Summer´s Here (haha!)

Every year summer arrives the part of the Comarca south of the Cordillera Mountains sometime during the first week of December. Just like in the United States it is an exciting time: children are finishing the school year, corn, beans, yucca and other foods are beginning to ripen, and there is no more mud! According to my journal, summer started this year on December 6 because that was the first time in many months we didn´t have any rain. I am tempted to consider the first day of summer the 5th, though, as that was the night Lela hauled her cooking rocks out from her "kitchen" and into the open air. That night we huddled around the fire and felt the excitement of summer while Lela prepared rice and chicken under the brilliant lights of a full moon and stars. The conversation during dinner focused on fact that seven dogs now spend the majority of their day in my 12´x12´ house.

For most of my first year in site that number fluctuated between a manageable three and five dogs and has held strong at four the past four months. That all changed on November 18 when I woke up to the sound of three whimpering puppies curled up with their mom in the corner of my house. Pregnant Puma finally had her puppies. I was excited and honored she chose my house to have her pups in but Armodio felt differently. Armodio, sixteen and famous for being the family´s best hunter (he´s incredible accurate with a slingshot), said the puppies are no good because Puma is "good for nothing." I understood this to mean she doesn´t hunt (which is true) so I responded, "well she´s really cute - she´s good for looking at. haha." He clearly misunderstood my sarcasm for stupidity (this happens far too often) and before walking away he gave me a quizzical look then chuckled awkwardly. I interpreted this to mean two things: "I´ll never understand Scott" (probable) and "Scott is weird" (definite).

Since the birth of the puppies my days have been filled with excitement and my nights have been filled with a growing melody of animal noises that to my complete lack of surprise is even more annoying than before! To the owls hoot and the frogs burp comes the roosters roost and the cicadas song. The crescendo grows with the dogs bark and the pigs snore (he sleeps against my house) and everything culminates in the screeching sound of three whining puppies.

Despite this and the little piles of puppy poo and pee on my floor, their cuteness and entertainment more than make up for the extra work of cleaning up after them and my lack of sleep. And I am closer to them now because they almost died twice today. In the morning Armodio killed a highly poisonous Coral snake slithering near the house. In the afternoon I noticed my guitar case had become part of a large termite home (this is a painfully clear sign that I need to practice more). I removed the guitar from its cubby and began scraping away the termite home with my machete when a large scorpion began scrambling up the case and toward my hand. I simply shook the case and the scorpion fell to the ground. At this point all I should have needed to do was stomp my foot. I was not that lucky.

Whereas the puppies once stayed curled up in a cute ball of fluff all day in the corner of my house, they now whine and wander around aimlessly. I have to dance around to avoid these adorable miniature moving landmines, two of which happened to place themselves just inches from where the scorpion fell. Of coarse a scorpion strike would kill these fur balls so I acted fast. I scooped up the puppies with my left hand and let my machete take care of the threat with my right.

Such is the level of excitement in Bajo Cerro Name in the Comarca Ngabe-Bugle as we welcome summer into our lives again.

Unofficial Peace Corps Degrees

My friend Tim had to leave Panama before he was finished with his service because civil unrest made his presence in his area too dangerous. This is not common in the Peace Corps although it does happen. I saw Tim two days before his departure and asked him how he felt about leaving early. He replied, "You know Scott, I haven't even been here [in Panama] a year, yet I know I've learned far more here than I did during four years in college."

Two weeks after Tim returned home I attended a training seminar on the construction of composting latrines. One night while we were cooking dinner on my friend's propane stove I shared Tim's words with fellow volunteers. We agreed with Tim about the value of our PC experiences and, in doing so, were led into a discussion about what degrees and minors we unofficially earn as PCVs. This list does not include the skills we develop (such as time management and problem solving); rather, it is a list of the knowledge we have attained listed as degrees we think we deserve.

Degrees:

• Literature: I am well on my way toward reading at least one hundred books during my PC service. My list includes Atlas Shrugged, The Grapes of Wrath, The Brothers Karamazov, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, War and Peace, and the Lord of the Rings trilogy to name a few. A lively debate among PCVs about these novels round out the major.
• Education: The entire philosophy of the PC rests on education; empowerment and capacitation are the keys to a successful and sustainable service. Whether it is seminars, lectures, or hands-on teaching, nearly all our work rests on education.
• Development Economics/Political Science: PCVs love to debate and discuss these two subjects more than any others. By far. A seemingly unlimited supply of books on these two subjects floats through the PC community to enhance the discussion.
• Diplomacy: In order to balance our values with our community's we rely on diplomacy. PC work itself leads many people into the field of diplomacy.
• Outdoor Education: PC service seems like a long camping trip. Getting to my site involves hiking at least 1.5 hours and neighboring PCVs are up to seven hours away.
• Community Organization: Much like education, community organization is a large component of PC work. This is especially true for Environmental Health Volunteers where success depends on the community's contribution to projects and being organized into effective groups.  

Minors:

• Spanish: This should be a major for me since I will be living in a Spanish-speaking country for two years. But in the Comarca where I live the Spanish is improper. I think of it as hick Spanish. That's enough for at least a minor, right?
• Medicine: PCVs are given a medical kit and are expected to self-medicate minor ailments. Numerous gastrointestinal issues and recovery from them improve this knowledge.
• Public Speaking: Seminars and lectures involve knowledge transfer which means that PCVs are expected to practice their public speaking skills in Spanish often.
• Management: PCVs teach their communities the importance of management and they also manage the projects they undertake.