Greetings from sunny Panama! In case you were concerned, let it be known that I made it!
After three and a half wonderful weeks of vacation at home with the family, I made it to Panama! A lot of people have asked me how “re-integration” was, but I don’t have a good answer, because for me it was never really re-entry, I knew I was just touching down for a brief visit with the family and then off on a new project, job, place, adventure. I loved being home and I was nervous that I would get there and say, “WTF am I doing, I don’t want to go abroad again.” I got to see Henry as a real teenage driving (with a permit), winning races left and right, and doing big kid homework I couldn't even help with. I had wine nights with my momma and bike rides with pops. I spent time with friends (mostly over good food) and time alone in the outdoors. It was perfect. I got to "re-set." So now, as I sit here on the porch of a beautiful hostel in my new home of Bocas del Toro, I am exactly where I am meant to be!
I am on this crazy ride with the other three response volunteers who are wonderful: 1) Evan is a Panama Peace Corps veteran who has been our cultural guide. 2) Then there’s Shannon, a returned volunteer from Paraguay who is a HIV/AIDS specialist living in the nearest big town. 3) And I live with Katie (who's been my savior/guiding light/buddy/pal/roommate/friend/confidant/trivia master), a returned volunteer from Honduras (before it was shut down in 2012) whom I’ll be working with directly to develop modules for a community health worker training for a medical organization called Floating Doctors. We’re a motley crew, but we’ll work together in the best of ways!
So spark notes of my last few weeks: I landed in Panama City. If you all want to travel to a safe/beautiful/nice Latin American capital city – this is the one for you. I love it! It’s just a vibe thing because of course I can’t know every corner of the city in the four days I’ve been here, but it is such a fun and beautiful place to be. There’s a remarkable bike/running path along the coast of the sea where we’ve walked to get fresh ceviche, see Casco Viejo (the colonial part of the city that used to be a World Heritage site until the president built a highway around it), stroll and people watch. And we’ve been eating delicious food that I definitely don’t appreciate enough because I’m still on America mode. I’ve met a handful of wonderful regular two-year Peace Corps Volunteers who all stay at one hostel in the city and shared a beer or two over stories from the "comarca" or indigenous autonomous territories (more to come on that). And then, I swore in as a Peace Corps Response Volunteer and now I’m in my site in the northeast. Whirlwind!
Now that I’m here in my new site on the main island of Bocas del Toro (Isla Colón), it’s all sinking in. I currently live in a warehouse where the organization I work with, Floating Doctors (a roving medical clinic providing services to hard-to-reach indigenous communities), has studio apartments and a bunch of long-term volunteers living in them. However, they’ve been building a compound on another island (Isla San Cristobál) for the past year and it’ll be done this week. Soooo move in day is supposedly this Friday. We’ll see, but apparently the boss is hopeful. ¡A ver! Regardless, we move off this touristy island soon and then I’ll live on a remote isolated island (with internet, whaaa) and a bunch of other staff members. But then, all the staff (not me) get six weeks off for December-January so Katie and I will be living on the remote island compound alone – how cool is that? We’re looking into buying a kayak or two and then of course we’ll need to stock up on board/card games.
Once we get the hang of the islands and how clinics are run and the organization functions, we will get started on developing a community health worker training for these local indigenous communities. More work updates to come as they happen, but for now, we’re just soaking it all up and enjoying the island life. So much more to tell you, but my internet spot for the day is closing! I’ll send another update soon, along with more information about Panama in general (Panama celebrates 4 independence days and one of those days was today so most things are closed all week) but until then, know that I’m alive, well and happy!
XO,
Bea
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