Friday, May 28, 2010

Family Visit 2010

Way back in April my parents came down for a visit. We split our time between Coiba and Boquete. We headed to Coiba from Malena on the western edge of the Azuero peninsula, where Jodi, one of my fellow volunteers lives. From Malena, we arranged for a boat to take us to Coiba for two nights. If you are planning to visit Panama, you should definitely add Coiba to your itinerary. While Coiba is a bit of a hassle to get to, it is worth the effort.



Mom and I on the beach at Grana de Oro, just off the Coast of Coiba Island. Grana de Oro is a tiny island surround by a large reef with crystal clear waters that are prefect for snorkeling. Coiba's waters are filled with a variety of brightly colored fish, as well as sea turtles and sharks.



A view of the ANAM ranger station on Coiba island. If you want to spend the night on Coiba, you have to sleep here, either on the beach or in one of the cabins. The cabins are basic, but have water and air conditioning.



Locked up in Coiba's jail. Noriega was commandant of the jail in 1970's before he became president.



After arriving in Boquete, we took a day trip over to Cerro Punto to hike in Parque La Amistad. The sign says "Umbrellas with Chlorophyl," and is referring to the large leaves on the left of the photo. Umbrellas are common in the rural areas of Panama (despite the insane amount of rain that Panama receives,) and I often see people using a variety of leaves as umbrellas when the rains get too heavy.



Family photo in front of a fountain in Paradise Gardens, an animal rescue shelter in Boquete.

A rescued baby capuchin in Paradise Gardens, Boquete.




These are baby coffee plants that are being grown in a nursey before being planted.

Coffee ready for shipment to the roaster.

Hand sorting of the coffee for quality control before it is sent to auction.

Here I am sampling a cup of Panamanian Geisha bean coffee, the World's Most Expensive Coffee. A pound of coffee retails for more than $100 in the States, and a cup retails for $18-$27.

The evidence of my $9 cup of coffee.

Feria de Cucuá 2010

Hello everyone, here is the next installment of my much delayed blog. Hopefully, I'll catch up soon with my posts.


March means it's once again time for San Miguel Centro' s annual Feria de Cucuá. The Feria is a day of competitions at various campesino activities, and the highlight is the traditional danza de la cucuá . The dance is performed in costumes made of bark from the Cucuá tree and decorated using organic dyes made from local plants. The costumes resemble demons and were traditionally used to scare away evil.

The competition to split the coconuts was fierce. The first person to open three coconuts was declared the winner.

These two men are racing to be the first to peel the bark from the cucua tree, though keeping the bark intact was just as important as peeling the bark quickly.

These kids are from the Cucuá youth group. The boys are wearing homemade Cucuá costumes while the girls are wearing traditional dresses.


This couple is demonstrating a traditional tipico dance. The cucuá dance is only performed in San Miguel Centro, but the tipico can be found everywhere in Panamá.

In this photo, the woman is showing off her pollera, or traditional dress.

These photos were taken during a Cucua practice session for the Cucua youth group.


Each of the costumes is handmade and slightly different. The masks tend to depict demons with the features of deer, wolves, and dragons.



Hike to the Kuna Coast

Hello all!!! I've been quiet here a while, and I know you all are wondering what I've been up to down here in Panama. Well, I've been busy, so I'm going to try and catch you up in the next couple of posts.

Back in February, Mateo organized a hike from his community across the cordillera to Kuna Yala with the goal of joining in the Kuna Independence Day celebration when we arrived. We started off near the border of Panama Este and Darien provinces. We began by hiking into the Comarca Wargandi to the community of Nurra to meet our guide. (The Kuna people live in three separate comarcas which are roughly equivalent to reservations, though the Kuna have greater autonomy and self-governance than the other indigienous groups.)

We hiked the four hours to Nurra where we met our guide, Gaspar.

After lunch in Nurra, we went for a quick swim in the river, and then headed out for another 4 hour hike to our campground.

We camped for the night by the side of the river. My Thermarest proved adequate padding for the stones, while others hung their hammocks between the trees.

We headed out the next morning. From here on our path would take us through virgin rainforest, becuase we were hiking through the Kuna Comarca, it is likely we were among the only gringos to ever see this part of Panama.

Around 11am, we reached the top of the cordillera, and got out first glimpse of the Caribbean. Unfortunately, we still had another 7 hours to go before we reached the coast.

We took this photo of the group using a campo tripod, i.e. a machete stuck in a tree.

Apparently, Ryu is King of the World. The rivers were so refreshing that we stopped every hour or so for a quick swim. On the Carribbean side of the cordillera, the rivers were pure enough that we were able to fill our water bottles directly from the rivers.

Seven hours later, and a slight case of heat exhaustion on my part, we reached the coast. Unfortunately, the boat to take us to the island wasn't there, so we had to spend the next 90 minutes hanging out in the local garbage dump while our guide went for a boat. This part of the jungle wasn't so pure.

I was still recovering later that night when someone asked me to show them how I felt. This picture was the result.

The next day, still feeling exhausted, we got up to join the party. Kuna all over the island were parading through the streets.



Eventually, we ended up at the center of the celebration, the chicha house. This is where the Kuna served their traditional alcoholic beverage made from fermented corn and coffee beans. Caffeine and alcohol, it was an indigienous Red Bull and Vodka. They lined us up in groups of 6 to 8 people, and while the crowd chanted and clapped, we chugged down bowls of chicha.

Nikki joined the ladies half of the house, where instead of bowls of chicha, the women were served chicha in shot glasses made from gourds.

Here's Gaurav, Alan, and Ryu partaking of the bowls.

And another round.

We met a lot of people and made a lot of friends that day. In the front of the picture, is an albino Kuna. The Kuna have the highest rate of albinism of any ethnic group.

We got up early in the morning to catch our boat ride back. The boat took us 9 hours down the coast using it's 40 horsepower engine. We were all on the verge of seasickness for a couple of hours as the boat went up and down 6 foot swells.

Once the boat landed in Carti, we managed to negotiate a ride to Chepo in the back of a pick-up. You can see the effects that the combination of salt water from the boat ride, and the ride in pickup had on my hair in this picture.

The whole trip was an amazing experience, and I recommend it for anyone who wants a serious adventure, and is comfortable with their spanish.