This game quickly turned into a game of mud baseball.  And mostly, I was the one covered in mud, because even in my mud 4-wheel drive, I couldn't keep my feet on the ground.  I dove for the ball and fell on my butt and hands.  Then at bat, I cracked a nice hit to the outfield, and took two steps to run to 1st - and ended up on my hands and knees in mud.  The game didn't last long, but I gave the kids a lot of laughs - something I'm apparently pretty good at.  The ICY cold shower afterward actually felt pretty good, and I didn't forget the boots!

When will it end?  Hard to say - maybe a month - based on last year's experience. Time will tell, and until that time, you can imagine me saying "boots go on, boots go off..."

Check out photos in the "study of muddy" on facebook!  Enjoy!