The Grand Tour

Although I have been in site now for nearly three months, I still get the standard questions from friends and family like, "What are your living arrangements like?" or "What are you eating?" Instead of telling you, I thought I could show you, now that I can upload pictures without too much trouble. This, friends, is where I live.

A view of the street from my host family house. There is but one main road, unpaved. In that direction are the representative´s office/library, the church, the few corner stores that sell the bare essentials, and an open field where kids play.

The front of my host family´s house. To the left you can see flowers, which are always pleasant when I walk back from school.

The front porch. I spend lots of time here reading, preparing English activities for the elementary school teachers, and brushing the sleeping cat off my lap.

The house itself has only a few rooms. This mostly outdoor area is covered by tin corrugated roof and is quite spacious, but has only dirt floor. This serves as the dining room and living room, where friends and family come to visit and chat. Only one chicken is visible in this picture, but my host family keeps dozens of them. So any scraps of food either go to the dog, the cat, or the chickens. It´s actually quite convenient when my host mom serves me heaping mounds of rice that I couldn´t possibly eat...

The kitchen. My host mother uses an old-fashioned wood stove and burns firewood to cook every meal. Although it´s an interesting site, it lets off a lot of smoke.

When the water comes, my host parents store it in buckets. And this, friends, is what heaven looks like. Around the house, my three favorite words are "Llegó el agua," or "The water has arrived."

Where I spend my time watching La rosa de Guadalupe, an episodic telenovela that involves Mexicans in "real-life" situations who request the help of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Although the TV gets only a few channels, it serves as a good distraction. In the past few weeks, I´ve been able to watch the three Lord of the Rings movies, Quantum of Solace, and Pan´s Labyrinth, a few gems among the horrible American movies they tend to show on Panamanian channels.

My bedroom during this time with my host family. There are two beds in the room, one a bit smaller than twin, and the other a standard full with a flattened mattress. That smaller bed is the site of the Falling Kitten Catastrophe during my site visit in mid-March. Since then, I have slept under my mosquito net in order to protect myself from the insects and critters (read: bats) that can enter through the open window.

My bed, with mosquito net in place, to protect me from harm.

The backyard, filled with banana and other fruit trees, unkempt and wild. If you look carefully in the center of the picture, you can see the latrine in the background about 25 yards behind the house, my toilet/shower combo.

Cariño, the family parrot. Her wings are clipped, so she walks around and climbs the wiring using her beak and claws. She´s not too bad, except when she won´t shut up, or when she tries to bite my feet. Admittedly, that only happened a few times. It´s funny, though. Whenever someone walks into the house, she´s usually there to say "Buenas," which is a common greeting around here.

So, all in all, it´s not as bad as it seemed at first. I´ve been browsing other volunteers´ blogs, and I realize I should never complain about living conditions. I might be in a rural site, but I am a lot better off than some of my friends here in Panama.

Flowers that grow right outside the host family house. My host mother occasionally cuts them and puts them in my room. How nice. So, things aren´t so bad. Right now, everything´s coming up roses. Or, in this case, orchids.