Site Visit in the Darien

Yesterday I returned from our second volunteer site visit.  Nathan (a fellow trainee) and I traveled to Puerto Indio in the Darien province (near the Columbian border) to visit a Peace Corps volunteer site.  On Thursday we had a good long tour of the Pan American highway on a bus with a few too many people crammed in.  Then the next day after a 3 hour boat ride in the Pacific and the Rio Sambu we arrived.  Surprisingly in this isolated place in the jungle it turned out to be almost a small city.  There were cars, TV, internet, and lots of loud music.  Apparently a barge from Panama City supplies many things to the town.

During our time there we were able to talk with the volunteer about living there and the work he was doing on their water supply system.  In order to get a sense of a normal Embara indigenous community in the area, we hiked about 2 and a half hours through the jungle to Tigre, a much smaller village.  The people were very welcoming and gave us some chicken soup and rice to eat.  The river there also made for a very refreshing swim.  Since Nathan had some pretty bad blisters we decided to take a dug out canoe back to Puerto Indio.

Hiking to Tigre in the Darien

My host family kids, Ronaldo and Randol getting ready for school

The experience was a lot of fun, and gave me a little insight as to what some sites are like.  But everyone always says that every volunteer experience is very different no matter what, so don't have expectations.  So I suppose I still don't have expectations.  After coming back to our training community my family was happy to see me again.  I've had a lot of fun playing with the kids and helping with their homework when I can.

Life as a Trainee

Right now it feels like I've been in Panama for months.  The days have been packed, but the first week of training is almost over.  After a few days in Panama City doing some orientation, we moved into our training community.  Each trainee has their own host family, and we were excited to meet who we'll be living with for the next 2 months.  The first day or two with my family was a little awkward as expected, but they are very friendly and patient.

Most of our days are scheduled out for us with 4 hours of Spanish sessions in the morning and 4 hours of technical training in the afternoon.  Let's just say if it weren't for the roosters crowing at 3 in the morning I would have no trouble sleeping at night.  The humidity here is definitely hard to ignore.  I've found it helps to carry a bandana with me to continually wipe the sweat off.  The daily downpour helps things cool down, since we're just getting into the rainy season.

One of my favorite things about the community so far has been the pasear, or walking around town visiting people at their houses in the evening.  It seems like everyone is related somehow, and everyone knows each other.  There is definitely a small town feel. 

Right now I'm doing some more orientation, and I found a computer to use for a few minutes.  Next week we will be visiting a volunteer site by ourselves.  It looks like I might be traveling a long way, but I'm not sure yet.  Things are starting to feel more real, which is a little bit intimidating.  But I'm really enjoying this time of preparation and getting to know the other trainees.