Bocas PCV s have a lot in common, which I presume could be said by all other PCV residing in the same province. We all work in a province with a fascinating history and people. And like you guys, we dedicate ourselves in meeting each of our program's objectives and meeting the challenges of in ing the other 2 programs to better meet our communities needs. What sets us apart though is that we live over 10 hours away from the office and pretty much limit our visits to Panama City to 1 visit every 2 to 3 months. In which case we are known to be the mystical Bocas Volunteers , loners of the Peace Corps World in Panama. However, our loner/independent/libertarian party status (what have you) just describes our relationship with the office because on a regional level we have tended to rely on each other more than just on moral support.

Hello all:

I would like to share with you my wonderful experience in Dari n. On October 11, early in the morning, I went to Santa Fe, Dari n, with Janice and Ra l. The purpose of this visit was to participate in a meeting with members of the community of Santa Fe. Fortunately, Santa Fe will have a Volunteer assigned to work with the community. During the meeting the community members focused on their needs and expectations. One of the main needs of Santa Fe is the lack of a potable water system. It is sad because everybody deserves to have potable water available, especially when the community has a lot of kids.

Also Ra l and Janice explained to the participants of the meeting the obligations of a Peace Corp Volunteer and the role of the community involved.

The Volunteer assigned to that site is very lucky because people there seem to be very nice, united and humble. I am pretty sure that the PCV will enjoy it.

After the meeting we got to visit an indigenous community as well as Agua Fria #2. In Agua Fria #2 we saw the PCV Reed Palmer. As soon as we said good bye, I got a surprise. Janice wanted me to drive because I just got my drivers license. The road was ok but it had a lot of holes everywhere. As Janice said, I did not miss any hole. Sorry to my partners but I did not have any choice. I would like to know if they were worried or they were having a great time bouncing. Anyway, Darien is a wonderful place to visit and to drive.

Hello PCV s:

Here is just a brief update on approved SPA Projects. Congratulations to the PCV s * I am sure you will be pleased to find out that your project was approved. Now the harder work begins as you and your community get on the road towards implementat

ion and completion of the project. It is difficult sometimes to keep track of all the necessary details when there is so much to be done. Therefore, I am writing to reiterate some important information and send you a little assistance in reaching p

rogram objectives.

First, as you know it is your responsibility to search and bring quotations for the materials and supplies needed for the project. In that way we can inform the vendors about our financial procedures, prepare purchase orders and request for checks t

o pay suppliers.

Second, you need to complete the activity abstract (It will be nice if you turn the abstract in with the SPA project proposal. That will save me time). If you do not complete the abstract you can not get the money because we need to send copies of

the abstract, quotations and purchase order to Washington.

Third, as a PCV, you are responsible for submitting original invoices for the SPA project expenses or the expenses will be discounted from your allowance at the end of your service.

*Amy Cooper Drainage System

*Alon Terry School Lunch Room

*James Potts Integrated Farm

Just be patience. The money is coming soon.

Also I would like to inform you that at the beginning of every month I will post a list (spreadsheet) of the status of the project proposals or projects approved. You are welcome to come and check it out.

I look forward to hearing form you shortly. Bye.

We have begun the new fiscal year with the tra Continuing Resolution . Congress has not ap proved/passed the budget so we and the rest of the federal government are in modest activity time. This is something we expect annually and plan accordingly.

. In January of 2002 we will be bringing in the first Water Sanitation PCVs to assist you in the issues you have talked about for a long time. We are developing working relationships with counterpart agencies that we think will help support those PCVs.

DUM DE DUM DUM .. We are going to be the recipients of an Administrative audit by the In s General Office of PC/W. We have not had one in the 10 years we have been operating here. so it is wel comed. The team will arrive around the end of Ocber and be here for 12 days or so. It is expected that there will be some time spent visiting PCVs, but I don t know when and where etc.

I will be at the Inter American Pacific Country Director s conference in the Dominican Republic 1//22 through 10/31. I will be heading to my old site while there

Thank you to the PCVs who have offered to review and edit several documents for us. I feel it is critical to volunteer-proof them. We have about 8 volunteers so far. If you are still interested let me know. We have a few other documents that need help. Still looking for some folks to help on the layouts .

