Good Rivers Make Good Neighbors

One day during my first three months in site when I was still living with my host family, I was walking home from the store in the late afternoon and I decided to take a long way back to the house (mostly to avoid the hissing and catcalls from the local bar).  Prima, her husband (Mariano), and her sister in law (Loli) were sitting on Loli's porch.  Prima teaches 2nd grade at school, so I'd seen her when I was observing English classes with my counterpart, Maria.  Not many people hang out on their porches in my site, but they seemed to be having a nice conversation with eachother, so I decided to try my hand at pasear-ing and say hello to them.  

They invited me to sit on Loli's porch and Prima gave me fruitcake and chicha (juice).  I sat and chatted with them for half an hour or so before I saw the time and wanted to be home by dark.  

I visited with Prima a few more times after that and we became sewing friends during the traditional sewing workshop at school.  When I was looking for a house she told me that her other sister in law was looking for a calm and responsible person to rent the house next door and I jumped at the opportunity.

Since I moved into my house in mid-August Prima and her family have pretty much adopted me as their 6th daughter (right in the middle between the oldest three and youngest two).  For Christmas this year she let me use her oven to bake cookies, which I then gave out to my host family, counterpart's family, and of course Prima's family as Christmas presents.  It was a solid cultural exchange win.

During the rainy season the strip of grass between the houses floods into a muddy mess, so I started calling it a "river" and Prima's husband started joking that he's going to build a "bridge" over the river.

Prima's spent her entire life living in my town (aside from when she was at University) and she's probably my closest adult friend (her 5 year old granddaughter is my closest kid friend).  

When we're not at school she spends most of her time cooking, cleaning, and visiting with family who live in the area (or entertaining family and friends who come to visit).  She's really good at traditional embroidery and I'm hoping she can help me design a dress for Fiestas Patrias (National Holidays) next November.  

Prima is amazing and always greets me with a smile (when she's not jokingly heckling me for walking around without shoes on).

Prima with her grandkids during Fiestas Patrias last year

Blogging Abroad's Boot Camp Blog Challenge: Starting January 2015

You Won't Believe What Happened Next...

To date, I would say that nothing really "crazy' has happened to me, maybe because I've lived abroad before (4 months in Santiago Chile), or maybe because I'm "not shocked easily" according to one of my college roommates, who knows.

So, here's a quick list of some odd things that have happened:

• Boom, Crash

One of the "wilder" things that happened to me was when the bus I was on got hit from behind by a drunk driver.  The car that hit us was pretty smashed up, the trunk of the bus was broken open, and there was a bunch of choyote (a kind of vegetable that's light green and sort of shaped like zucchini) was pouring out of it (there was a big open air market that day).  The car was disabled in the middle of the street but luckily no one was really injured.   The cars in both directions just drove around the disabled car and I left on the next bus that passed.  

• New Feature: Key optional

One time during training a bunch of us were riding in a bus on the interamericana (Pan American Highway) and the key fell out of the ignition and the bus just kept on going down the highway.  I was asleep, but my friends told me about it later and I would have never thought a car could function without the key in the ignition.

• Being able to hail buses from any point on the street (most of the time)

Sometimes this can get annoying when they stop what feels like every 10 feet to pick up more passengers, but sometimes it's definitely useful to be able to hail buses wherever you want to instead of having to try to hunt down the bus stop (which Panamanians always know where it is, even though they're frequently not marked, beyond a little caseta (covered structure with a bench).  

It's definitely different from most public bus systems in the US where you have to be at the clearly labeled bus stop when the bus pulls up or you'll be out of luck.

• Casual Chickens (or bunnies) on the bus

Animals on the bus would never happen in the US, but it's not weird here.  I've taken Canela to the vet holding her in my lap for the bus ride and another time I saw university students with the most adorable bunny rabbits tucked into their backpacks.  The only chicken I've actually seen on a bus was on a trip to Panama City from Santiago.  A woman had a chicken in a reusable bag that was mostly zipped up.  You had to look closely to see the chicken's head popping out.

