Noah Daniels

Geology major, Bucknell University; Masters of Geology, University of Colorado

Currently serving as a volunteer in Panama

There is also lots of information in Noah's blog.

1 June 2006

I've got to catch a bus into the mtns in a few minutes. Training is going well, my Spanish is improving daily, thank god, though Panamanians speak rapidly and tend to drop letters off the end of words, so gracias becomes gracia, etc. But I'm having a great time, the stuff they're teaching us is interesting, the host family we're living with is nice, and good lord its hot. But we're heading to visit another couple peace corps people to see the area where we may be stationed which is somewhere in the mtns of Veraguas, maybe near the town of Santa Fe. It looks likely we'll be working with coffee agriculture, too, so I'm excited about that. And beyond the generally bland food (lots of rice and chicken unspiced) and weird rashes, we haven't had any problems whatsoever; they didn't even charge me extra to bring my bike on the plane.

25 June 2006 (a recent email)

Things are going very well here in Panama. We found out about our assignment about a week and a half ago, we will be high in the mtns of Veraguas doing coffee and other things. They are interested in shifting to organic production, so we are jazzed. Plus the usual lorena stoves, etc.

We are heading to a week of coffee training in Boquete tomorrow, looking forward to it. The guy coordinating it was until recently the volunteer at our site, so we get to pump him for info. Assignment is in Pueblo Nuevo, pop. 250, alt. 1300m, 3 to 8 hour ride in the back of a pick up to the nearest city, with said pickup leaving at 3am every day. The site has been called one of the most beautiful in Panama by knowledgeable folks. Our trainer, Jesus, is extremely knowledgeable and a big proponent of organic methods, as well as giving us a good base knowledge with access to further info when we need it. I like using a machete a whole lot. My Spanish is coming along, and I feel better about it every day. Oh, and thanks for all the prep and info you gave us, we feel much better and more realistic about many things thanks to it.

17 July 2006

We just got back into Santiago, the regional capital of Veraguas, from our soon to be site. It is a 4 plus hour chiva ride, sometimes hellacious by reputation, and this mornings ride out gives some real credibility to that reputation. It looks certain I will be working with coffee, among other things. We are follow ups to another couple, one of whom is now the PCP coffee coordinator. I will be starting out working with several folks he worked with to get some working knowledge, but I would also like to branch out to other people early.

And more subjectively, it looks really good. Beautiful area, lots of hiking, they are doing good agriculture and anxious to learn and apply more, and the previous volunteers broke a lot of ice in the community. The family we will stay with initially is very cool, and our Spanish is coming along well, too. In fact, one of the most common comments is that our Spanish is much better than the other volunteers was when they arrived.

14 August 2006

Things are going well, been at our site a couple weeks. Hiked over twenty miles the other night to the next closest decent sized town to the west, it was a beautiful orientation to the area under a full moon. Weird how many people are up and working or heading out into the field at 2 or 4 am. We have been very busy so far, with everything from harvesting beans and rice to going to meetings that start 3 hrs late and still manage to last 3 hours. We are already arranging for a house to move into later, since it needs some repairs to be habitable. It's pink! I already have some ideas for potential thesis research, in particular maybe a comparative test of the effects of different harvest and processing techniques on coffee quality. This is important for the locals, since the more ambitious ones are getting together to form an association to try to tap into the specialty coffee market, and we have good contacts with coffee professionals who can cup & test coffee samples objectively. I'm going to start trying to flesh this out as the harvest gets underway in the next month or so. Either way, even if it doesn't end up being my research, it is something I'm curious about. My Spanish is coming along, and the previous presence of quality volunteers at our site is making things easier for us. Our host family is great, very patient, fun, and hard working, and though sometimes we still feel less than rosy, it is good to be here.

3 October 2006

It’s funny, when we’re in-site we fantasize occasionally about the city (particularly food), but when we are here in the city we get really anxious to get back.  Especially this time, since we’ll be moving into our house pretty soon upon returning, and honestly, cooking our own food is going to be a massive morale booster.

25 October 2006

We just spent over an hour watching and helping our chiva driver and fellow Chitranos flip over and get unstuck the beer > delivery truck, which tipped over en-route to Chitra yesterday.  They paid some guy three bucks to watch it and about 20 cases of beer overnight, and amazingly enough, he was sober (and cold) when we showed up this morning.

