Arrival In Los Mortales

Jan 15th

After the first four days of filling our paperwork in Panama City and visiting a current volunteer’s site, we finally moved into our training community, Los Mortales. I’m living with a 73 yr. old woman, Elba Castro aka Mama Chomba. It’s definitely a change from the hotel in Panama City. We only have running water for a couple of hours each morning, I take bucket showers every day, and our most high-tech appliances are three electronic lights. Although it’s only Elba and I that live in the house we share a wall with the house owned by her granddaughter, Diana (24 yrs. old). Diana lives with her longtime boyfriend, Abel (42 yrs. old), their two kids Quisbeli (3 yrs. old) and Samir (7 months old), and her first son, Ariel (8 yrs. old). Mama Chomba’s grandson, Juan Carlos aka Chita (20 yrs. old), lives behind our house. About 30 ft. away my friend and fellow trainee, Nick Duckworth, lives with Mama Chomba’s daughter, Luzmila (42 yrs. old), Luzmila’s husband, David (40 yrs. old), and their two kids Reynaldo aka Roli (9 yrs. old) and Charliz (6 yrs. old).

In the evening Luzmila, Mama Chomba, the kids, Nick, and I went to a party in the hills overlooking Los Mortales. The party was outdoors, and it drew big crowds from the surrounding area. There was a bar, live band, and huge dance floor. Jacqueline, a family friend, was nice enough to take me out on the dance floor and attempt to teach me how to dance to Panamanian tipico music. I learned that I am absolutely terrible at any real dance move that doesn’t have a name like “The Cosmic Salmon Swimming Upstream” or “The Weekend At Bernie’s.” But Jacqueline was a very patient and helpful teacher and by the end of the party I figured out how to not make a complete fool of myself.

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