• ...Scorpions

The first scorpion I ever saw in Panama almost stung me when I was going back to my host family's house after hanging out with some friends during training.  It was about five inches long and lurking in the shadows next to the lock on my bedroom door.  In one of my least graceful and collected moments, I totally freaked out and ran to get my friends who got rid of it for me.  

This same day I found out that scorpions falling from the ceiling during rainy season is not an abnormal occurence and is another reason to be really grateful for mosquito nets.

• Table manners

I wouldn't say I'm a messy eater, but I'm definitely not the neatest.  

Sometimes you'll only get a spoon to eat your food.  Sometimes this spoon (or fork and knife) will be plastic and  sometimes your food will be some sort of tough meat on the bone covered in sauce with rice and lentils.  It's totally acceptable to eat the meat by picking it up with your hands.  I usually take my cue from other people I'm eating with.  This one time I was at a really fancy event where all the women were in gowns (and I was terrifically underdressed in my sundress as per usual) and I watched some of them eat the meat with their hands.  Also napkins aren't always available.

• Running in the halls and fighting in the classrooms

Classroom management is really different from anything I've ever experienced in the US (either as a student or as a teacher).  Students run full tilt and in groups in the halls and teachers will probably keep teaching through all but the most violent of fistfights in the classrooms.  I don't have a good understanding of the roots of these practices yet, but I'm really looking forward to exploring how these student behaviors impact their teaching and the students' learning during the upcoming school year.

• All the rice in the world and not a vegetable in sight

My mom cooked a lot of rice when we were growing up.  She has a pressure cooker and a rice maker and one of my first responsibilities for helping with meals was to wash and start cooking the rice.  I didn't understand that having pressure cooked brown rice as part of most meals was strange for families in the US until I was an adult.  Rice with soy sauce was just a normal part of my life.

Another of my first kitchen responsibilities as a kid was helping cut vegetables.  I learned to club my fingers when cutting carrots and cucumbers and broccoli at a young age.  Steamed vegetables were part of nearly every meal growing up.  

In Panama you don't see many vegetables as part of meals.  A meal is usually made up of rice, meat, and maybe beans or lentils.  Yucca and Ñame are root vegetables that may be boiled, fried, or put in soup.  During training it was definitely an adjustment to the lack of vegetables.

• Some salad with your mayonnaise?

I love salad.  I spent far too much money at Chopt and Sweetgreen when I lived in DC.  

In Panama the most frequently used salad dressing is mayonnaise and typical types of salad include: boiled carrots and potatoes with mayonnaise, or boiled beets and potatoes with mayonnaise.  Having salad without mayonnaise is weird here.  It's probably the thing that's taken me the longest to get used to (mostly out of fear of food poisoning from the salad being left out in the heat), but I've recently started eating it (especially when I know it's been prepared recently) and it's pretty good, but I still miss "normal" salad.

• Deflating

A common way of getting someone's attention (or equally as frequently, catcalling) is by making a hissing sound that sounds like a slowly deflating tire.  It's really annoying, but just like the catcalls in DC it's best if you pretend not to hear it.  If the person actually wants to talk to you they'll probably call out joven ("young person"; can be used with anyone from teens to people in their 30s).

There's more, there's always more, but I'll leave you with this for now.

Blogging Abroad's Boot Camp Blog Challenge: Starting January 2015

A (Wo)Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama

I did some research about Panama before I came here, but I knew there would be a huge learning curve (though I had no idea quite how big that curve would be).

So, here are a few things I didn't know before I came here:

• How to take a bucket shower

One of the things I had to learn how to do during my first week in Panama was how to take a bucket shower.  They take some practice (and some courage to get that first bucket of cold water over your head), but are really environmentally friendly (you use much less water) and quick once you get the hang of it.  It can be hard to get conditioner out of your hair though.

• The US invaded Panama in December 1989 (Operation Just Cause)

As an International Affairs and Latin American Studies major in college, I'd read a lot about various interventionist activities that the US has been involved in, but I didn't know about the 1989 US invasion of Panama.  

