My New Panamanian Diet

The first day I was here I was served delicious pancakes for breakfast, but now I am generally served hot tea, starch and meat.  I have had breakfasts of slices of white bread and bologna with peppercorns in it, hot dogs and some sort of creamy something (NOT oatmeal or cream of wheat), yucca and hard-boiled egg (one of my favorites), and cornflakes (a classic that I make myself when my host mom is not there to cook for me).  After Spanish class in the morning we return to our houses and are fed lunch, generally starch and meat.  Frequently I have had rice and chicken without a single bit of vegetables.  Also frequently I am served pasta with chicken and a side of rice.  Though, with lunch also comes chicha (juice) and since my family has an orange tree and a japonesa tree (like orange, but sweeter and not quite as spherical), we drink a lot of fresh chicha.  I even got to help make some the other day.   During lunch time I also take the opportunity to pick a japonesa or an orange and take with me to class.  This is often the only produce I eat because for dinner, I am again served starch and meat.   I get so excited now when my host mom puts carrots or celery or onions in the dishes, because I haven’t really had vegetables since we left Panamá City.  I think it’s really affecting me, too.  I have absolutely no energy and although I am not hungry, I feel really weak, as if I am imploding.  I’ve started taking vitamins, am trying to introduce more produce into my diet (I bought the last cucumber at the little store today!), and I finally got some beef last night for iron, but I still feel exhausted.  The food is good, I just wish I had some more greens.

When my host mom is around, she cooks and serves me the food, and I am still not sure if I am allowed to go back for seconds (not that I really need any, they give me a pretty substantial first portion).  Whatever I don’t eat, we give to the dogs or the chickens.  Dogs in Panamá are not like dogs in the U.S.  Yes they are furry, slobber and follow you around, but they almost all have fleas and are dirty, and are trained from very young  to socialize with each other and use humans for food.  They also aren’t treated like the pets in the U.S., given dog beds, dog food, and allowed to lie on the couch.  There are tons of dogs in the town and all of them subsist on table scraps, run around outside, are hissed and yelled at to leave the house when they come near, and are not spayed or neutered and will probably produce many more such dogs.  This is not to say that Panamanians do not like their dogs.  Many of the dogs are spoken well of and looked after.  But dogs here are more utilitarian than they are in the states, one purpose being to eat table scraps.

I should also say that there isn’t really a town square or anything in my community.  In the very center of “town,” there is a large fútbol field, a primary school, a large covered pavilion, a small catholic church that only has services once a month when the priest comes, and a small store.  There are three dirt roads that pass around this center “square” and is lined with a bunch of colorful cement houses.  The kids attend the primary school, and then for secondary they can either commute to the nearest community, or go an extra 30 minutes to the provincial capital, La Chorrera.  There are only two stores in my community that I know of, and they are all basically a window to a room of someone’s house that is lined with useful things to buy, like chips, dulces, juice, and soap.  They only have packets of shampoo and conditioner, rather than actual bottles, and they sell only a handful of produce.  I have taken to going there every morning for a guineo, or tiny banana, and I think the potassium helps.

I have been told by several volunteers that pretty much all the girls gain weight.  Despite the fact that EVERYONE has told me that this will happen, I’m still optimistic…