There is no average day in my life. I have 2-4 scheduled events that I must attend every week (unless there is something more important to do), which include teaching environmental ed classes and holding community meetings about conservation-related activities. The rest is up in the air, and the flexibility of each day is at the same time exciting and frightening. I was essentially dropped into a community with a general assignment (conservation), with nothing but a sense of responsibility to drive me each day, the only supervision being quarterly reports and meetings.

I own a day planner, not to organize my numerous activities, but to fulfill my Americanized insticts of productivity, and to write something down each day. If this didn't happen, there is a chance that little would be accomplished. Ever. This being said, an average day in Panama may proceed as follows (or be completely different):

6:00 am - wake up with the rising of the sun and noise of screaming neighbor kids or screeching howler monkeys, and debate whether to use the next hour (the only coolish hour of the day) to exercize or continue sleeping

7:00 am - shower and breakfast

8:00 am - read or leave for David city to run errands and visit agencies (once or twice a week)

9:00 am - make lesson plan for environmental ed classes, plan task for current projects, clean the house, phone calls, etc.

10:00 am - teach a class for a couple hours (twice a week)

12:00 pm - lunch

1:00 pm - nap

2:00 pm - visit community members or do work around the house and garden, attend meetings or visit the beach, depending on the weather

6:00 pm - dinner

7:00 pm - darkness falls. alone time reading, playing guitar, listening to music, texting friends, or staring into space, depending on my mood.

For a Type-Aish American, there are some moments when a semblance of structure and routine is sanity, although the hammock is a force that can be difficult to fight.

This is the lifestyle of rural Panama: entirely dependent on the seasons, the weather, the family, and neighborhood gossip. Falling into pace with the culture is to leave the day planner behind and succumb to the forces of nature, whether it be the rain, the heat, a sick kid in a nearby town or the lack of running water for the day. Daily life revolves around these details that become the center of conversation of the day. -"Qué calor, ¿verdad?"
-"Si, va a caller el agua en la tarde..."

The future is a vague hope of winning the Sunday lottery and the past is what got you to the present. Yes often means no, and the word no is simple never used as a response to a request. Mañana may mean tomorrow or next year. Ahora may mean in a few minutes or later this week. The vagueness of these words exemplifies the daily "routine": do what you have to do to make the plata, fulfill your family role, and spend the rest of the day as Dios quiere. Y mañana? Who knows.