Happy March!  I hope the snow is quickly melting and soon the flowers will emerge. Unfortunately everything is slowly withering away here due to the lack of rain (literally it has not rained more then a few drops) since December. However, soon mango season will be upon us and I am enjoying the summer breezes and lack of necesity for an umbrella.

February was a wonderful month, full of lazily fixing up my house, traveling, and hiking. Since the students were on  summer break I found that I had a lot more free time on my hands, which was happily welcomed. I have been continuing to try to form a community group focused around protecting the hydrological reserve I live at the base of. Unfortunately it is extremely difficult to get members to commit to coming to a weekly meeting. However, I am happy to report that the community did come together at the start of the month to help eliminate individuals from another community who were attempting to invade the reserve and clear the land to sell the wood. The entire community blockaded our small dirt road so that the invaders could not enter and then held a meeting with the mayor and other agencies to ask for help. It was exciting to see the community collaborate, but I worry that if we do not start using the reserve (for eduactional hikes and tourist visits) that individuals will continue to try to take over the reserve and eventually my community will be left without water. Although I believe community members are slowly starting to understand and agree with me about using the reserve, I don't think much will actually happen in my time here; although I am hopeful for my follow up volunteer.

Within the last few weeks I also went on two mindblowing hikes. The first was with my former closest volunteer (she has recently finished her service and will be heading back to the states unfortunately) and we spent about 9 hours one day hiking in the mountains that lay just north of my site. The beautiful views and gorgeous waterfalls were some of the best I've seen to date. The second hike I did was with 28 other volunteers. Overall we spent two days hiking through the northern moutains towards the carribean coast. It was exciting to cross the continental divide and decend towards the ocean. After two truly grueling days (about 20 hours total of hiking) we arrived to the coast just as the sun was setting. This region is know as the Guna Yala Comarca and is an indigenous protected reserve that spans from the canal towards Colombia and includes numerous islands with pristine beaches. We then took a short boat ride to a small island where we stayed for two days. The tiny island was crammed with small thatched roof huts and what seemed like endless winding thatched walkways. On the second day we had the privilege to celebrate the Guna Yala day of revolution that occurred in 1925 when the group officially became it's own entity from the Panamanian government. This day was celebrated with a parade and then proceeded to a larger thatched hut where old women were smoking tabacco and everyone was drinking chicha fuerte (a sweet fermented wine). It was absolutely one of the most interesting experiences of my life to see so many tiny old women dancing, chanting and becoming extremely inebriated at about 9 in the morning. It was even more exciting to talk to the women and to hear about all of their traditions and uses of traditional medicine. Just as the Panamians have been welcoming to me since I have arrived, these women also made me feel so comfortable in their home; unfortunately I had to wonder to myself if the tables were turned and these women were in the States, if we would be quite as welcoming as they were. (I encourage everyone to do a quick google search of the beautiful clothes the Kuna women wear and a quick search on their history, as it is fascinating). The entire experience ended with a five hour boat ride winding through the islands to a road, where we then caught a ride back to site. I truly cannot think of a better way to end my first summer here.

Unfortunately, school has recently started again so my days of sleeping in, hanging out at the river, and working in my "garden" are now going to be a little bit busier. This week I will be starting to give both environmental education classes (woohoo) and computer classes (bummer) each week in the school. I will also be helping in the school garden every friday and am hoping to do some trail maintenance in the reserve on mondays. March also marks my one year in site, which is both exciting and surprising to me. This means that I've got exactly on year left (so if anyone is hoping to get in a little of the promised land action, plans should be made sooner rather than later). Overall I'm excited for what is to come in the next few months and I will try to share again soon.

Lots of love and sunshine,

Bridget