The invasion came as a result of a dispute over election results and a perceived threat to US interests and personnel in the Canal Zone.  During the invasion Manuel Noriega, who had governed Panama as an authoritarian dictator since he came to power in 1983, was removed from power.  The casualty numbers and description of the extent of structural damage change depending on who you're getting your information from, but it had a lasting impact on Panama and on US foreign policy in the region.

The Peace Corps/Panama program was established in 1963, but Peace Corps actually left Panama between 1971 and 1990.

• The rest of the country is very different from Panama City

Being in Panama City (or Panama as it's referred to locally) is like being in the US.  It's what I imagine Miami might be like.  There are skyscrapers, high rise apartment buildings, fancy hotels, and giant video screens with advertisements like you'd find in Times Square.  The vast majority of the wealth that the Canal generates stays in Panama City, where about half the 3.5 million population of Panama lives.  

Outside of Panama City it's much different.  Most buildings are one story (or maybe two), sometimes the lights or the water go out (if you have running water and electricity, which most people do, except in the most rural areas), there are stray dogs in the street, and a general lower level of income.  

I'm struggling to describe it because when you see something so close and live in it you lose some perspective.  Everything here is true (to my current knowledge), if a bit scattered.  I'm going to get some perspective from friends and flesh this out more later.

• There's a break in the Pan American Highway called the "Darien Gap"

The road ends in a town called Yavisa in the easternmost province of Darien.  They haven't been able to continue the road through this area due to very dense rainforest, environmental concerns related to rainforest preservation, and opposition from local indigenous groups, so the road picks up again about 100 miles later in northern Colombia and continuing on to the southern tip of Chile where it ends.

My friends who live in Darien tell me that some tourists don't know that the road ends and refuse to believe border police officers when they try to explain that you can't drive all the way through (I think you can take a boat to Colombia from Panama City), so they end up driving all the way to Yavisa before having to 

• The difference between corn and flour tortillas (or how to make them)

I didn't know there was a difference between corn and flour tortillas beyond one being yellow and the other being white.  In Panama corn tortillas are a common breakfast food.  They're little hockey puck-ish disks of corn flour dough that are fried.  They can be either white or yellow, depending on the kind of corn flour you use.  Volunteers tend to like to eat them with hot sauce.  My host sister in site runs the kiosko at school, so I'd help her make tortillas at night to sell at school in the morning.  They also sell frozen ones in the supermarkets that are thicker than the homemade ones and come in bags like the frozen bagels that you can buy in the US supermarkets.

• You can get almost anywhere on a bus in Panama.

Buses are really easy and cheap to navigate in Panama.  You can really get almost anywhere on a bus, and the places you can't get to you have to take a boat or hike.  I didn't anticipate travel to be so easy.  It's also possible that I'd changed.  During training we had to move around alot, so I got really proficient at packing my backpack and better at traveling in general.  

• You should always ask more than one person for directions when you're walking somewhere

In the land of nameless streets (ok, some streets have names, but really only in the cities, and even then they're not marked most of the time) sometimes people will pretend to know what you're talking about and give you bad directions because they don't want to lose face by telling you they don't know.  So, just keep asking people on the street as you follow the first set of directions.  This also helps to counter the effects of pa' alla (over there) accompanied by a hand gesture, which is a common way of giving directions.  Time estimates will also always be lower than the reality and asking for anything like a number of city blocks will just make people look at you funny.  You'll get lost and frustrated and overheated, but you'll probably make it there eventually if you're persistent.

• Mirrors can be totally optional

Despite being very appearance focused here (it's a sign of respect and professionalism to look good), I haven't seen a ton of mirrors in people's homes.  During training my host family only had one mirror and it was in a dark-ish alcove next to their bedroom.  My first host family in site didn't have any mirrors in the house (that I saw), but my second host family in site had a mirror in the bathroom.  In my house right now I have one mirror in my bathroom that's too high for me and a compact that I use sometimes.  Most days I don't see my face.  I've never spent much time in front of the mirror, but not having one Initially it bothered me.  But now, I've gotten used to it and being in a well-lit bathroom with a mirror can be a treat.

