Poor

When we went through Peace Corps training we were told that we would be helping the poor and under-served. This made sense. It is why we joined. But during that same training we were also told what that meant. It meant that we would living and helping people in places where entire families make less than $2 a day. I can remember the first time I heard this as I thought no one could live off that amount of money. Well, people do all around the world. In fact, the majority of people in this world live on very very little money, but there is a disconnect in a couple different ways that make these numbers skewed.

I would have to say that for the last 6 months I have thought of my community and all of those around it as being poor. When I saw kids washing clothes in the river, dogs barely able to stand they are so mal nourished, and people eating nothing but mashed bananas for dinner it was easy for me to decide that these people needed my help. I've written about it many times in the past, I've talked to other volunteers about it, and I've heard the words “we are poor” out of their mouths on a regular basis. So here is the shocker, they are not poor. Not only are they not poor, there is a very good chance that if there were to be a global disaster that took the world economy with it, these people would be sitting back wondering what the big deal was. On the flip side of that, the rich would most likely be thinking that same thing. What is more, these people do not actually think they are poor either. And they shouldn't. Let me explain.

The Gnobe people along with the other indigenous people in this area were not always sedentary as they are now. They traveled and used what they needed from the forest and land and moved on, letting the things that they used grow back. Soon came the point where the either the government or the enticement of jobs kept people in one spot which leads to what we have today. This new world of staying in one spot not only started creating problems with sanitation and clean water, it started changing the communities by way of influence. If you talk to an elder in my community they will tell you that their elders lasted much much longer than current people did and they will tell you why. Food and drink. When a group of people spends thousands of years eating nothing but fresh meat and pure organic roots, fruits, and vegetables and is not exposed to toxins, they tend to live long lives. Especially when there are no roads and “hiking” every day is part of getting from one place to the next. The “modern” food here has transformed a once independent group of people to a dependent on doctors and mounds of bad food.

Coming back to food and the meaning of being poor. I would like to ask how much food you grow and if there were ever a disaster, would you survive on what you grow. For me the answer is no. I'm growing one native root in my yard and that would last me about a day of food. These people would last for as long they needed. A common thought is that the poor rely on the rich for help. Well, handouts are plentiful around here and telling these people they are poor while handing it to them with a smile is common. The more handouts, the more they rely on it. The more they are told they are poor, the more they believe it. You can mark my words, if the global food production stopped today, it would be the rich and middle class most hurt. Not these people. Now this is not the same all around the world and there are very poor people with no chance to grow their own food, but for my case I believe that the word poor just does not fit.

When it comes to cultural differences, it is just that. You can walk into a community as I have and others before me, and see the trash on the ground, kids with no shoes, and people using only candles for light and think wow these people need a lot of help. I now know that this is wrong. These are not “poor” things, they are cultural things. I've seen people with three pairs of shoes at home walking around barefoot, the trash is a by product of the western world that these are not accustomed to dealing with yet as everything used to be organic, and candles provide just enough light to not attract too many bugs but still light a house. Now I'm sure if these people had the money a new pair of shoes and a solar panel would be nice, but that is like me saying that I have an old computer and I'm poor because I don't buy a new one.

Not only do these people get offended by the word “poor” when it is in reference to them, they can give you examples of other natives that really are poor because they sold the land they had to subsist for a payday, and are now working for others to pay to rent a place and buy enough food. I now realize, that in my particular case, the people here were not looking for a volunteer to come in and save them from the perils of starvation and famine, they just wanted someone to help them with their business so they could help themselves pay for the doctors and medicine they now need...

Lets All Hug Some Trees

It has come to my attention that not only my parents are going to be reading by blog. I have gained and lost some readers over the last eight months and I knew this would happen. It was only a matter of time before people I was only acquaintances with or even good friends of mine would drop off into their own lives and slowly forget about Adam. This is actually OK with me. Especially since my posts lately have probably been less than exciting. I'm no longer in great mental pain over my situation and I haven't seen many dying or dead animals in or people in awhile. My blogs have changed from me judging random people in an airport by their appearance and talking about the dramatic rescue of someones life to talking about the fact that we are selling more chocolate now. People were bound to loose interest and that is OK with me.

