The good life...

We´re still here, we´ve just been being ¨really good¨ volunteers and spending all of our time in our site, and neglecting this thing called the Internet. I heard it was a series of tubes or something...

So, where do we start... We are living in our own home now! And we´re very happy about that. We´ve had some time to get things settled, although we´ve been in the house for a month now and still don´t have a bed that can sleep both of us, nor a table, a bench, or anything to keep our clothing bags off the floor. But we can cook for ourselves, and that´s a lot. Thank you Kraft, for exporting Macaroni and Cheese. It really is the cheesiest.

Here are some pictures of the inside and outside of our home. It´s basically an 18 foot by 20 foot wood box with a zinc roof and a tiny window. Our floor is dirt (boo), and we share our home with an assortment of cockroaches, scorpions, other bugs, and the occasional chicken that sneaks in.

On the work front, we´ve been busy. We´ve got meetings scheduled for almost everyday, and our calendar for February is already full. We hold a lot of meetings with groups in our community, but we also hike (for many hours sometimes) to visit other communities and work with other groups. We feel fortunate to have so many groups so excited to work with us, and at last count, we´ve met with 22 different groups, and many of those several times. We´re starting to get a feel for their needs, and now we´re getting down to writing some ¨charlas¨ or presentations, to give to groups to teach about numerous subjects and themes. I think the best part of our job is where we live. It´s gorgeous country, the people are amazing, and we feel really well suited to be working where we are, with the groups we are.

It´s not all meetings though, and we do get time to play with the kids that live near us, or to go on a hike to check out a new spot. This last week we headed off to climb up Peña Blanca, a large, imposing mountain we can see from our community. It took nearly 4 hours to get to the base of the mountain from a friend´s community, and from the base, another hour up, on the craziest trail I´ve ever seen. Most of it was through very dense jungle, ripping at your head, face, legs, anything. I got trapped and tripped by vines at almost every step. Much of it was also along a cliff, so you had to grab at anything above you to stay on trail – which led to quite a few scratches, holes in my hands, and bruises. When we emerged from the jungle, we went straight up, up, up and there we were – the top! I´m guessing it may be nearly 2,800 meters in altitude (I´ll let you do the math). The views were amazing, you could see miles in nearly every direction, and quite a bit of the Pacific ocean. If you want to see more pictures, check out my (Lisa´s) facebook page.

So many things have been going on for the last 3+ weeks, so I´ll try to pick a few stories to share before signing off.

One interesting experience was a hike to Canoa for a meeting with a small group of farmers. We took off from our town in the morning, and didn´t know where we were meeting up with our group, so when we got in Canoa, we asked around. First we ran into a guy we see a lot, who asked me how to say ¨This place is beautiful¨ in English several times, and then regaled us with a tale of American soldiers being in there community in the past when Noriega was in power. He apparently armed the Ngobe people in the area and asked them to defend him, but when the soldiers arrived, the Ngobe´s didn´t want anything to do with this battle. Interesting story, and eventually we got the guy to guide us to the man we were meeting with. We get there (after learning the name for every tiny hill, valley, and anything else notable along the trail), and then head off with a guy from the group we were meeting. He has a machete, a gun and a horse, and leads us off onto a tiny trail into the jungle, us walking in front of him. And we keep getting deeper and deeper into the jungle, the trail keeps splitting, and I keep asking which way to go. The trails almost seem to double back on themselves, but we keep going, and going.

Eventually, we´re both privately wondering where were going, when we´ll get there, and wondering why he´s got a machete and a gun, with 2 gringos in the lead. Ambush? Nah. It got even more curious as he pointed out the cemetery to us – on our left. Then we get into a section of even denser jungle, where you can´t even see where you´re placing your feet, and then we´re there. At a house, and a farm, and we get ready for a meeting. And the meeting was great! The people were so enthused that someone finally came to visit them, and to offer support and hope. An interesting and memorable experience!

