The Orphanage

Warning: This post will be more somber in tone. Also, no pictures with this one, sorry, we're not allowed.

On Mondays and Fridays I go to the Casa Hogar Trisker which is a state-run orphanage about 15-20 minutes outside of town. The kids range in age from 1 to 13. When you show up, many of the children approach you saying 'Tia' or 'Tio' (meaning 'aunt' or 'uncle') which is both hearrtbreaking and heartwarming at the same time. Most of the kids were taken out of their homes by the government because of abuse or neglect. Also, abortion is illegal in Panama, so in many cases these are children whose parents simply could not afford to take care of them. Some of these kids have had it real tough, but they're pretty happy at the home for the most part. It's just unsettling to see various scars and burns on kids so young that were likely not acquired on the playground. I could get into it more but I won't.

While the government does a noble job of taking these children out of abusive or neglectful homes, they really don't do a great job of caring for them in the orphanage. Most of the employees are there to collect their check and at times are difficult to find. For example, I hit a kid in the face with a baseball the other day (you can imagine how great I felt after that) and I couldn't find anyone to help me help him. I picked him up took him inside then went to the kitchen to fetch the nino some ice for his bruised eye (I was thrilled the next time I came that he had no bruise and he grabbed a mit with the utmost alacrity and enthusiasm). The employees are basically government bureaucrats who care for the children with all the warmth and tenderness a DMV employee cares for your license plates. Much to my dismay I learned today that children have died in Trisker. The latest crisis there has been that the running water supply has been cut off/damaged and sometimes downright non-existent. This problem has persisted for ALMOST 3 WEEKS!!!

I could also go on and on about the bureacratic nonsense, but I won't.

OK, enough of the sad stuff. Most of the kids are tough as nails, but really good, cute, fun kids. I bought some baseball stuff down when I came and the older boys are usually psyched to throw the ball around. There aren't many grown, young men who come to the orphanage so when Oscar or I come they usually get pretty excited. I got a football today let's see how they like that.

Eventhough these kids don't have a thing in the whole damn world, it doesn't seem to bother some of them. I believe the happiest kid in the entire world lives in Trisker. Angel, who is probably 3 or 4 is one of the cutest kids I've ever met and I almost never see him without a smile. Him and his best pal Juan have more fun than anyone I've ever seen. He came up to me saying 'Aleseme' (I think, which I didn't know until later means, 'pick me up'). After I scooped him up once I had to do it for every kid in the orphanage. Now, I'm like a ride in the goddamned Magic Kingdom.

If I had the funds and was married, yadda yadda yadda, I would try to adopt little Angel and Juan. But, supposedly adoption is next to impossible for American parents in Panama. Sometimes I wonder if they would be happier at Trisker than in the States.

Anyway, I have to head out right now.

On a lighter note: Way to go Saints!

Abuelita Anita, My Panamanian Grandma

This is a little example of how charming and cool Panamanian people are...So, last Wednesday our group participated in this 'community cleanup' with a lot of the Americans and locals in the area (notice the trash bags in my left hip pocket). Boquete has a problem with people just throwing their trash in the street so this was a town-wide effort to get our collective shit in order. Plus, new president Ricardo Martinelli was supposed to come to the town square the next day and Chiriqui-native and current Philadelphia Phillie, Carlos Ruiz was supposed to come on Saturday (neither of whom showed), so we had to whip the place into shape.

So, anyway, as we're cleaning up one area this little old lady joins us with one of those nifty nails-on-a-stick that comes in handy for this type of task. After a few minutes she tells Angie of an area she knows that could really use some picking up. So, Angie sends Julie and me with her. We get in her car and head up to the hills while she tells us all about her family (she has three daughters living in the States) and the town of Boquete.

She takes us for an impromptu tour of Boquete's upper regions while she tells us more about everything, while Julie and I are wondering where the hell we are going and when we're supposed to get to work. Instead, little Abuelita Anita takes us to a nice little cafe/dessert place that makes great hamburgers and strawberry desserts/confections and the like. The lady comes out and greets Anita with a big hello. Anita tells her what we're doing and then buys us fresas duros, which are like popsicles made from the frozen juice of fresh strawberries. It was quite delicious and refreshing. The waitress gives us two free big bottles of water for cleaning up the town and we were on our way.