• How important "always looking on the bright side of life" would become

Peace Corps is hard.  Everyone has their own battles specific to them and their service and not comparing yourself to others can be really hard to do (site/project jealousy is a real thing).  It's really important to celebrate the small victories (like catching the bus when you were cutting it close or having a student say hi to you in the street) because it makes getting through the bad days easier (when the water is out, and there's a giant spider, and your cat poops in the shower).  

Trying to practice active empathy and being able to laugh at how ridiculous life can help more than you may initially realize (and friends, friends are really important, especially when that bright side is hard to find).

Blogging Abroad's Boot Camp Blog Challenge: Starting January 2015

Backpack, Backpack...

January was a wild month.  A few days after the New Year I set out on a new adventure: going back to the States to visit my family and friends for the first time in almost a year.

A summary of events (but mostly food):

Part 1: Panama to New York 

The moment I arrived at my mother's school

Getting to New York was an adventure.

I left site around noon on the 5th (with a delicious send off lunch from Prima).  It was actually pretty emotional to be leaving, knowing that I was going back to the US.

Delicious lunch from Prima

I got to Panama City around 5pm, ate wings at the Gorilla food court for dinner.  Every time I go to Albrook I get a little bit of culture shock.  There are video screens that show advertisements on the hands-free sink faucets in the bathrooms.

My flight left Panama at midnight on the morning of the 6th.  I was operating with my American sense of what international travel (or travel in general) looks like and I arrived at the airport around 7pm (being early is one of my five favorite things and I was too impatient to walk around Albrook anymore) and was told that they wouldn't start checking people into the flight until 9pm (which turned out to be more like 9:30).  Luckily I had my sewing with me and made friends with a really nice Canadian woman.

I didn't have to check any bags and getting through security was quick (though my sewing scissors didn't survive).

After finally getting to the gate I bought myself a hot chocolate for a treat.  I came back to the gate to find that we had to go through security again.  Our bags got re-xrayed and everyone (down to toddlers and elderly people in wheelchairs) had to get a pat down.

After round two of security they roped us into the now "secure" gate area.  It was a full flight so people were practically tripping over eachother with all their luggage.  I was looking forward to getting on the plane, so I'd have some more space.

The flight was smooth and we got into Newark around 5am.  I took public transport into New York and was able to get in touch with my friend Kat so we could have coffee and catch up before she left for tour.  After coffee I went to my mom's school in Queens where her 4th graders barraged me with questions.  I spent about a half hour talking to them before escaping to find some lunch at a diner and some platanos verdes (green plantains) at a local market so we could make patacones (alternately known as tostones; fried plantains).  Mom and I drove out to Eastern Long Island after school.

My adrenaline wore off pretty quickly after we got home and I ended up crashing for a few hours before someone convinced me that I should pause sleeping to eat dinner.

The Long Island part of the trip (really the whole trip) was a whirlwind of people and food.

• Sushi with my best friend, Jess, for her birthday.
• Family Christmas with my Dad's side of the family where I made them patacones and people seemed to like them (or they humored me).
• Deaf West's Spring Awakening on Broadway with my parents, my brother (Andrew), and Jess.
• Ate a delicious Italian food dinner with Jess and Theresa (before Theresa left on her Italian vacation adventure).
• Drove places in my lovely little Yoda (thanks to my brother for giving me his car for a few days).
• Ate bagels with my friend Patrick.
• Had delicious pizza and garlic knots from the pizza place next to my high school.
• Ate delicious french toast with my new friend Helen while we discussed our Peace Corps services (she was a volunteer in Guatemala) and planned cyber events for Peace Corps Week with Stony Brook University students
• Borrowed my brother's Netflix account to binge watch TV.

I also had the opportunity to talk to some students at my high school about Panama, my Peace Corps service and service in general.  It was really wonderful to go back to a place that informed so many of the choices that I've made in my life and to show them a potential path that they could take after they graduate from college.

A late Christmas with my Grandparents

Part 2: Brooklyn

After spending a few days on Long Island I went to visit my friend Greg in Brooklyn.  We've been friends since 7th grade and he's one of the people I always try to see when I'm in NY.  We hung out and drank tea and talked for hours.  It was really wonderful to see him.