Thank you to the VAC good meetings, they are taking action and helping on some issues of volunteer policy.

Remember we are always looking for sites. We also are trying to work on planes de desarollo or a long-term de ment plan with PCVs in various areas of the country. We can cluster you and have you as a group working on the re force ment of community development of a geographic area. Then we can replace PCVs and continue on working with the community members. BUT. We need to know from you if your community or a nearby community would be a good host for a Peace Corps Volunteer to continue your work. We do have criteria for sites. 200+ people (need enough for you to have work most days of the week), some ac plish ments, a school with 5 classrooms, some active groups, etc. You can recommend a site that is not in your sector.

Let s hear from you.

How is email working as one means of communicating with you?

PLEASE! PLEASE update those locator forms. Several of them.seem VERY OLD!!!!

More updates on office moves will be forthcoming. We are waiting for some feedback from the Embassy on a building we saw and liked. The Embassy needs to assess it and tell us if it is feasible to move there from a safety perspective. Here in

Panama we seem to have the misfortune to have a building we like and then some US government entity gets bombed.

Voting. Hang on. There is the possibility of getting Write in Absentee Ballots but for the President not for your local candidates. We are investigating this now.

See you at the AVC.

Destination: Coiba

A Voyage to Hell's Island

(part 1: getting there is half the fun)

Coiba, the large island located off the southwest Veraguas coast, is notorious in Panama for its ages-old penal colony, (incidentally used at one time to train Noriega s Fuerzas Armadas) and supposedly there is a sizeable population of escaped prisoners freely roaming the island, foraging in the jungle, with no-where else to go without braving the shark-infested waters. Also living off the land are all kinds of other interesting jungle critters, including Panama s largest remaining population of scarlet macaws. The reefs surrounding the island are among the best on the Pacific coast. But you can read all this junk in the Lonely Planet (where Dodgy Scott Doggett just goes off for pages and pages, when he really should have invested his research more thoroughly elsewhere ). I m here to tell you the real deal about Coiba.

We were going there thanks to ANAM and especially Franklin Cano, who with Wendy had organized the trip and dealt with the logistics. (although logistics in Panama can be a funny thing a little ironic foreshadowing for you there). Thanks to their efforts, and the additional help of doughty IPAT guide Gilberto Alemancia, the exotic island would soon be within our grasp, for 2 solid days of rugged adventure. And despite the early hour, the bedraggled group in the lobby, dragging rented or purchased snorkeling gear, was stoked for the challenge. Destination: Coiba!

Franklin Cano, our main man with the plan, is a singular individual. Former PCV Carol Schuck was once quoted in the Vaina asking What language does Franklin Cano actually speak? This remains a valid question; he speaks a roiling and bubbling melting pot of Spanish and English, sometimes changing from one to the other in the middle of a sentence, maybe tossing in the odd Japanese word or phrase (acquired from his work with JICA), all overlaid with a uniquely Franklinesque pronunciation and rhythm. And then there s the perpetual Cano Grin: bright teeth revealed in a thousand-watt smile, framed by the mustache above.

The Cano Grin was in full effect that morning as he enthusiastically greeted us. After hugging Dawn, he grabbed my hand and pumped it firmly. I protested. What about my hug? Hey man, Franklin replied, flashing the Cano Grin. Be cool!

And so we were taken in the ANAM vehicle down to Puerto Mutis, where the ANAM launch awaited to rocket us out to Coiba. Or so we thought.

Uh, guys, there s no boat, Wendy told us, cool as a cucumber. While she, Gilberto and Franklin grappled with this interesting new development, the rest of us decided to make ourselves useful, and drifted over to the little cantina, to start pounding the Lowenbraus and admire the scenic view of derelict fishing boats, mangrove trees and muddy water. It was 7:30 in the morning. Al ready, Panamanian survival techniques picked up in our service were proving useful, and the hours passed quickly.

When the empty bottles started warping the table, and the quizzes from a stray Cosmo mag had been exhaustively analyzed the jury is out whether ears are really a major masculine erog nous zone Wendy arrived to inform us of the situation: they d found a fishing boat and a crew willing to take us out to the island. As we coughed up extra dough for gas, we were informed that the trip would take maybe 4 hours. It was already 11:30 when we had finally loaded up the boat, strapped on our lifevests (safety first!) and chugged out of the harbor. Coiba Ho! . (We should have gotten there already )

The sun blazed on the fishing boat s wooden deck as we navigated through the channels of mangroves. Some, like Michael ri Kuane Aumack, bravely manned the prow; others stretched out on the roof of the cabin; still others sought refuge within, braving the diesel fumes for some shade and a berth. Chris counterpart, who had signed up for the trip thinking he was going to a seminar, tied a plastic garbage bag over his head and stretched out to catch some rays.

Lunch was a great teamwork din mica, everyone helping to make and distribute sandwiches as well as repartitioning other citrus goodies, despite the cramped and rolling boat. The fishermen partook as well. They seemed like nice guys. One, a strapping young buck with a shoulder-length, Seattle-Style grunge coiffure, was not especially unpleasant to the eyes of the womenfolk aboard.

An hour passed, than another, than another, and still we hadn t escaped from the fractal Veraguense coastline of bays and inlets. Finally, a big, long island loomed. Coiba? Sorry guys, said the knowledgeable Gilberto, s the Isla de C baco.

Another hour passed, we still hadn t hit open ocean, the godforsaken and seemingly endless Isla de C baco was still alongside us, and the crew was starting to get mutinous. Are we there yet? people whined. The fishermen at this point kind of she

epishly confessed that the trip might take longer than the 4 hours they d originally said, with maybe 3 more hours left. It was 4 in the afternoon.

We passed some beautiful beaches to our starboard, and the surf became choppier, with large rollers breaking on the sand. Santa Catalina, famed surfing beach and Darren s site, was coming around the coastline. As we crossed through the alarmingly

big waves and tacked to the west, the community came into view. From that distance it looked like a charming little hamlet, with little puffs of smoke rising from what looked like a brush fire. No sign of Darren through the bin lars, although his house was pointed out.

We now had finally entered open ocean, and supposedly Coiba was out there somewhere. Coiba? No, that s a cloud. Coiba? Wait, pass me the binocs nope, another cloud. C-Coiba? yes there s Coiba! Gilberto said, pointing to a tiny speck on the horizon. It looks as if we still have a little ways to go.

But despite the disappointingly miniscule size of the island from that point, Peace Corps Volunteers are a resilient bunch, and we passed the time. Rebecca quizzed us with GRE verbal cue cards, featuring words such as resilient. A fishing line was dangled out behind the boat, with the hopes of snagging something. The females watched the rippling muscles of the long-haired fisherman as he operated the bilge pump. Two pelicans adopted our boat, constantly flying along side us.

Suddenly, dolphins began popping up all around us, black shiny bodies cutting cleanly through the water. A few actually leaped and flipped high into the air, for what looked like the sheer hell of it. Then, almost right after, we passed two sea turtles, engaged in what Poison, that great band, would call the unskinny bop. Being fortunate enough to witness such an incredible and rare occurrence, we immediately and instinctively raised our fists in the timeless Arsenio Hall WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP! It was a magic moment.

The clouds scudded, and gathered, and grew more ominous. The rain began to fall, first in small droplets, then ever harder. There was a mad rush for the cabin, and Maureen and I were the only ones left outside to weather the storm. Cowardly bastards. The wind whipped the rain into our faces, and soon Maureen looked like a drowned rat.

Maureen, I told her, you look like a drowned rat. Really? she said in her precise, hesitant tones. why do you say that? Well, I explained, , with your hair hanging in lank flat ribbons plastered to your head, and your eyes and face screwed up like that, I just kinda get that impression. she said, I understand. A pause. You, too, Will, look like a, how do you say, drowned rat. Thanks, Maureen. No problem, Will.

But like any tropical shower, this one soon quit, and the others cravenly crept out of the cabin. Dark was starting to fall for real now. In the distance, a tiny light glowed within the dark bulk of Coiba. It guided us, as we, like the moth, headed towards it on a collision vector. Finally , we pulled into a harbor where the phosphorescence of the large lights danced on the water. A wel ing glow emanated from the camp compound along the shore. We gingerly made our way off the boat through the warm water and got all our stuff onto the beach. At this point, I fell to my knees and kissed the sand (or thought about doing it, anyway). We had arrived. But the dark night still lay ahead. To be continued