Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving dinner

My latrine-building project is now ready to receive donations of any size, to partner with my community in construction of 65 pit latrines. A $50 donation covers the cost of one latrine. Click here to see the project description on the Peace Corps website and donate online, if you like. At the website on the right hand side, you can see how much has been donated to date and how much remains. I hope that we will be able to begin construction in February, the dry season, depending on how the funds come in.

vine-covered old growth tree

I enjoyed Thanksgiving with 160 other Peace Corps Panama volunteers at a lodge in the western rainforest. It was at a relatively high altitude and was cloudy and drizzly for the entire 2 1/2 days I was there (the area is also called the "cloud-forest"). I thought of a lot of rainy, cool Thanksgivings celebrated at home. Despite the rain it wasn't too cold, and I got to get out and hike with some other Volunteers on trails in the park near the resort.  We crossed cold streams (don't fall in please!) and saw old-growth trees or "milenios".  Magnificent hummingbirds flocked to sugar-water feeders set out by lodge staff. We enjoyed turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, and pumpkin cake which we prepared ourselves in the lodge's industrial kitchen. The area, Cerro Punta or "Point Hill" is well known for producing vegetables such as potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage, lettuce, and celery which grow well in the relatively cool climate. They even grow strawberries- I sampled a few.

This sign says the park gets 5 m of rainfall annually!

A large tree and I

This stream was a challenge to cross to get to our desired trail. Seneca is a volunteer in a community near mine.

On another note, Volunteer Jack F. has updated the Wikipedia page on the Ngäbe people with lots of interesting information the culture of the people I live and work with. Click here to take a look.