On the health side, we´re doing well (other than a wicked case of gas I have now after eating some rich food in David), but we did get to try to pull a bot fly larvae out from between the toes of a cat recently. We noticed that the cat had a sore, a sore with a worm. It kept poking it´s little head out for air, so we thought it was small, and if we covered the air hole, we could grab it and pull it out. We tried, and tried, for over an hour, to no avail. The next day, the locals put poison on the wound, killing the worm and then pulled it out. It was HUGE. Google the bot fly if you really want to see what I´m talking about. Ben wants one. OY.

Speaking of Ben - He´s quite hairy. I think that says it all. Check out any recent pictures of his beard for proof. He´s also getting quite skinny. Even cooking for ourselves now, we just don´t have the appetites that we used to. I guess 2 months of white rice, and hiking a lot almost everyday are a pretty good weight loss regime.

That´ll probably be all for now, but we should be on more frequently. We´ve got some more training coming up soon, and more time in the land of electricity and connectivity!

Feliz Año

Feliz Año is how you wish someone a Happy New Year (Feliz Navidad = Merry Christmas), and we are really looking forward to a great one. This year of 2009 will be our only full year in the Peace Corps, supposing as I do that at the end of two years we´ll be dying to have our first baby and our work with the Ngobe will be so successful that they won´t need any more help from volunteers. Here are a few things we are looking forward to over the next dozen months.

We have moved into our own shack and are having fun outfitting it. Setting up a home on a Peace Corps budget is only slightly less taxing on the finances as it is back in the states. Although we lack the urge to have everything that makes our lives a little easier, it is still not cheap to buy a bunch of new stuff when you have very little income. We need to find a whole kitchen set including a stove and storage containers (strong enough that rats and cockroaches can´t chew through), build our own kitchen table and bed-table-thing, and pick up a load of new, dry food to get started. Luckily, I´m happy to buy some new tools, albeit the cheapest on the rack.

Lisa has been very easy-going about going without, I think because she is so excited about having complete control over our food and meal times. She is happily planning on cooking with only one pot, one frying pan, and one burner. We have not been able to find a gas stove with an addition oven built in, but that hasn´t dampened her mood one bit. So far, we´ve had two dinners in our house, and both involved macaroni and cheese. Somehow, we forgot the white rice!

Even without express permission, it looks like we might be able to build our own house, if we are so inclined. It also appears that the prices might be low enough for us to afford the raw materials. While we only have a few months left of summer in which to complete the building, one doesn´t need as solid a structure in the topics as we would back in the temperate zone.

The Ngobes in our immediate area really seem to be taking a liking to us, and us to them. We are finding friends in all the surrounding communities, and so far we´ve managed not to disappoint them. Of course, our work is just getting started and we´ve hardly had a chance to demonstrate all of our skills and determination, but it all still looks promising. Each day, our calendar is filling up more and more. Its getting to the point now that people are realizing they can´t just pick a day on their own before talking to us because it´s not likely to be free. And these are all just getting-to-know-your-organization meetings.

And speaking of friends, not a week had gone by in the new year and already we had some Estadounidense (Americans) come and visit. Ian, Josh, and Scott from Fairbanks, Alaska made the trip down for Christmas and New Years, and we were able to meet up with them at the Interamericana. Actually, they had already arrived from an adventure in Bocas del Toro in their own rental car while we did not get back from a New Years Eve and New Years Day visit to our old host family from Santa Clara until midnight.

The next day, we headed up to our site and showed them around. They got to meet a few Ngobe, try out a meal or two, some Seco, and see a bare-shirted, bare-knuckle fist fight. Scott even spotted the first scorpion in our new house, and it had eggs when we chopped it open. It was really fun to sit back and tell stories by candlelight and by under the bright, unobstructed stars. It was the kind of thing that only .05% of tourists will ever get to see; the Comarca Ngobe-Buglé is still not listed in travel books so most don´t even ever hear of it. Of course, there are very little amenities that travelers are used to. We had a ball anyway, and thanks guys for bringing the booze and cigars!