I finish my duro in the car and think, 'Surely, we must be going to do some work now'. Anita buys some eggs from a guy on the side of the road and then takes us to her house to drop them off (her house and property are gorgeous by the way). After a few minutes inside she comes out and says she'll give us a ride into town. In one area with litter strewn about she slows down and points out that this was what she was talking about earlier. But, she keeps right on going. Julie, comfused and clutching her rake asks "Should we get out and start cleaning?". To which Abuelita Anita responds "Oh no, I just wanted to show it to you. I have to go into town. Maybe you can come back another time. I will make you fresh lemonade from the trees in my yard."

Haha. Amazing.

So, by the time we get back into town everyone is finished. Anita heads into the supermarket and we go back to the apartment to get ready to go to David. Not only did she save us from a thrilling hour and a half of picking up garbage but she essentially bought us ice cream to boot! While everyone else was toiling away we were enjoying a pleasant duro-filled hour with our Panamanian grandma. Thanks Abuelita Anita!

(The promise of fresh lemonade may be too much to pass up so I may have to field an expedition to go back there.)

Notes: I finally got some pictures of the bus so I'll write one up about the bus soon. I also want to do one about the craptacular city of David. I'll need pictures though. I'd love to get pictures of the natives, especially the kids but I'm scared.

The English program is really great so far. So is working at the orphanage.

Super Bowl - I'm rooting for the Saints. I know this is old news but what the hell is wrong with Brett Favre? You know he did that so he can play another year.

What I Do Everyday.

I'm still in the midst of figuring out a schedule but this is basically how my day goes:

The mornings are usually different everyday. Sometimes we have projects to work on other times we don't. For example, last week we did a bunch of different tasks; they can include working with kids, helping the handicapped, participating in the literacy program or doing environmental work. My favorite thus far has been going to the orphanage and playing ball with the muchachos and going to literacy and helping the Indian kids learn how to read. I'll add separate posts for those later. I think I'm going to go to the orphanage on Monday and Friday mornings and to literacy on Wednesday mornings. When I don't have anything on the agenda I compose poorly-worded posts for this blog or I look for jobs (I usually don't get very far because I get pissed off that I don't have any skills, experience or advanced degrees and I'm almost 28. -awesome).

So, in the afternoons I head down to David by bus, then take a taxi to the English school where they need a lot of help. I love going there because the students really want to learn. They range in age from 15-45. As Renny, the sassy, sharp-as-a-tack, retired Texan who runs the school says, these are the working poor and it is becoming more and more important for them to learn English. English is becoming more and more important to the economy of Panama. If these students can learn to speak English with some degree of proficiency it can improve their lives tenfold. It's an incredibly valuable skill.

I usually work with students either individually or in small groups, doing pronunciation or conversation. Renny loves having me around because it gives them a chance to listen to how a native speaker pronounces things. My new goal is to create an army of middle class Panamanians who speak English with a thick Long Island/New York accent.

I also like to help out at InglesTec because it gives me a chance to use/improve my Spanish. It also reminds me how freaking ridiculously hard English is. Explaining the intricacies of English through my limited/broken Spanish is no easy task but its definitely fun and interesting.

So, when I'm all finished I head back to Boquete. My colleague Will usually gives me a ride and drops me off at a dingy bus stop where he heads off on the road to Potrerillos. Sometimes I wait there from 30 seconds to 30 minutes for the bus to come by (and I pray it stops). I am also incredibly tempted to pop in the Jardin Tres Estrellas, the crappy, open-air cantina across the street (its the worst-looking place in the world, but it somehow has one of the biggest TVs I've ever seen). By the time I get back to Boquete, its dark. I get some food, read and go to sleep.

Notes: More pictures to come.

