Omar Torrijos National Park

 

Since my service is coming to an end and work is slow in my community, I decided to take advantage of school summer vacation and organize a trip to the Omar Torrijos National Park. The park is close to my community and since I worked closely with the park director throughout my service, he offered to take me and a group of kids.  

The kids who wanted to go to the park had to participate in a community clean-up. This was a great success because we did the clean up right after Carnivales Holiday (4 days of non-stop drinking, rodeos and dancing). The kids came with wheelbarrows of recyclables (mostly beer cans) which we sorted together in our community recycling center.  

There were 14 kids and 3 parents who participated and the following week we were in a car with the director heading to the park. We hiked some of the paths and the guide was able to spot out birds, frogs, caterpillers, sloths and salamanders that we would have never spotted alone. Kids were in awe and could not stop taking pictures of creatures they had never seen before. We also climbed up to the top of a beautiful view and I enjoyed hearing kids complain about how "cold" it was- being from the mountains myself it was really refreshing to not be sweating and to get a break from the tropical heat!

We also prepared presentations about the importance of national parks and Panama’s diverse ecosystems.

One of my favorite moments of the trip was when a little girl told me that the park was super clean and there was no trash anywhere. She told me she wanted our community, La Mina, to be like that and was going to continue using the recycling center I helped implement. It touched my heart to see the kids so excited to be outside in nature and appreciate what their beautiful country has to offer.,

Moments like these have kept me going through these hell of a 2 years.


“One moment can change a day

One day can change a life

One life can change a world”

 

 

 

 

 

Super windy at the top of a mountain!

Nuff said

 

 

The beginning of the end

In January approximately 3 months before officially ending my Peace Corps service, I attended my Close of Service conference- a final get together with all the people I came to country with. This conference helped us focus on options for the future: how to revamp our resumes, the logistics of leaving country, and probably most important, how to say goodbye.

Many volunteers feel stressed that they do not do enough in their service – “How can I be more productive?” is always a question that runs through our mind. But our COS conference really helped us pinpoint the success we have had- not just with quantifying the number of stoves we built or number of people who attended our meetings-but also with how many goodbyes we will have to say and what friendships we will need to leave behind.  With that being said I would like to say something to my group- G74, and any current PCV or RPCV.

So we are here at Close of Service conference and it is the last time my group will be together here in country and honestly, maybe forever. In 3 months or so we will be pooping in cups and then moving on from Peace Corps. Some of us are staying a third year, some are going to graduate school, some traveling, some working, and others just figuring it out. So, the time for goodbyes has really started to arrive. Here are a few thoughts and words for my fellow friends of Group 74.

Don’t sell yourself short. That has been something that they have focused on at the office as we look at marketing ourselves for jobs and schools and stuff. And, you know what, they are right.

You are amazing. You somehow and for some reason reached the decision to DARE to be the change you wanted to see in the world. Rather than posting on social networks about problems and injustice in the world, you went out to see for yourself what you could do about it. You are all of those inspirational quotes. You embody them. You are living them. You did it.

We did it. My successes in my service are due to you. You have motivated me, advised me, accompanied me, inspired me, hugged me, shared gastro problems with me, cried with me, sweated and danced with me. With this farewell comes the wonderful realization that now we will travel everywhere all over the world, spreading joy, genuinely caring and helping others, and bringing light to your new homes. All sorts of places will now shine brighter thanks to your presence. So go out and brighten your new little corner of the world.

I will forever be sending you love, and I thank you sincerely for making me a better person today than I was before meeting you.

Darien

 

Besides Panama City, I had never been east of the Canal. The Darien is the province furthest east in the country and shares a border with Columbia. The history is interesting with rich latinos, poor indigenous, drug traffickers, tourists and the national guard. It is also the least touched province in the country, with the fewest roads and the most vegetation. We took a week vacation to explore and get lost in the depths of the Darien.

The Darien is historically interesting because as government and drug problems worsened in Columbia, the Darien was abandoned. The government over years wanted to repopulate the area so sold land for super cheap. This motivated many latinos to buy land, slash and burn, and make profit off cattle ranching. This being noted, the area is mixed with wealthy latino populations next to struggling indigenous huts. The indigenous group is called the Embera and actually migrated from Columbia less than 100 years ago. There is also a national guard group living there to protect against drug lords-but with the corruptness and lack of authority, the guards are commonly seen throughout the community smoking marijuana and trying to score with a young indigenous
woman.

 

 

Two elderly brothers telling about their travels from Columbia to Panama 

 

Even thought they are poor, they use natural resources to make elegant houses

 

From the city, we traveled 6 hours by car and 2 hours by boat to reach Sambu, a fairly developed town (and when I say developed I mean electricity and questionable-potable water) where a current volunteer hosted us. We saw large mammals and a plethora of bird species along the river.



Sambu River
 

Volunteer with counterpart wearing traditional clothing

Women traditionally wear parumas (basically a sheet that is made and imported from Japan) wrapped around the waist and the men wear a loin cloth. They paint their bodies with a plant jagua that is also used for medicinal purposes. Each design signifies a different story and meaning. We were not embarrassed to take integration to the maximum, strip off our shirts, and be painted. The woman’s chest for the Emberea is not sexualized, but seen as a symbol of family and motherhood, as the children are fed from the breast. In their cultural, thigs and legs are seen as the sexual symbol so it is important that you cover them up with a beautiful peruma. Since we were not used to wearing a sheet wrapped around our waist (no elastic) we had some trouble keeping the damn things from falling.

Artisan work with a type of grass

Seeds transformed into beautiful figurines!

Being painted back....

and front

Painted in perumas

I loved my time in the Darien and am thankful I was able to see a part of the country I had never seen before.