Megan Unbounded

For my birthday, I had planned to go to the movies but decided that I would rather stay in the community and play some traditional American games with some of my community members like an egg race on a spoon, water balloon toss, and three legged race! It was fun and they enjoyed their time. At first some of my neighbors were scared to play and after we got going, more and more people wanted to come toss around the balloons or try to balance their egg on a spoon! After my birthday celebrations, I went to the local clinic near my community to help out a group of American doctors that came to give medical attention and treatments for free. Some other Peace Corps Volunteers that came helped to translate as well and we got to check out the eye surgeries. After the week, we helped the doctors complete over 50 eye surgeries, take of interesting growths on people, and handout medical supplies to the local Panamanians that cannot afford to visit a doctor. I g...

It is that time of year when the celebration that basically all Panamanians look forward to is Carnival! I would say it is like the United States Mardi Gras due to similar timing and the party can get a bit wild and crazy. It is about four days since the party really starts on Saturday and up until Fat Tuesday. So I think it is still a very unique experience and a cultural moment that people who are not from Panama to experience! Everyone is in party mode and the atmosphere is fun, especially the larger cities that are really well known, Las Tablas, Chitre, and Los Santos. Smaller Carnival celebrations but still popular locations are in Penenome, Capira/Chorrera, and Panama City. Also, places near the beach I heard are fun as well because after all day out in the sun, it is relaxing to chill by the ocean, so Las Lajas is a good destination as well in Veraguas, Panama. They are really big on beauty queens so they will have the parades with pretty women and the special thing about ...

The coconut had a manzana! (or apple) and it has a foamy texture and a sweet taste. To make the coconut milk, first shred the coconut into small pieces with the shredder and put into a bowl.  Next, add water so that it covers all of the shredded coconut and start squeezing the coconut, water mixture to release the milk. Do this multiple times until the water and coconut mix become more and more milky! Now, strain the water and coconut mixture to rid of the small pieces of coconut from the milk and voila! You have fresh coconut milk to enjoy :) Also, once you have this milk mixture, it is very easy to make coconut oil. You only need to cook the milk in a pot for, well quite awhile, until the milk starts to turn into an oil. There will be a white, chunky reside like fat that will start and beneath is the coconut oil! This tree bark tea is so delicious!! And now that you have made the coconut milk, you can start cooking the milk with the tree ba...