We are also looking forward to other trips from friends and family. While most are still in the early scheduling planning stages, Lisa´s parents have bought their tickets for April. Hopefully by then our Spanish will be passed the most painful stage (really, it feels like that is already passing) because they have some elaborate plans of seeing much of the highlights this little country has to offer, and they want us to tag along! We are really looking forward to seeing some more of the historical or ritzy parts of Panamá.

We certainly are anticipating an exciting and productive year ahead of us. Hopefully, you guys out there have as much in front of you. Of course, if you need a little adventure, get a hold of us and arrange a trip to the end of Central America. We are down here and would love to share it with you.

A peek into the private thoughts of Lisa...

This is a special blog, and a special time, because it marks the first time in my whole life that I've actually written in a journal for more than a day or two, and after 5 months in Panama, have filled a journal.

The night I finished filling my first journal, I had a great time going back and reading snippets of my thoughts, and figured it might make for an interesting blog. So, here are a few peeks into my brain over since August 11th, 2008...

8-14 - We're here! We've done it, and made it through the process of applying, and Staging! It's still a bit unreal to be here and everything has been a blur so far. .... After that, we got to go swimming! Yay! Except that it was also a test - 10 minutes swimming and treading water non-stop and then we had to jump in the pool with our jeans on, pull them off, tie the legs in knots and create a working flotation device with them. I think my jeans won't be dry for months.

8-15 - I cannot speak Spanish.

8-16 - Happy Birthday to me! ... I got my first real unique Panamanian food experience today with chicheme. The best way to describe it is as corn milk. Milk with mashed corn (chunks and all) in it. Milk you chew. Delicious!

8-18 - I think a roach crawled across my neck last night. Something did. And I found a roach on it's back near the bed this morning.

8-20 - Today I was called a bon-bon in the supermarket but I had no idea what the guy was saying until I asked our Spanish teacher..... An off topic note - Ben just told me that he wishes he was covered in those lizards that live on the walls and near the ceiling that eat bugs. I had a hard time writing that because I was and am laughing so hard.

8-23 - Our first session today was about tropical diseases and it was pretty freaky. We also watched a video of PC Panama volunteers removing bot fly larvae from a fellow volunteer. So, if you get bit by a bot fly, they lay eggs in you, and then it grows under your skin. The way to remove it is to put duct tape ont he spot for 24 hours, then when you take it off, it pokes it's head up for air and you have to grab it and pull it out without killing it. Nasty.

8-27 - I saw my first wild monkey today. I was sitting in tech class and saw it before the kids ran up with slingshots.

9-8 - I was just attacked by a beetle. Ack.

9-17 - I am sitting in the Comarca, with pink eye in both eyes and I'm miserable. ..... And we hiked and hiked and hiked up the mountain - then down the side of a muddy cliff to our place. Our family is very, very poor. The house has a zinc roof, but not many walls. There are 10 people living in a space the size of our tech rancho in Santa Clara. We got there, dropped our bags and then started the most (or one of the most) uncomfortable nights of my life. The family just stared. ...My eye started itching this morning at the school and now I feel like there are needles in my eyes. ... The food sucks. Last night I got cold rice with a veggie similar to green beans, and luke warmsoup with a chicken head in it. I have no appetite.

9-21 - But to add insult to injury, or in this case, injury to injury, Ben and I went down to the quebrada to bathe after classes, and just as I stripped down, I slipped on the rocks and fell hard on my arms and back.

10-21 - We've come full circle now - back at Ciudad del Saber - where we started life here in Panama over 2 months ago. We swear in tomorrow, and looking back, 10 weeks really have gone by quickly. ... Two weeks ago now we left for our community partner conference, and it went well. ...Ben and Reinaldo went to the MIDA office to pick up supplies, and Edilsa went to buy chicks, so for a while I was alone in the piquera, but in my time, a boy drew a picture of me standing there and showed it to me. It said - Bei es muy bonita - Bienvenidas. It was cute, and touching. ... We basically live in a cloug forest, and it's neat to watch the clouds and mist roll in and envelope the mountains and the town. ... I think they might only speak Ngobere, which is totally intimidating. How can I work with people I can't communicate with? ... Peeing. Another issue. I always seem to have to go all of a sudden and I feel like my bladder is going to explode. I run to a latrine and nearly pee myself everytime while trying to rip my pants down and squat. Not to mention that the latrines are so full that if you have to go #2 you're likely to get a good dose of splash back.

