More adventures

This year Panama has been having a drought.  Normally it doesn't rain for three months or so, but this year the rainy season has been very slow in starting.  So slow, in fact, that there is not enough water to run the hydroelectric plants.  Last week school was called off nationwide for three days to save electricity.  This affected public and private schools from kindergarten through the universities.   Businesses also faced restrictions on power and air conditioning usage.

Since there was no school, we decided to set out for a visit the hamlet of La Peña where a few of our students live.  We had driven through it in the summer on our way to the beach, but you see a lot more when you are on foot instead of hanging on for dear life as the pickup truck lurches from one bump to another.  We took the pickup truck to the nearby town of El Toro, where we met the newly arrived Peace Corps volunteer, Joan.  It was a beautiful morning as we set out for the village, about two hours away.  Joan's dog Bobby, which she inherited from her predecessor, kept us company.  

Steve and Joan with Bobby

We could see our destination in the distance, on the ridge between the two clumps of pines in the center of the picture.  All of the pines in our area have been planted by people.  They are not native to the area, but they grow very well in our red clay.  Unfortunately the needles take forever to decompose and they make the soil even more acidic so that other plants have a tough time growing.

You can just see the Pacific to the left of the village

Soon we arrived at La Peña (the rock).  It divides the provinces of Herrera and Veraguas.  We climbed up for a better view

You could see the whole Pacific coast from there.

Of course we had to visit the family who has children in our school.  As we headed for their house, we were in awe of their spectacular view.  They live in the clump of trees right in the middle of the photo. with a view of the entire Pacific coast.

They had a huge turkey roaming their yard.  We had to restrain Bobby from chasing him.

We had lovely views on the way back.

When we got back to El Toro, we stopped by the house of someone who Joan knew just as a thunderstorm hit.  Everyone was glad to see the rain, as crops had already been planted and were struggling.  As the rain eased off, Steve and Joan knocked a few mangoes off a tree to take home to Chepo.  Chepo is about 700 feet higher than El Toro, which is just enough to be too cool for mangoes to grow well.  The family had a few hundred mangoes of various types all getting ripe at the same time, so they didn't miss the thirty or so we took with us.  There are so many in the season that you can't buy them anywhere.  No one can sell them because everyone has them.

We got back to the house with our load of mangoes just in time to meet Nico, a fellow PC volunteer who was also taking advantage of school being called off.  The next day we climbed the Alto del Higo once again with Nico and a couple of our neighbors.  

Nico, Diego, Michelle, Heather and Steve

Nico climbed the tower and got the view of the Pacific with Michelle.  

The tower is 100 feet high, but once you clear the treetops (around 30 ft), the view doesn't change much from there to the top.  The only reason to go higher is to prove to yourself that you can do it, or just for fun.  Michelle had been on the tower before, but didn't go very high.  This time she was determined to go to the top.  She stopped off a couple of times along the way, but was very proud of herself when she got all the way to the top.

On the way down, we had to stop at the swinging vine.  The end of the vine is around seven feet off the ground, but if an adult pulls on it, the tree to which it is attached will bend down so that the vine is low enough for a kid to grab onto.  You can pull the vine back further, like loading a slingshot.  When you let go, the kid will fly through the air.  They love to do this, and would stay all day if we let them.

Further down, Diego and Michelle raced ahead of us.  All of a sudden we met them coming back towards us.  They had surprised some capuchin monkeys, and it scared them as much as it scared the monkeys.  They couldn't wait to show us where they had seen them.  Luckily, we were able to find them not far away and took some long-range pictures.

In other news, this year we are both on the school committee for improving the school grounds.  One of the projects was to paint the school bus stop.  As you can see, there was a lot of graffiti one the walls.

The finished product

As you can see, there is already dirt on the walls from the kids kicking soccer balls into it, but there is no graffiti yet.

Angel and Alexandra pose for a picture as the painting goes on.  Angel's mother is the head of the committee.

Most of the stoves we have been making in Chepo have been mud brick ones.  This family decided to try with store-bought bricks and cement.  The design is very similar.  This one works quite well.

They wanted two stoves of different sizes, but they were one brick short on the bigger stove.  This hen takes advantage of the situation.

We often make cookies to give away to visitors.  The Panamanian tradition is to always give a visitor something to eat or drink, whether it be a cup of coffee or a plate full of rice with chicken (their signature dish).  We would be remiss if we didn't have something on hand.  The most popular items have been banana or plantain bread, popcorn, and any type of cookie.

Oatmeal cookies are a hit!

Just in - good news! Not only did it start raining in the drought-stricken areas of our province, but the school's new well is finally operative.   The school's water supply had been officially tested and found to be non-potable several months ago.  Many of the boarding students have been having stomach problems, which we hope will go away with our new, clean water.

That's it for now!

Steve and Heather