Let’s start with the most fun fact in here. Pipa is coconut! I lived in Panama for almost 5 months before I learned that fun fact. How did I learn this? On the way to see my new casita (little house) for the first time, my host mom jumped up in her seat to tell my host sister to stop the car immediately because she saw the neighbor selling pipa! I was startled and wildly confused. She stood outside the door of the car and basically cat called the neighbor until he looked over. She made some vague signal with her hand and that was it. Over the neighbor came with three cold and fresh pipa with a hole cut in the top and a straw, just like it was some tropical resort. After asking the price, my host mom was shocked and kept asking if he was serious/sure. Pipa, I gather, is usually more than just a quarter (pronounced coo-water in spanish) and my host mom and sister continued to gab about the miracle for the rest of the short car ride. This was a good day for me. My host sister proceed to take my photo “para el blog” and we giggled the whole ride. I didn’t realize that people usually suck the pipa down quickly and my host mom was concerned for my health that I wasn’t drinking it fast enough.

Segue. For months (since I arrived in David) I’ve been looking for my own place. Peace Corps Panama is unique in that we can live away from host families after a few months (I realize there are other countries like this as well, it’s not a COMPLETELY unique thing). Now before you get it twisted- I LOVE my host family. I was in a really amazing situation where I was comfortable and well cared for. Even now as I write this, I’m sitting at the table with my host sister. I am washing clothes here as I don’t have a washer and I’m too lazy to hand wash anything. They allow me over anytime just to chat, or to wash clothes, or just because I need a snack. This family even offered to let me stay the whole two years with them. My host dad seemed very insistent, but I know that two years is longer (and also shorter) than it seems and having my own space would be better for me mentally speaking than anything else. I know there are several people in my big chort that don’t have as much luck as me with my family, so it is a little weird for some people to hear that it was sad for me to leave. I know that I was taking over my host sisters space, though, and she probably wanted some of that privacy back. BUT! They remain my closest friends here in David and the most important people in my Panamanian life.

SO! As I was saying-I was looking basically since I arrived in David. After MANY miscommunications with people who had said they could help me out, I was beginning to become discouraged. I ended up looking all the time on the Panama version of Craigslist (OLX) for rooms or small apartments. All of them were either ridiculously priced or so small and far that it wouldn’t have been worth my time and money. So after seeing over 10 places with my host sister (I think from here on I’ll say HS…) and speaking with over 30 Dueños (owners or landlords) I was becoming extremely frustrated. Until one *cue angel music* cheap house caught my eye. It was described as only the bedroom with a shared bathroom (one for men and one for women) and shared living space; the rent included the water lights AND WiFi-I simply had to check it out. So on I went with the host family para ver (to see it) and as we approached the gate we heard a “Profe?!” and out popped my new best friend waiting to happen-Nando. Nando is a charismatic middle aged gent who recognized my HM from her teaching days. They exchanged hellos and he looked at me and immediately started speaking fluent english much to my surprise. Nando is a huge fan of the Peace Corps and has met several volunteers who made a lasting impression on him. He explained in painful detail (as many people who meet a PCV do) all the past PCVs he knows and asked if I, too, knew the PCV from 2011. After some polite banter and explaining my unique and difficult position in David he vowed to help me. Now, most people I know, knew I was looking for a place, everyone always says they will keep their eyes open and let me know but no one really followed up. Not Nando! He went walking the very next day in all the safest parts of David near the school and took pictures of the “For Rent” houses and sent me over 5 options… I still cannot express how grateful I am for his help. While I didn’t go with anything he sent me… It made me feel really comfortable and loved here. The house we were at (I will here after call the dorms) was his neighbor who happened to be American. He got me in contact with her. It took us a week to finally be able to see the house due to whatever have you circumstances, but we finally went para ver! It wasn’t perfect but it was something I really wanted. Just like a dorm, I would only have a room but there were many other rooms, mostly made of plywood walls (not regulation). But the fact that the dueña was willing to hold the place for me until I could get approval was huge and I was ecstatic! So I went tra-la-la-ing off to tell my boss the good news and got a straight “mmm no” from her. Pardon you? I said. “That doesn’t sound like something I’ll approve so try to look more”. This is when steam came out my ears and I threw a not very age appropriate tantrum when I got off the phone. I was punch dancing my rage out in a wooded glen when my host dad came home and told me “I found your house”. Pardon you? I said. He saw a family leaving suddenly from up the street and went straight to the dueña and told her to not even think about putting the for rent sign up. And that brings us back to the $0.25 pipas, a 2 min car ride and my bad attitude towards my boss. I walked up to the casita and instantly fell in love. It was perfect for me and already fit 90% of the regulations that I needed to move in almost right away. I held a cold coconut in my hand as the dueña jabbered on in very fast Spanish about what she planned on fixing up and I sat and stared at her wide eyed. I told her that I was going to have to come back the next day with my boss bright and squirrelly in the morning to get permission. She smiled at me and I’m pretty sure that is the instant we became friends. She is extremely friendly and loves to talk. She will probably be the reason that my Spanish (if it does) improves because she does NOT slow down for me. She gabs and gabs and then just laughs when I have to ask her to repeat herself. She happily does it but just as quickly as before and I have to play Spanish ping-pong in my brain until I can finally understand her.

