RuminaSeans: June 2016

Panaversary

June 17, 2016

One year has officially passed within the boarders of the isthmus between the Americas. In many ways, I still span between my two lives, one being my family and friends back in the United states and the other, my Panamanian family of volunteers, my host family, community members and other Panamanians.

I am in Boquete, the comfortable mountain town which provides the internet, power, and amenities that I need to finish the design of Cerro Pita's aqueduct. I extract information from my dirt caked journal, and input it into Excel and struggle with incompatible operating systems. The design is unfolding, and weeks of studies with the gente are producing valuable information.

As I reflect on my reflection of the last year, I notice myself wanting to use cliches you often hear from PCV's or Returned PCV's: "the Peace Corps will change you", "high highs, and low lows", "the most valuable and cherished memories are within your community", "two years is a long time, but it will be have passed before you know it".

The previous five years I had spent with young students with bright eyes looking towards an comfortable future. The world was a microcosm of privilege and health and support. That has changed. Now I feel like an uncle to a large family, the grandson of aging indigenous grandparents, and a co-worker with various idealistic old men who are trying to navigate a world full of unfamiliar influences. My house is filled with chalk drawings made by giggling children and visitors are often the age of my parents or older. I interact with the many stages of life on a daily basis. I see the youthful blissfulness in the kids who flop on my wood floor, the tension in the eyes of young men who realize the uphill battle to fit unto the outside world, the suspicion in the expressions of adults who are being told some of their habits are causing illness, and the surprise in the smile of an ancient lady who speaks ngabere to a gringo for presumably the first time. What they see in me are unusual blue eyes, likely sparkling with support and privilage, but also pupils dilating to absorb a wider picture of humanity. Wrinkles form around my eyes, some from the endless smiles and laughter inspired by the kids and jubilant conversations by firelight, and others from the intensity of the Panamanian sun, that brightens and warms the world but also finds a way to illuminate the shadows.

An anaversary is welcome, and I'm happy to have passed a year in Panama, but look forward to the unpredictable memories to be made in the year to come.

Recent happenings include: learning to dress a cow (very hands on), salting and smoking beef, helping develop a climbing area in the comarca, and finishing up with the design of the aqueduct

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With my speedy internet I included a few photos from the last few months!