Next month should be the big test in terms of our tour. My piece comes out in the local newspaper about my work and the chocolate tour that we are doing and I expect that people will be calling the Oreba Chocolate phone on a regular basis. It will be the big test to see how much volume we are ready for. As of today we have gone three straight days of doing a tour and have two separate tours scheduled for tomorrow. Its going good and with every tour we are fixing the little things that tourists mention. I'm hoping to slowly pull myself out the equation too which is obviously the desired result and from the looks of things should not be any type of problem. I sat back and barely guided Solomon today while he created a logo for our future T shirts and then put it on his USB stick to take to the printers. This is a good sign. We have also talked about hiring someone from Almirante that can translate tours for us in the future if we get busy which would be great and reassuring to me that the main problem of being able to speak English can be handled. Enough about all that though.

Here is some more opinionated stuff that might go along the same lines as some earlier posts of mine and if you are easily offended or just don't want to hear it by all means skip to the end where I just complain about my health; I have decided that whenever someone comes into my site and starts salivating over the great planks of wood that they are chopping out of the trees here, I'm going to tell them that the wood is poisonous. I can't tell you how many people have come into my site under the guise of “helping” or wanting to support the local poor, and then start asking about how strong the wood is, how much it sells for, and how they cut it. I understand that it is fascinating to know that we have some of the hardest wood around and that the local economy here is getting something out of it, but these people that are coming in and encouraging the cutting down of trees are starting to wear on me. I've decided that it is not their fault though. Some people are really interested in getting hard wood for a good price. Especially those who live in this country. And not too many gringos are going to build all cement houses or even use non wood materials when local woods are so readily available.

My problem with it all is that the people here are not ready for it and the people exploiting them on the price aren't following the laws here about cutting down the trees (Not that it matters in a country where money means everything). Most people in my community have a huge number of trees in their farms and some of it can be considered forest. This is because the cacao needs a certain temperature and shade to grow. Thank god for this, because if it were not for the cacao this place would be cut down and shipped just like other places I've seen where the poor live. Even in my own community I have seen not just single tree felling for a quick buck, but whole areas cleared for pastor land. Part of the reason I stopped eating red meat because I see first hand how it is single handily destroying complete ecosystems along with the jungle.

The sad thing is that it will never stop. Someone here and in other places around here are going to want a quick payday and have this “money tree” sitting on their land looking pretty good to bring home dinner. The demand will always be there and will actually only get larger. The people here get money for cutting the wood, the person who owns the tree gets money for the wood, and the people coming to pick it up and sell it get money for the wood. It does bring money in though its sustainability is not too great considering it takes 100 years for some of these trees to grow this size. I can only hope that I can one day live in a house built from low impact and maybe even recycled materials, but the fact is that right now and probably in the near future I will be living in and using a lot of things made from wood.

Now you can cast me as a tree hugger because I'm pretty sure that most of what I'm saying makes me one but hear me out on just this one point. Everything on this earth is here for a reason. The birds, soil, plants, and trees. They all have their niche and have evolved that way throughout millions of years. Only in the last blink of an eye of time compared to the existence of living things on this earth have we started to change the make up of our environment. Everything in this world has worked in conjunction. One thing helping or complementing the next. I'm going to give you a microcosm of an example; There is a moth that only lives in the fur of the sloth. The moth lays it's eggs on the ground when the sloth goes down once every couple weeks to defecate. It is a well accepted fact that without one, the other would parish. There are thousands of cases like this and probably millions if you consider the multiple cases where the death of one species affects hundreds of others in different ways.

So who cares. We have lost tens of thousands of species already while we have been here and we are still living right? Well, ya. Kinda. We are finding new and important species of plants and animals all the time. Many with healing properties that we never knew about and could unlock cures for a variety of different diseases or conditions. There are so many of these species that we have never seen due to deforestation and pollution that we may have sealed our own graves already.

There is also the fact that biodiversity works well for this planet. Leave it humans to think they could improve on nature. We make chemicals that kill weeds and end up poisoning ourselves and other plants around it. One example of thousands. I could dig up countless journal article about how the killing off of species will come back to bite us in the ass, but I will leave that up to you. I'm just planting the seed so you can see for yourself. I'd like to get back to the tearing down the of the forest. I don't blame these people for selling their trees. I would do it if I were in their shoes and didn't know any better. I blame the people that need an entire extra story to their house so that when aunt Margret comes to visit she has enough space to feel like she is in a different house. If it wasn't for the outside world, the forest would be intact, the animals would be replenished faster than they could be killed, people would live an average of 17 years longer from not being introduced to the nutrient poor food that is being brought in, un-biodegradable trash wouldn't be scattered everywhere, and being at peace with the jungle and its surroundings would have been good enough instead of having a new god to bow down to.