So my casita is a street up from my host family (miracle) and it is perfect for me. Instead of just one room in a house it is its own separate place and I’ll have privacy. So while I appreciated Nando and the dorms… I sadly could not live there. My boss came and approved everything! I had my three month big presentation the same day and it all went smoothly! A 30 min Spanish presentation in front of 20 people, which was a shock as I only invited 15 and 4 RSVP’d. There is something called Brindis (snacks) in Panamanian culture and I only brought enough brindis for about 8 people and that was the only part that didn’t go smoothly. My students who I specifically asked not to come, came and ate all the cookies *eye roll*, but if that was the only down part? I’ll take it as a win! So I’m officially “free” and a PCV that has to do more than just observe and shrug when people ask me what my plans are. I have a really unique opportunity at the university and am LOVING all the work in all honesty. But, living in the city and working (volunteering) for sometimes more than 40 hours every week is super draining for me.

Enter a new paragraph where I get my Ngäbe (pronounced like No-Bay) name: Beti (pronounced like Betty). I have a friend in the same province who happened to be with our Spanish teacher from PST (remember all my acronyms yet?), and to help with Spanish they were going to meet the G85 WASH and SAS (other sectors in PC) aspirantes (trainees). They invited me to join them in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé; a province in Panama of indigenous people and vast mountains, open space and GET THIS *Nature*. I got to strap on my hiking boots and head out east. We had breakfast just the three of us and spoke only Spanish! Most of my day is speaking English so it was nice to speak Spanish and get corrections. Long story long, we took a chiva which is a truck with a cover of metal bars. You jump in back and hold on for dear life as this truck boogies up and down steep gravel roads with intense incline and declines and many switch backs. It was more of a workout than I’d had in ages! But looking out the back of the truck at all the mountains was one of the most intensely beautiful experiences I’ve had so far. I kept pointing out trees, mountains and birds and the Panamanians in the truck couldn’t help but smile politely at me. By happenstance we met a young man who was going to the same community we were headed to and was actually hosting a few of the aspirantes. He was telling us all about Ngäbe culture and the week the aspirantes were having. We told him about what we were going to do and why we were coming and then he gave me a Ngäbe name: Beti. It’s common to get a name from the Ngäbe people and to go by that instead, as far as I know from other PCVs. I think usually in their culture it means you’ve been accepted and it is a private thing. Most of the people have two names but only use their Ngäbe names with people whom they know well. I felt really honored and silly all at once since I was only going to be there for one day and could hardly even pronounce the name correctly. But the community opened their arms to us even just for the day and I felt very welcomed. We got to watch people making latrines and meet the young aspirantes. Anyone reading this with more information or if I’m wrong feel free to correct me and I’ll happily admit fault and ignorance to it in another post. I want to learn more about it, but really only can get little info from other PCVs and some students and teachers.

In Chiriquí there are only two sectors and very few volunteers comparatively so I had never really interacted with the other sectors. It was really great to get to know the sorts of things that they all do and what they are all about. They are a bit of a different breed than the sectors that I’m used to, but overall everyone was really friendly and I’m excited to see what they do with their service. As I’ve said before, I am really grateful for the opportunity I’ve got to “trail blaze” in the University and living in the city has its perks, don’t get me wrong. But it isn’t the exact experience I had anticipated. That being said-I decided to just take the day and soak up every second with a smile on my face and remember it as I sit in my air conditioned office working away on new materials that I’m coming up with out of thin air. It is interesting how much I’ve adapted a “city personality”. I have stopped smiling in the street because it encouraged piropos (cat calling) and I have developed a more aggressive walk and a brazen way to argue with taxi drivers and walk in front of cars. So getting into the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé was the breath of air I needed. I was able to smile in public and walk around leisurely saying “Buenas” to everyone sitting outside their house. They are very different worlds. One isn’t better than the other-but I’m grateful that I’ve gotten to see how the other half lives now (by that I mean volunteers in different circumstances not just me observing indigenous people and gawking)! Being able to just walk up to a neighbor and start talking was such a foreign concept to me, but so refreshing. Looking to my left and seeing nothing but rolling hills and green, looking to my right and seeing a gigantic river and a hawk slowly flying. The weirdest part to me was the silence, there wasn’t any horns or even loud típico music blaring. I could hear the river that was MILES away and birds. I took a picture of all the wild animals and our guide (who named me) smiled politely and always waited for me. I got a lot out of the trip. I also have a bad habit of saying “No me importa” (I don’t care) when people as my preference, in the city it is a typical response but I was told in this community it was rude to say. Even my spanish teacher was a little surpirsed. I guess saying it is sort of saying you don’t care about anything or the offer, it is just a brush off. I learned a lot that day, including it takes up to two weeks to make a Naguas (typical dresses for women of the Ngäbe-Bublé). The last part I learned to appreciate most about my own “site” is that I can get back to my city in the same night. I have the opportunity to travel pretty easily since there are always buses going to and fro!

I’m going to remember these past few weeks pretty fondly as I go into the “real” part of my service and start doing projects! I have a lot of energy about my ideas and I’m excited to start working not only in the University but also with other volunteers. I know that I’m about to go through some extreme struggles as I get projects off the ground, but for now I’m pumped and so so happy where I am in life. Having a day in the mountains will do that for me! 

Ya esta for now.