Return to Panama City

We’re back in Panama City and working furiously on our report which we hope to have nearly finished before leaving for Peru next Sunday.

A beautiful Panama City skyline

We took a break from the stress earlier this week to go get my hair cut. The humidity in Panama turns my hair into something resembling Diana Ross’ hair-do, it is truly awful. So I figured now would be as good a time as any to just get as much of it as possible chopped off. I went to a nice looking hair salon in a strip mall, and Leilani was nice enough to come along for moral support.

As I sat down in the chair I asked the stylist how much this haircut was going to cost me, hoping to avoid a surprise charge of something crazy like $100 later. He said eight dollars and thirty-five cents. As much as I could get onboard with that low price I now began to get nervous about what kind of haircut I was going to get for only eight dollars—this was made worse by the fact that he began patting my hair and smoothing it down in a way that did not inspire confidence that he had much experience cutting hair or had been through some kind of school or program. He seemed perplexed by my hair.

Next he took his water bottle, sprayed my hair down, and began to cut large sections of hair straight across with the scissors, rapidly. And I mean large sections. I’ve never seen anything like it. As I saw chunks that constituted at least one-fourth of my hair falling to the ground in one swoop I was about to have a heart attack, but the thing with hair cutting is that there is no good time to tell someone to stop cutting your hair, because I didn’t want him to stop half way through. I ended up with a bit of a duck-tail in the back but avoided having some pretty awful bangs added to the haircut. All I have to say is: it will grow out (hopefully sooner rather than later).

The rain continues in Panama City almost every day, and ruined our planned beach trip on Saturday. But when I hear about how hot it is back home this summer in D.C., I have to say that I would take 80-some degree weather with a lot of rain over 110 degree weather any day. It feels rather tropical here. We have a balcony and a hammock and that is all I need to relax after a long day of typing interviewing notes, coding them, and writing non-stop.

El Salvador Part II

Friday we went out to the field again, this time to Pequeña Inglaterra. This village houses many refugees from another village which was destroyed by an earthquake in 2001. Hundreds of people died in this quake, and those who were left had to find another place to live, as their houses were destroyed by landslides and rubble from the quake. Plan helped them with immediate needs, and a donor stepped in to fund a housing project in a new village that would have a school, businesses, and homes. The original houses in this village all have a Plan logo outside of the door, meaning that the materials that constitute the house were funded by Plan (the people had to help with the construction of their houses in order to qualify).

Village life

We were allowed to spend some time with the young children in the ECCD (Early Childhood Care and Development) programs, split into three classrooms of children 0-3 years, 3-4 years, and 4-6 years. They were absolutely adorable, as you can imagine. Then we conducted a focus group with various people from the community, including teachers, parents, health workers, and young people. All had a story to tell about the earthquake and the rebuilding, and how it affected their lives. One young girl was only 7 when the disaster struck. She is 17 now and is in charge of the “Youth Brigade” which educates other people in the community about disaster risks, preventative measures, and healthy lifestyles. I wish that I could share pictures of some of the teachers and children we met, but due to the privacy policy, no photos of children are allowed to be shared online (and for good reason, obviously).

El Salvadorean countryside

After a very interesting day in the village we drove back to San Salvador, finished up some final interviews at the office, and had one last lunch with our new friends. We finally wrapped everything up and decided to go to the beach at Playa Truncos the next day. The Playa is only about 45 minutes away from San Salvador, making this city an ideal place for anyone who loves to get away to the beach on the weekends. We had a lot of fun (I attempted to learn how to surf!) and met a lot of interesting surfers, most from Brazil (who knew El Sal is the vacation destination of choice for Brazilians?)

With our friend David from the San Salvador office (photographer extrordinaire for the week)

All in all, our week in El Salvador was a raging success. Now we are back in Panama City for the next two weeks to actually write up our report about what we’ve seen in the different countries so far. This is the hard part. On August 7 we leave for our last interview country, Peru, and then the assistantship comes to an end. Time is slipping away, as it usually does. For now, back to work on this report.

El Sal!

Current stop on the summer whirlwind tour of Latin America: San Salvador, El Salvador. This country is truly amazing. This time of year the grass, tress, and mountainsides are all a lush blooming green and the countryside scenes seem to go on forever. San Salvador is your typical city, except that from wherever you are you can look up and see the volcanoes and mountains surrounding the valley where the city is situated. The beaches, too, are a natural wonder that attract many tourists here (those willing to brave the daily news reports of violence and gang murders).