December 2006

My wife Karinne and I recently met up with other volunteers for Thanksgiving.  One ubiquitous comment among the volunteers from our group ran along the lines of, "can you believe we've been here for six months?"  Well, no.  It is flying by, we're staying quite busy, settling in, finding our place in the community, and so on.  I'm even finding Panamanian foods that I like, and some days I truly get excited about a lunch as simple as a fried egg with a pile of rice.  So far, I've had none of the ailments or parasites that are as common as sunburn among volunteers here.  Frustrations from language or cultural differences are still a daily occurrence, but we are definitely much more tranquilo and understanding about it. 

Estufas Lorenas: Estufas Lorenas have gone nowhere so far.  Many people have told us they want them, especially when we first arrived.  However, their interest or motivation has faded when we tell them the needed materials, and that if they get them together, we'll come over and help them make it.  They agree, then we don't hear anything else about it again.  We think there are several causes for this reluctance.  First, its the coffee harvest season, and many people are very busy.  Second, it is the rainy season, so almost every afternoon there has been a downpour or just sustained rain, and this reduces the time people have for daily farming chores.  Third, we suspect that people thought that just because we were "new", we would be more willing to do all the work.

Organic Fertilizer and other organic methods

This has focused on what we are doing for ourselves: making an organic vegetable garden.  Our house is on the main road, and a part of the yard is very visible and hence great for any sort of a demonstration.  So I've been out collecting stuff for organic fertilizer, like horse manure (the neighborhood kids love this part, and are actually helpful about where to look and knowledgeable about what I'm using it for), coffee pulp, compost, nitrogen-rich leaves, grass, etc.  We have also built a small nursery, and our tomatoes are already springing out; onions, cucumber, carrots, and watermelons are also planned. 

The local agriculture extension agents are pushing home gardens to produce vegetables to display and sell at the producers' fair in March.  We have offered our help with this project, and as the summer begins, we will see how this pans out. 

Home Renovations

A significant chunk of our time and effort since the last report has gone into home repair.  We've taken our house from an abandoned wreck, inhabited by tarantulas and bats, to a livable space, that is actually quite comfortable.  This shift has really boosted our morale, since we have much more control over many daily activities, especially those related to food.  On the other hand, sometimes its a bit too tempting to just hole up, drink coffee, and work on some project or other, and not get out and interact.  Still, I think we are finding a good balance.  And now I can do some pretty wicked campo-style plumbing, masonry, and electrical wiring!  As mentioned previously, the house has some land with it, so we are taking advantage of this for a garden and other agricultural projects. 

June 2007

I’ve been here over a year now.  Several bands that I really liked have broken up, suddenly we are in the thick of the 2008 election campaigns, and Hollywood seems to still be cranking out crap, at least as far as the last few pics I’ve seen indicate.  I get dazed watching TV when we are in an air-conditioned hotel room- the world is weird, and getting news in little snapshots of a couple hours seems to amplify that perception.  For example, CNN was obsessed with Paris Hilton’s arrest and release and re-arrest this past weekend; but hey, at least it isn’t the latest death toll from Iraq.

I had not realized how much of my time here would be (or should be) spent just walking around and socializing.  By my nature, I prefer to be out working under the sun and sweating; and I really expected to be doing more of that here.  We seem to be stuck on an “I’ll let you know” treadmill; people don’t mind talking to us about work stuff, but motivating them to actually set up a time and place is maddeningly difficult.  I’ve been more willing to just say, “well, how about Friday?  No?  Then how about Saturday?”, until they either say, “I’ll let you know”, or actually cave and set up a day.    

Since just walking around and talking to people all day would drive me crazy, I’ve started a coffee and tree nursery and am working on putting together the Peace Corps Panama Coffee Challenge.  I’m also training for a marathon in August, which fulfills the fourth Peace Corps goal- provide free entertainment to your community through crazy gringo antics. 

I alternate between resignation and hope with my numerous coffee projects, but recent events have definitely swayed me towards hopeful.  Most importantly, I’m very interested in my thesis work, and I know I’ll be able to pull it off effectively during the coming harvest. 

I’m working on organizing a cupping competition for producers working with Volunteers throughout Panama.  The proposal is being circulated among Peace Corps staff right now, and I plan on seeking funds and working out some of the details very soon. 