10-29 - Noteworthy - toilet paper. Here toilet paper sucks. It's 1 ply, and at times resembles swiss cheese. But at the ambassador's house, they have the good stuff. 2 ply (at a minimum). It felt like I was wiping my ass with a towel. I didn't even dare try to flush it as no system here can even handle the 1 ply. ... The family was excited to see us, especially the kids, but they immediately started asking if a bunch of our stuff was for them. They also had their hands on and in everything. We quickly learned that just about everything needs to be out of reach. ... Meetings here last forever and accomplish very little.

10-30 - Today we went to one of Reinaldo's fincas, and we hiked up in the mountains for nearly 2 hours to get to the farm. When we arrived we got to work and they told me to clean up the trash, which was old plants that had been chopped down and died. My tool was a stick.

10-31 - I was thinking about our apartment for some reason, and how great it felt to crawl out of bed and stumble across the carpet and to the bathroom in the middle of the night. ... I'm not sure what the night has in store for us, but I bet it involves white rice.

11-3 - I have a peeing problem. Since being in Panama, the urge to pee seems to attack at once, and now it seems even worse. Up until now usually I could run to the latrine, or somewhere outside, depending on how dark it was, hold it, dance around, try to rip down my pants, and then go. But now I'm not even able to stop myself. Las night I held it, and didn't even know I was going until I felt warm wetness spreading. It's a bit frustrating to feel like a child that can{t control themselves. ... I think I just wiped DEET in my eyes.

11-7 - We went to Guaca to meet with the artisan group there. I kind of learned how to make a chacara. They started the bottom and handed it to me. And boy is it ugly. Really it was a day of being talked about, and not to, and of providing a lot of laughs with my super sucky chacara. My hands are tired and my butt is sore, but I spent a day with the people, and they want me to spend more time with them, so that is a good thing.

11-11 - At one point, one of the men proudly showed us a viper he came across, and killed, when we were all out working in the field. That makes 2 deadly snakes seen in the course of less than a week.

11-15 - Our patience is running thin. Annoyances: 1. Being asked for everything and anything. The neighbor asked for a loan. Everyone wants to use our phones. They want to use our flashlights, etc. 2. No privacy. They are in our side of the house all the time and it's obvious. They come in when we're here and when we're not. Our stuff is moved around. 3. They take and eat our stuff. We came back from David once and were missing half our hangers. Today we're missing a bag of M&Ms and a bag of chips. 4. They're noisy. They wake up at 4:30 a.m. and play music, talk, read aloud, scream, throw things, etc. All noisy. I know there are huge cultural differences, and I remind myself of it, but it's frustrating. We have a lot. A lot more than them. A lot they've never seen, so I want to share, but I can only do so much, and I won't be used either. I here to work. Not give hand outs.

11-17 - The dog would not stop barking last night. And it doesn't just bark, it growls when it barks. I feel like I haven't had a good, restful nights sleep in ages. And the food situation just gets worse and worse. I've woken up in the middle of the night starving. I think malnourishment + no sleep = crabbiness. I don't want to do anything today.

11-21 - I feel like shit. I've now had the shits for 5 days, and I have bouts of nausea and feel weak and irritable. ... Last night around 2 am we had a good scare. A noise woke us up and we couldn't figure out what it was, but them we saw a dog shoving itself through our door. It jumped up on our table, got muddy footprints on all our magazines and books, ate some cookies and them left.

12-1 - 13 days of diarrhea, possible parasites, a bacterial infection in my intestines and 4 days in the hospital and here I am. .. The other news of the trip is that Ben's grandmother, Dorothy, died on Friday nigth. It's been quite a week Stressful, painful and sad.

