Megan Unbounded

I want to share with everyone a few things that I have learned and my overall experience while being a Peace Corps Volunteer in Panama!  I give you all the truth and try not to hide anything about how my time here! If you have any questions or similar experiences, please share!!

My time is winding down in the community so on the weekends, I'm visiting community members and cooking with them. Each weekend I'm trying to spend as much time with my Pana-mom especially. I also asked her to share any advice and words in a video just to look back at and be reminded of the great times we had together!

A couple weeks ago, I visited a volunteer to do a collaboration about baking and business topics. It was fun to work with one of the volunteers in my group and  with her community members! The lady who hosted all of us at her house was so cute and kind. Check out the video for a little more information!

My community! (click on the pic to see the video) The months are counting down and I made a video of my community to remember it. Also, I am really going to miss my English class and all the fun we have had since the past year and half or so! They were entertaining, especially when we shared American holidays together like Halloween, Valentine's Day, and the Fourth of July. In fact, I am really proud of them because a year before, they could not read or write in English but not they can! We only have a little more time to practice conversation, critical thinking, and more listening practice!  They dressed in costumes, if they wanted, and one was a ghost in a sheet and scared other classmates when they showed up to class for a Halloween celebration!

I really wanted to give you guys a tour of my PC house and garden! (video for my house but my garden in pics!) Just to share for those who are wondering about Peace Corps life, volunteer work, and etc... I have made this quick video ! (click on pic!)  I want to take a moment to talk about how much a vegetable garden or just gardening in general is a great hobby to have in ones life! I had never grown vegetables or fruits before and the only experience I have ever had in the field was helping my mom with planting flowers around the house. Now that I have started, it is something I enjoy very much. Plus, when I want to eat it, everything is all organic!  (Corn, tomatoes, ginger, and peppers)               I did receive training on how to grow certain produce through Peace Corps and from my community coming to help me in my garden! (Below one is helping me put up a netting structure for my tomatoes so they grow upward). And throu...

Each month with the newly formed tourism group, the business uses a part of their earnings to support environmental conservation, from clean-up groups to, hopefully, education in the schools. We are working on continuing the awareness of the importance of recycling! The volunteers before started the construction of recycling bins in the school so I have talked to the tourism group to start this project back up again and I am here to help with that! Before they did not have a sustainable way to transport trash and recycled products out of the community but with management and financial training (with me!), I am sure they can get it to work out, even after Peace Corps leaves this site. I found a dead fish from contaminants in the river :( And we came across a gold digger and his family while cleaning up the river!  Some are not pictured but this is the group that worked to keep our community clean!

This week I went to the mountains with the Cruz family to harvest guandu, or pigeon peas, on their farm. It was a good hike on the outskirts of the community and about 2 hours from my house. While my legs are still a bit sore, the views were awesome and it was a good day to get to know the Cruz family better. The kids are cute and every time we passed by water rapids, they would use the slopes as a waterslide! How creative :D We even walked by these trees with huge roots that were bigger than people and could even make a house under them, kind of like Avatar, the movie with the blue people lol The stories that were told on this trip, because my community likes to share stories with me, were about witches that live here and how once, a person became a frog and ate a tamale. Kids sharpening their machetes for the today's adventure! And our before picture!  We found guanabana, or soursop, too!  The walk back was so beautiful! So m...

The community aqueduct needed some repairs so I went with a community member to check out the problem with the water source. It took about an hour and a half to hike to the location over many hills (omg my legs were burning because the steepness was insane), some creeks, and farm animals hanging around. At the top of the highest hill, it was beautiful to see all of the mountains and rivers that surround the community and the lake that flows into the Panama Canal. The site of the water source was shaded and cool without many people or animals, which is a good thing to ensure that the our drinking water stays clean! though the hike was intense with many hills but it is like a natural stair stepper for a good days workout as well. On the way there, we came across some goats and I learned of a time when the community was in a bad time where something was eating their livestock and goats. I was told, it possibly a jaguar or the Chupacabra because the odd thing about the animals was that o...