I'm finally sitting in my hammock relaxing. It's been a chaotic week to say the least and finding time to sit down and write has been hard. I feel like I've been spending way too much time on Isla Colon or Bocas Town as some like to call it. If you didn't know, that is place that attracts most of the tourists in Panama and is located about one hour from my site including walking to the road and taking a thirty minute boat ride. It's a cool place. If your a clueless traveler, shirtless surfer, or an angry ex-pat. I have to say that it is not really for me. It costs way to much for anything and the party atmosphere doesn't really go along with me doing foreign aid work.
Project Updates:
Bike Grinder:
The bicycle grinder is here! It just doesn't work the way it is supposed to. Well, it technically doesn't work at all. I feel a little bad that it doesn't work as Steve from the non-profit Dead Wheat put so much time and money into it. The machine is impressive and isn't a grinder at all. It's a concrete roller mill that looks like it could crush rocks if it wanted. Everything is steel including the hopper and frame and the welding and craftsmanship is impeccable. It just doesn't work. I believe that part of the problem is the fact that it's a mill and which is made for such things as corn, and roasted cacao is much harder and also needs to be ground into a paste instead of a just crushed. Steve warned me that this might happened and I'm happy to report that he is on his way out in a week or so for what would be round 7 in our bike grinder modification and re-invention. This project seems so tangible yet we have failed time after time on it. One thing I will not do is quit on it. If we have to find funding from somewhere to do this, we will. More updates on this later
Water Catchment:
If you don't know by now, I have taken on a water catchment project that is being funded by the Rotary of Shasta Valley along with the local chapter. These water catchments will be going into houses that aren't connected to our water system where people are just drinking out of the same creeks that the cows are crapping in. I took on this project from another volunteer that had left over funding and people that wanted to keep working on it so that is what we did. After getting a pretty good group of people in my community together to haul the six hundred gallon tanks and concrete blocks into the jungle for sometimes on hour hikes, we seem to be ready for the Rotary and other volunteers to come tomorrow to help us install what we have. I spent last night in a different site observing how the systems are put together and we should be good. The problem will be getting the locals involved in the project so they take ownership of it. Having ten gringos putting it together just they feel good about themselves isn't going to hep anything after they leave. The people will just be used to handouts and want more, and when something goes wrong or falls apart they won't know how to fix it. Hope tomorrow goes well.
Tour:
Our tour is looking good. Really good. I met some people on the island while I was there and they wanted to take our tour for a discounted rate considering we are not fully ready for visitors yet. I wasn't sure what was going to transpire considering we had been doing a lot of talking about the how we were going to execute the tour, but not a lot of doing. Solomon's wife made this excellent traditional dish from a couple local roots and plants and we went on our way. I just told Solomon to pretty much recite what we had all talked about in the large group and he took the lead. It was great. Of course all in Spanish which was fine since our tourists could speak it. They learned about the process, the history, and our farms, and then we made chocolate in the traditional way and got to try it. They loved it and we confirmed that we really have something special here. The only really last thing to do is figure out the logistics of payment and transportation from the island which will include talking with Bocas Tourism Association. We could be up an rolling soon if we are able to do that.
English:
I'm teaching English now two times a week and I love it. They are picking it up much quicker than I thought they would and class sizes have been OK. The last class was down to eighteen people but hopefully that number goes up. I will also be tutoring a couple people in my community that can actually have a conversation in English which is amazing. I might also start helping out with teaching at the school since I quite like it. One of the tourist we had is a ESL teacher in the sates and she helped out tremendously.
Chocolate Sales:
We are really close to having our complete presentation together for our chocolate. The logo's are done and printed and ready, and we have some paper to use to package them. We pretty much just need a print out saying what the chocolate is about and where it comes from and we should be ready. It looks good and I believe that they will sell a great deal of it.
So between trainings that I'm involved in as well as other things in the community I'm staying pretty busy.
Health update:
Constant stomach problems seem the norm now and I've now started putting clorox bleach in all my water. My foot hurts and chigers have bit me around my underwear line. Other than that I'm good. Let's keep it that way...
No comments:
Post a Comment