What I'm Working With

By now I have been to the toma of Taimati a couple of times (note: toma being the term used for our aqueduct’s water capture point). In the case of my community the toma is a large concrete box built onto the side of a small cascade in the bend of a river called the Rio Julian Martin. Our first trip out there was quite a doozy. After the community took a vote that repairing our aqueduct would be a priority for my two years here, I knew I needed to see the source of our aqueduct. Most people see the source of the aqueduct well before this time, but I had heard that it was very far away and nobody seemed too enthusiastic about taking an unnecessary trip out there. Having established the necessity of the trip with this vote, I spoke with the aqueduct’s plumber and we decided to set out. Of course our first day it rained the night before so we postponed, but finally our day came to go visit this legendary toma.

To make sure we got off to a good start I woke up at 6 a.m. and we were ready to go by 7. I sported long pants, and quick dry shirt, and my rubber boots that I bought here in country ready to conquer the trail! We set off at a pretty good pace and I took photos of the areas that could use some improvement along the way. Now when I say along the way, I mean aLONG the way. It took us every bit of three and a half hours to finally arrive at the toma. Once arriving there I snacked on some beef jerky, aired out my feet, and tried to mentally prepare for the trip back. I should add a note about my previously mentioned outfit, specifically the boots. I bought these rubber boots here in Panama, a country where a 5’10” man is particularly tall and for some reason even the tall people have small feet. I am not sure the $12 boot manufacturer was entirely competent in shoe making seeing as how it would seem the technique for larger size shoes was to maintain width and just lengthen them. These boots have never felt good. Not during training, not during my first months, and certainly not on the toma trip. I had heard that they would break in, but they never did (luckily my site is dry enough that I did not need to wear them often outside of this walk). As per the usual, after 30 minutes of the hike my feet were hurting and after an hour and a half into the return trip they were screaming! I had to take breaks to only mentally cope with how badly my feet were hurting. I finally made it back to Taimati, took my shoes off, and rested the 8+ new blisters I had acquired on my feet. 

The next days, since I couldn’t really go anywhere very quickly, I spent thinking about the size of the challenge ahead of me. The problem with the aqueduct, as I had been informed, was that the river crossings were not built very well, so when the river rises in the wet season the tubes are pushed apart. It becomes difficult to get water to town if your aqueduct more closely resembles the end scene of a game of Jenga strewn along the riverbed. There are also many air release points along the tubing to allow air blockages to escape and the water to flow freely (good). These air release points are in the form of holes put into the tubes with sticks sharpened and then shoved into them (bad). I had figured fixing these two things would be fairly simple, besides I had seen both of these basic concepts in training and thought how hard could it be? Now as I sat upon my plastic chair I realized the problems. Logistically getting to my site is hard enough, and now to bring 100 lb cement bags along a trail for 3 hours AFTER getting them to my site still dry would be a-whole-nother level of difficulty. Along with this add in the fact that my aqueduct is, for the first two and a half hours from the tank, 4” tubing and for the last half hour 6” tubing and all of the sudden costs are through the roof! I eventually talked to my Program Director and she said that we should just start out basic, doing a survey of the line and getting some data that we could bring to other organizations, such as Engineers Without Borders, and see if they could assist in the projects.

Since then I have been thwarted in the acquisition of some the necessary tools to start an official survey of the aqueduct line, but I did manage to borrow a GPS and got some basic data about the aqueduct. In case you were wondering, one direction from my tank to the toma, is 10.7 kilometers long. That’s 6.65 miles for all you Americans out there, or 2537037.4 PICAs…whatever that is. Also of note: with a very kind Christmas gift of some money from my grandparents I was able to purchase some quality water-proof hiking boots and my second trip resulted in exhaustion but no pain from the shoes! I will attempt to keep you updated on exactly what is happening with the aqueduct as we go along, but it may appear to be a long and arduous process.

Walking the trail to the toma

Pipe over a small creak

Pipe over a small river

One of the more problematic areas

Yeah, that's not supposed to happen

The toma box on the side of the river

A Visit to the Other Side

After my parents visited I had an awkward week and a half gap where I could not go back into site because of the boat schedule. I decided to take this opportunity to visit some friends over in Bocas del Toro, the province as far from the Darien as can be.