Part 3: DC

After spending about 24 hours in Brooklyn I put my backpack back on and hopped on a bus to DC for the last few days of the trip.  

The first night I went straight from Union Station to dinner with my friends Alex and Gordon.  Delicious food, good company, and some DC theater scene gossip was the perfect way to come back to DC.  They very kindly drove me to Lauren and Eddie's house (friends that I crashed with in DC)

The next day I ate some Chipotle and sat in a coffee shop listening to music, drinking tea and looking at email before getting some pie with my friend Ryan, and heading up to Source to see Constellation Theatre Company's production of Equus.  

I arrived early and went to my favorite coffee shop in that part of town to find my fabulous friend Katie having some coffee.  We got to catch up a bit before she had to run to work.  Equus was beautiful and it was lovely to be back in the theater among friends.  After the show I hung out with Katie and my friend Cheryl for a bit before running to catch the metro before it closed (and tragically missing an opportunity to eat delicious falafel). 

The next morning Eddie made fantastic blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast.  After a relaxing breakfast I went and hung out in DC for the day.  I tried to go to the new exhibition at the Renwick, but there was a line around the block.  I decided to sit in a coffee shop with some tea and write for a bit before heading up to Theater J to see their production of The Sisters Rosenswieg.  It was really great to see a show at the J (and to bump into my friend Delia before she moved away).  The show was wonderful and hilarious.  It was great to see so many familiar faces.  After the show I got to catch up with my friend Jay, which was really nice.

The next morning I convinced Lauren and Eddie to go out to breakfast at Busboys and Poets.  I'd been dreaming about their french toast for months.  After breakfast we hung out for a bit before I started getting ready for the big event: Casey and Joe's wedding.

The wedding was lovely.  Casey looked stunning and Joe looked handsome as they said their vows with the full expanse of DC as their backdrop.  I spent the night dancing with Sara, Elizabeth, and Casey, reminiscing about college, and talking about how much our lives have changed since we graduated.  It was the perfect way to end the trip.

Roommates!
Credit: Casey and Joe's Wedding Photographer

The next morning I started my journey back to Panama, site, and (most importantly) Canela.

It was a crazy whirlwind of a trip, full of odd culture shock moments, but I loved it.

Reverse Culture Shock Moments include:

• Being able to flush toilet paper
• Not carrying a flashlight 
• Eating salad (without anyone thinking to put mayonnaise on it)
• Not washing my dishes by hand
• Not lighting the stove with matches or a lighter
• Being cold (or rather, not sweating all the time)
• Speaking in Spanglish (or just Spanish) to people who don't speak Spanish
• Forgetting words (in both languages)
• Not having to check my bag at the paquetera (bag/parcel check) whenever I walked into a store
• Having people get annoyed when I wanted to pay in cash
• Dancing more than once dance in a row with a guy (dancing with a guy for more than once dance in a row signals serious interest in Panama)

Meanwhile back in Panama...

Part 4: Camp!
There's no rest for the wicked(-ly ambitious) and in typical me fashion I had plans to go to work (in this case an English camp for students) as soon as I got back to Panama.

My friend Roxana organized the camp as an English refresher before school starts again at the end of February.  I only ended up being there for two days (silly sinus infection destroying my dreams), but we had a lot of fun and it was nice to be back in the classroom (and on the field) after being on school break since mid-December.

The students were split into two groups and each group learned a pop song in English and prepared a Reader's Theater script in addition to doing a bunch of leadership and teambuilding games.  The last day of camp we had students presentations (and speeches/closing remarks in typical Panama fashion, something I'm slowly getting better at) and brindis with cupcakes that we baked the night before.  The students did really well and I'm so excited to get back to working with students in my site.

Happy students and facilitators on the last day of camp

Upcoming Events:

• Veraguas Regional Meeting
• Taking the GRE during Carnival (#awesomeplanning)
• Girls' Empowerment camp in Jody's site
• School prep week and the start of the new school year
• Pre-Service Training (PST) for G78 (the next group of TELLS and CEC volunteers)

Breakfast: A Love Story

One time in high school my junior year English teacher gave us the task of writing a really descriptive short story, and as anyone who has read Tolkien knows, good description takes a lot of talent.

