Well, I have finally succumbed to my first bout of sickness. After some very uncomfortable stomach issues for almost a week (don't worry- I will spare the details), I was told yesterday to travel to David and visit the hospital. The stool sample results said that I have amoebas and a bacterial infection in my stomach. So now I am staying in David waiting for the antibiotics to get me healthy enough to return to site.
Besides this sickness, the last couple of weeks have been great. I am becoming more comfortable with each passing day and have been relishing the process of developing genuine friendships. Some highlights to give you an idea of day-to-day life here:
December 20th: On the 21st anniversary of the day the U.S. under George Bush attacked Panama for the stated purpose of ousting Manuel Noriega, I was offered a baby. That's right. While visiting a family in the neighborhood I was offered to take and raise a woman's one-year-old. At first I thought she was joking so, calling her bluff, replied to her offer, "sure." Then with a look of shock she said "okay!" and tried to hand me the baby which caused me to panic and think I misjudged her sincerity. So I covered by telling her that even though I would love to adopt her baby, Peace Corps says I can't. Bummer.
December 22nd: Christmas parade day. I hiked a couple hours to my friends house this day and from his house, hiked to a nighttime X-MAS Parade. The highlight of the parade for me was that the Santa was wearing fake oakley sunglasses and speaking to a crowd in ngabere through a microphone. The crowd, which would get a prize for guessing the real identity of the Santa, heckled the poor Santa the entire time. I found it hilarious and at this moment it hit me, "wow, so this is my Christmas". Santa was excited to learn that I was from Alaska, too!
December 27th: Quoting from my journal, "Around 2am I awoke to a loud bang. Something was wrong with the roof. With my heart racing, the loose zinc sheet moved again in a flurry of noise and I could see a bit of the starry night sky. Then a stronger gush of wind came and all at once my shirts fell on me, my hinged 'window' [which is actually only a few pieces of wood] flew open exposing the bent-over tree outside, and the sheet of loose zinc flipped up and over and off the roof and crashed with a "kaboom!" on the ground. Soon the whole house was awake -everybody laughing- and for the rest of the night I could see the stars in the sky above me through a large hole where a piece of roof used to be. After calming down (me and the wind) I fell back to sleep."
December 29th: Latrine meeting day. I left at 7am, hiked to Samuel's (20 min.) then the two of us hiked to Quebrada Plata ("money stream") an hour away for my 8am meeting with the community. Time passed, eventually people began arriving, and 8am turned into 12pm. The president of the water committee opened the meeting, then Samuel spoke and introduced me, then I talked for about a half hour about the need to get organized, have patience, and the entire process. Then we had an hour of questions and Samuel was a lot of help! Later the meeting changed subjects so I sat down and some poor literate girl was asked to read an entire manual on aqueduct maintenance. This took 1.5 hours and was horrendously boring; meanwhile, kids played (one kept letting air out of a baloon with a loud noise), babies cried, people left, dogs peed on the floor, loud side conversations took place, some food and coffee were served... Samuel was practically asleep when the meeting ended at 3pm. Four hours of waiting for three hours of work that could have been done in two. Welcome to the Comarca!
December 30th: On this day I tried to help fix the pathway from Samuels house to another path. The path was too narrow and horses had been falling, so our job was to use picks and widen it. I worked hard but after two hours I was useless because I had aquired nine blisters on my hands. Victor explained to me that my hands are like farmed chickens with succulent meat whereas their warn hands are like the free range chickens that have much tougher meat. Indeed.
Later that day I visited another family and the mom wanted me to take some pictures of her family for me to print for her. She grabbed a pair of jeans to prop the baby up with but quickly threw it to the ground because it has three scorpions on it! I was excitedly taking pictures of the insects when, to my surprise, a mighty brave chicken flew in and attacked the scorpions. Within a few seconds the scorpions were all dead and eaten by the chicken. I was too dumbfounded to think of taking a picture.
December 31st: I went to Samuels house to celebrate new years. I watched the family make a gigantic batch of arroz con pollo ("rice with chicken") which, in the Comarca, is a rare holiday food. They cooked it over a wood fire and and it took about three hours. We ate around 8pm and afterwards Samuel and I talked for almost three hours about his ideas to improve his own life and the life of the community. He is truly a great community leader. Later, at midnight, they set off a few fireworks, we ate another plate of food and drank two more cups of sugar with coffee. I found this to be quite an appropriate 'Comarcan' way to bring in the new year.
"Of the gladdest moments in human life, methinks, is the departure upon a journey into unknown lands. Shaking off with one mighty effort the fetters of Habit, the leaden weight of Routine, the cloak of many Cares, and the slavery of Home, man feels once more happy. The blood flows with the fast circulation of childhood. Afresh dawns the morn of life."
-Sir Richard Burton, The Devil Drives
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