Been in Panama a few days now. My trip here was interesting enough--plenty of hurry up and wait. My medevac is the first time have left SVG. Well, I'm not counting the couple Grenadines so far and it was certainly the first time flying out since my arrival. The whole trip had a very surreal feel to it from the stepping onto the plane to getting settled in the hotel room.
I bounced from SVG to San Juan, Puerto Rico, which was in itself its own experience. I've never been to that airport before and since it is an entry point into the US, I had several customs/security checkpoints beyond the normal amount. For those who have not been there--that place is rather large. Hard to gauge and although it isn't as massive as Chicago O'hare--it certainly felt like it. Of course, I felt like I was tossed right back into shopping central with all of the traditional big name airport stores there--from food to clothing and duty free products. The big change came from the Spanish being spoken. After a few hours, I was underway to Panama City and arrived in the night. It's been awhile since I did any night flights and Panama City had a long stretch of lights along the coast. It reminded me of twinkling Christmas lights. On the flipside--it was really cool flying off SVG and being able to name all the villages I could see, including Spring Village! What was once a myriad of colors homes scattered along an island coastline as I flew in about 10 months ago has transformed into something familiar, something inside the 'comfort zone'.
Panama City, or Ciudad de Panama in Spanish, seems to be a very developed city. There are many towers (sky-scrapers) being built with all sorts of shops and stores lining the streets and heavy traffic zipping along. There are many casinos and a healthy nightlife buzzing with internationals. As I walk down the streets, I see faces that reflect world-wide ethic representation. In many ways it reminds me of the sprawling and hectic US cities, but does have its own flavor for sure.
From what I'm told, there is a large rise in foreign retirees coming here for the lower costs of living and well-reputed medical centers. From quick observation, that seems to be true as there are so many billboards advertising various new tower-homes of luxury and style mostly advertised in English as well as a plethora of medical centers and clinics. There seems to be some sort of medical care center on every street.
On the Peace Corps side of things, they have been fantastic thus far. Ricardo, a Panamanian working at the PC office as a medical assistant, has been wonderful in showing me around the general hotel area and pointing out hot spots of interest. He gave me a tour of the PC office and introduced me to other staff and volunteers. According to him, his main duty is to make sure that medevacs are taken care of and he has been nothing except excellent in that regard. He picks me up and takes me to the proper medical center--recall there are a few--and helps with translations to make things flow smoothly. I am very grateful for his help, because even if my Spanish was better I would still have a hard time communicating with my hoarse voice if I tried to ride one of the local buses--the diablo rojos.
Yeah, it is a school bus; each one is personalized and given its own sense of flair. There are many of them that run all day and late into the night. I've rode in them a few times already...but with a crash course from another PCV.I have also been thankful to the handful of volunteers that I've met so far. It has been a rather eye-opening experience to be able to bounce stories, situations, and perspectives off of others who at one time left home under similar ideals and to see how our experiences have differed. I want to particularly give a shout out to Yemi--an extended (in her 3rd year) PCV who has kinda taken me under her wing the past couple days. She has shown me a few good places to eat--as she's also a vegetarian--and we've spent a few hours just bouncing thoughts. She's also introduced me to several other volunteers and many of us went out the past couple of nights.
I suppose that I'm lucky to be able to meet so many volunteers here. I'm told there are approximately 170 PCVs here in Panama and there are typically only 10 or so that are in the city at any given time. However, there have been many more here since they are in for COS (close of service) medical check-ups and for other training programs. What has also been great has been talking to these other volunteers about the lines of work they do. In the Eastern Caribbean, we focus almost everything into our Community Development program--youth and NGO development sectors. I believe we has a couple Business Development PCVs, but they are few and far between. Panama PCVs are involved in diversified programs such as Community Economic Development, Environmental Health, Agriculture, and even a newer program on English-based Tourism. The logistics of the office and PCV work/communication seems to vary greatly and even the training programs are very different. I was surprised to find out how much PCVs are used to plan the PST (pre-service training) of new volunteers and senior volunteers play a much more active role during the PST training period.
I've always heard that people often refer to the EC post with romantic notions about our Caribbean homes and often wonder why we are working there. I was asked this a few times by PCVs here and I'll admit many EC PCVs (myself included) have doubted our purpose or position there. There is no doubt the need for our presence and we do recognize the need for poverty alleviation for sure. However, there is talk if we are a bit 'spoiled' and I don't know just how much of that might be true. PCVs in the EC--at least SVG--has readily access to cell phones that work just about anywhere--mine worked even up on the volcano, away from any settlements. We also have available cable tv and high-speed internet in our homes, for those who wish to pay for it. We have relatively quick and easy access to our capitol city (we are on a small island of course), we provides constant face-time with our staff and access to a wide range of stores for general needs. Do some of these things spoil us in SVG or are they more of a required tool to be used by us as the expectations of our partners here rise with the newer technology?
VS
Round 1! OR Find Balance
My hats off to the Panama PCVs, as I've been told many of whom are living in the conditions atypically imagined by a volunteer. They follow a 70/30 policy--volunteers are placed in the 70% poorest villages and 30% of volunteers are placed in indigenous communitities. Point of info--there are no more indigenous communities on SVG anymore and have not been for a long time. Many of the volunteers here don't have electricity and use a river source for water. They build aqueducts and compost latrines. They work alongside communities trying to teach about why sources of clean water are so important; farming techniques to shift away from slash-n-burn; and how to develop business & tourism without destroying what resources they have. These are the sorts of things I had wondered if we still did in the Peace Corps (from a previous blog) and it seems I have found my answer.
Some of these volunteers have to walk for a long period of time, cross riverbeds (which means they don't travel out off-site if the river is too high), and then take a bus for several hours to reach the PC office in Panama City. They often bring large backpacks, because if they need to come to the office they stay a day or two to get everything done. Everyone I met here tells me they stay at hostels in they city and are really on their own for much of their needs. For the most part, everything they need is found out closer to their communities and are sustained from them. This is certainly not the case on SVG--but is that because of its smaller size? Of course this means that cell coverage, internet, and tv are certainly not available in many parts of the country yet. It is interesting to hear the contrasts between Panama City itself and the rural areas--like night and day.
Regardless of my time here for medical reasons, I'm glad to have come here and had the opportunity to meet these other volunteers and hear their stories. It isn't known if I will be able to do any site visits yet, but I'd surely like to get that opportunity. I'd much rather see how PCVs live and work here versus see the Panama Canal or beach fronts any day. To my pleasant surprise, many of the volunteers I was introduced to were on or closing their 3rd year of service. Wait...isn't PC just a 2 year gig? Yes, but we have the option (with staff support) to extend our service in the same or similar areas of work. It seems that Panama tends to groom many volunteers into additional years of service--they really love it here. I know I don't get much communication with volunteers from the other islands in the EC, but I don't know of anyone who has extended for additional service time...
--Oh and just to reflect again on how developed Panama City is...I spent a good part of the day at the Allbrook shopping mall yesterday that would give just about any mall I've been to in the US a run for its money. Very large two-story with so many stores and only a couple had multiple locations.
Brag point--I even got to see the new Harry Potter 6 (for only US$4) at a cinema that would rival the AMC30 screens back home. That place was nearly identical in theater design and style.
Stay safe and well
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn
