Falling off the Burro

Recently I was part of a weekend youth camp.  There were 23 kids and five Peace Corps volunteers, plus three members of the NGO which sponsored the event.  We met at the local environmental center, where the park rangers who supervise the forest preserve are stationed.

We started out with our usual activities in the subjects of reproductive health, including how to avoid unwanted pregnancy and STI’s.  In the “baby game”, a teenager finds out he is the father of a child and we dramatize how his live changes.

Oliver gets the news from his “baby mama”.

In the afternoon it was time for first aid.  The Peace Corps volunteers were the victims, and students had to diagnose and treat us.

Nate gets his pulse checked as they try to figure out what he has.

Steve holds a compress on his "machete wound" as he is helped to get to a doctor.

By far the most popular activity of the day, however, was the “burro” that the park rangers had set up.  I had used one made out of bamboo before, but this one had a very solid log which was able to spin around in a circle.  Kids often use a burro as a teeter totter, but these kids found out that it was much more fun to spin around.  It wasn’t long before a competition sprang up.  Who could stay on the longest as the burro was spun faster and faster?

As it turned out, there really wasn’t a winner in this contest.  As soon as the first person bit the dust, the other would inevitably crash as well. No one seemed to care.  The grass was pretty firm because it hadn’t rained in two months, but each pair would brush off their bumps and bruises and hop back on for a rematch.  I tried it a few times and it was a lot of fun.

Peace Corps volunteers Nathan and Lauren tried it too

Ouch!

We also had sessions on the differences between a healthy relationship and an unhealthy one.  For these teens who were thinking about the future, this was a valuable topic.  We tried to get them to have clear expectations of what behavior they were looking for and willing to accept in a partner, and also to avoid a controlling relationship.  In a machista society such as Panama’s, both the boys and girls need to find a different way of relating to each other than the examples possibly given by their parents.

After the last session on Sunday morning it was time for a short trip to the waterfall.  This is the source of the river which supplies water to our regional capital, Chitré.  There is a huge contrast between this clear water and what arrives at the city.  Actually, it became quite cloudy after a few people stirred it up, but it wasn’t contaminated as it would be farther downstream.

Steve gets some air time

All too soon it was time to say goodbye and take the final picture.  It was my last youth camp in Panama, and though I always finish these camps tired, I had enjoyed it very much.

Yet Another Waterfall!

The school vacation is rapidly drawing to a close, and kids visiting Chepo are going to have to go home to the city soon.  Three kids invited me to walk down with them to the hamlet of Los Ceibos, where only five houses are inhabited, to visit a waterfall called “El Pantalon” (the pants).

Here are my three guides for the day:  Melissa, Jonathan and Ollie. (It’s pretty unusual to have three kids here with names that are the same in English)  We started off the morning with 75 degree weather.  We were glad to be here and not in the frigid Eastern US!  

First, however, we have to go down the hill called “El Picacho”, so steep and rutted that it cannot be driven by any vehicle.  Every several years they smooth it out with a bulldozer, but the heavy rains wash away their work in a few months.  It’s been quite a few years since they did it last.

We soon came to the Los Ceibos school, grades 1-6.  There are only two classrooms, and a place where the teacher sleeps on the right.  The teacher just retired in December after 18 years of teaching here. There will be a new one starting later this month.  The enrollment of the school has been dropping steadily.  Last year they finished with seven students, and the new year will start with only three.  Evidently there is no minimum number to keep the school open!  

We got to Los Ceibos and picked up four more kids who also wanted to go to El Pantalon, even though it was another half hour down steep hills. We joined the stream above the falls and walked down the stream bed.  These kids would rather cross the stream on a fallen tree than walk across the stones!

Soon we were there, at one of the most idyllic spots in the area.  You can see the split in the falls which makes it look like a pair of pants.

There was a very nice view from the top as well

Jakelin enjoys the top of the falls.

I was lucky enough to get a waterproof camera for Christmas, and the kids loved posing for underwater pictures.

Melissa showed her underwater smile.

The kids never tire of jumping off rocks.

Jakelin takes the plunge

Surprisingly enough, these kids had never climbed on each other’s shoulders in the water.  They thought it was absolutely hilarious when I showed them, and they didn’t stop laughing the whole time that they played their first game of “chicken fight”.

The girls have the edge in this encounter

We were there for a good two hours before everyone was ready for the long hot walk back up the hill.  The air temperature was only in the eighties but the sun is extremely direct at only 8 degrees from the equator. We posed for a group picture before we headed back.  Two of the group opted out of the photo.  It’s pretty common here for kids to be shy around visitors or in front of a camera.  I had to trick Jakelin to get the two pictures shown of her above.  Other kids, though (like Melissa), will do anything to get their photo taken.

We had time for one last look at the falls as we walked up past them.  It looks like the smooth rocks would be good for sliding, but they are just too steep.

That's it for this week!
Steve

Bringing in the beans

Kidney beans are a big cash crop in Chepo and the surrounding area.  January and February are the months when people here are harvesting red kidney beans.   Since there is no level ground in Chepo, farmers have to plant on fields which are accessible only by footpaths, and they usually have several small plots planted.  Many families will harvest 25 100 lb bags of beans or more.  At $65-$70 a bag, this can be an important part of the annual income of a family.

Since the fields are not easily accessible, they can’t use machines to harvest the beans.  Everything is done by hand, essentially the same as it has been done for the past 100 years.

Steve helped some of his neighbors to bring in the beans one recent afternoon.  The beans had been pulled out by the roots the week before, and now the plants were dry and ready for the next step.

Andres collects the dry bean plants on a tarp and takes them to be thrashed by the rest of the family.

The first step is to walk over the bean plants, breaking open the pods and compressing the pile in preparation of the next step.

Steve and Alexandra stomp on the bean plants.

The next step is to whack the piles with a wooden stick until all the beans have been separated from their pods.

Alexandra and Yeimy, ages 6 and 11, help out.

Edilia and her friend Janet take their turn at pounding the pile.  You can see the beans collecting on the tarp.

As the sun sets into the west, it’s time to carry the beans up the hill to the house.  It’s only a 10-15 minute walk, but it’s straight uphill.  The men (including 65 year-old Andres) were filling up 100 lb bags to carry up when Steve spied a half-full bag ready to go.  He grabbed it and started up the hill.   It turns out that was Edilia’s bag, which is why it was only 50 lbs.  They filled up another 50 pounder for her and everyone started up the hill.  They all took a couple of rest stops on the way up.  The total for a couple of hours’ work - 200 lbs of beans.  Earlier in the day they had done another 300.

Steve is glad to have only 50 lbs!

There is still a lot of work to be done.  First, the dust and dirt has to be separated from the beans.  The beans are tossed in the air in the breeze or in front of a fan.  Then the beans all have to be picked through by hand to take out the ones which are not of good quality.  All in all, it's a very long process!

The next day it’s time to celebrate our neighbor Diego’s birthday.  He is 9 years old.  He lives with his grandmother Polin across the street from us during school time, but he has been with his mother Anarelis during the last several weeks of school vacation.

The kids (and some adults) ham it up for the camera.

The obligatory piñata is set up and after a few small kids miss, the birthday boy steps up to bat.  The custom is to let the one with the birthday break the piñata, and that is what happens.

The piñata is filled with flour and candy, and pandemonium sets in as it breaks.  In theory, only the kids scramble for the candy, but you can see there are bodies large and small diving into the pile.  The flash reflects off the flour particles in the air.

Polin’s five daughters were all home for the event, which doesn’t happen very often as they are spread out between Chepo, Chitre and Panama City.  Their names are Eliseyda, Anarelis, Yuryelis, Eliseydis and Elisenia.  Can you see why it took me a while to learn their names?  There were lots of comments as this picture was taken.  “Does Heather know you’re here with five women?”, etc.   (She does.)

One final thing - what do you do when there is only one bike and three kids need to go somewhere?  One recent day nine kids went by on three bikes.  I was only able to take a photo of the last bike as they zoomed by. 

Waterfall Fun!

This past week Steve went back to his favorite waterfall twice.  It is a hike of about two hours in each direction, but it is such a beautiful place that it is well worth the trip down there.  On Saturday Steve thought he had a large group interested in going, but only two people actually went on the day:  seventh-grader Massiel and her uncle Didimo.

Massiel and Didimo

 For the second trip this past Thursday, Steve invited fellow Peace Corps volunteers Savannah and Amy.  Once again, he invited several people from Chepo, expecting that he would only get a few.  On Thursday, however, there were ten people from Chepo to go along with Steve and the two women.

Here you can see the whole group (minus Savannah who took the picture). Ages ranged from 8 to 28, and everyone was set to have some fun.

The following pictures are mixed from both trips.

On our way to the waterfall, you can see the islands in the Pacific.  The coast is only a few miles away, but there are almost no roads in that direction.  It takes 6 hours or so of walking to get there.

Here is the view before we start our descent to the waterfall.  It is a half hour of very steep downhill, with very little shade.  You can see the dirt road in the distance below.  It’s not too bad on the way down, but going up in the afternoon sun can be brutal!

The river valley is far below

Shortly before the waterfall we passed through the small community of El Salto (the waterfall).  What do you do for fun in a town of only six houses, three of which are inhabited, and where there is no electricity?  This device is simple but lots of fun.  All you need is a big piece of bamboo and a stake driven into the ground.  Not only does it go up and down like a teeter totter, but it also goes around in a circle.  Kids and adults alike had fun with it.  The only problem was that too much weight will break the bamboo!  There was a pile of broken bamboo stalks, but we found one that was mostly intact.

Savannah hangs on while Didimo tries to shake her off

It takes two small kids to balance a bigger one, and one more to turn

Massiel gets knocked off by her uncle Didimo

We finally arrived at the waterfall, tired and hot and ready for a swim.  The waterfall glistened in the morning sunlight.

Massiel is dwarfed by the huge waterfall.

Of course the kids all wanted to jump off the rocks into the water. 

Some jumped off low rocks

Some jumped from higher up

The waterfall was quite powerful, but there was a small space behind it where you can look out. 

Steve waves hi with his foot from behind the falls

Some of the kids went sliding through this chute

After a while, the kids took a trail up to the top of the waterfall.  

There was a big pool up there for swimming, too.

We eventually left for the long walk back to Chepo.  We arrived home tired but happy to have spent the day at such a beautiful place.