Making more bricks

The dry season is the best time to make mud bricks for stoves, and it only lasts three months. There is a lot to do in a short time, and Steve has been busy.  On Wednesday he helped assemble stoves for three families who had made bricks earlier, and on Friday he helped make five more sets of bricks for more stoves.  Fortunately he doesn't have to do all of the work.  The idea is to train each family how to do it and have them do as much of the process as possible.  

Kevin, age 10, and his cousin Mayka, age 6, were some of Steve's best helpers.  Kevin made two complete sets of bricks for his grandparents and his uncle.  Mayka was a great assistant.  

Kevin and Mayka help stomp in the mud

They teamed up to make the bricks

Here Isidro shows the two sets of bricks that he made.  He is a really strong guy and the work went very quickly.

Los Ceibos again

On Tuesday we made another visit to the village of Los Ceibos.  We had visited last July, and the invitation to return was open.  Since school is on vacation, it seemed like a good time to make the trip.  Los Ceibos is a tiny village, consisting of only six houses - one extended family.  It is not often visited by outsiders because the only way to get there is by going to Chepo first and then descending over 1000 feet.  There are several steep descents, most notably el picacho.  It is very steep and full of loose dirt and gravel.  The footing is treacherous for us but the kids go down it like mountain goats, wearing nothing more than sandals.

Heather and Any on El Picacho

Los Ceibos is not on the road to anywhere.  The reason we went is because seven students from the Chepo school live there, and we wanted to see their community.  We later found out that no Peace Corps members have ever visited the village.  In fact, we also discovered that we may be the only gringos to have ever made the trip, so we got a warm welcome from the villagers.

When we got to the first house, they invited us to sit on their porch and served us a huge lunch.  We met several of the family members.  There are ten children in the family, the youngest of which are going into sixth, eighth and ninth grade.  The others all have continued their education outside Chepo and most have a university degree.  They work in cities and come back to visit from time to time.  

We were very impressed that the income from a small family farm would allow them to educate so many of their children to that level.  The family home was modest, made partly of wood walls and partly of mud walls, with a dirt floor and a roof of thatch and corrugated steel.  There is a great deal of assistance from the Panamanian government for families wanting to educate their children.  

Unfortunately the second house in the village was the one where we were also expected for lunch. Any, a recently graduated ninth grader, had killed a chicken and prepared a delicious soup for us.  We resolved that issue by going to the local swimming hole and eating Any's soup afterwards.  

This swimming hole is called el pantalón  (the pants) because the waterfall splits in two and looks like a pair of pants.  It was a half hour walk down a steep hill below the village.  It was one of the most peaceful and beautiful places we have seen. The water was cool and crystal clear.  

Ollie swings on the vine

The kids had fun swinging on a vine out over the water.  Unfortunately it wasn't strong enough to hold Steve's weight, to the amusement of all.  

Here are some of the girls who went with us to swim.  Note that they swim in their clothes.  Most Panamanian youths do not wear bathing suits. 

We waited until late in the day to avoid the heat on the walk back to Chepo.  We were pretty tired by the time we arrived home.  Here is the view on the way up, with the road to Los Ceibos in the center, following the ridge.

It looks like we will be making this trip at least twice more, because Steve offered to help make  mud brick stoves for two of the families and they accepted.  

Day at the Beach

This Saturday was the annual trip to the beach for our neighbors.  They invited us to come along with them.  Almost thirty of us piled into two pickup trucks for the journey, leaving around 7 am.  Ages ranged from under 10 to over 65.

Ready for the trip to the Torio beach

Our destination was Torio beach, about fifteen miles to the southwest as the crow flies, but much further by road.  You can see it from our local mountain.  Unfortunately the only paved roads take a very roundabout route and it takes around four hours to get there that way.  There is another, more direct route, but it involves going on back roads for part of the trip.  These roads are in such rough condition that it takes an hour and a half to travel twelve miles!  The scenery was spectacular but the trip itself was a bone-shaking adventure.  Most of the road was very steep and full of ruts.  The padding on the benches in the back of the truck had been an inch or so thick when it was new, but years of bouncing on back roads had reduced it to a small fraction of that.   The truck's suspension was ultra-stiff to handle the weight of all those people.

