Feria

 Jan 28th

Yesterday I went to the feria (fair) in Churerra with a few other volunteers and a couple Panamanian families from Los Mortales.  I was informed we were going to be leaving Los Mortales at 5pm sharp, so when I came home from class I told my mom that I was unable to eat dinner with her.  She was not pleased with this news. She kept telling me that I needed to eat before I left; Nick and I kept telling her that I would miss the chiva (taxi/bus) to the feria if I had dinner.  After 15 minutes of going back and forth with her I was finally able to leave. To my dismay the chiva didn’t even arrive until 5:45 pm.  When we finally pulled out of Los Mortales at 6 pm the chiva slowly passed my house where Mama Chomba sat scowling on the front porch.

I had a good time at the feria. It was just like the county fairs I’ve been to in Ohio, just with Panamanian food, music, and people.  We ate a bunch of unhealthy food, played carnival games, went on a bunch of sketchy rides, and watched the US vs. Panama soccer game.  I bought some gifts for Mama Chomba in the hopes of smoothing things over when I got home. As much fun as it was to get out of Los Mortales and hangout with a bunch of Panamanians at the feria, I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked because I knew Mama Chomba was upset with me, and the situation.  To make things worse I was told we would be getting back to Los Mortales around 10 pm, we actually got home around 11:30 pm.

When we got back to the house Nick and I walked up to our houses with knots in our stomachs.  When we reached our homes we realized that Mama Chomba and Luzmila had locked Nick and I out of our houses.  After failing to find a way inside we tried to sleep on the front lawn with our heads and arms tucked into our shirts to prevent mosquito from enjoying our carne blanco (white meat).  Just as I was starting to fall asleep our dogs Rambo and Escott decided it would be fun to jump on us and try to pull our shirts off.  They went back and forth between Nick and I for about 20 mins. until we finally decided there was no way we would be able to sleep like this.  We tried to find a way into our houses one last time, and failed.

Finally we decided to head back to the house of the family who took us to the feria. To our relief they were still awake.  After explaining our situation to the family, two of the sisters offered to share a bed so that Nick and I could share a bed.  We happily accepted their offer.  It’s strange for men in Panama to share a bed, but we were just happy to have a place to sleep with pillows and without dogs or mosquitoes.  However the walk home in the morning felt like walking down death row and the walk of shame all rolled into one.  When I walked in and saw Mama Chomba she was clearly upset, and she didn’t waste any time making sure I knew it.  Nick and I got chewed out by our respective mothers for the next 45 mins., but by the end of breakfast I was able to get Mama Chomba to laugh about me trying to sleep outside with the dogs and mosquitoes. 

Through our conversation I learned that my family doesn’t get along with the family that took us to the feria, and that’s part of why they were so upset that we went and came home late.  Even though we were locked out they had wanted us to bang on the door until they woke up and let us in. Nick and I had decided not to knock on the doors because we thought it would just upset our families even more. Now our families were concerned about the gossip that would be spread about them because we slept in someone else’s home.

Another important lesson learned the hard way…that’s usually how I learn best.  

Elvisin at the Feria