I'm no Tolkien, but here we go:

Canelita meowing at the door as the early morning sunlight muted by my opaque curtains peeks through the window.  Pigeons running relay races across my roof.  Fan blades whirring, roosters crowing, people chatting in the street.  Roll out of bed. Cool concrete greets my feet.  Across the room to the door, turn knob, catch the lady of the house.  

Close bedroom door, walk straight into the kitchen.  Ask my impatient kitten if she'd like breakfast while opening the freezer to retrieve her food (safeguarded from the ravenous evil ants).  Fight with Canela to pour her food before (while) she sticks her face in the bowl.  Return her food to its hiding place.  Back across the hall. Find my slippery synthetic black skirt and a t-shirt on the nail behind the door.  Exit, closing the door again behind me (her ladyship is still feasting).  

Dig my black ceramic frying pan, a plate, and a mug out of my Jenga game of a dish rack.  Set the pan on the stove and the plate and mug on the counter.  Delicately place two slices of sandwich bread from the loaf on top of the fridge into the pan (so they just fit) and two slices of butter on the bread.  Find blue barbecue lighter on the counter.  Turn knob open gas, light flame.  Rush of gratitude that I didn't blow anything up.  Crackle of butter, flip bread, get distracted by Canela, flip bread again, start doing dishes.  

Smell burning bread and rush to turn the burner off.  That terrifying hollow popping sound as the burner goes out.  Gracefully balance both slices on a fork and deliver them to the waiting plate.  

Fill small red soup pot with tea water.  Repeat process of lighting the stove.  Strawberry jelly cold from the fridge on one side of each slice of bread.  Hollow popping sound.  Boiling water into a mug.  Pungent Earl Grey.

Sweet strawberries, salty butter, slightly charred bread, strong tea, and a purring kitten in my lap.  

A perfect breakfast.

Canela having Breakfast

Human Breakfast

Blogging Abroad's Boot Camp Blog Challenge: Starting January 2015

Rocking the Balboa

In my research prior to coming to Peace Corps I learned that the Panamanian Balboa was pegged to the exchange rate of the US dollar.  What I didn't understand before coming here is that Panamanians use US currency.  

Panama does not have its own paper currency, so they use US paper currency.  They do have their own coin money (but use US coins too).  Panamanian coins are the same size and value as US coins.  

From Left to Right: medio balboa= 50 cents

quarra= 25 cents

diez centavos= 10 cents

real= 5 cents

centavo= 1 cent

In the photo they're all Panamanian coins, except the real, which is actually a US nickel because I didn't have a real on me when I took the photo.  Having a coin purse is pretty essential to life here.

Using US money (or Panamanian money of equivalent value) completely eliminates the need to do exchange rate math in your head (something I got really good at when I was living in Chile).  Instead, you just marvel at how cheap (or expensive) things are, depending on where you are in the country (and how much money you have left in your Peace Corps living allowance for the month).

The minimum wage in Panama is about $400 per month.  Peace Corps volunteers don't get paid a salary.  We get a living allowance each month to cover rent, transportation, food, household items, clothes, etc.  The point of the living allowance is for Peace Corps volunteers to live at the same level of income as people in the community where they're living and working.  

If you budget and save well you can do some really fun things, like having a pet, going to (or cooking) a nice dinner with friends, or taking yourself on vacation.  

I've gotten pretty frugal (a bottle of gatorade costs $1, not $1.50) and I keep myself on a pretty tight budget, which is a skill I wanted to develop during my service, because I was terrible at keeping a budget in the US.

