Sierra en Panamá: Jatuaita Kwitubtä

I’M DONE. I can’t believe it.

Well actually, I’m not done. I have a whole 11-something months of Peace Corps left before I am actually an RPCV. But I have finished two years of service in Cerro Gallina and it feels really good.

My despedida on August 28th was a day I will never forget, and I want to tell you, my dear readers, about it in detail so you can envision my last day as a Cerro Gallina resident.

On Monday morning, I hiked out to purchase all of the food & supplies for the party. Good thing I live frugally because I used over three-quarters of my monthly stipend on just this single meal!! It was so worth it though. The shopping list included 100 lbs. of rice, 65 lbs. of chicken, 45 lbs. of vegetables, 5 kg. of tomato paste, etc. My host brother Victor met me at the road with Mogo (my host family’s two horses are named Cariñoso and Mogo, “Caring” and “Idiot” respectively) to load him up with all of the goods to hike them to the community. He was an hour late and there was a downpour, all was well though. The women got to work salting the chicken and a barrage of people arrived at my house. I had been running around like crazy the past two days and was pretty wiped, and all of a sudden I got the worst stomachache, like I actually had to lie facedown on my yoga mat on my front porch while Jairo, Dionicio, Melvin, Carmen, Dominga, etc. continued to hang out at my house haha. But I made some mint tea and eventually they left and I was able to finish making some posters and prepping for the next day.

On Tuesday I woke up early to do a last-minute load of laundry (maybe my last time washing my clothes in the creek, sad!!), made breakfast, and then starting hauling things from my house to the galera, the location of the party. Corbyn showed up and helped me a ton. My five chefs Benita, Dominga, Ana, Lleya, and Celia and cooking pailas arrived, and people started coming around 10 AM. I made the rounds talking to people while trying to arrange all of my stuff around the galera for the raffle. Charles, Jake, Raúl, and DJ also came! Before the food, I led some games for the kids (and adults, let’s be real haha) - balloon stomping, pass-the-orange-without-using-your-hands, marble tossing, and a slingshot competition. The gente trickled in and then came in droves. To my surprise, nearly every household in my community came to the despedida, which meant the world to me. The food was finally ready around 3 pm, and we had a short program with Reynel as the master of ceremonies. My host mom Benita led a prayer, then I gave a welcome. The floor was then opened for the gente to speak, and Victoria, Luciano, Javier, Dinora, and Clemente gave some heart-warming palabras of gratitude to me :) Then I gave my speech. Honestly I don’t remember what I said, haha. I tried to write something beforehand, but then I just said screw it and spoke from my heart. It was mostly various words of thanks, of how much my community has enriched my life forever and made me a better person. Then we ate! The cooks had made three pailas of rice, two of guiso, and one of potato & beet salad. There was enough food for everyone, and that was the only thing that mattered to me. I was the last one of 170+ people to eat and there was a liiiiittle bit left over - success! Then the piñata, the raffle, the chaos. I don’t want to get into much detail here but I’ll say that the raffle was an utter disaster. I distributed a number to each person and called them one by one to choose an item. But no one could even see the items available because there were so many people pushing & shoving. Between Reynel, who is a muscular police officer, Corbyn, and I, we literally could not control the crowd descending on my stuff! But in the end, I was just satisfied to get rid of all of my things - most of my possessions honestly, I didn’t bring much to San Félix - and hopefully my gente will enjoy the recuerdos they received.

And then by the time the raffle mayhem subsided the sun was sinking, and I hardly got to actually say goodbye to anyone. I wanted to give everyone hugs and proper goodbyes, but it’s okay because I’ll come back to visit this upcoming year and see the important people. Some kids and teenagers came to my house, and Dinora and Jeuris actually kissed me on the cheek when saying goodbye, it was the sweetest thing. Corbyn and I hiked back up to the galera with our solar lamps, and it was a MESS. We cleaned a little but got hungry, so we went back to the house and made stovetop pizza. Enrique & family came over for a final movie, so I put on Zootopia out on the porch while Corbyn and I sat on my floor and ate pizza. I was so grateful to have a PCV friend with me for that last night in site so I wasn’t alone.