But again, this was all inevitable and is part of the reason I'm here. To help these people adjust to the new world. A world that is changing faster than we ourselves can keep up with. It's a cycle that can be stopped with education, hard work, old traditions, and new technology. Its finding that right mix that is the tricky part. Let's just hope there are some trees left by the time we do just that.

Health Report:

I've been doing good. I swear. Well, that was until I got Giardia. I have have unusual low energy for the past three weeks and I knew that something was up. I couldn't sleep at night and just getting up out of bed took more effort than I was willing to give. Everything else was OK and there weren't any other signs so I thought maybe I was just overworked. Well, turns out I had Giardia. So that is that. I'm supposed to be at a Peace Corps training session where all the volunteers in my group are and here I am at my site making sure I don't crap my pants. Shit happens I guess. Literally. Other than that I'm doing good. My foot still hurts every once in awhile but I've learned to block it out just like the pain in my right for arm and on the right side of my face. (If you want to know why those hurt, you will have to comment below about them).

Until next time...

A Quick Progression to a Chocolate Tour

If you would have asked me 8 months ago what cacao is I would have told you I had no idea. That was before I joined the Peace Corps and before I knew I was coming to Panama. Fast forward to today and you can find me quickly correcting everyone’s pronunciation of cacao as it comes out of their mouth. That's “cah-cow” just so you know. I had been to Rio Oeste Arriba located just out of Almirante in the foothills (and yes its up the river to the West) during training and the volunteer that I visited here seemed to be a little somber. It rained more than it shined and sickness was a weekly battle. He seemed more than beat down and was ready to go home. After coming returning to Peace Corps headquarters near Panama City from my visit I quickly told my superior that I didn't want to be in that site and preferably somewhere where it didn't rain as much. It was taken into account and I was sure to get placed in the beach community I had always dreamed about. If you don't know anything about the Peace Corps, we are unpaid volunteers working with the state and local governments who each live in severely underdeveloped and poor communities for just over 2 years.

Needless to say, I got placed in the site I had feared and I was not happy. Not only was I afraid of hating my service for 2 years, I was afraid of being sick the whole time. I had already started things off on a bad note and the day I met President Martinelli I had two ear infections and an allergic reaction. Things didn't get better. The first three months in my community when we are required to live with host families, I became sick with, amoebas, parasites, and dysentery. I had lost 15 lbs, along with any motivation I still had and my Spanish was sometimes good enough to see if the latrine was occupied. I was miserable to say the least but was determined to make it through.

As time went by my body started getting accustomed to the food and I started filtering and adding chlorine to my water. My Spanish got better by pure necessity and I even started to gain back some of the weight I had lost by keeping the peanut butter companies in business. The cultural differences were still great and the belief I had that my talents were being wasted in a place that had no electricity was hard to get over (I worked with non-profit websites and marketing back home), but I hung in there. I hung in there because every day I woke up in my host families house and watched the kids eat the same dismal meal I was and get just as sick as I was getting but without the help of government sponsored health care or a jar of peanut butter in their room. I also knew that living poor for 2 years is nothing compared to living poor your entire life.

The day came where my Spanish clicked and the dry season came. I had worked in the cacao farms to get to know the farmers and their work and because of this I had learned a great deal about what goes into the process. I also learned that my gringo body is nothing compared to the pure muscle Ngabe people that have worked like this for hundreds of years if not longer. I woke up at 5am when they did and hauled hundred pound sacks of cacao beans to the road where we took a taxis to the cacao co-op in Almirante and waited all day for them to check the quality. I read up on the process of chocolate and researched what made a good bean and where those beans came from, I talked to Peace Corps experts and cacao vendors and found out that our cacao goes into some of the best chocolate in the world, and then I talked to the local farmers and found out they already knew all this information. Each day I became amazed on how much these people really knew about the tree that has become their livelihood. I came to the conclusion that when you have no TV and all you have is time, you tend to notice what makes a good cacao bean.

