Panamania

May 2013             This May Margeri (the granddaughter of my host parents) had her second birthday party.  The party was held at my host family’s home, and was attended by her extended family and many of the kids in the neighborhood.  It was a surprise to all of us when her aunt, the one that perpetually looks displeased, came out in a clown outfit and led a number of activities and games for the kids and their parents.  There were relay races, dancing competitions, trivia, pin the tail on the donkey, and as always a piñata.  My favorite party of the party was when Margeri’s aunt led a very long prayer at the end of the party.  Margeri’s aunt is evangelical and almost all of the attendees are catholic, they seemed less than enthused by her religous message. During the prayer my friend and neighbor kept on muttering that this is a tantería (stupid waste of time), although one mothe...

February 2013 In February the new group of Peace Corps trainees (group 72) arrived in Panamá.  GROUP 72 will have volunteers serving in the Community Environmental Conservation (CEC) and Teaching English (TE) sectors.  The first week the trainees are here, they are brought to a site that is supposed to be “typical” for their sector.  This year the CEC volunteers visited me, in Piedras Gordas, Coclé. The trainees first time out of Panamá City was when they arrived to my site with four current volunteers, the CEC Head of Training, the CEC Director, Peace Corps Panamá Director of Programming and Training, and The Director of Parque Nacional Omar Torrijos.   The group was welcomed by my host father Ernesto Pérez who gave them a tour of his beautiful garden.  Ernesto has an incredibly eatible and diverse garden, he has mangos, coffee, cacao, tomatoes, cucumbers, oranges, lemons, starfruit, beans, atoe, bananas, plantains and yucca to name a few. ...