Friday, August 15, 2008

Panamanian Vocabulary Lesson One

I'm going to try to post a few key words here as I come across them, and you may see them used in posts so here is the first batch.

Ngabere (No-bay) - The largest indigenous group in Panama.

Bochicha (sp?) - A Ngabere word for gossip.

Comarca - an administrative division run by the indigenous peoples of Panama. It is equivalent to a state. The US equivalent would be a reservation, but without the negative connotation of that word.

encomiendo - a feature unique to Panama. The encomiendo is a means of sending packages throughout Panama via the bus system for minimal cost.

campo - the country, rural areas

2 comments:

Gina said...

How reliable is this package by bus system? Can you only send things of little or no value only?

Josh said...

Apparently, the system is pretty reliable, but you don't want to send anything to fragile or valuable. However, the Peace Corps uses it to send medical supplies to volunteers here in country.