12-3 - Yesterday I celebrated a small, but important milestone - my first solid poop in 16 days - complete with latrine splashback! ... I hate canned fish. ... I can't wait to have our own place.

12-13 - They've developed a major case of the "we needs." We need food. We're hungry. We need rice, salt, sugar and coffee. Now we need eggs, oil, and bread. Now we need matches, and chicken seasoning and more vegetables. Ben went and bought a lot of food, but they always want more. Their parents better return soon.

12 -19 - Last page! We've been in site for nearly 2 months now. The time is passing by fairly quicly. Things have been rough at times, and great and uplifting at times. I'm glad we're here. I never could have experienced something like this without taking this risk. Peace Corps F@%# yeah!

There it is. A tiny bit of journal number one. Stay tuned!

¨Twas the Week Before Christmas

And all through the Comarca,
Not a creature stirred,
Except bugs, rats, cats, dogs, drunks, birds, Peace Corps Volunteers, lizards, spiders, kids, etc

No, there is no Christmas in the Comarca. Sure, the people of Panama know about Christmas and even celebrate it, but they do not experience the whirling maelstorm of consumerism that seems exclusively American. While the world bemoans a coming recession and Americans still buy 21.6 presents per person (down from 23 last year) on average, the folks in the Comarca quietly go about their lives without much of a thought towards the day that Jesus was registered with the government (he was born in April). There are no presents, no trees with decorations, no songs or mistletoe. There will probably be a Christmas service for those who were converted by the recent missionaries, but very few are thinking about doing anything special, let alone even hearing about ads and sales from Thanksgiving to end of the year as they are not getting them over the radio and they don´t have TVs (or electricity).

But here, in this little shack, in the corner of the village, in the heart fo the jungle, there is one young blonde cutie who wants to hear some carols, decorate with garland, and put up a tree. She sings softly those songs that she carries inside, gathering a small herd of children to her like the Pied Piper of Hamburg. She does a little piroqette with the twinkle of a tear in her eye as she wishes whole-heartedly to be in a place that celebrates this favorite of American holidays, this wonderful time when we all put aside our differences and think about what is good for everyone. We take time to ponder the meaning of world peace and the brotherhood (sisterhood) of man (woman). We plan trips to see family, or at least a phone call to touch base, and we search the stores and malls for those perfect gifts for our loved ones, presents they will actually use. We attend churches with sermons full of hope, and read many a Hallmark card with lovely sentiments.

While we feel like we are doing a good deed by being here, and we are happy to have friends like the other PCVs we will be meeting up with at the beach on Christmas Eve, we do indeed miss that special time of year when even an old grouch like me has trouble uttering a bah-humbug. When the stores and schools and court buildings are all showing their Christmas spirit and playing those classics, and even strangers are a little nicer to each other than they have to be. Its a time when there are plays and TV shows about being a better person, Santas in malls offering hopes to kids and outside of stores offering hopes to the poor, and we can all hope that the item we really want (that was at the top of our gift list) is under the tree decorated with memories of past Christmases.

We are going about our lives as we had expected ourselves to, searching for leaders of the community and encouraging them to continue to fight for a better life. We are just starting so it is a time of hope and optimism for us, even without the holiday spirit. And yet, somehow, I´m sure that this little blonde of mine will have us some plane tickets back to the States next year, because she is not going to want to miss more than one Christmas in a row!

The Mute Screams

First of all, Lisa is better. After one regime of pills for parasites, she went the other hospital in the capital and they took a stool sample, then they kept her on an IV for three days. They said that the original diagnosis was wrong and that she had a bacterial infection instead. At least she is now better and poops like normal again.


We have had some interesting theories put forth from the people around our communities. I´ve come to believe that they are largely a combination of poor education and guess work:


The other night around 3:39 a.m., a man was yelling at the top of his lungs in the middle of the road, obviously straining for every last decibel. AAAA-OOOO-EEEEE! After a half hour of this serenade, during which several dogs offered their own counterpoint to which he responded in kind, he went suddenly silent. While no one around here complains when their sleep is interrupted (except for Lisa and I) they had all heard the man and had some ideas about what was going on.