Julie yesterday mentioned that she has not had a rude encounter with a Panamanian yet in the two weeks we've been here. Neither have I. They're all incredibly friendly and charming. I can't wait to tell you the story of my Panamanian grandma Abuelita Anita who bought me ice cream yesterday.

Pictures

The view from our front porch. That's sort of the central plaza.
This is the view from our back porch, looking north-northwest. That big son of a bitch in the back there is the Baru Volcano. Should one of these wild parties disturb her, we're all goners.
Boquete in the morning looking eastward.
Boquete to the North.

Boquete. Photo courtesy of Angie.

This creature was snapped by Angie in one of the hostels here. It was the size of a teacup saucer.

Interesting Points of Interest, Boquete Ed., Pt. II

Culture (Cont'd) - OK, so the partying...Last weekend was my first weekend here and it happened to fall on the annual Boquete Flower Festival. This is Boquete's busiest weekend and it attracts dozens of food, beer and merchandise vendors from around Panama. They all set up in or around the town's municipal gardens which are on the east side of town. This festival has been known to attract as many as 100,000 people. So, imagine your quaint little hamlet overrun with a boisterous multitude fit for a Michigan-Ohio State game.

The music at the festival is the big attraction. At the north end of the gardens is what they referred to as a 'travelling disco'. It's a series of musical stages, dance floors and DJ booths set up especially for the feria. When the sun goes down that's when the party really begins. They play their music unfathomably loud.

Everything was loud. People. Music. Motors. Whistling. Shouting. Fireworks. At all hours of the night. The parties wouldn't end until 4, 5 or 6 in the morning. The fair was probably a quarter to a half mile away from our house and it literally sounded like a raucous party going on in the party upstairs. The volunteers had to wear ear plugs when they slept because the walls were so thin and there was so much noise coming from the street.

By Monday night, the town was back to normal and was almost disturbingly quiet. It's pretty much been that way ever since.

Panamanians don't party all the time but when they do, they do it right. I went to another party last night at the English school and they did it up big time. Panamaniacs.

Economy- It's hard to tell what drives the economy here. Most of the poorer people here work the land picking fruit or coffee or they are artisans and merchants and sell their wares on the streets. Despite the rockiness of the soil, it must be packed with nutrients because they grow all sorts of stuff here; carrots, corn, onions, potatoes, plantains, and even strawberries and oranges. The people also dabble in a bit animal husbandry as there are a lot of horses, cows, goats and sheep and a ton of chickens that cock-a-doodle-doo all day long. There is an established service economy in Boquete and there also seems to be a decent amount of construction going on. There are a lot of poor people (mostly the indigenous) here but the area is not impoverished. Every once in a while you'll see a flashy SUV cruise down the street. Also, some of the properties in the hills go for $300,000+ (Boquete is also traditionally the vacation area for rich folks from Panama City).

Gringos - There is a significant expatriate community in the are surrounding Boquete. The other day I met a nice woman named Penny who was from the UP of all places and graduated from U of M and the Law School (she said there is another prominent alum in the area as well). You'll see a lot of old white hairs around here because it is a good area to retire because it is so cheap. Supposedly, there are some unions in the States that encourage their workers to move here after retiring. It is kind of disheartening though, to see decent, hard-working, middle class Americans and Canadians having to retire down here because they can't afford it back home.

Food - The food in Boquete is OK. It won't knock your socks off but I like it plenty good. Some of the other volunteers had complained that the food here was bland. However, its mostly chicken or pork and rice and beans which is right in my culinary and gustatory wheelhouse. It's all I ever make or eat at home. You can get a nice big heap of food here with some sweet platanos to boot and it will set you back $3.00.

Beer - Panama has about 5 nacional beers: Atlas, Balboa and Panama (clever name) are the most popular. I prefer Balboa; it tastes like Heineken if Heineken didn't taste like shit. Atlases, Balboas and Panamas are all $1. Beer is literally cheaper than water. One of the newspapers in Panama City conducted a study last year that showed Panamanians drink about 5-6 times more beer than water.