For starters one of the volunteers from my group that lives out there had parents visiting at the same time, so I simply followed her back to her community to begin the adventure. Heidi has one of the other Peace Corps Panama beach sites, but on the Caribbean side and it is quite beautiful. With crystal clear water and a house that is right on the beach, her community is super laid back but a pretty neat place overall.

Heidi's house. Her yard's irrigation has a salinity problem.

The view from inside her house isn't bad either.

After Heidi’s site I continued on to visit a volunteer from the group one year ahead of mine, Abby. Abby is a pretty cool gal and will be taking the job of regional leader in the Darien in the next few months which is pretty lucky for all of us on the east side. Abby’s site is quite nice but my stay with her was exceptional if for no other reason than that girl can cook! I’m talking cinnamon roll breakfast, black bean burger dinners, and we even had a “make your own chocolate bar” day.

Abby's house tucked away in the mountains.

Ready to start making my own chocolate bars!

From base camp at Abby’s we went to visit three other volunteer’s sites including Jordan and Sarah Varble who write a blog over at https://panamagua.wordpress.com/. Their visit was pretty cool because I followed their blog to learn about Peace Corps Panama before coming here and corresponded with them through email to ask a few questions.  It was a lot of fun getting to go see them and the community they have spent so much time in. I’d love to try and describe every detail of the trip, but it was a while ago and I feel that sometimes on a blog some extra photos do the trick, so here are photos from around the trip to enjoy!

Me and my friend Katy Mazer

Poison dart frog at Alex's site

Hanging with Sarah, Jordan, and Abby

Guest Post: Mom!

Somewhat recently my parent's came to visit Panama! We had a lot of fun together, but I thought that maybe it would be nice to have a guest blog post to see my world from another perspective. This guest post being from my mom! I hope you enjoy a glimpse into my life from my mom's view, and want to say a big thanks to her and dad for not only putting this post together but also for being good sports and true troopers during a sometimes somewhat hectic visit. [note: all my additions will be in brackets]

Arrival Day

Blake and I landed in Panama City on Saturday, Feb 7th.  Austin met us at the gate and we were thrilled to see him.  He had credentials that allowed him to escort us to the front of the customs lines.  I also received my 1st stamp in my passport this day.  Pretty exciting day.

Day 1

Austin’s mode of transportation is pretty much walking everywhere.  Since we wanted to experience Austin’s world we did a lot of walking.    We did all the trails of the Metro National Park.  Blake’s phone said we did the equivalent of 49 flights of stairs and almost 9 miles.  However, it was defiantly worth it when we got to the top.

We also walked the Albrook Mall which is massive and got to see the national bus station for Panama.  All roads in Panama lead to Albrook.  

Day 2

Today Austin took us into the jungle…. concrete jungle that is.  The sidewalks look like an earthquake hit and the cabs are constantly honking and darting around.  Lots of walking but once again it was worth it.  Austin has mentioned the tides before and he was not kidding.   We got to explore an older area of the city.  Can’t remember what it’s called but it was really quaint [the are is called Casco Viejo]. 

[This is the same bay as the previous photo. Different angle, different tide.]

Day 3

Today is the day we thought we’d be heading out to Austin’s village but of course the boat driver decided he was going to be running a day later than normal.  (Come to find out there is no such thing as “normal” in Austin’s world) So we spent the day exploring things Austin hasn’t seen in the city.  We went to the Smithsonian de Investigaciones Tropicales and a Brazilian Steak House then spent the rest of the evening getting ready for road trip to Austin’s place.  

By this time in the trip we are beginning to get a glimpse of the frustrations that Austin has to deal with every time he needs to travel back and forth with the constantly changing times and dates that the boats run.  Then you also get the boat guy that doesn’t really know when he’s going to be able to bring us back  maybe Saturday or maybe Monday, he'll probably know better by Thursday or maybe not.  Now I know that this was just the tip of the iceberg of frustration.  

Day 4

We rented a car instead of riding the bus to Meteti.  Austin said that is one of the things he has to do that he didn’t want us to have to experience.  After driving a little over 4 hrs (2.5 of that was on a gravel road that looked and felt like it had been carpet bombed) we arrived in Meteti.  Not what I had envisioned, it was much smaller than I thought it would be.  We got to stay in a really nice little hotel called The Crown Darien.  Here is a little video tour of it.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ifz58XzP5CY       It was this evening when we found out that the Saturday boat was going to actually run on Monday.  Austin had to call and deal with our hotel and car reservations.  Blake and I were pretty much useless at this point.  However, the next morning when we were leaving the hotel there was a really nice guy at the desk and he realized I couldn’t speak Spanish so he asked if I spoke English.  I was SOOO excited to actually be able to talk to someone.  This is my best friend in Panama.

