After one month living in my new community, I've found that there are always surprises that come with each day. Like when I found a bird had made a nest in the pocket of my pants, which were hanging up in my room. I was wondering how so many twigs and grass got in my pocket when I heard a little crunch and splat on the floor near my foot. There was the little bird’s egg, but in worse shape than Humpty Dumpty. That’s the downside of having good air circulation in the house – with the air comes many creatures: birds, bats, geckos, cockroaches, armies of ants, scorpions, and alarmingly large spiders. The rental agreement did not mention these other tenants would be part of the deal, but I let it slide.
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| The wild ride with the angry pig |
Or kind of like when one of our passengers on the dugout canoe was a
very large, angry pig. I knew it would
be an interesting ride before I got on the boat. Sure enough, as we were cruising along the
pig decided it was very thirsty and needed a big drink of water. The problem is pigs don’t have the greatest balance,
so when it leaned over the side its front legs slipped off the side of the
boat. Its weight began to tip the entire
boat to one side, dangerously close to filling with water. I leaned back in the opposite direction as
far as I could as Ruben tried to pull the pig back into the canoe. Fortunately the pig made it to town safe and
sound, just in time to be chopped up into little pieces and sold to people in
the community. Sales are made by
yelling, “Hay puerco!” really loudly until people come from all over with
little plastic bags in hand. I thought
of the good times the pig and I had on that boat trip as I chewed on a piece of
its tail. It’s interesting how different
a simple meal can be when you saw where it came from.
As Peace Corps Volunteers we like to compare our sites just for
fun. We ask things like, “How far do you
have to hike to get into site?” or “What?! You have electricity?” or “Do they
want you to teach English in your site too?”
One of the most common comparisons though, is the food. Fortunately for me, this is where I can brag
a little. The staples are generally rice
and plantains, but that’s just the start.
Although we may not have beautiful views of mountains and cool weather,
being in a jungle community of hunters and fishermen has its perks. So far I have sampled a variety of meats
including pork, wild hog, venison, rabbit, chicken, wild chicken (not sure
exactly what that is), and possibly more that I didn’t recognize. I’ve been told by community members that
there are many others I still need to try such as iguana, anteater, crocodile,
even parrot. I suppose it’s part of my
job to discourage the hunting of certain animals to protect the wildlife, but
they hype everything up like it’s so delicious…
More often than not however, there will be fish on the table. If the guys haven’t had much success spear
fishing in the river, they can always wait for the fish salesman to come up the
river with his boat full of ocean fish.
While I can’t complain about the food, because I know many of my fellow
volunteers on the other side of the country have it worse, I have developed
some intense cravings for vegetables. I
actually special ordered a tomato, some carrots, and cucumber from one of the
stores. The girl working there said
nobody buys vegetables, so they never have them. But an exception was made for me. Every Wednesday the stores are restocked by
boats that go back and forth between the nearest town that has a road to the
Pan American Highway (which means it’s connected to the outside world). So from the port town of Penita my precious
vegetables set sail. My host mom was
very perplexed by the strange assortment of foods that are neither fried nor
boiled before eating. I’m not sure if
she had ever seen lettuce before, she looked at it like it was a lunar soil
sample or something. Don’t get me wrong,
fried plantains and rice are fine and all, but I need something green to eat
once in a while.
Coming out of my room the other day I saw this white bucket on the steps. I looked inside to find about eight huge spiders crawling around. These kids saw me staring at it and came over with big smiles. They had found them in somebody's house. So one proceeded to grab one and let it run up his arm, around his head, tickle his ear, and back into the bucket. I was ready to just smash them, not realizing they were pets.
Another gringo came to town the other day. I knew he was there before I saw him because people made sure to tell me, after all it doesn’t happen very often that a white person comes through Nuevo Vigia. It was slightly confusing when at first he started talking to me in the indigenous language, then he switched to Spanish. After talking a while, he finally switched to English. What a relief, finally someone to speak English to. Apparently he was studying medicinal plants. The townspeople called him a sorcerer. I’m not sure if he would have agreed to that title or not. He told me he was born in the Darien in an Embara community, moved to the States, and had now returned to look at some plants. And just like that he was gone, leaving me as the sole gringo in town as normal.
On Sunday the 29th we had a big community monthly meeting to
talk about anything and everything. I
decided that would be a good time to reintroduce myself and try to clarify what
exactly it is that I’m doing here. There
seemed to be quite a large percent of the population that still had no idea why
I was walking around talking to people.
With my speech prepared with all my qualifications, skills, background,
and detailed explanation of the Peace Corps, I was ready. After I finished talking in front of
everyone, which I don’t particularly enjoy even in English, I knew I had nailed
it. That is I thought so, until the town
president followed it up with, “Did you guys understand that?” What can I say, there’s some room for
improvement with my Spanish.
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