Summer of my content

A few weeks go, we had what is called in Peace Corps lingo In Service Training. It was just that: a week of training now that we have all been in our sites for a few months. The week felt much like the first time I came home from college. Everyone had stories to tell and even though it looked like the old days, everyone had changed a bit and clique lines were a little more definitively drawn.

Since I was on the east side of the country, I decided to take the opportunity to visit my old host family in Santa Clara. I mostly went because they had been nice enough to call me a few times urging my visit. As I was walking around the gringo-free town with Iran and Gabriel, a revelation of confidence and independence started to swell. It only grew when we visited the ranch where we had had our daily training sessions so long ago. Even though I was cognizant of this feeling as it was happening, I still couldn't quite pin it down. I think though, that it was the realization that this, this moment right now, is my reason for being here in Panama. We learned a lot in training and I think the relationships I made are important, but training also distracted me in some ways from the real reasons I decided to spend two years here. The politics and gossip of other young white people are not among them, but I'd let that become somewhat of a primary concern to me. Hanging out with Iran and Gabriel, watching them jump into the river over and over was a truly cathardic experience.

Once back in my site, that momentum continued for the most part. I felt busy, which is usually a good recipe for focus and contentedness. I also felt a sense of belonging to some extent. I am being too dramatic, I can feel it. Let me caveat that my experience is still a daily mixed bag of ups and downs, frustrations, boredoms, and challenges. My house is now almost completely done, I should move in sometime next week. And that is definitely part of it: I am no longer stressing daily about little bumps along the house construction road and I no longer have to bother Florentino daily about the progress that isn't. We can be friends, co-workers. And now I feel as though we are.

One other thing: I seem to have caught the engineering bug to some extent. My father being a throughly educated engineer, I knew it was floating around in my genes somewhere and it has finally emerged down here in rural Panama. The reason, I think, being the relative simplicity and lack of math involved in construction and design in Cerro Iglesia. It comes back to the over-simple science/art paradigm I wrote about a while back. Science in the Comarca has to involve art. There are no right angles or exact measurements here and even careful planners had better be ready to adapt on the spot because something unexpected will certainly pop up and require attention at the last possible moment. I also like the relative simplicity of projects here. For example, the aquaduct. I included pictures of the springbox, which is basically just a cement enclosure surrounding a fresh water spring, and the tank, which collects water during the off-peak hours so that everyone has water when they want it. There are no pumps, just gravity, no backhoes, just strong backs and pick axes. That's another thing: when some work needs doing on the aquaduct, the aquaduct commitee organizes a junta (which means 'together') and everyone in the community brings their pick axes and shovels and helps out. No water company up here. I also put a picture of some steps I built for Casey's laterine. As you can see, they are imperfect. Imperfect, but functional, such is construction around here. Such is life I guess, too.

The last picture, if you look closely, is the body of a huge boa I saw when I was looking for wood. Had to be 10 feet long. He slithered away before I had a chance to be scared, so I just spent the next twenty minutes muttering to myself that 'I can't believe how big that &%$ snake was.' Wow.