We had a coffee quality talk at our site that was maybe the most successful thing we’ve done so far.  Around 20 coffee producers showed up, a very good turnout for any sort of meeting in this area.  It went better than we’d even dared to hope, with us talking a bit, our regional leader and coffee coordinator talking a bit, and plenty of the producers discussing things and sharing info, which was the best part.  We focused on easy and inexpensive things they can do to improve the quality of part of their harvest this year, and told them about how we are looking for a good market that will pay a better price for this coffee.  Our regional leader is very fluent, and explained the concept of folks who are very willing to pay more for high quality coffee (which is not well understood here) with comparisons of things that they do pay more money for when seeking higher quality, like sombreros and meat.  We had several of the people who are successfully using some of the methods we are pushing talk to the group, which was maybe the best part, since these producers are much more likely to listen to their neighbors than us, and it is increasingly apparent to us just how little information flows from one producer to another under normal circumstances here.  Still, I find it depressing just how much people hone in on hurdles rather than on how they can jump them with many of these things. 

So far, two attendees at this meeting who we really only knew in passing have had us come by their coffee plots or houses to talk more about management and details of how to improve their quality.  This makes me very happy. 

Our neighbor, Sebastian, is a super smart guy who keenly sees business opportunities everywhere and just jumps in to fill the demand.  He makes really nice hand-crafted doors, wooden tool handles, and beds.  He not only grows and processes coffee, but roasts it, grinds it, packages it, and sells it to small grocery stores in the city, therefore making a much higher profit per pound.  When the local cooperative went belly-up, he bought their small coffee processing plant, and he wants to use it this year.  He doesn’t have enough coffee himself to make it worthwhile, but he has talked to me about setting up a small group that pools their coffee and does a good job of processing.

Organic Fertilizers and Methods

I view this topic as one of the most important in Chitra, and talk about it often.  Many producers here have plots way up in the hills where they grow vegetables, corn, etc.  These are often a 1-2 hour hike one-way, and all this walking seems ridiculous when they have plenty of land around their houses.  This nearby land, though, is depleted of nutrients, and they would rather their plots continue to creep up farther and farther into the National Park than buy fertilizer.  So I preach the good word about organic fertilizer.  There are a ton of cows, so plenty of cow poo, there is a ton of coffee, so plenty of coffee parchment.  Toss in some ashes from their inefficient cook fires, and de repente, you got fertilizer.  We make and use this stuff mixed with terrible soil and grow beautiful tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots.  The current reality is that very few people are doing this, and the excuses vary, but always reflect that they don’t think it’s worth it, or aren’t quite sure they know exactly how to make it.  Chemical fertilizer is $22 for 100 lbs., which is naturally more expensive than it was five or ten years ago, but still pretty cheap.  I talk about just how much free fertilizer they could make in the 4 hours they would spend hiking up the hill and back, and also how the details aren’t important, they can just throw in those three things, and they’ll eventually have fertilizer.

My Spanish is improving, and I feel much more confident just striking up conversations with whoever is around.  It is entirely likely that no one will remember any of the agricultural stuff that I’m doing, but they will remember the skinny gringo who was always running.  There has still not been anyone asking us to teach them English, which is fine by me.  Someone apparently stole our cat (he went missing, and people told us that cat theft is common here), but our dog is still around, which is fortunate.  Karinne has regular cooking classes with one neighbor, and I often pop across the street to hang out and chat with another neighbor, so we are continually feeling more comfortable here.  I’m increasingly content with my role as a source of info and technical expertise instead of manual labor (even though I do actually enjoy good hard work in the fields).  Still, I find it immensely frustrating when I talk to a farmer about helping him with some task on his farm, and he’ll express enthusiasm and say he’ll let me know when.  A few days or weeks later, he’ll be passing by our house or us by his, and I’ll ask him about it, and either be put off till some other time, or he’ll say that he’s already done it.  In fact, “le aviso” (I’ll let you know) has become a running joke between Karinne and me. 

My coffee consumption has leveled out at 3 cups a day, and Panamanian beer is so bad that I find myself drinking much less of it than back in the States, and occasionally fantasizing about a Bridgeport IPA or Sierra Nevada Bigfoot.  Since the rainy season has arrived, my bike is largely relegated to being a clothes hanger; the mud is just too thick. 

In the last few months one transport truck rolled over, another destroyed its engine crossing a river, and two older drivers seem to have just sort of retired, so all transport is now handled by three trucks.  This means they are almost always overcrowded (often around 20 people) AND crammed with supplies like hundred-pound sacks of chicken feed.  Two of the three have low canopies in the rear, so I can’t even sit up straight.  The other day we bottomed out the rear bumper on an underwater rock, bending it about six inches farther up.  Remarkably, the guy standing on it with bare feet (just like the kids in the photo below) didn’t even get knocked off, much less hurt.  