One suggested that he was inebriated, as Lisa and I assumed, and called him a borracho, which is a derrogatory term for a drunk, then got himself falling down hammered a few days later. Another said he was a witch and could bring an evil wind to make people sick. And yet another, Lisa´s favorite, said that he was a mute...who was screaming. I think that theory involves a curse or something but they didn´t offer any kind of coherent explanation.


And we have picked up on some other strange statements. After I said that we weren´t getting a good signal today due to the thick, dark clouds, I ¨learned¨ that cell phone reception gets better when its sunny because the sun recharges the signal with electricity. Rice is the most nutritious food in the world, which is why everyone eats it, every day, for every meal. When the earth shakes with anger, the weather changes...and after our recent 6.2 quake near David, the weather did in fact change (from wet to wetter) and we had a 40-year flood!


We´ve also been discussing a bit of astronomy. It seems that the people from a nearby town believe that people can walk to the sky. People I´ve talked with think that the stars are holes through some kind of fabric or dark film. The moon is strong enough to break through the ground up there, but the stars cannot, and if we wanted to we could walk there. We can see that the world is not flat because there are all kinds of mountains and water, but round like a ball, you´re crazy, Gringo!

I´ve tried explaining that the objects in space are spherical, including the earth and that the distances between them are incredible. I talk about how the moon rotates around us and us around the sun and that they are in no way close to each other. I was pretty sure I lost some credibility when I tried to explain that the light of the moon and the light of the sun are actually the same, but that the moon is reflecting that same light off a white surface. It sometimes feels like I´m the wharthog from The Lion King: After Simba says that the stars are our ancestors watching over us and Timon says the sparkly dots were ¨fireflies that got stuck in the big bluish-black thing,¨ Pumbaa responds, ¨Oh. Gee, I always thought that they were balls of gas, burning billions of miles away.¨ Timon-¨Pumbaa, with you everything is gas!¨

Thanksgiving and Flooding Updates

Happy Thanksgiving! First the good news... The standfast phase for our area of the Comarca was lifted shortly after it was placed, and Ben came down the mountain and joined me in David on Wednesday, along with other members of our group located in the Comarca. We are planning to go out and have a nice meal at a restaurant in town tonight to celebrate.

The not quite as great news is that I just finished up my rounds of medication to fight my parasites, and people say I should be feeling better soon. But the medications are strong, and it feels like there is a battle being waged in my abdomen between the parasites and the pills. I´m hoping my body and the pills are winning. So, I´m still not feeling great.

The worse news is that the rain continues to fall. The Bocas del Toro region and the Comarca portion on the Carribean side are devastated. Many people have lost everything. Several Peace Corps volunteers in those areas were stranded in their sites and had to be evacuated out by helicopter and the rest were consolidated. Today a small plane brought most of them into David, and they may be here for several weeks or up to a month while roads are repaired. Today we spent our morning unloading trucks of supplies - mostly clothing and medical supplies - to be sent to areas in need. The flooding hasn´t gotten much news coverage in the world (from what we´ve seen), but the situation is pretty dire in areas. Please continue to keep the people of Panama in your thoughts this Thanksgiving.

Parasites, Earthquakes and Flooding.. Oh my!

There are a lot of crazy things happening in Panama right now, so let´s get started.

First of all, we´re now approaching nearly one month in our community and we´re having a great time. We are BUSY! We have been meeting with countless community groups and businesses, as well as groups from communities up to several hours away from ours, to get to know them and how we might be able to best serve them. We´re also getting into a routine in the community and everyday feel a little bit more like it´s home to us. And, let´s face it, we´re still in the ¨rockstar¨phase in town. Kids and adults alike have taken to shouting our names as we pass by, and we´re asked to visit and stop in often.

Now, the other stuff...

