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

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