I quickly realized I was living within experts and my interest in cacao and chocolate was rising right along side my excitement. I found out that waves of international and local government agencies have been teaching and mentoring these people for years. Mixing old traditions with new methods and keeping everything 100% organic and shade grown. USAID had come in and built expensive solar dryers for the cacao so people could sell year round, a Swiss company came in and showed advanced techniques of using compost and natural plants and animals from the forest to become organic certified, and the Peace Corps had been here for over 5 years now helping build composting latrines and organizing the main artisan group to work together.

I became mesmerized at the different types of cacao and how they each had a distinct flavor, shape, and color (We have more than 100 different kinds of cacao trees here), I became intrigued as to how just a slight variation in temperature could effect the harvesting cycle, tree growth, fermentation process, and drying process, and I became increasingly impressed that these people knew so much about it all. I also found out after doing what we call a “Community Analysis” in the Peace Corps, that 98% of my community absolutely relies on their cacao farms for income meaning that without it, they would either have nothing or have to sell all the trees in their farms. Luckily for everyone they kept the trees and kept the their traditions of keeping the trees healthy.

In no time I started loving the community and the people in it. Seeing sloths and toucans on a daily basis traversing the jungle and having fresh chocolate, and chocolate milk 3 times a day didn't seem all that bad and my Spanish got better than I ever thought it could. I also realized the potential of my particular community in terms of processed chocolate sales and the possibility of having tourists. After spending about month doing a comprehensive analysis of the market and the communities ability to have tourists I saw nothing but green lights. Rio Oeste Arriba is only a short 15 minute taxi ride away from the boat dock in Almirante, there is a brand new government paved road all the way into the community, and the people here have had so many book keeping and marketing classes it had seemed they were just waiting for the opportunity.

We spent months talking and defining what we could do for a tour and brought tourists in from the island to come see what we had and help us determine what we needed to add and cut out. People in the community took notice and started to get excited at the fact that people might come see what they have been doing for hundreds of years and that these people might even want to pay for it. Groups of 30 people sometimes spent days clearing paths and cutting stairs into the mountain (cacao grows better on a hill which is all we have here). We built a traditional house made from penka (a type of palm leave) and vines over the ancient grinding stone deep within the cacao trees so we could do chocolate making demonstrations. I noticed people making artisan crafts to sell, more people showing up to my English class, and many people asking me questions about gringos and if they would like the things here. These people have been ready to share their secrets with the world but just didn't know how.

We decided on the name Oreba meaning cacao in their native language of Ngabere and after days of community members giving up ideas for a logo we decided on one that was then sent to another Peace Corps member with graphic design experience to finalize. After teaching a couple community members about presentation and marketing and with our new packaging for our hand roasted and ground cacao, we have now started selling our finished products on the island. Of course without the help of a couple generous and business savvy individuals on the island we could have never gotten as far as we have already. Namely, Lorelei at Super Gourmet, and Bryan and Jana at Lula's B and B whom have supported our chocolate selling effort with great feedback and ideas, met with local community members about their products, and helped promote our chocolate and our tour.

We have now had many groups now take our tour with rave reviews and word is spreading faster than I ever thought it would. I'm busier than I ever thought I would be and love every minute of it. I'm only about ¼ of my way through my service and I've already had people come up to me and thank me. I feel great about the work and I'm excited, but I also know that it will be never ending. With all of the profits from the tour and chocolate sales percentages will be going towards eduction, re-forestation, and community projects such a computer lab and library. What is probably one of the most important funds that money will be put into is one that anyone in the community can use in case of medical emergency and not have to pay back.

So if your a garden buff come check out our tour and learn learn about the 3 level organic eco system that lets animals pollinate the flowers, top trees provide just the right temperature for the cacao to grow, and organic material to replenish nutrients into the soil. If your an animal enthusiast come see the wide variety of poison dart frogs, giant tropical ants, butterflies, sloths, and toucans. Or if your just a plain old fashioned chocolate lover come watch a native chocolate making demonstration, eat raw cacao, try freshly made chocolate served on a cacao leaf, and take some packaged cacao home to show off. Tours run every day rain or shine starting at 10am and lasting about 3 hours and at the moment can be booked at Casa Verde Hostel or by calling 664 914 57. The tour includes transportation to and from the Bocas Marine Tour boat dock in Almirante, a complete guided tour of the cacao farm and village including explanations of the entire cacao and chocolate process, viewings of plants and animals of the jungle, a native chocolate demonstration where you can make your own chocolate to eat, a traditional Ngabe lunch including local roots and spices, and one package of chocolate to take home. The tour prices are $30 per person and $25 per person for groups of 5 or more. All money goes back into the community and is spent on health, education, re-forestation, and community projects.