Some examples of how much things cost:

• Gatorade: $1 (or 95 cents if you get it from one of the grocery stores in the city)
• A head of garlic: 20 cents
• A pound of potatoes: 60 cents
• Butter: $3 (equivalent of 2 sticks of butter)
• Half a Loaf of Bread: $2
• 4 hour bus trip from Santiago to Panama City: $9
• Monthly Water and Electric bills: $6 (to be paid at the Western Union in Matchetazo)
• My favorite rubber sandals: $4
• A meal at a Panamanian Fonda (small restaurant that serves typical food): $3-4
• Small personal pizza from my favorite pizza place in Santiago $6
• Intracity buses when I'm in Santiago: 40 cents
• Cab ride to almost anywhere in Panama City during the day, not at rush hour: $5 or less
• Chicken Tacos at my favorite Mexican place in Panama City: $5.50 (with cheese, cilantro, and onion, obviously)
• Empanadas from the kiosko at school: 25 or 40 cents each (depending on what kind they have that day)

The cost of living in Panama City is comparable to living in a city in the US, which makes it really expensive for Peace Corps volunteers, which means that I cook a lot if I'm at the hostel, but living in the interior (anywhere outside of Panama City) is much more manageable.

Blogging Abroad's Boot Camp Blog Challenge: Starting January 2015

Riding on the Magical Mystery Bus

A Snapshot Sensory Experience:

As I sit in my house writing I...

Hear: a car running in the distance, birds chirping, roosters crowing, neighbors talking
See: Trees moving in the breeze, my neighbors' houses, my wire fence with its broken gate
Smell: my cat, general neutral house smell, hot earth
Feel: The breeze alleviating some of the oppressive heat of the day (and the sweat rolling down my back)
Taste: lukewarm chlorinated water
Wonder: where Canela is...she's being far too quiet (her new theme song is "Boom, Crash, the sound of my heart the beat goes on and on and on, yeah") and whether I have enough time to do a load of laundry before I lose the sun.

After almost a year in Panama, there are lots of things that should be strange, concerning, or gross, that have just become normal.  Like,

• Never feeling CLEAN, no matter how recently I've showered.  

I feel clean-ish after I shower, but it's nothing like the squeaky post shower clean that I had living in the US.  I also usually start sweating again pretty immediately after I shower.

• Sweating all the time, but especially when cooking.  

There's something about cutting vegetables that just makes you sweat like crazy.  I've taken to wearing a bandana while cooking when it's really hot out, especially if I'm cooking for people other than myself.

• Casual machetes on the bus or walking around in my community.

People bring their machetes on the bus sometimes or I'll see someone trimming a tree with one or cutting their grass, or just walking around with it on their way somewhere.  I live in a pretty "suburban" place for Panama and if I saw someone walking around with a 2-3 foot sword in the US I might be more than a little concerned and would potentially call the police.   

• Children playing with (dull-ish) machetes, running with scissiors, or doing other semi-dangerous things

Some kids play with machetes.  It's normal for kids to imitate their parents and adults around them in any culture, so they'll play-cut the grass, or chop at trees.  The running with (or without) scissors happens at school a lot and my earliest memories of school include lessons on scissor safety (and we even had safety scissors!) and not to run in the halls.  Students are left to their own devices during recess without lunch aides monitoring them (because lunch aides don't exist here).  Substitute teachers don't exist either.  If a teacher doesn't come students will just sit in their classroom without adult supervision for the duration of the school day or sometimes they'll have the day off from class.  Children have alot of freedom and It's just different here.

• Let's do the Time Warp.

In High School Spanish I learned that ahora means "now", ahorita means "right now" (but isn't used everywhere), and ya means "already" (like it already happened).  In Panama ahora means "sometime today, probably", ahorita means "sometime in the next 3-4 hours, probably", and ya means "right now, or within the next half hour".  Even after 11 months in Panama I still mess this up.  

Anyone who knows me, knows that I like to be early to things.  They know that messages saying "I might be 5-10 minutes late" actually mean "I'm probably going to arrive right on time".  Adjusting my time expectations has been one of the harder challenges for me due to my personality and coming from Stage Management/city life where I timed everything to the minute.

• BYO soap and toilet paper (or paying for bathrooms)

You have to pay for public bathrooms in bus terminals (but they'll usually have soap and toilet paper to give you).  Public bathrooms that aren't in restaurants or department stores will probably not have soap or toilet paper.  This includes public school bathrooms.  It's safer to always carry some hand sanitizer and tissues with you.

