Making our way to the training site, this is a sketchy little bridge that we have to cross, although i think sometimes it might be safer just to jump.











When i wake up in the morning i sit here and enjoy my coffee, it doesnt get much more relaxing than this for the start of the day.

This my back yard, my house is on the hill to the left, so no the shack is not mine it is my neighbors. It is really nice and mellow here, the old man who lives here is nice and always likes to talk.














This is along the trail on the way to the training site, i have to walk it every day rain or shine. It is really beautiful and calm, except for the occasional snake here and there, but that is what the machete is for.










This is our training site, pretty rustic huh. This was built by the last group that came through, they call these ranchos, almost every family has one. They are really nice because this is where you hang your hammock up and read a book.

well this is my first posting from panama. man this country is great, it is so beautiful and mellow. i am living in a small place called santa clara, it is about an hour and a half outside the capital. it is really small about a thousand people dispersed through the mountians. it is jungle everywhere i look, monkeys and rain is the name of the game down here. the pace of life is increadibly slow, exactly what i was hoping for. the training is pretty easy, i got the second highest score on my language test, the guy who beat me out was a native speaker from mexico. so i kind of have that area covered, on monday i begin my indigenous language training which should be really interesting. we are the only two that are allowed to begin so it looks like we will be facing the challenge alone for the next few weeks. for the most part i am loving life down here, having served in bangladesh has made my life so much easier here. it is pretty funny because i am the only returned volunteer, so some of my stories from bangladesh have really freaked the group out. they kind of see me as a leader, which i think is even funnier. i guess i will figure out how that works soon enough.
we had machete training yesterday which was also funny because i think that it was the first time that some of them had raised a hand in hard labor. i had to impart some of my surveying machete skills apon some of them, i think that they think that people from arkansas are crazy. but that doesnt bother me, i am the first arkansan that many of them have met so i am trying to make a impression that is impossible for the rest of you to live up to.
so my job looks like it is going to be really interesting, we hike through the mountians and jungles looking for good sources of water and then figure out what it is going to take to get it to the village. it is right up my alley, although many of the other trainees have a much more technical background than myself i.e. engineering, all that goes out the window when the first mosquito lands on your arm. as it tuns out my surveying experience is all that i am going to need, which was how to rough it out in the woods all day.

so anyways i have some pictures that i am going to try and post later today if i still have a chance. i hope everyone is well and that this adventure will be as intriguing as the last. do keep in touch through email if possible, if not oh well. take care.
el diablo blanco

well off i go. my flight leaves tommorrow, and then there is no turning back. well maybe not, but i doubt i will be unless there is excessive force. the more that i hear about panama the more excited i am, our training site is on the beach from what i understand. i really cant wait, but i will have to because my flights will last the duration of the day, that is what is bad about traveling with thirty seven people, we have to provide extra time for everyone. it is kind of funny because everyone here is sooooooo nervous, i think that i am the only one who is completely care free. i am also the only returned volunteer, which has made for some interesting conversations. i think it freaked some of the people out when i told them that our group was evacuated. oh well, all i know is that i am going to the beach and i already speak some spanish so i am ready to rock and roll. with that i leave you in the USA and the next time i update this i will be in central america, but that may be a few days.
signing off on the eve of yet another adventure.
the now "panama jack"

This is along the hike we took, these glacial lake were unreal. Despite the clouds it was still a really nice hike.















This is the place where i went trekking, we hiked up to the mountian that you see in the fore ground. despite the distance it was a really nice hike and it was really nice when we finally made it there.











This is the town Bariloche that i wrote about two weeks ago. As you can see there is a nice view of the lake from just about anywhere in the city. This church was really neat, it was about two hundred years old (i think). it was really hard to leave this place in the end, it was absolutely amazing.

well this looks like the end of my trip, it has been really fun and amazing experience. one thing it has done for sure is confirm that i want to come back as soon as possible. although it lasted only three weeks they were great. i am ready to move on to panama, i am excited to see what awaits me there (malaria).

right now i am sitting in my hostel waiting until seven tonight when my plane leaves. i hate this waiting stuff, it drags on forever. as it turned out i didnt go to iguazu falls up north, fortunately i happened across a couple of people that just returned from there and they told me that there was hardly any water. so i got luck by stumbling across that little piece of information, otherwise i would have sat on a bus for eighteen hours (one way) just to see some waterfalls that were weak due to the lack of water. so instead i hung around buenos aires, it is a really cool city. it has a lot of really neat architecture and an amazing night life. they dont even leave for the bars until two or three in the morning, and when they do go out they have a good time. although i must say that i am ready to come home, i cant keep up with these people.

i have been having steak dinners every night for the past five days, the kicker is that it only cost five dollars for a porterhouse and six dollars for a tenderloin. of course that doesnt include the wine which is an extra three dollars. so on average i had a massive steak and a bottle of wine and a salad for less than 10 dollars every night. needless to say i am ready to have some good pasta or a hamburger, i dont think that i can eat anymore steak.

well when i get home i will post the pictures from my trip, believe me i have a lot of them. so hopefully you (whoever you are) will get to see the pictures from this trip in the next couple of days.

jack