The next morning, Luisa, Enrique, Dionicio, Reynel and various other gente came over. They helped me finish cleaning out the house (read: took all the stuff that was left over haha), we took some last-minute photos, and I closed El Castillo Kwitubtä and handed over the key! I already miss my house. I said goodbye to my host family and Enrique’s family one last time. Dionicio helped me carry my stuff to the Gallina entrada. I stopped in Mesa to gift Chavelita my favorite non-stick skillet and spatula because she couldn’t make it to the despedida. And then I was off!

A shout out to my community members that made the two years vale la pena. I wish I could write about each person individually and what they mean to me, but there are too many so I am going to list them. These people are my family and each one of the names below has made a lasting impact on my life.

Thank you to mi papa Victor, mi mama Benita, Victor nuevo, Diana, Jairo, Debora, Walter, Pricila, Roderik, Tito, Nulio, Lleya, Domingo S, Ever, Roger, Reynel, Enrique, Ana, Tatiana, Elvin, Ana Doris, Dionicio, Claudina, Rosibel, Melissa, Yoriel, Melvin R, Luisa, Eduardo, Yesi, Lucila, Lucelina, Ehinar, Emil Yohany, Clemente “Chiduli”, Emilia, Rodolfo, Dalky, Hiraldo, Juliana, Melquiades, Dominga, Vidal, Jorge, Melvin P, Oscar, Carmen, Xavier, Leila, Yolinda, Edilsa, Emiliana, Julio, Felicia, Asaiel, Petra, Alejandro, Gloriela, Justavino, Marcelino, Elsa, Miriam, Leopoldo, Daniel, David, Victoria M, Milton, Henry, Marita, José, Chavelita, Rudy, Carmen, Marisabel, Jackson, Dinora, Jeuris, Christian, Rustia, Ernesto, Fidel, Tomasa, Walter, Raquel, Yelenia, Danitza, Nila, Reynaldo, Fermina, Victoria P, Hilda, Moises, Venancio, Cecilia H, Carolina, Gloria, Rosa, Plinio, Edgar, Maicol, Juanita, Luis, Aminda, Nina, Hilario, Celia, Manuel, Vladimir, Maira, Darinel, Ubaldino, Cindy, Dina, Rosa “Bei”, Meibi, Javier, Girljolie, Gracie, Merilyn, Winner, Isaías, Casilda, Catherine, Joel, Yosel, Nereyda, Isaías nuevo, Manuel “Otilio”, Ermelinda, Maritza, Eugenio, Felix, Ylka, Marisol, Elieser, Amado, Fredy, Gabriel, Calixto, Israel, Cecilia M, Simeon, Manuel R, Luciano, Marta, Rigoberto, Javier R, Yolanda, Jacquelín, Juana, Domingo R, Rosina, Aisa, Edgar, Minerva, Lucas, Roswell, Minerva nueva, Adriana, Monica, Adrián, Valentín, Dioselina, Melida, Javier, Tatiana P, Tatiana nueva, Elida, Vladimir, Geronimo, Ester, Emilio, Elodia, Israel P, Dori, and MANY MORE people (whose names I may or may not know haha) from my community. As well as all of the gente from Cerro Mesa, Salto Dupí, Soloy, Hato Julí and various other parts of the Comarca whom I also consider family.

"See you on the other side, my family. -Bei"

Juan, Yohany, Lucila, and Jonathan. Partial muchach@ squad

Matando la piñata Diego

Yoriel, Ana, me, Dionicio at their house

Dinora, Lucila, and Carmen. Seeing them grow up these past two years has been a delight.

BYE

I’m now living in San Félix, Chiriquí! I spent a week and a half in Panama City meeting my new volunteers, getting in some much-needed friend time, daily ice cream, and relaxation, and learning how to be a Regional Leader in training at the Peace Corps office. I’ll write another post soon with all the stuff I’m working on now as the Comarca RL.