Monday, June 20, 2011

Toma Construction in Calante

The Bocas region of Panama is blessed with abundant rainfall, mostly.  Occasionally, there are dry spells where the trails are no longer mud and clothes dry after 30 minutes on the line.  And sometimes there is the rare instance where we are forced to ration water from my community's aqueduct.  This really isn't a big deal.  It only means filling your daily 5-gallon bucket of water at designated hours of the day.  But Calante is growing and this problem is only going to escalate.

While my brother was visiting, we were able to build a secondary toma.  This second water source will help in those instances where we are without water.  And just as rare as being without water, someone was around to actually take photos during construction.  Photos are courtesy of Bryce.













David, Panama

Ahhhh, David....  My home away from home... away from home.  While "Lonely Planet" will never have much to say, I will always have a fond place in my heart for this capital city in Chiriqui.



A blog about David would not be complete without mentioning Hotel Toledo.  It's simply the best.  I can store stuff in their designated Peace Corps lockers.  We have a library of books in English.  And most importantly, the ladies that work there are like our surrogate mothers while in Panama.  They take care of us as if we were their own.



David itself is host to such first-class amenities as hot water, air-conditioning, electricity, and cold beer.  That being said, there isn't much here.  There's a limited selection of restaurants, hardly any organized events, really not much to do.  But it's also wonderful.  It's where I can unwind, meet up with other volunteers, call home, go online.  And that gets at a fundamental part of being a volunteer.  We live in a world where you learn to cherish those small things.  It's a world where a cold soda becomes ecstasy, an email from an old friend makes your week, and traveling a half day to meet up with other volunteers seems completely reasonable.

My Morning Commute

My boss visited awhile back to see how things were going on the Rio Mananti.  He grabbed a shovel to help with the aqueduct.  We walked around the community.  I showed him a nearby swimming hole.  We talked about the frustrations and achievements of my time here.

One question he asked was to list three personal or professional successes.  I joked that one personal success was how comfortable I am in this setting, that to take a boat up the mouth of a river, hike an hour, and sleep soundly that night in a thatch roof hut in the jungle was as perfunctory as listening to NPR during a morning commute.

That got me thinking that it would be cool to show my actual commute. Every 3-4 weeks I "commute" from Calante to David, the regional capitol.  I hike an hour to Jon's site, Kwite.  From there it's an hour boat ride downriver and another two hours through the bay to Chiriqui Grande.  From Chiriqui Grande I hail a cab and ride 15 minutes to the highway where I pick up a bus for the 2+ hour ride through the mountains to David.

Here is my journey in photos from my site to David:





















Photos from Daphne and Bryce's Visit

Bryce and Daphne came to visit me here in Panama.  It was great seeing them and getting a chance to share my world.

Here's some info on the photos.  Enjoy!

  • Panama Canal
  • Panama City, Casco Viejo
  • Las Lajas
  • Sacrificing ant-infested cookies to the hermit crabs
  • Obligatory hammock time
  • Jungle hikes
  • Bocas del Toro
  • Wildlife: scorpions, spiders, mosquitoes, lizards, turtles, and hermit crabs
  • Bollo (think corn tamale without a filling) wrapped in a banana leaf
  • Bryce learning to use a machete.  Made coconut curry afterwards
  • Bryce hanging out with the kids
  • Loading tube from Chiriqui Grande for the Kwite aqueduct