Def Poetry Slam and Embera People

1) Did you know that Def Poetry Slam was a thing in Panamanian high schools and middle schools? Panama has several national competitions during the year for school kids (English Spelling Bee, Spanish Spelling Bee, Storywriting Competition), and one of them is a poetry competition. When they say poetry in Panama, they really mean group spoken word. I did not know this until I showed up at the regional competition being hosted by my school this past week. Kids were THROWING DOWN. I mean like, I was not ready. It was awesome. I want to see more. There were groups of kids doing choreography to the poetry they recited. The poetry all had the theme of the discovery of the "Mar del Sur," which is a source of pride for Darienitas, in which this place (Darien) plays a huge role in the history of not only Panama, but all of the Americas. Maybe I'll tell you about it when I get a better grasp of history?

2) I went to the Embera comarca. The Embera are an indigenous group in Panama that have two comarcas (reservations) located within the Darien province. Peace Corps has several volunteers placed in communities in the comarcas, and I visited one this past weekend in order to give an English teaching seminar to some teachers who requested it. First of all, the teachers I met were amazing people who were really excited about the seminar and really dedicated to helping their kids (I mean, hey, they REQUESTED for Peace Corps to come give them a seminar during their Sunday, when they could have slept in or traveled or relaxed at home). The seminar went amazingly, and I plan on trying to set up some more in my region in the future.

Secondly, though, the community I visited was AWESOME. The people were super welcoming, I got to ride in a piragua (a tiny boat; the community is located on a river, so I had to take a boat to get there), and it was the most rural place I've ever been. The only places in the community with electricity were the cantinas (bars) that run off of a generator. We bathed in the river, where people also wash their clothes. (I won't go into all the uses for the river water; there's a reason there's an Environmental Health volunteer there), but I loved my visit and I hope to make more trips to the comarca. I bought a few of the woven pieces that the women make, and I bought some earring hooks for them from my town, because I think their artwork would make super cute earrings, and I told them that if they make earrings, I would buy them (and so would other people). I'm fully expecting to come into possession of some cute earrings soon.

I now have a paruma (a skirt that the Embera women wear) and it's purple and cute and it's probably made in Japan, but I plan on collecting more during my two years as a Darienita. I also plan on picking up some of the Embera language. Peace Corps and I are going to have beef soon, because they gave me no Embera book from which to begin learning, but I did get to pick up two or three words/phrases this weekend, and hopefully within a year or so I'll be able to at least have really simple conversations.

Welp, that's it for now. Ebony's coming this weekend! Also I'll be giving more charlas (talks) this week at a youth center AND moving into my house AND doing my 3-month write-up for my boss. Busy week!