A Constant State of Sweat: Life So Far in Parita

     I have officially been in my site for over a month now, and a lot of things have happened!  I have started my three months of observation in the school, and so far its been going great!  I will be working with 10 English teachers, which is perfect because I like to stay busy.  I made an observation schedule where I will be observing two teachers a week so it won't take too long.  By the end of the week it gets pretty tiring.  I have actually had the last three weeks off of work.  The first week was because the teacher who I was supposed to observe went to Panama City, so I couldn't go in.  Then the next two weeks the students had a week of exams followed by a week of vacation.  I will start school again on Monday and I can't wait!  So far I have observed two teachers and have had a great time getting to know the students and other teachers in the school.

     One of the craziest things happened to me right when I got to my site.  Dora, my host mom, was wearing a shirt one day and I noticed that it said "The Rutland Herald" and "Established 1794" on the front.  I remember thinking "That's the name of the newspaper company in Rutland VT, about 1.5 hours from where I live!  But this couldn't be the same one, what are the odds?  Dora has never been outside of Panama and speaks no English, how could she have a shirt from VT?  It must be referring to some other Rutland in the US it's probably a common name."  But when I did the research, I found out that it is actually THE Rutland Herald from VT which was established in 1794!  When I asked Dora where she got the shirt, she had no idea.  No one in her family had ever been to VT.  I'm thinking it must have come to her through some GoodWill donation that Panamanians can buy at a low cost.  But I was just blown away at the coincidence!  I'm taking it as a sign that I am supposed to be here in Parita!  Here is a picture of me and Dora wearing the famous shirt!
 

     Religion is a very important part of the culture here in the Azuero, and Dora goes to a Catholic church every week.  I think that it's important for me to go to show support for something that means so much to my community, and it is a great way to get out and meet new people.  Not being a particularly religious person myself, I have found that going to church is a great time to reflect on my own personal thoughts without any outside distractions.  I have learned to like it and its important that I go.  The church is also very beautiful!  Here is a picture inside of the church. 

     They have many religious festivals throughout the year, and it seems like every week they are celebrating some patron saint.  For these celebrations, they oftentimes make a float filled with real flowers and have a procession throughout town.  Here is a picture of one of the beautiful floats they have made: 

     I have been lucky enough to make some great friends here too!  They are a part of a church band here in Parita made up of people my own age.  They're wonderful people and have been so nice to include me in their group!  So far we have traveled around to a few nearby churches and performed at the services.  I joke that I'm a traveling church band groupie because I just sit there and watch while they perform!  Its great to spend time with them and they are really talented!  They brought me up to the top of the tower of the church, where you can look out and see all of Parita!  It is my favorite spot!

     My new friend in Parita was also nice enough to take me to Sarigua, a national park in Parita.  It's called an 'albinca,' meaning land that is now a desert but was once part of the ocean.  

     There were a lot of sand dunes, cacti, and lizards to see!  It was really cool to find old shells and the remnants of salt on the sand.  It's incredible to see the vegetation that can grow in such an arid climate. Although it was really hot, it was also very beautiful.  

     At the park there is a very rickety stand that is about 20 feet tall that we climbed to see out onto the park.  While I was scared for my life, it was worth the view!  Here is a shot overlooking the park: 

     This is my new Paritanian friend Cesar who brought us to the park: 

My friend Shaylee was just as nervous about climbing down the stand as I was!

     A dry forest also surrounds the park.  When Cesar and I walked through it, it reminded me of a scene out of the Jungle Book with all of the vines hanging down: 

     Cesar also brought me to meet a local artisan, Dario, who makes incredible devil masks.  Here in Parita, there are many religious festivals throughout the year, but one of the biggest ones is the "Diableco" where people get dressed up wearing these devil masks and parade throughout the town.  It was incredible to see how he makes these masks out of paper mache and then decorates them.  I even got to help make a small one!  This is a local business, and he relies on tourists as his main source of income.  No one in his family speaks English, and I'm thinking potentially teaching a son of his to speak English so they can sell their product to a bigger market as a secondary project.  Hopefully I will be able to work with them in the future, they're amazing people!  Here's a picture of me with one of his creations:  

     The next town over in Palo Grande has a huge archaeological site where a ton of excavations took place back in the 90's.  This land has incredible remnants of ceramic artifacts from the indigenous population that predated the Spanish conquest in Panama back in the 1600's.  I had always wanted to go check it out, and thankfully my friend Cesar knows the man who owns the land!  We hiked over to the village one day and got to go digging around his land and found some amazing stuff!  We found painted pieces of ceramic artifacts, handles of jugs, a big stone tool called a 'mano' that was used to grind corn, and a flattened stone that I think was used as an old iron!  It was such an amazing day!  Here I am with some of the artifacts that we found! 

     I have had many adventures in the one month that I have been here.  I can't wait to see what the next two years holds for me in Parita!  More updates to come!