Dengue, Christmas and New Year´s

We want to wish a very belated (but loving!) Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all! The holidays found us at home in our village- with Peace Corps friends at Christmas and our community members for New Years- plus Ashley’s sister in the first part of December.
While Courtney was visiting we saw some great sites in Panama City that Brandon and I had not ventured around yet (Casco Viejo, The Panamá Canal, and Casco Antigua), as well as showing her around our village- and she survived the trip to our site amazingly well for someone who has a tendency to get motion sickness. The second part of her trip we had planned on going to the west side of the country to visit some of our Peace Corps Volunteer friends and (hopefully) to climb Vulcan Baru, the only volcano in Panamá. Unfortunately, we ended up spending almost an entire week in the city of Santiago because Ashley got Dengue. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this particular illness (and be very grateful that you are!) we invite you to Google it. Ashley spent the entire week hobbling between the hotel and the hospital, getting injections, popping pain pills and sleeping. Towards the end of the whole ordeal, she even got to spend a night in the hospital! Thankfully, she recovered in time for us all to make it back to Panamá City to see a few more sites and to send Courtney off (who has now vowed to come again to see what she missed, and PS- Ashley pulled through like a champ!)
Several weeks then passed without incident, and Christmas was upon us before we could say “Feliz Navidad.” (Sorry we had to.) We were very lucky to have Peace Corps friends that were willing to travel two days across the country to come and spend Christmas with us. (We are sure that the lure of the beach had nothing to do with it.) We had a full Christmas meal, including a ham, mashed potatoes with gravy and an apple pie. Everyone pitched in to help, and it was almost like being at home with our families (minus the yelling and drinking—joking!). We played card games, listened to Christmas music and had a white-elephant gift exchange. (Ashley received a magnetic photo frame, and Brandon a beautiful mermaid sculpture souvenir.)
Our visitors stayed for several days, and by New Years, we were again in the company of our neighbors. We spent a quiet night inside, playing cards to pass the time and drinking a cheap bottle of sparkling wine; but with no ball drop to look forward to, we passed out early and closed up the house. However, around midnight we woke to the sounds of bottle rockets and roman candles, and opened the front door to find almost every member of the community out and about, wishing happy New Years to everyone they passed, with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Not wanting to be left out, we decided to head out and share our own well wishes, and after an hour, turned back in and fell asleep.
And so our holidays passed. Resolutions having been made, we walked into the New Year full of ideas and drive. On January 5th we officially started teaching English with an Intensive Summer English Course- 8 weeks and 24 hours of English per student. We currently have more than 40 students from the ages 3-50, in four different age group classes. Children before lunch, and youth and adults after dinner- Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays every week until March 6th. The course was primarily designed with the high school students in mind, who are only in town during their summer vacation (January – March), but we had such an overwhelming response from the entire community that we opened three other class times for them.
Aside from English classes, we will be starting an environmental group for the youth in February, where hopefully we can instill in them the importance of taking care of the earth – or at least their own community – and how to have some fun doing it.
In between preparations for classes and our environmental group, we have been taking it pretty easy. We have started a small garden around the perimeter of our house where we have planted carrots, green beans, cucumbers, cantaloupe and watermelon, as well as several herbs and spices. So far, we have promising sprouts and we are working on making kitchen-scrap compost to aid our plant growth. We are also trying to grow our own spinach, lettuce and artichokes (which will hopefully be the bulk of our produce.)
As for other fresh produce (which has been a problem in the past due to irregular/difficult/expensive transportation) we have found a route whereby we are able to walk from our house to the next town via a long gravel road; once there, we can catch a bus, use the internet, or buy produce. The route is about 5 miles one way, and we have to cross a river, but the walk is flat and quiet and the river is usually only knee-high. We have walked it about once a week in the past 2-3 weeks to buy fresh produce and use the internet, (which is what we are doing today!) as well as get out of town for an afternoon.
With the influx of hormonally charged high schoolers who haven’t seen friends and family in a long time, our town has become, how do I put it- LOUD. From 7am until 11pm, there’s the constant sound of children screaming, singing, playing soccer (fútbal) or baseball (béisbol), throwing stones (literally…at each other), and lots and lots of Spanish pop-music. Add to this several new puppies who keep the entire neighborhood on watch at all hours- alerting us if anything happens to walk past them (Unfortunately, these puppies are not ours, as it makes it much more difficult to get rid of them! Joking.) Needless to say, our new 5 mile walk is nice and a big thank you to Courtney for bringing us an industrial sized pack of ear plugs.
In our spare time, we have also been reading a good number of books. Taking advantage of the down time we are able enjoy, to read (at last) some of the books that we have been meaning to read for years (Atlas Shrugged- Congrats Brandon!) or new books/authors that have been introduced to us through our fellow Peace Corps Volunteers (thanks Abby for our introduction to Bill Bryson!)
February however, brings more work as we continue our weekly rigor of English classes, and add to that our new environmental conservation group. We will also be hosting a good friend of Brandon’s from high school who is on is way back from China to the United States via South America and Central America (read- Panamá!). Yay for Justin- our second visitor! We are very excited for the upcoming month, but already tired. With New Years come and gone, we have our first measureable projects underway, and our days of assimilating are over; this is it, we have arrived! It is hard to believe that after so much time mandated for learning, adjusting and settling-in, that we are finally Volunteering. Our community members seem very grateful and excited to learn English, as for environmental topics- we’re getting there. Our strategy has been, and will probably continue to be- start with the kids- they’re still pliable.

Love from Panamá, (Only 1.5 years left!!)
Brandon and Ashley (Roberto y María)