We arrived at our destination around 9 am, shaken from the journey but ready for a day of fun on the beach.  It was a lovely spot, with a river flowing into the ocean so that we could swim in fresh or salt water.  Palm trees provided shade when the sun got too hot.  Some people hung hammocks up between the trees.

Torio Beach

Here are some of the family members who went with us:

Librada has nine great-grandchildren

Librada, the eldest of the group, relaxes on the beach.  Fortunately there was space for her in the front of the truck.

Sisters-in-law Polin and Edilia

We left for the trip home around 4pm, worn out by the surf and sun.  The trip back was a challenge, as our bodies weren't able to handle the trip as easily as we did in the morning.   Going up the steep hills was worse because our driver had to go fast enough to make it up the hills and couldn't slow down for the bumps.  Chepo is 2000 ft above sea level, so we had a lot of uphill on the way home.  We struggled to hold on as the truck lurched around curves.   Steve found it easier to ride the back bumper and hold on to the iron frame, taking the shock of the bumps in his knees.  

Andrés (age 65+) rides the bumper with Steve

Grismaldo decides riding on top will be more comfortable

The sun sank lower in the sky as we progressed.  It set on an unforgettable day as we approached Chepo.  

The full moon rose as the sun set, welcoming us home.  We were tired but glad that we had the experience.

That's it for this week!

Steve and Heather

Youth Camp

Last week Steve was a facilitator at a youth camp for 40 kids from the eastern half of Panama.  They ranged in age from 12 to 17.  Each child was nominated by a Peace Corps volunteer, so they came from a wide variety of places, but mainly from rural areas.  There were fifteen children from The Darien, the province which borders Colombia.  Many of these were from the Embera tribe, one of the indigenous groups in Panama which have their own autonomous area called a comarca.  Almost all of the children were spending their first night out of their village and away from their family.  Quite a few of them had never met people from outside of their province, so they had a lot of new experiences all at once.  Some of them had a great time from the beginning, and some took a while to get used to the camp, but they all made tremendous strides from the time the camp started on Monday afternoon until they went home on Friday morning.

The kids were split up into four groups, each with two facilitators.  Here is the pink team with their banner which they created as a group.

There were lots of activities, ranging from yoga at 6:30 am to a tug of war on the last day.

There were several sessions on topics like self-image, self-esteem, values, goals and making decisions.  Also covered were preventing STI's and HIV/AIDS.

One of the activities was to take care of an egg for 24 hours as if it were a newborn baby.  They had to take it with them wherever they went.  Any babies left alone were snatched by the duendes (warlocks). At the end of the 24 hours the team with the most eggs left won.   Each child decorated his or her egg.

This Embera girl made a pipe cleaner cage to protect her "baby".

Albamilia and her egg

Each group had to make a tower out of plastic straws and tape.  The highest one won.

There were opportunities for cross-cultural exchange.  Here an Embera boy decorates the arm of a boy from our school in Chepo with a design that is typical of his tribe.  He has already decorated his own face.

These skirts are from the Embera tribe.

This Embera girl decorates her T shirt.

Here are some fun pictures of individual campers:

On the last night there was a talent show.  Steve and Alison dressed up as the popular tipico duo Samy and Sandra.

Here is the whole group

There is a great 3 minute video on the web about the camp.  It contains many of these pictures and some fun video clips.

https://vimeo.com/57813660

Heather was in Panama City while Steve was at the camp.  She was part of a team planning an educational leadership conference for Peace Corps volunteers in the Teaching English sector and their Panamanian counterparts.   The goal is to empower the Panamanian English teachers to be leaders and to train them in more communicative teaching methods.  The conference will take place towards the end of May.

That's it for this week.

