Happy Earth Day!

What can you buy that will help save the earth this year? Every year it feels more and more commercialized, right? The better question is probably: what can you NOT buy that might reduce your impact on earth? 

Up where I live in the Comarca we are having an educational Earth day celebration; albeit 5 days late and 2 days of activities.  Classic Panamanian style. The local environmental government agency (ANAM) sponsored the event, which included very long, formal (yet consistently unprofessional) meetings where we talked about trash: the importance of its proper disposal, whether to burn or bury it, re-using plastic bottles and bags, etc. There was a drawing contest for kids and the prizes were baby trees to plant at home. That night they projected a Planet Earth-like movie to inspire the community to appreciate nature on the old 1-room school building under a beautiful star-filled sky . The main participants were the new tourism group in Cerro Iglesias. Yes, tourism. I think we are a few years off, but with the new road, adventurous tourists are bound to show up one of these days, seeking indigenous culture, crafts and natural beauty. A professor from the national tourism agency has been giving classes to locals, encouraging environmental conservation within the community for the sake of tourism. Enough Peace Corps volunteers have brought their friends and family through town over the past 8 years, so I think they could handle wide-eyed foreigners, if they had a bit more infrastructure (i.e.- places to sleep and eat). If people are motivated to keep the place clean and the forests protected on the chance that it might draw tourists, more power to’em!  The cerro (hill) of Cerro Iglesias has a plethora of natural springs that provide water for 13 communities in the area, so it is of utmost importance that the hill stays forested. Without vegetation, the underground water sources dry up and the beautiful tropics eventually turn into useless deserts. (photo: The noticeably flat-topped Cerro Iglesias in dry season)

Speaking of water, the dry season is hitting us extra hard this year. The rains are late this year and water is dangerously scarce. That has made my comfortable campo living quite challenging. If we are lucky (and we, at the top of the hill and closest to the source ARE the lucky ones) we get a trickle of water for about 5-10 minutes a day. I fill up every bucket and bottle I can and hope that it is enough to get by until the water comes again. Laundry hasn’t been done in a very long time and I am the new master at the 20 oz shower (12oz, in extreme cases). I shouldn’t complain, however, people further down the aqueduct line haven’t had water since December. They go to a nearby river or stream, that isn’t always so nearby and is typically contaminated. No other choice. I feel bad whining about water-woes, because there are so many others in neighboring communities that have it much worse. It’s hard to appreciate water until it’s gone. (photo: Same shot of Cerro Iglesias in rainy season)

  

 

(photo above: Slash and burn agriculture at its finest. To the left you can see how it all used to look, that's where the coffee, which demands shade, is grown)

On a sad note, I feel the need to pay some homage here to my dear friend, Antonio, who passed away recently. Antonio was my next-door neighbor and the kindest, most generous man in Cerro Iglesias. Without fail, he would always give me something when I came to visit: bananas, oranges, coffee, bowls of rice and sardines. It was Antonio that stayed up until midnight listening to the radio in his hammock and then came over in the morning to tell me that Obama had won the election. He was a huge fan. He was a dear friend to all the Peace Corps volunteers before me, even the few that were here in the 1960s. Antonio was the first teacher in our school and continued to be very active in the community since his retirement in 1991. He was the promoter of a nutrition program with a local NGO called Nutri-Hogar, the treasurer of the aqueduct committee, collaborator with the national environment agency, an active member of the church and my official Ngäbere teacher. Habu Küri. Te voy a extrañar, sobrino. 

(photo: One of many meals at Antonio's: me, Antonio, Adam, chi, Alicia)

 

 

 

 

Honey harvest and tropical paradises

There is so much I still have to learn about bee-keeping. I´ve been working with 2 ladies- Victoria and Maribela- since I arrived in the community. We go check on the bees about once a week to tidy up their boxes, make sure no predators are stealing honey and check on their general health. I should be an expert by now, right? Wrong. I am still a peon, but happy to use a heavy smoker to calm down the bees while I sweat and choke on the burning corn cobs or scrap wood. (Photo: Victoria and Me, gearing up)


In the tropics, the harvest takes place in the dry season, when the bees are producing the most honey. We harvest 3 times during this season: ideally once in January, the main harvest in February and the final, smaller harvest in March. We have so far harvested 2x: the first yielded about 15 gallons and the second about 5 gallons of delicious honey. There should be a final harvest coming soon, but the rains came a bit early and so we might leave what’s left so that the population can continue to thrive. As I gather, honey production slows when the rains come because the bees don’t have as much time to gather nectar and pollen from nearby flowers (They don't fly well when their wings get wet?). (Photo: Victoria holds the 'marco' while Maribela uses a fork to break the honeycomb seal, preparing to extract the honey)


I’m not sure how they do it in other places of the world, but my ladies tell me that the harvest has to be done at night. The bees don’t see well so it’s easier to steal their honey in the dark. Even at night, though, they are extremely aggressive and can see enough to find the smallest hole to climb in and sting you like crazy. I wore several layers of thick clothes and even a jacket that I’ve used for snowboarding (in the spring) and I STILL got stung many times! After we stole the honey, we put it in a steal drum that has a handle to literally spin the honey out of the comb. It’s tough. When that was done at about 3am, we had to haul all that sweet bee juice up the mountain and down the street far-far away from where the bees live. If it’s too close, they will come find it and eat it all before morning. I have no idea if that’s a fact or just a local legend. (Photo: Maribela's boys hold down the honeycomb spinner while the older one spins)


So now we’ve got tons of honey to sell and are focusing on selling more of it in small quantities to tourists in David (Panama’s second largest city), rather than the intermediary that buys it all at once at a huge discount. Ounce per ounce, the group's profits are much higher this way. For all their hard-earned, year-round bee-keeping work, they deserve it.

