Darien Part 4: And Then They Painted Me

One of the aspects of my Darien visit that I was most looking forward to was getting to experience an indigenous culture so different than the one I live in.  I had heard tons of great things about the Embera and Wounaan people from other volunteers: that they're friendly, open people, the women still don parumas everyday, they feed you a lot of food, and that you can (especially on special occasions) get painted with jagua- a dark blue dye made from a small fruit.  Similar to henna, these faux tattoos last 1-2 weeks before fading away on their own.  Said to have both medicinal and bug repellant properties, jagua was originally used as a type of camouflage to aid with jungle hunts.  Today this tradition is used mostly on special occasions and holidays and can be quite intricate and beautiful.  

Since I didn't know if I'd have the chance to return to the Comarca Emberá-Wounaan, I was determined to get painted during my short visit.  Though I'm sure the guys were tired of my daily inquisitions of the who/when/how/how much of jagua, it finally paid off and I talked a sweet Emberá woman into painting me on my last day. 

The local women's group making tortillas for a fundraiser

Jagua paint

The jagua is painted on with small sticks, cloths, and/or fingers.  While at first the design doesn't appear to be very dark, it deepens into a deep navy overnight.  Since I don't have any tattoos- and especially not full sleeves or leg pieces, I wasn't used to the range of reactions I've gotten since getting painted.  I've seen everything from disgust to looks of being intimidated to outright impressed. While sometimes it's been a little trying to be so obviously judged on a superficial element in which the observer usually doesn't even understand, it's been both eyeopening and quite entertaining.  As your mom always told you, "Don't judge a book by it's cover."  :)

My sweet little Bocas neighbors modeling some of the handwoven masks I bought in the Darien.

If you want to learn more about the Emberá or see cool photos of life in the Darien, you should check out Nick's blog here.

Volunteer Visit

Since you can only learn so much about Peace Corps in a classroom, trainees are sent to visit volunteers in the campo pretty early on so that they can get a taste of what life is really like.  For many, this may be their first time living in such basic conditions in such close proximity to extreme poverty, so it can be a little overwhelming.  Thankfully, that's what us volunteers are there for- to provide a nice little gateway!  

Last year I spent my trainee visit with Carly in what would eventually become my province of Bocas del Toro, and this year I was excited to host my very own trainees- Whitney and Megan!  

Like me, both Whitney and Megan have much deeper backgrounds in business than in agricultural production, so they too will be serving in a site more focused on agribusiness.  Though we packed the week full of activities, I made sure to warn them that life as a volunteer isn't usually that busy :)

During our first day, we spent the morning visiting my neighbors Juan and Lucia, who let us help take the fibers out of pita, a plant grown for just that.  Once she dries the long fibers, Lucia will then color them and wind them into thick strings which will be used to make the traditional chacara bags.  

After that, we hiked up to my host family's house, where I showed them the reality of life here- no water, electricity, or bathrooms.  Since that's always a little tougher to see (especially when you know that you're getting ready to be living in just such a place), we kept things light and then went to bake a cake with the grandma of one of my favorite families.  

To continue on with the baking trend, we used our sugar high to lead one of my baking and business classes, where we made coconut cake.  The huge slices afterwards almost made up for skipping lunch... almost.  

On Day 2 we focused on preparing and giving Part 1 of my Agribusiness Charla Series: Personal Finances.  Even though the rain gave us a small turnout, it was great to have help from not only Megan and Whitney, but also my neighboring volunteer Travis and his trainee, Nick.  I don't think my people have ever seen so many foreigners all together at once!  

The next morning we heated up our newly toasted cacao and made some delicious chocolates with some of the random stuff on hand.  If you can think of a delicious combination of chocolate, PB, coconut, carmel, coffee, sea salt, honey, and/or maple syrup, chances are we made it.  Best morning ever.  

We spent that afternoon hiking through cacao farms to get to our larger neighboring town where the girls purchased artisan goods from the group I've been working with the last few months.  

To send them off, we spent a rainy Saturday morning baking birthday cakes for a birthday party which, sadly, they had to miss in order to catch their bus back to Panama City. 

All in all, it was a great week filled with awesome food and good company.  I'll be looking forward to visiting Megan and Whitney in their future sites, wherever they may be, though of course I'll be crossing my fingers for Bocas :)