• Stoplight entertainment

Not unique to Panama, but really interesting.  People will perform for drivers at stop lights and then ask for money.  Usually juggling acts, but I've also seen firebreathing/poi, and bubble art.

• Bus concessions as if you were at a baseball game

People will board buses (usually long distance ones) for short distances to sell chips, gum, candy, jewelry, and soda.  They'll also try to sell you things while you're sitting in the bus at the terminal (newspapers, pirated CDs or movies, in addition to the things listed above).

• Buses (and their timey-wimey schedules)

I've heard alot of people complain about public transportation and not having a car in Panama.  I came to Panama from living a public transportation-based existence (though I also had a ZipCar account for when I needed it).  Buses in Panama generally have the start and end points of their routes painted on the windshield, but sometimes they get artsy with the letters and they can be hard to read.

You hail buses and taxis here by standing next to the street holding your arm out perpendicular to the ground and waiving at the driver in an up-down motion with your hand.  

You may then start negotiations.  A wagging finger from the driver of any transportation means "no", scrunchy face and a waving hand from a taxi driver means "where are you going?" at which point you should point in the general direction of your destination and he'll tell you whether he wants to take you there (a nod of the head or a wag of a finger).  There's a hand sign for "standing room only", but I can't remember what it is right now.

When the bus does stop the pavo (a young man in his late teens or twenties who collects bus fare and tells the driver where to stop) will hop out of the door.  You'll tell him where you're going (or ask if they go to a given place) before getting on the bus.  You could also just shout parada ("bus stop") if you're confident in where you're going, but if the bus is packed it can be hard to see and the blasting tipico music can make it really hard to hear.

Buses are typically decorated with LED lights around the door and potentially feather boas around the rear view mirror on the inside.  Frequently they will have music blasting or music videos playing.  They may or may not be air conditioned (that's what the windows are for).

You pay the pavo your bus fare upon airriving at your destination and you should always try to pay your fare in singles or coins.

Buses run on a schedule, but they'll leave ahead of time if they fill up (I watched my bus drive away almost 20 minutes early the other day and had to wait over an hour for the next one, dashing my plans of arriving before dark and chilling in my hammock for a bit).  Traveling involves lots of patience (for when the A/C is out and the bus is packed and there's traffic) and always having a back up plan (for when the bus leaves you, which has happened to me more than once). 

It's normal for people to have live animals on the bus.  Usually chickens, but I've also seen bunny rabbits.  Whenever I take Canela to the vet people always think I have a chicken in a box and they usually find it strange when I tell them it's my cat.

Kinds of Buses:

• Coaster or busito: small-medium sized passenger bus.  May have jump seats that will block the aisles.
• Coach bus: for cross country or longer trips.  Will probably have air conditioning, but won't have a bathroom.
• Chiva: a pickup truck (or other type of truck) with a covered flatbed and benches in the flatbed
• Diablo Rojos: decommissioned US school buses that have found their way to Panama.  They're operated by private citizens and will have their start and end points painted on the windshield, but the routes can vary, so always check with the pavo.  They'll also have camino or expreso on a sign.  Avoid the camino buses if you can, it'll take you forever to get anywhere.  The expreso buses will make less stops.  Bus decorations (interior and exterior) may include: paintings of cartoons, pop culture, and religious figures, LED lights, feather boas, and pom poms.  The bus will probably have music playing so loud that it makes your chest vibrate.

A diablo rojo at the Albrook Terminal in Panama City

Taxis:

Generally yellow with black and white checkered racing stripes.  The official ones will have numbers on the side too.  Sharing taxis with strangers is normal, but you can ask for a ride to be particular if you're not into sharing, though they might up the price.

In my town alot of people have cars, but other popular modes of transportation include: bicycle, horse, on foot, or leading your horse while riding your bicycle.

I really love long bus rides (as long as I don't have to do too many too close together).  They're perfect for thinking.  Bus terminals (or transportation hubs in general) are also some of the best places for people watching.

I'll write about my vacation adventures in the US soon.  Lots of pictures of food coming your way.

Blogging Abroad's Boot Camp Blog Challenge: Starting January 2015