Notes From a Small Isthmus: 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.