So this is my first posting after visiting my new site, my what a beautiful place it is. As you can see by the pictures it is on the ocean, i mean right on the ocean, my host family lives about twenty feet from the water. The really dark picture with the purplish sunset is from the kitchen window of the house i am staying in. The people are really friendly and ready to start working. But for the time being they are very interested in sharing their way of life with me. The are convinced that i must master ngobere (the language), i also must be a very strong kayaker. they are providing one for me so i can fish and go snorkeling. I actually suprised them when i proved able to do both fairly efficiently. We went fishing out on the open water (the ocean) in a small dugout canoe, i caught eleven fish as opposed to his twenty five, but i figured that was a good start.
That night we had a fish fry and all ate together, it was really cool to go out get your food and then prepare it that night. We also went up to the finca (farm) to pick vegtables and fruit to go along with the fish, it was one of the most healthy meals i have eaten in a long time.
I have also been officially named, which will stick for the next two years; Tuchi (pronounced "toochi"). It means little teeth, but it actually comes from an old man that has since left the village, the felt as though i was going replenish the wiseness of the village, little do they know. I have to admit i really love the place, they are some of the most kind people i have met in a long time, i cant even begin to explain how lucky i am. they took me on a hike through the rain forest, it was really amazing. we hiked for about an hour more or less, traversing through the mud and trees and foliage. when the trail finally began to drop out of the mountians we crossed a small stream and all the brush fell away, we had a arrived to a small deserted white sand beach with crystal clear water flanked on both sides by coral and islands scattered about one hundred yards off shore. i couldnt believe my eyes, it was on of the most beautiful places i have ever seen in my life, and it is only an hour walk from my house. i might be the luckiest volunteer in the peace corps.
This picture is the view that my house will have, the house that has yet to be built but is just
around the corner. it is on the side of the mountian above the village, they picked it out for me. It is absolutely incredible, as may be obvious from the picture. there are people that would pay big bucks to wake up to this view of the carribben in the morning, and here i am enjoying it and everything else for next to nothing, only a couple years of my young adult life. i wouldnt trade it for the world. Anyways there is more but i cant even begin to explain it, it is just one of those things that you have to see for yourself. I will write more when i get back to Panama City and have more time.

Take care and wooooooooooo piiiiiiiig soooooieeeeee, i leave town and we win, oh sweet irony.
Signing off,
Panama Jack, aka Tuchi