If you would like more information, would like to sell the tour or chocolate, or would like to donate to the community, you can e-mail Adam Armstrong at californiaadam@yahoo.com or call him at 694 292-71. Also look for Oreba Tour on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Oreba-Chocolate/196669717020468

A little bit of Carnaval

The bus careens back and forth as the cold mountain breeze sifts its way though my hair. As the light spraying of mist coming filling the cabin awakens me when I doze off, I'm reminded that we are very high and the air is uncharacteristicly cold here. I keep thinking of Carnaval, and how it was a 24 hour blitz of craziness I was happy to partake in, but also happy to leave. Trash, more people than can comfortably fit in one place, loud music, and pick pocketers encompassed all that is the festivities. The bus stops and then goes slowly over a portion of the road that has been covered in mud falling from the adjacent hill. Sleep has been sparse these last couple days and any sleep on just a concrete floor with a shirt for a pillow is going to be rough. Hence, passing out on a constantly moving bus is now what I'm faced with.

Blur

Not only has the last couple days been a blur, but the last two weeks as well. I've been waist deep in my work and at times waist deep in water when my river flooded. I didn't drink more than two drinks at Carnaval and for good reason. I need to be thinking clear from here on out. In the states if I would tried to motivate myself for a project I would have most likely slacked off until the last minute. I've found that here I'm constantly on the move. Meetings, teaching classes, more meetings, designing graphics, even more meetings, and then the random hard labor. The thing is that I like it. I'm going in and out of consciousness, but I like it. And we live in exciting times here in the jungle.

These people have been waiting a long time for someone to come along and ignite a fire they didn't know how to find. It is now found and I'm lighting it. Our schedule of things to come might clue you in on what we have been doing and what we plan to do. Tomorrow our first full paying tourists arrive to take our full length 3 hour tour, after that I teach English for 1 and half hours, and after that I will be walking an hour to the community next to me where another volunteer has the brochures that I made and that they printed out for me. Thursday we will be working all day making the trail for the tour better and making doors where there is just barbed wire. After that we will have a meeting where I will introduce the idea of us having the official Peace Corps Technical Week here in our site where we will be training new volunteers about cacao. Then I go to the Island. Friday I will meet two people from my community on the island where we have 3 meetings about selling our packaged chocolate, selling our tour, and possibly selling both in the same place. Saturday I figure out the logistics for Tech Week including the budget and what I will be teaching. Sunday I'm going to Church. Yes, I said it. I'm going to Church. The Pastor here convinced me to do it even though I think he and his evangelical friends are crazy. I'm hoping I get a little more respect in the community for doing this and plan on trying to understand at least some of what is being said. The problem will be that the more I understand, the more I will not want to be there.

So the list goes on and next week will be even more hectic as we figure out logistics of our tour, I try to teach indigenous people how to make a website when they don't even have power, and we hopefully have our first free willing tourists come. One thing that I'm trying to get myself prepared for is the fact that I will have to be on the island a lot more from here on out. Our tour and chocolate sales will depend on it. I don't really like this idea as it is expensive and feels like a vacation.

Health Report

Since Carnaval I have been sleeping almost 10 hours a night. I might be playing catch up, but I'm tired throughout the day as well. I just feel really run down and tired which could mean that I have either parasites or some sickness. My foot started hurting again after walking around Carnaval and I'm guessing it is just never going to heal. I've started to gain some of my weight back and now have a daily exercise routine. I'm also trying to eat as much candy, starch, and carbs as possible to put back on some weight. Hiking all day in the sun tends to keep you slim...

An Update on My Work

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...