1. Parasites. I (Lisa) have parasites. Lets just say that 9 days ago now, I started having diarrhea, which got progressively worse everyday. I also felt nauseated a lot, and would waver between having no appetite at all, or feeling like I was starving to death. My energy level was minimal. Last Saturday night was rough. I couldn´t stop going. If you get my drift. So, Sunday morning, we called the Peace Corps doctor, and I was on my way to David to go to the hospital. Yesterday morning I went to the hospital, and was immediately hooked up to an I.V. and they did a blood test and told me that I´ve got parasites! Now, I´m on medication to kill everything off and try to get me back to normal, but it´s got me feeling icky too. But, the explosive diarrhea is a thing of the past. I should count my lucky stars that this is the first bad thing health wise I´ve had to deal with (should we count the pink eye experience or falling down and hurting my back in the river) when other volunteers in our group have had issues from day one.

2. Hunger. I´ve never before felt hunger like I´ve felt it here in the past few weeks. I´m guessing that the parasites are mostly to blame. Anyone that´s done Weight Watchers can probably agree that the first week you´re on plan is hard, and you feel like you´re starving. That´s nothing. And really, I can´t begin to imagine what real hunger and malnourishment is like. But having my hunger wake me up in the middle of the night, and keep me up for hours because it´s consuming my thoughts, is a new level of hunger for me. To be fair, I should mention that the food just isn´t doing it for me. I eat tons of white rice. Tons of nutrient lacking, flavorless white rice. The vegetables that were in abundance when we first arrived have disappeared. We´re not even getting the boiled green bananas anymore, which I actually miss. And at times, we´re now getting canned fish, which is making my stomach flip right now just thinking about it. Before it sounds all doom and gloom though, I will say that it makes the prospects of cooking for ourselves soon seem so much better.

3. Earthquake! Last Wednesday morning we experienced the strongest earthquake we´ve been through, at a 6.2. We ¨woke¨up shortly after 1am to the strong shaking. I actually crawled out of bed at 1am to relieve myself, and came back in the shack and noticed that the dog from next door had snuck in our house. It was cowering against the wall and freaked me out. I shooed it out and went back to bed. At first when the quake hit, I thought ¨what a freakishly strong wind!¨ (People have shared that we get very strong winds in the summer here - which is nearly upon us) Then I realized it was shaking. This quake was different from my last big one (in Fairbanks, Alaska at a 5.8) because we were about as close to the earth as possible this time, and the last one hit while I was sleeping on the top floor of an 8 story building. Our host dad woke up and thought about getting us up, but told me the next morning that he knew we were sleeping. I reassured him the next morning, that if he thinks the zinc shack is going to fall on us, he´s more than welcome to scream and yell and get us out of bed!

4. Floods. We´re in the rainy season right now. There´s also a tropical depression hanging out on the coast that´s threatening to become a cyclone. That´s not a good mix. We´ve had no issues in our site because we´re living at about 4,000 feet, but all of the water has to go somewhere, and unfortunately it has caused really devastating flooding in the provinces of Bocas del Toro, Chiriqui and ours, the Comarca Ngobe-Bugle. So much so that the Peace Corps Panama powers that be have declared that everyone in these areas has to stay where they are right now, until further instructions arrive. This means I am in David (see number 1), and Ben is still in our community. We originally planned to have a nice private Thanksgiving in Boquete, but Boquete is devastated by the floods. Then we thought David, or the beach, but as it stands, no one is going anywhere, and we may not even have the holiday together. Which brings me to my last point...

5. Giving thanks. There is a lot for us to be thankful for this year. I could try to list them all out and would surely forget some, but I´ll sum it up by saying that we´re thankful for this opportunity and experienceand we´re eternally thankful for family and friends. And machetes (which are great for killing roaches).

Please keep the people of Panama in your thoughts in this difficult time. Also, if you´re feeling like you´d like to help the Peace Corps, or our projects in Panama, please take some time to check out the Peace Corps webpage and click on Donate Now!. You can choose specific countries, projects or volunteers to help fund.