We arrived on Sunday afternoon after a very early flight from Quito to Panama City to San Salvador. The security in the airport was super-strict, with army men in full outfits and with huge weapons dangling from their shoulders sauntering around, looking suspiciously over the arriving passengers. A very cute German shepherd was walking on the luggage belt, sniffing each bag as it went by before jumping over it to get to the next one. It was adorable. Going through immigration I was next to a Latino who appeared to be traveling on business and was unsure what hotel his driver was going to take him to. They were giving him the rundown and asking all kinds of questions, so I was very happy to say yes and move on when the woman took one look at my face, my US passport, and asked “turismo?”

El Salvador has one of the most developed and necessary education in emergencies programs so we have been very busy this week talking to many people who were involved in these programs. There is so much to learn and so many people to talk with. Yesterday we went out to the town of El Zapotal, which was a guerilla stronghold during the Salvadorian civil war from 1980-1992. Similarly to Guatemala, there are murals on the sides of school buildings depicting the government’s attacks on its own people and the names of the dead heroes from each town. According to Ricardo, our guide for the week, Plan continued to work in El Salvador throughout the war, using its status as non-politically affiliated to bring much needed food and clothes to small towns such as this. Even then it was not allowed to work everywhere, only where the government would allow it.

Today we went to a community along the coast (which meant we got to each lunch by the beach!) and talked with a lot of young students who had formed themselves into a “committee” of knowledgeable students who can respond appropriately the next time a natural disaster hits their area. The last time a disaster hit, Tropical Storm Ida, they were out of school for a month while the school was used as a temporary shelter for members of the community who lost their homes. It was really interested talking to the headmaster of the school and the older kids who could describe their experiences. We also happened to be visiting during a “field day” when all 870 kids were playing futbol (soccer) and other games outside, it really felt more like a carnival than a school day.

All in all this has been an exhausting but worthwhile week. Tomorrow we head out to a village called “Pequena Inglaterra” (Little England), presumably because the donors who gave the money to fund this refugee village were from England. I’ll let you know after tomorrow!

Quito & Guayaquil

The last few days here in Ecuador have been quite adventurous for Leilani and me. We arrived on Sunday and started work bright and early Monday morning. A lovely woman named Doris from the Plan Ecuador office is escorting us around to the different interviews and chats that they have lined up for us here. Because our investigation and report will be on Plan’s education in emergencies programs, we are talking with people from Ecuador’s Ministry of Education, from UNICEF and other UN Agencies, and from Plan itself. It’s been an amazing experience because we get to talk with so many interesting people who are doing great work in the field.

Me with the requisite NGO logo-ed Toyota field vehicle

Out of the blue on Monday we were asked to join Plan’s weekly Tuesday morning radio chat with a national radio station that broadcasts out of Quito. Of course we were quite taken aback and a little frightened to have to speak to an entire nation of people in our second language and on a topic that we aren’t quite experts in (disaster risk reduction and the environment). At one point the radio host asked me how I felt about the environment in Ecuador. Having absolutely no clue about any kind of environmental issues in Ecuador, I naturally sidestepped the question with a response which may or may not have made any sense, about how wonderful Ecuador is and how its natural resources in the environment should be protected for future generations. Despite how incredibly nerve-wracking the experience was, we had a lot of fun and I have to say that it was quite an adrenaline rush. Definitely an experience we will never forget.

At the radio station "Fe y Alegria" after our national radio debut. This guy had the best radio voice ever.

Later this week we traveled out to the field “el campo” twice, once to the small town of Cotopaxi up in the mountains of central Ecuador, and once to the field office in Santa Lucia, about an hour outside of the coastal city of Guayaquil. Guayaquil is a huge city and also happens to be the place where tourists come, either to see the city itself or on their way to the Galapagos Islands. It was very strange hearing English spoken (in a southern drawl, no less) at the hotel in Guayaquil where we spent a night before traveling out into the field today. We were able to talk to a lot of staff at the Plan Santa Lucia office and even had the opportunity to conduct a focus group with a group of teachers in a local school.