Steve and Heather

Story Hour

It's summer in Panama, and the school kids are all on vacation.  Actually it's the dry season, but they call it summer here.  The dry season lasts from January through March, but the kids only get January and February off from school.  Heather has been having "Story Hour" weekday mornings on our front porch with the neighborhood kids.  She reads children's books in Spanish and English.  The kids get a chance to learn more English and to learn about American culture.  The books in Spanish are mostly translations of American books, so they see kids doing things they do in the US, which are often quite different from here.  For example, there are no bathtubs in Panama.  Heather had to explain to the kids that every American household has one, even though we mostly take showers like the Panamanians do.  Also, in the US we give horses names and put horseshoes on them.  In Panama they do neither one.

Heather starts off the hour reading to the children.

After a while they can choose books to read (or just look at the pictures) on their own.

Michael and Angel read their books

Notice that Michael doesn't put down his slingshot to read a book :)

A couple of weekends ago we had a visit from three Peace Corps volunteers in the nearby province of Los Santos.  We started off with a dip in the local swimming hole.

Sally and Emily enjoy the water

Little Jose found a half of a soccer ball and thought it made a nice hat.  

Back at the house, there was pizza and guitar playing.

Emily has a travel guitar and Chelsea plays her ukelele

Of course we had to take them up the tower at the Alto del Higo to see the view.

Chelsea enjoys the view from the top.

I'm flying!

Sally and Emily climb the tower

Here are the five of us on the way down.

We had a wonderfully sunny day as we descended to a nearby village.

We passed the houses of a couple of students in the Chepo school.  This is how they store their machetes.  Note that every Panamanian house has several.  

In the back yard they had a trapiche, which is used to squeeze the juice out of sugar cane.  Usually a horse walks around in a circle to run it, but today Heather did the honors.  

Here is a closeup of the apparatus.  The two rollers turn and the stalks of sugar cane are fed into the interlocking teeth.  

We continued down to the river, where we crossed the suspension bridge and hopped into the cool water for a refreshing swim.

We ended up in the nearby town of El Toro.  Unfortunately we missed the pickup truck transport home, as he left early.  We were lucky enough to get a ride home from the representante (sort of mayor) of El Toro.  It was a fun ride.

Emily snaps a picture of herself, Steve and Sally

Later that day Annie, our regional leader, showed up to liven the party.  We were sad to see them leave on Sunday morning.

That's it for now…

Steve and Heather

Spreading Cheer

In our area, various organizations come to give Christmas gifts to the children in the small towns.  Sometimes the gifts are supplied by an individual.  This year, one woman, a retired dentist from Chitré, was very generous.  She chose the small village of La Loma and gave food to each of the twelve families, and toys, sweets and clothing to each of the forty children in the village.  The date of January 6th was chosen for the event.  Unfortunately she could not attend, but Heather's counterpart Ormelis organized the event and assembled all the gifts to be distributed.  We went along to help out.

One challenge of getting everything to La Loma is that the road is too steep and eroded for cars or trucks.  There is a path which goes down a very steep hill to a stream, and then rises very steeply to the village.  There was far too much weight for us to carry, so we loaded up three horses and headed down the hill.  Daisy, the Peace Corps volunteer from La Loma, helped us.  She has her own horse.  We put the heavy food and clothing on the horses, and carried the toys by hand.

Steve, Ormelis and Daisy with the horses

This is the hill we came down

Heather leads a horse up the hill

We met this family on the way up the hill.

Once we got to La Loma, it was time to give out the gifts.  The event took place at Daisy's house.

Heather and Ormelis distribute clothing

These girls wait their turn to get clothing and toys

The girl on the left below, Yarixa, was in seventh grade and boarded at the Chepo school.  A locker fell over on her foot and broke it.  In order to get home to recuperate, she had to be carried by hammock down the steep hill and up the other side.

Yarixa, her sister and her brother

This is part of the group that received gifts.

We both took turns riding one of the horses on the return trip.  When the hill got really steep, it was faster to dismount and walk the horse.  

In Panama, men often use a wicker backpack called a motete to carry rice or corn that they have harvested.  Heather has wanted one for quite some time, and this past week we finally got one.  The men in the store laughed when they found out that Heather was going to use it for dirty laundry.

Heather shows off her new motete

 That's it for this week!

Steve and Heather