Raging Against the Machine and Other Updates

My work has picked up to say the least. I'm currently involved in 7 different projects in my community including teaching English and organizing and constructing water catchment systems for people with no running water. I've been pretty busy and the days where I just sat around staring at the wall are all but gone. I have trouble finding time to read my hippie books about how the world is falling apart and it's mostly the fault of the good ol US of A. I'm here to say that it's always the US' fault. Sometimes it's Korea's or Canada's fault. Of course they need the help of the Panamanian Government here to destroy the world.

Let me explain. There is something called a Comarca here. It's an Indian reservation. I don't live in it but the community I live in are the same people. They are Gnobe Indians. The Comarca has their own government within this country and all of it is supposed to be protected under Gnobe law. Well that is the case unless a Canadian company finds 200 billion dollars worth of copper in the Comarca in which case the Panamanian government then makes a law saying “we are taking it and go screw yourself”. Well, my buddy Martinelli didn't say that completely, but he did acknowledge, on TV, that the mine would destroy thousands of acres of watershed, kill off many species of animals, trees, and probably make most of the surrounding land inhabitable for the Gnobe people. But of course he justified it with the fact that it could be Panama's second biggest GDP getter. At that point I'd like to think the upper class here said “ya that makes sense”, while all the animals and the Indians just said “...uh...wait a minute”. I just said “you gotta be fucking kidding me”.

I guess that is what happens when you elect a President whom owns what is equivalent to Walmart in the states. No wonder the Gnobes are protesting all this week. I'de like to point out that all volunteers are on Alert stage and not allowed to go to many parts of the country right now due to protests. I also know many volunteers that would love to join those protests including myself, but I feel that keeping my volunteer status here is probably more productive and can do more help. I should be giving classes on how every government is corrupt and the fact that the government here changed the laws saying that whatever lies below the dirt is the property of the state is just part of living in a free nation.

I digress. We have to understand that third world countries did not go through the industrial revolution of the US which we built our economy on. Their case is just that. I understand. I also understand that countries could probably learn from the mistakes we made and not take that rout. You could pull a Costa Rica and actually keep your forests and animals for people to see and then by god people might actually come to see them and pay money for it. Sure as hell doesn't seem like the plan here. There are giant power lines going through my community of which has no power. It is a private company that makes money from selling the power but has not paid a dime to the landowners it is on. The river here. It will be gone in months. The government owns all rivers too and can dam them up whenever it feels. Its doing that with no compensation to the people or animals.

“It's a problem” as they say here. That's because besides protesting and getting rubber bullets shot at your eyes, there is nothing you can do. (There are many people here missing eyes from being shot with rubber bullets from the police). Nothing I can do that is for sure. I will get kicked out of the Peace Corps in about ten seconds. So I will keep doing what I can do and that is worry about my community outside the Comarca. But I will think about how they will be killing thousands of animals and habitats in the Comarca while I try to save them, or how they will be contaminating the water giving the residence no choice but to drink toxic ooze while I'm putting in clean water systems. I would like to go back 4 months when I met the President and ask him if he really meant what he said about helping the poor here. I think what he might have meant was that he was going to help the poor stay poor so he can sell more bullshit in his Panamanian Walmart.

Other Notes: We did our first dry run of our tour today. I have been working with the locals on creating a tour for tourists of our cacao farm. We built the Rancho, and even have a traditional rock to grind the cacao on. I brought someone that knows a lot about cacao from the island to come and teach a little bit about what we should say and it went great. Next step is to define exactly what to say and put on some classes on how to present the information.

English class went well. Seven people were signed up and twenty three showed up. Not sure how that happens but I guess word spreads quickly. We went over the ABC's and Numbers and the most important thing in English “How do you say”. I also played a couple games with them. Next class will be presentations in English.

I went to Solomon's house which was where I lived before I moved into my own place, and there were no less than 25 people there. I'm pretty glad I'm not there anymore. I don't think they need that much help with the old man that is dying. It just seems like everyone wants to come visit him before he does pass away.

My boss is coming this week and I will presenting the diagnostic that I did on our business group here. The diagnostic went well and the results were as I expected which were good. Solomon should be presenting the results so hopefully I don't have to get up and try out the slang spanish I have been learning out here.

