Feliz Cumple!

Luckily, my birthday coincided nicely with my one year in site and I was able to celebrate both in typical Panamanian birthday fashion.  I asked my host mom for advice on food preparation, only to be told that if I gave her everything needed, she would make everything for me and bring it my house at the designated hour in a wheelbarrow.  As I am no expert in making large quantities of food, much less Panamanian food, I was more than happy to agree and gave her everything needed to make arroz con pollo, and ensalada de papa (potato salad with beets).  It took me a week to collect all the materials needed, and as there is no store near my house, I was more than a little concerned I would forget something essential, like rice.

I was also happy that my host mom had volunteered to make the food because that day was the second day of our junta to make bricks for our ecological stove project, stoves designed to burn more efficiently and safely.  To top it all off, I had also been suffering for two weeks from stomach cramps and diarrhea.  Needless to say, I woke up on my birthday a little anxious at how all the events were going to play out. 

The night before had been the worst so far, as I had spent pretty much all of it with intestinal cramps that resulted in nothing but frustration.  Luckily, the day dawned cramp-free, and I tentatively got out of bed, hoping that the worst was over.  I called the Peace Corps Medical Officer on duty (aka PCMO) and finally told them of my problems.  You may well be surprised to find that I had waited two weeks to tell them that there was even a problem, but I knew that they would have just told me to go to the nearest approved hospital in my provincial capital where I would have received only partially helpful advice and an IV.  I would have also had to stay the night in a hotel, and truth be told I just didn’t have time to be out of my community for two days.  It was much easier to suck it up, eat white food, and hold out until after my birthday when I would have to go to the city anyway.  After being told what I had expected, I ate some white toast and headed to what I hoped would be the last day of our work junta.

The Saturday before, we had begun our junta expecting to finish all the bricks before lunch.  That was when we only planned on making bricks for five stoves, the number of people who had told me or my counterpart that they wanted one.  As the morning progressed and more and more people showed up unexpected requesting a stove, we quickly realized that we would have to finish the bricks the following week, on my birthday.  Of course, this time around, we had already made the hole where we would make the adobe mix out of clay, dry horse manure and creek water.  The participants organized themselves immediately, some going to look for more clay, others for horse manure, and others stepping and stomping the mixture to make a smooth, homogeneous adobe for bricks.

Unfortunately, I was still not feeling 100%, and after I realized that I was unable to contribute any work, I returned to my house.  On the way, I picked up the chicken that a friend had donated for my arroz con pollo and dropped it off at my host mom’s house.  An interesting fact about chickens – when you carry them upside down by their feet, they don’t move at all.  It could have been dead, except that I could feel the warmth of the chicken’s legs, its weight, the softness of its feathers as I walked along the highway.  In a few hours, this chicken would be nothing more than shredded meat, and it would be delicious, but now it was still a loud, bug-eating, living animal.

I finally made it home and spent the rest of the day lounging in my hammock, eating nothing and trying to recuperate as much as possible before I entertained all my friends and chowed down on delicious birthday food.  Since Panamanians are always late, I had plenty of time to rest, sweep and find chairs for everyone.  The day before, I had made chocolate cake with a woman in my community.  Chocolate cake is my favorite thing to make for my birthday, and since chocolate is expensive and not traditional in this region, I was excited to share this tradition with all my friends.  To my surprise, my host mom also brought me a more traditional yellow cake for me as well.  As more and more people showed up, I was glad we had the extra cake to give out to everyone.

In the end, everyone I invited came, totaling around 30.  I stood in front by the table with my two cakes and they all sang Happy Birthday to me in English, and then in Spanish.  My birthday wish was that I would not regret eating all my birthday food, and as I blew out the candles my neighbor’s daughters smudged icing on my face (tradition).  All of my host family helped me to hand out the food, which turned out to be just enough, and before they left, they washed my dishes for me and packed up the few leftovers in my fridge.  I myself took only a little bit to eat, as I was afraid about what my happen in my digestive tract later, but my host sister scolded me saying, “no wonder you are sick!  You never eat anything!”

I went to bed that night feeling the way one should on their birthday – full of delicious food and chocolate cake, and feeling loved.

And my wish came true.