Thanks for the advice to always bring a book.  The most important lesson of Peace Corps life seems to be waiting with grace, almost seems to be a Buddhist principle.  Though I have to say, sometimes a book can be a distraction.  Waiting for the truck to leave Santiago the other morning, I was treated to wonderful people watching that I wouldn’t have caught if I’d been reading.  Like the Ngobe woman walking her fall-down drunk husband around the bus terminal, doing laps, trying to help him walk of the several bottles of sugarcane liquor that he’d probably imbibed, or the man an his maybe 10-year-old daughter who’d been sleeping in front of the Census Bureau in the strip mall across the street rouse themselves, pack up their thin blankets, climb the fence, and head over to catch a bus.  Drunks, Chitranos, and cops tend to rule the bus station between 3am and 6am; ideally the drunks pass out in weird, contorted positions underneath benches, ideally the Chitranos jump by the score onto a truck and take off by 4am (ha!), and ideally the cops are willing to chit-chat while said Chitranos wait till 6am for the 4am driver to drag his butt out of bed and actually show up.  Though it can be fun to watch the drunks stumble around, and occasionally talk to me, I prefer the mid-week departures back to Chitra, when there is not as big of a chance as of a dance still going on till around 6am next door.  Mostly this is because the terminal restaurant makes a bunch of French fries and fried liver when the drunks from the dance are about, and I prefer the non-drunk focused food they usually have at around 3:15AM.

September 2007

Panama Mushrooms

Lorena Stoves

Still no lorena stoves.  Honestly, at this point I don’t think I’d remember how to make one.  I begin to forget all about these, then some random guy will catch me out on the trail and say he really wants one.  So I tell him, I will come to your house and we’ll talk about it- where do you live and what day would be good?  He backpedals- this week isn’t good, better to wait for summer, a full moon, 2009, whatever.  But, most assuredly, he’ll “let me know.”  So that is that, until I see him again in three months, and we repeat the little dance, him acting more aggrieved that I haven’t built him a stove.   

Coffee Management

The local agricultural producers’ association is receiving $30,000 to help improve coffee farms from the World Bank.  At least, that was what we were initially told; we were optimistic and excited (the president seems at least somewhat receptive of our efforts).  It has become clear that they are really getting $30,000 worth of chemicals (fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide, fungicide).  This is terrible for many reasons, and the more I think about it, the worse it sounds. 

First off, the farms do not need chemicals.  I say this, and more importantly, locals say this.  When we talk to people about farm management and what their priorities are, chemical fertilizer and other inputs is almost never mentioned.  The farms are largely healthy and productive, getting sufficient nutrients from decaying leaves from shade trees to produce a decent crop.  Most are in desperate need of pruning, and people are aware of this, but don’t want to bother.  Yes, judicious application of fertilizer would help, but really only for this harvest (the president of the association was stumped when I asked how many years this money is going to be spread out over; I’m guessing just this year).  It may even noticeably reduce the harvest the following year, or cause other problems.  Better harvesting practices, notably not stripping all the leaves off in a hurried fashion, would also be important.  But for “accountability”, they are only going to get chemicals, no money to pay workers to apply these chemicals, much less to pay workers for other tasks.  I asked what would keep people from just putting this fertilizer on their beans and corn, and the president seems to think that a single technician from the ag. extension agency would somehow enforce the “coffee-only” aspect.  So, the farms don’t need the chemicals. 

The people don’t need the chemicals, either.  They already expose themselves to some nasty stuff, spraying herbicide while wearing flip-flops, fumigating trees with no mask, using outrageous concentrations (if some is good, a lot must be better), and so on.  They’ll get all these chemicals and no training on how to safely use them. 

Finally, the environment doesn’t need it.  Farmers frequently express pride at having organic coffee farms, even if they aren’t certified as such.  They hope to get their coffee certified at one point; this isn’t an unreasonable goal for the next five years, since it is happening in similar areas throughout Panama.  Now, they are going to put that off by years.  A significant portion of these chemicals will end up in the river which serves as an important drinking water source, and is the focus of another government and NGO-sponsored project to protect. 

This is just bad development practices, and the kind of stuff that I’d hoped things like the World Bank had moved past.  It is in no way sustainable, it hurts the environment, it only has a short-term (one harvest) impact, and finally, it’ll likely cause further rifts and resentment in the community, since some people have an “in” and are slated to get a lot more chemicals than others. 

