Trapped

It has been a trying past 10 days to say the least. The weather has been unhinged in a constant battle between blasting rays of sunlight and fierce unrelenting downpours that seem to come from nowhere, for 4 of those days I had a bout of Giardia that left me more than hopeless as I spent my days either clenching my stomach rolled up in a ball on my wood floor or running to the latrine to relieve what seemed to be my burning intestines, and Clari, my neighbor with the heart condition couldn't make her appointment and still has trouble breathing. This seems like a lot of stuff going on. That's because it is. But all of these things were suddenly made much worse by strikes and protests going on. Without getting into too much detail or taking sides, the natives here are protesting the governments decision to put a huge mine and hydroelectric dam on their land which would have large ecological effects. So to protest this the natives here, which make up a quarter million people, blocked all the roads going pretty much anywhere using trees, tires, and whatever else they could put.

This was all made worse when the government decided to use riot police and bulldozers, and then shut off cell phone signal instead of sitting down and talking with the locals. This led to nation wide protests as dead bodies were then posted on the internet which then led to the government sitting down with them today. What is still going on here is the blockage of all roads which has left our tour and all chocolate sales crippled as well as trying to get anywhere. There have been people stuck on Bocas island for almost two weeks now (I would have swam home by then), and there is no more power or gasonline in Almirante or Bocas island which makes it hard to use a motorized boat to back and forth.

In the meantime, I got extremely sick and Clari missed her appointment because everything was blocked.

Staying in site for extended periods of time is something I usually do not do. For the most part I try to get to at least Almirante once a week to buy what I call vegetables and the locals call small trees that don't taste good. All this time in site has enabled me to attend more meetings and give my english classes every day. I've also started to work with Mirna for her power point presentation which is as ridiculous as I thought it would be. My favorite parts of the time with her are the times that I ask a question about something that should be an easy answer and she stares at me and says “how am I supposed to know that”? Most of this is because from a very young age here the people are taught in the schools that imagination, creativity, and critical thinking aren't important. Most of this is done by lazy teachers who like to teach class by writing something on the board and telling the kids to copy it. I can't tell you (its because I don't remember) how many times I've had to yell at people to pay to attention to what the hell I was saying instead of trying to copy every syllable of every word I put on the board. Hence the surprised blank stares when I ask someone to think in a different way and the terribly mundane artisan goods we have here.

Mirna is going to need more than a lot of work to get to the point where she is going to feel comfortable presenting in front of a bunch of strangers. Especially using a computer, which she has only seen a couple times and never used up until this point. She also has been charged with the duty of bringing back all the information she learns from the other chocolate producing ladies in the other countries that she goes to which will either be as easy as copying their power point presentations or as hard as copying their power point presentations. In either case it will be a great experience and she is learning a lot.

As for my English students, much progress has been seen. Especially in Lenny, the gay outcast of community who has made more improvement than I though possible. I really thought he would drop out as I have been tough on all of my 2 students about studying and regularly scold them for not doing so. Lately I've been trying more carrots than sticks. I really thought that there was no way this kid was ever going to be a guide. I've changed my mind. Ceni who is Samuel's daughter has a great base for English as she took a year of it in school but she misses a lot of classes. And then there are the random people that show up to class that heard from someone else that I was giving English class. They usually last one day after they realize that we are past the basics. I usually give them a lot of homework to see how serious they are about studying and they usually don't come back.

I've actually found that to be a good strategy down here. To make things just a little hard that is. I've found that you can gauge how serious is about a project or learning something or even doing a basic task by challenging them just a little. Many people here were asking me about water tanks for their house and after I told them they could make their own for only $40 (which they have) how many people showed up to the workshop I put on. One. And he showed up almost every day to do the work and to learn. I don't have people asking me anymore.

Other news: I looked in the mirror the other day and realized that being sick for 4 days and not shaving for 2 weeks is a good way to save money on a Halloween mask. I looked haggard to say the least and my protruding amebic belly didn't make me look any better. Now that I've had a solid bowel movement I'm starting to get back to normal. I also shaved and started doing pull ups every day. It is amazing how different someone can look when they loose a little bit of weight from their face.

The Engineers Without Boarders Panama Chapter is now planning on sending a specialist to take a look at our hdro electric possibilities and possibly bring a generator and some community water filters. If they can deliver on half of what we are talking about then we would be in great shape. The idea for the generator is to provide enough power for now to possibly get the machine and start using while we figure out a long term solution.

This month I have promised myself to start surfing again in the island, not go to Panama City, and not get sick again. We shall see....