Coffee- It's a shame I don't drink it because Boquete is supposed to have amazing coffee. The agricultural and atmospheric conditions in Boquete make it the best place in the world for growing coffee. Up in the hills the coffee plants are all over the place and even grow on the side of the road. The beans themselves come two in a red, filmy pod. It takes roughly 45 beans to make a single cup of coffee and all the beans have to be picked by hand. The indigenous men pick them all day, load them into gigantic bushels and then walk them an hour into town. So, as you can imagine it might not be lucrative of a career. But, if you want some coffee I'll see if I can send some to ya.

That about does it for life in Boquete. I'll be back soon with a special blog devoted entirely to my fondness for the bus. And I'll post a run down of what I actually do here.

On a side note: Can someone please tell me what the hell the Jets are doing in the AFC Championship Game? Are they really gonna go to the Super Bowl when I am in freaking Panama of all places? There's really no doubt in my or anyone's mind that they are gonna win the whole thing now. You've got to be kididng me.

Interesting Points of Interest, Boquete Edition: Part I

Boquete is a very charming place to say the least. It's a small town but it feels very busy and it attracts lots of travellers, both of the upscale and backpacking variety. The surrounding area is very beautiful as well. I would absolutely recommend a trip here. I really should get some pictures up so you can see. But, without further ado, here are some facts about this place:

Geography: Boquete is nestled in Panama's mountainous central ridge. We have mountains to the north , east and west. To the south is a sort of high plains area that leads down to David, the swamps and eventually the Pacific Ocean. There is also an active volcano, Volcan Baru, just northwest of town. The whole area was shaped by volcanic material and there are rocks everywhere. The small yet powerful Rio Caldera runs through town bringing water that drained from the upper mountainous regions. There are lots of hiking trails, natural pools and waterfalls in the areas outside of town. Boquete is at an elevation of about 4,100 feet making for a very salubrious climate. The air is perfect-remarkably fresh and clean. It's cool and dry and the sun shines almost directly overhead. I have to go to David everyday which is near sea-level and I would say there is a 15 degree difference. All the precipitation comes from the north and it's cool to see it spill over the mountains as it approaches town. Sometimes gusts of wind barrel down the valley and shake the hell out of our house.

People: Panamanians are a good-looking bunch. The country of Panama is fairly diverse; most of the people are mestizo but there are considerable populations of blacks, whites and Indians. In Boquete, however, there seem to be fewer blacks and whites and much more Indians. The
Latins and Indians have such beautiful and exotic features and some of the women are downright beautiful. There are a lot of children here and they are incredibly cute, particularly the Indian kids. Indian children will stare at you like you're a freaking giraffe. They gaze at you with these gigantic, unblinking, almond-shaped, onyx eyes taking in every photon of your bizarre appearance. Sometimes I can't help myself from cracking up a bit but they just keep staring at you. If I was some type of elderly aunt-like character I would have squeezed every nino cheek in Boquete to the bone by now.

Culture: I hate to use the cliches "colorful" and "vibrant" to describe their culture. I feel that those are patronizing terms used by crusty, white people to describe any culture that is different, poor and less developed. However, at the risk of sounding crusty and white, the culture here is colorful and vibrant. Panamanian culture is simultaneously both more enthusiastic and more relaxed than ours. Most of the people I have come in contact with are somewhat shy, even laconic. I think it is considered a virtue to be reserved. As one of my students wrote in a practice sentence "I would not suggest talking a lot". However, collectively, their culture is much more expressive.

I know I'm speaking in generalities here but its true. I'll explain more later.
And good God do these people know how to party...

That's all for now, I have to get back to the house and see what we are doing today and then go all the way to David this afternoon.

So Far

It's been going pretty well so far. All the other volunteers are pretty cool and interesting and we all seem to like it here. This week we've done various projects and I've gone down to David in the afternoons for the English program. Going to David can be a huge pain in the ass. You have to take a bus then a taxi and it takes about an hour or longer. Plus, English I forgot how ridiculously hard English is. So, by the end of the day I can't speak English or Spanish. English is really tough for some of the students but they do very well for the most part. I will try to get more into the nuts and bolts of the programs later on.