8 November 2007

I´ve made 4 trips up to the coffee farm where I´m getting my samples, and it has been going well.  The rain is torrential, since we are in the height of the rainy season, but on many levels I don´t mind, since rain is less stinky than the sweat it washes away.

The roundtrip hike is around 6 hours, but I´ve whittled this down to 4.5 by running many of the downhills.  I´ve determined that running while carrying 5 samples is feasible, 7 less so, and 9 or more and I´m barely walking.  I hope to get up and have most of the samples harvested by thanksgiving, but the rainy weather is slowing down my coffee drying, creating a bottleneck there.  Still, I don´t foresee too many logistical problems (ha ha ha, I love tempting fate by writing those sorts of things). 

11 December

Since my last quarterly report, a lot has gone on.  We’ve changed sites, I’ve gotten the fieldwork for my thesis done, and the rainiest part of the rainy season has come and finally gone.  I’ve avoided any illness more severe than a cold (a noteworthy accomplishment as a PCV), hiked many miles in the mud, harvested around 100 gallons of coffee cherries, and absolutely lost all sense of what time of year it is, only to be jolted back into awareness by Christmas music on the radio. 

Moving to a new site had its advantages, but also disadvantages, naturally.  We have to start from scratch with establishing the trust and working relationships that are painfully slow but clearly necessary to get any work done here.  I have a hard time with the need for repetition- I feel like I should be able to say something, have it understood and taken seriously, and move on.  Another stage that we still are working on is figuring out who is serious about working with us, and who just figures we can get them birthday cards, agricultural supplies, free tools, etc. 

Estufa Lorenas

I’ve been thinking more and more about changing how I go about trying to build and “sell” these stoves to locals.  The version made out of mud is basically free, but a lot of work, both initially and with ongoing maintenance.  The system it replaces, three rocks on the ground or a strong, earth-filled table, is also free, but virtually no maintenance.  Sure, lorenas use less wood and produce less smoke, but those seem to be secondary concerns among people used to the three rock stove. 

By chance our next-door neighbors in both our old and new sites have lorena stoves made out of cement and brick.  These have a higher initial cost, but last many years, with much less maintenance.  I think if anyone is interested I’ll push them in that direction. 

4 December 2007 - Excerpts from Quarterly Report.

Since my last quarterly report, a lot has gone on.  We’ve changed sites, I’ve gotten the fieldwork for my thesis done, and the rainiest part of the rainy season has come and finally gone.  I’ve avoided any illness more severe than a cold (a noteworthy accomplishment as a PCV), hiked many miles in the mud, harvested around 100 gallons of coffee cherries, and absolutely lost all sense of what time of year it is, only to be jolted back into awareness by Christmas music on the radio. 

Moving to a new site had its advantages, but also disadvantages, naturally.  We have to start from scratch with establishing the trust and working relationships that are painfully slow but clearly necessary to get any work done here.  I have a hard time with the need for repetition- I feel like I should be able to say something, have it understood and taken seriously, and move on.  Another stage that we still are working on is figuring out who is serious about working with us, and who just figures we can get them birthday cards, agricultural supplies, free tools, etc. 

Estufa Lorenas

I’ve been thinking more and more about changing how I go about trying to build and “sell” these stoves to locals.  The version made out of mud is basically free, but a lot of work, both initially and with ongoing maintenance.  The system it replaces, three rocks on the ground or a strong, earth-filled table, is also free, but virtually no maintenance.  Sure, lorenas use less wood and produce less smoke, but those seem to be secondary concerns among people used to the three rock stove. 

By chance our next-door neighbors in both our old and new sites have lorena stoves made out of cement and brick.  These have a higher initial cost, but last many years, with much less maintenance.  I think if anyone is interested I’ll push them in that direction. 

Coffee Quality (non-thesis)

My goals regarding improving coffee quality to get a better price have been revised, re-evaluated, edited, and generally changed.  This is especially true based on the simpler approach to coffee processing the producers use in our new site versus the old- they don’t process it.  They harvest everything regardless of ripeness, and spread it out under a roof to let it dry and rot.  Then they peel it, and sell it for exactly the same price that producers in our old site receive for coffee that has been processed much more intensively.  At our old site, producing better coffee would be a matter of being more careful with the steps they use; at our new site, it would require them to completely change how they process coffee.  Even a rudimentary cost/benefit analysis based on coffee prices shows that it is not worthwhile to attempt this.  So mostly, I’m telling people that they get a good price for their coffee, and try to talk to them about how things are different (and often worse for producers) in other coffee producing areas.  This will hopefully allay some of the pervasive, vague feelings of being ripped-off or taken advantage of that go hand-in-hand with ignorance. 