I also need to mention that Austin had to get us through several border control check points.  Mainly because we are entering the only part of Panama that I had told Austin I really hope he didn’t end up, the Colombia side.   So of course… that’s right where we’re going.  However, not many people can say they’ve been in the Darien so that’s pretty cool, more so now because I’m back out of it. 

Day 5

Not sure how to even explain this day.  We were to meet the boat driver in La Palma at 9am.  We got up early, drove to Puerto Quimba to catch a boat to La Palma to meet our boat at 9am.  The boat arrives at 11:30ish.  (right on time for Panama)  However, he informs Austin that he’s gotta go to Puerto Quimba first then he’ll come back for us.  (Yes… that is the place we had to get up early to leave to get to La Palma) La Palma was very loud and stinky.   Buildings were built over the water near the boat dock and their toilets flushed right into the water there.  And yes…. we had to walk through the water.  The driver did come back to La Palma but we didn’t go anywhere.  We sat and waited for hours.  Finally at around 5:30pm we loaded onto this small little boat for our 3 hr tour. =)    We go about 1 min then pull up to a shore line.  Austin informs us that we need gas.  (Never mind the boats been sitting for about 4hrs and no one thought about getting gas during that time) Once we get gas we then head back to La Palma because someone forgot a bag.  (heavy sigh)  So now we’re finally on our way.  We have to stop at this little beach about 45min away from Austin’s village because the tide still hasn’t come in enough.  We load back into the boat, its dark out, no lights on the boat and we run over a fishing net so we’re now bobbing in the ocean. (did I mention no lights)  It’s at this point that I look at Austin and wonder how he does this commute to and from his home.  There was a bright spot to this trip and it came about while bobbing in the ocean (no lights). Austin introduced us to Bio Luminescence.  When we touched the water it glowed.  It was amazing to see. We finally arrived at his village around 9pm… tired, hungry and I’ll just say I was a little freaked out by it all.  We got to Austin’s house and we all went to bed.  The guys slept while I stayed up all night on spider watch listening to the dogs fight and the rooster’s crow.

Day 6

Austin took us all around his village and we got to meet a lot of amazing people and they were all so incredibly nice and welcoming.  We also got to meet Austin’s PCV friend Matt.  We went to visit his village also.  We had such a nice visit and I really felt good about where he is and I can tell the people there just love him.  I’m so glad that we were able to go and see Austin’s world.  However, I was very excited to find out that a guy from Matt’s village was taking a boat out on Saturday.  We were able to leave the next day.

[My host family and real family!]

[Mom with kids in Cemaco]

[Mom with the lady who made some baskets she bought]

[Dad, my house, and me]

Day 7

We get up in the morning and head toward the beach to wait for the boat driver.  There were about 10 of us going on the boat.  The boat ride back was pretty intense at times.  No life vest on board, small boat, small motor, BIG waves and crazy wind.  At times it felt like he was having to navigate this boat through a washing machine.  There comes a time when fear leaves and you just start trying to figure out how you’re going to survive when we get knocked out of the boat and when would anyone realize we were gone.  Luckily God got us back safe.   

The Rest of the Trip

We visited the Panama Canal which was really neat to see and then just enjoyed hanging out together. 

As parents we spent our life trying to protect Austin from having to live in the conditions he has volunteered to live in.  It is so hard to visit and see how tough his life is, how lonely it can get, how simple things like food are not simple, clean water is not always available and basic communication with the outside world can be at best extremely difficult.  It’s so hard to not be able to just pick up a phone and call to know he’s OK.  We have to wait for him to be able to get a signal to call us,  knowing that the only way in or out of his place is by a small boat in a big ocean that can be very dangerous. However, as a parent there is no greater feeling then to watch as your child handles situations that are beyond anything we’ve had to deal with and do so with such great character, to have them assure you they are ok and it’s not as bad as we think it is, to watch how they interact and show compassion to those with so little and to know that their faith in God is strong.  

So if you were to ask me to describe my trip to Panama I’d say things like:

Crazy

Interesting

Fun

Frustrating

Beautiful

Scary

If you asked me how Austin is doing in Panama I’d say:

Absolutely Amazing