Tuk-tuk (rickshaw) rides are always more fun when crammed in with your co-workers and flying over bumps at

As always, things are ending too soon. We flew back on a little commuter plane from Guayaquil to Quito yesterday and from Quito to Panama to El Salvador on Sunday. For today, we are going to check out the Mitad del Mundo (“Middle of the World”) where you can stand with one foot in each hemisphere, the artisanal market, and possibly the old historical part of town. After such a busy week a few tourist traps are exactly what we need!

 

Lunch at a local Santa Lucia School with the teachers behind

Quito: Part I

I write this from my absurdly nice hotel in Quito, Ecuador. We arrived here yesterday (Sunday) afternoon after a very smooth direct flight from Panama. It was overcast and drizzling a bit upon arrival but since then has been this wonderful, crisp, fresh air weather and around 50-60 degrees. It feels wonderful, like a preview of fall weather to come. We're up in the mountains so the fog settles around the valley that is Quito and the views are unbelievable.

Today was our first day meeting with the Plan Ecuador office and they were amazingly helpful and insightful into what kinds of programs are going on here in the country.  There are I believe 13 program offices throughout the country and Plan is one of the main NGOs here, along with the UN Agencies of course and World Vision and ChildFund.

The most bizarre thing that has happened to us so far is that we were asked to make a radio appearance tomorrow morning on the NATIONAL radio station "Fe y Alegria". Plan has one hour of radio time every Tuesday morning, and we were selected to go on. I'm not quite sure how we are qualified to talk in Spanish in front of a national audience about the reduction of risks during an emergency and disaster preparedness, but somehow we are. This is what makes the field of development so amazing and bizarre sometimes!

The Modern City

I wanted to take the chance to write a little bit about my perceptions of Panama City and the people here before we begin our travels outside of the country with our first trip to Ecuador this Sunday.


Panama City is a remarkably modern and developed place. I knew that it was going to be more developed than any of the other developing countries I’ve been to before (Guatemala, Ecuador, Nicaragua, India, Costa Rica) but still was not expecting the innovative spirit and consumerism that drives this city. The middle and upper-class Panamanians just cannot get enough of shopping and spending their money here—very reminiscent of the United States. That might come off sounding like a negative, but really I’m sure it will drive their economy in the future, not to mention that it implies that people (even the middle class) have money to spend on basic necessities.

Panama’s unemployment rate at the moment is 5%, much lower than the U.S.! It’s also extremely apparent how much people enjoy what we would consider an American/European lifestyle: bagels, Dove chocolate, resort vacations, European clothing and shoes. This is likely compounded by the fact that because many of these goods are coming through Panama’s canal on their way from China or Japan to the U.S., goods that we would consider “exotic” or “high-end” products in the U.S. cost much less here. They can just unload some of the product at the ports and bang, its right here.

Even just walking around our El Congrejo neighborhood here I’ve noticed so many interesting things.

This is “New York Bagel Café”, a bagel and coffee shop right next to the first guesthouse where we stayed in the neighborhood. It’s funny because for me this place is really reminiscent of Tryst Café in Adams Morgan, my favorite coffee shop in DC.

Dry cleaning in 40 minutes at the local Lavanderia "Su Perc Klin" (Super Clean).

"The Cabeza de Einstein" (The Einstean Head), in the grassy knoll in the middle of an intersection. The reason for this rather strange tribute to Einstein in the middle of Panama City was explained to me as such, "Einstein was a really smart man. We honor him because he was really intelligent and created a lot of things." Makes sense to me.

The number of new skyscrapers going up around the city is unbelievable. I wish I had gotten a picture of the new Trump Tower building: it is shaped like a boat, with a skinny sail part of the building at one end. It is almost finished and is very noticable along the skyline.  The thing that is perhaps unusual about Panama City is that the buildings look like their are no zoning laws in Panama: anyone can build whatever they want wherever they want. Makes for an eclectic mix. 

"The Golden Frog" Irish American Pub in downtown El Cangrejo.  We've watched a few futbol games here, a very interesting place where most of the Panamaneans are drinking Stellas or Heinekens instead of the national beers of Atlas, Panama, and Balboa.  Their buffalo wings are to die for.

All in all, this city is very eclectic and modern, but still retains the feel of a modern city imposed over top of a once-poor small town.