Now most of my effort is focused on getting people to prune their coffee farms to increase production.  Some producers want to rip out their old coffee and have nurseries to replace them, but really they just need to prune.  If they do want to plant new coffee, I’m encouraging them to transplant seedlings growing naturally in existing farms, since this is much less labor intensive than nurseries, and therefore more likely to actually get done, instead of just talked about. 

Noah testing coffee bean moisture.

Coffee Quality (thesis-related)

As I mentioned, the fieldwork for my thesis is done.  It sucked up a large amount of my time over the last couple months.  I only harvested eight days in total, but processing the samples took an additional day each time, and drying the samples took a surprising amount of monitoring and stirring.  Each of the 45 samples is likely double the volume needed for cupping, but I wanted to have extra, just in case. 

Trying to explain such an “investigation” to locals has been problematic, since it is a bunch of new concepts, and I don’t think many of them really have any idea what I’ve been doing.  In fact, many think that my coffee dryer is actually a coffee nursery, and keep asking how many plants I’m growing.  Some continue with this idea even when I’ve told them 5 or more times personally that it is indeed a coffee dryer, and that baking coffee in the sun is a sure way to have it not sprout.  They still seem to just think I have an enormously unsuccessful nursery.  Another related issue in understanding this is that many producers don’t understand that coffee can vary significantly in quality and taste; it is like trying to explain rye, sourdough, and pumpernickel bread to someone who has only had the cheapest white bread. 

Still, the owner of the coffee farm that I’ve harvested my samples from is very sharp; she understands what I’m doing, and even why it is worthwhile.  I’ve been very lucky to have a well-managed farm to get samples from; especially considering our site change came right before the coffee harvest began.

I’m making arrangements for the cupping to evaluate processing defects with a very respected and professional coffee lab, run by Dr. Maria Ruiz, of Casa Ruiz, one of the better and more cutting-edge large coffee producers in the country.  This will probably happen in late January. 

Today we discovered the great resource of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Lab library.  Good access to online journals, and a pile of hard copy journals as well; I may go back tomorrow morning with a list of the stuff I haven’t been able to track down from my bibliography wish-list and see how much I can turn up.  It is located next to one of the busiest, dirtiest, loudest intersections and business districts, yet somehow they have created a comfy, clean oasis for research. 

Overall, I feel very lucky.  I love coffee, and every aspect of this project has been fun, rewarding, and satisfying.  The plot I took my coffee from is beautiful- great view, cool climate, healthy coffee plants bursting with bright red cherries.  Normally I so enjoyed harvesting the coffee that I would have to set a specific time to drag myself away from the farm.  I would generally start hiking to the farm from my house at around 5AM, pick until early afternoon, then start the processing, and haul my coffee back home, ideally arriving before dark.  The 13-mile roundtrip in ankle-deep mud, often hauling 20-40 lbs. of coffee was tiring, but never too brutal.  Even just reading various papers and references on coffee quality and soaking up tons of information is enjoyable

17 March 2008 - Excerpts from quarterly report

My wife and I returned to the U.S. on March 7^th.  It was impressive- we got a sack of rocks (for Karinne’s thesis), a bike, a dog, and luggage from Panama City to Harrisburg, PA with no damage, lost bags, or even hassles. 

After having complained ad nauseum for a good chunk of the time we were in Panama about the food, particularly the dependence on chicken and rice, we found it pretty funny that we ordered exactly that- chicken and rice- for our first meal back in the states.  I guess we adapted.  That may end up being the most valuable set of lessons from the Peace Corps- flexibility, patience, adaptability, and seeing things from others’ perspectives more easily. 

The most successful project I had during this quarter was likely the yard sale on our last day in town.  People popped out of the woodwork, and bought weird stuff, mostly for the novelty of it and because it was very cheap.  Some folks who wouldn’t even talk to us suddenly parked themselves on our porch, acting very friendly, scoping out the goods ahead of time, peaking in the kitchen and making offers on the stove and coffee grinder.  One woman who I barely even knew didn’t hear about the sale, and came by after almost everything was sold; she got angry she had missed it, and reprimanded me for not going by her house and telling her about it ahead of time.  Pretty funny.