I also recently spent a few days in Costa Rica learning about a green-building technique (anyone else sick of that buzzword yet?) called “cob”. Instead of using wood or concrete for house construction, the cob method takes clay, sand, cow poo and straw to make ¨bricks¨ that are used for the walls of the structure. No, it doesn’t smell like a barn… after it dries! It’s relatively simple, cheap and commonly used around the world. A few old friends from my Charleston days and I bussed it up to Costa Rica to an amazing place called Rancho Mastatal. The couple that owns the Rancho and over 500 acres of land that borders Cangreja National Park met in the Peace Corps several years ago and opened the Rancho as a learning center and sustainable living systems model. Over the years, interns and volunteers have come and contributed their skills and learned in the process. The results are beautiful and inspiring. See photos below and on Flickr.
(Photos: Various cob and bamboo hybrid building designs at Rancho Mastatal)










Back in Cerro Iglesias, the rains have begun! And the ¨honeymoon¨ (as Adam calls it) with my new house is officially over or near it. In the corner of the thatch roof, where it is hard to get a tight seal, water has found a way in. The first downpour came at 1am the other night and woke me up, frenzied, looking for a way to stop the massive leak that was splashing all over my books and clothes. I was up all night with a flashlight, looking for more leaks. The coming of the rain marks an important change in seasons. First, I won't be using the solar oven any more (sad), but more importantly for the village-folk, it means that the slash and burn traditional style of preparing the land will stop very soon. We will be planting corn and rice in the coming 2 months. The aquifers will slowly start to fill up, as water has been in short supply or no supply for several months. The mud boots will come out again soon and the umbrella will never leave my side until December.

This week a friend who just finished Peace Corps Ecuador is visiting and is going to help me build a trial cob oven so the baking can continue even in the rain! Mango season is not far off either, so get ready to see some pictures of delicious mango-baked products coming soon!

Place to call home, Part Deux

The house is done. We finished over a month ago, right on schedule. Building a house is simultaneously one of the most frustrating and rewarding experiences I’ve ever had. Doing it all off the grid adds a whole other dimension of challenges, but it was worth it all because this is probably the cutest house I’ll ever live in (with the most amazing view)! There is a video up on Vimeo if anyone wants to take the virtual tour ( http://www.vimeo.com/3636491 ). Warning- watch it on a laptop because you’ll need to turn the screen sideways to compensate for my horrid filming skills. As soon as I got settled into the new place, my parents and brother came to visit for a week! It was a blast to show them around the community and introduce them to all my favorite people here. I was nervous that they weren’t going to be able to rough it here, but they sure proved me wrong! They were great! We did a lot of hiking and endured insanely hot conditions with limited water supply. I am also very thankful that they brought my old mountain bike down so I can start exploring further into the depths of the Comarca. Having the bike opens a whole new world of freedom for me and I can’t wait to get out there! On my debut ride the other day, however, I got 3 flat tires. People that know me well, know how crazy I am about cycling, but not many know that I’ve never had a flat tire. Not even when I rode a good 400+ miles of the CA HWY 1 last year. I found a team of little kids along the trail to help me out, luckily. Together, we gave it 3 tries before a 6 yr old firmly told me that the tube was done and needed to be replaced. I took his advice and walked the bike home that day. Since then, I’ve been out on a few great rides along ridge roads with beautiful mountain views.
(Photos: my 'pit' crew gathering around the bike, family photo in Cerro Iglesias)




Other than hanging out in the hammock at my new place and planning for future bike rides and hikes to remote places, I’ve been busy with lots of activities in the community. The knitting class continues to go strong and is growing with every class. I will be starting another class in a different community soon, because the word got out and now those ladies want to pick up the sticks and make stuff! Thanks to my mother for hauling down more than 30 lbs of donated yarn so that these classes can continue! Many thanks also to the ladies who contributed yarn – it will be put to great use! I will, however, charge my group a very small amount (between 5 and 50 cents) for the yarn, because they need to know that in the ¨real¨ world, things don’t always come free. They will take more ownership, care and interest if they are purchasing it themselves (even though it is super-subsidized). With the money I will either have a party for them, elect a few ladies to bring to a knitting seminar that another volunteer wants to organize or purchase more supplies when we run out. The coffee group is still trying to get organized to obtain the legal documents to have access to a loan that will help jump-start their local coffee processing and sales force. Recently, the leading presidential candidate came to Cerro Iglesias and offered to donate badly needed resources that the group needs to continue down this path. Politicians are full of broken promises, but I have a pretty good feeling about this one. I have worked with one family (Jorge’s) to roast and package coffee that we sold at a Peace Corps leadership seminar a few months ago. He made $30 in 10 minutes! The other major activity recently has been harvesting honey with a few brave ladies in the artisan group. What an exhausting but exhilarating task! The next blog entry will detail that process. It’s intense.

(Photos: Roasted coffee we made to sell, Hello honey bee!, Liliana roasting coffee in a huge pot, Zulieka knits her first bag)