The bike grinder is not done and the NGO that is making it says next week sometime. I'm concerned because he is very busy and I have promised this to my group. If for some reason he is not able to complete it, I will get what is done hauled out here in a couple weeks and see if we can finish it. I have faith in him though and if I have to go out there again I will. Boquete is a nice place to be.

My house is great. Except for the fact that it is dead center of everything and it seems that dogs are constantly fighting under my house. I got very little sleep last night because of it. My fish pond still has fish in it but almost all the plants I planted seem to be dying. Guess I shouldn't have planted them in the dry season. For those of you still planing of visiting me, I hope you are prepared to work. I could always use a hand in English class...

Boquete, Dead Wheat, The Bike Grinder, and why the Peace Corps Smashes the Competition

I'm writing from 400k plus custom style home on a ranch with a sustainable aquaponics greenhouse, poultry farm, and complete machining and welding shop. The owners, Steve and his family, have invited me here to work on my now failed project of creating a bike that can peddle cacao into liquid form. To be fair, we had no idea what we were doing, had almost no resources, and tried to make the damn thing out of wood. I'm glad Steve didn't laugh at the pictures I showed him of our version. Steve's home base for his business, Dead Wheat, and his home, is probably the nicest home I've been to in Panama besides the Ambassadors residence. It makes sense though because Steve designed and built not only this house, but most of the houses around him and also works on big development projects within the country. It's a nice place and Boquete is a really nice town, but the overwhelming amount of gringos leave me longing to return to my community.

Steve working his magic

On another note, my stomach is full of Chicken Soup and that is good. I haven't been able to eat much as I got sick again and ended up in the Hospital for the 5th time in 5 months. They say I have a bacterial infection including globs of yeast in my digestive track. Hmm. Ok. Well I got my customary antibiotics and needless IV of fluids and hopped into Steve's truck to catch a ride back up with him to his house/shop in Boquete. It might sound like I'm talking a little too much about Steve and his house and shop and family, but there is good reason for all this. He has not only took time out of his busy (and I mean so-busy-that-people-need-to-wait-in-line-to-talk-to-me busy) schedule to design, and construct this project, he is funding the entire thing and probably missing out on things that could actually make him money instead of spending it. Dead Wheat is a non-profit NGO and he does love this type of engineering meets sustainable jungle living work so I guess there are a list of reasons he would help me with this project, but I still think he is way too humble about the whole thing.

Which brings me to my next point. There are too many gringos out here thinking they are doing "development" work. Of course there is going to always be bad apples, but I'm not sure that many of these people are qualified to be running a Burger King let alone trying to impose their version of development onto unsuspecting and always willing to take anything they can people. Sometimes nothing is better than something and this has been proven over and over again. Just read one case study and you will know what I mean. That's called "research". But I don't expect these people to read case studies. I expect them to think that because they are from a "developed" nation, they therefore must be an expert on what is best for the people whom have nothing or close to it. I expect them to think that imposing their ideas upon an unsuspecting people can only help them because they must know nothing. I could draw a parallel to the missionaries that came through here years ago and built churches with one book in them instead of schools with many, but that might draw some heat so I wont go there. Where I will go is into the fact that if you think you are going into any indigenous community to "volunteer" for any time less than a month and you are not there to provide health care or education, it would be better off if you did nothing. History has proved this, case studies have proved this, I can prove this, and the Peace Corps has proved this. And yes, I'm saying that the Peace Corps really does do their homework and is why it is one of the best volunteer programs out there for third world countries.

I know you might be a little weary that a US government agency could actually do something right, but let me assure you, and my B.A. from my state college can back me up on this, they have their shit together. In fact it is so together that if a program looks like it is not making a big enough impact or has weak leadership, it gets pulled. As in the case with the program I'm in and that will no longer be after my group.

In summary, Steve is a bad-ass and is doing some really good things to improve the lives of the poor indigenous in this country in a sustainable way. Go to Deadwheat.com and tell him he rocks. The bike project should be in beta this week and if it works, they should get enough use out it to sell enough ground cacao to buy any type of grinder they wish in the future. I'm sick again. Panama hates my colon. There are a lot of people down here working under the umbrella of "aid" that are either just looking to make a buck, are feeling bad that they live on what was once Indian land, or want to boost their ego. And my official opinion on the Peace Corps at this point in time is that it kicks every other organizations ass. USAID seems to be doing some good stuff too...

Notes: I would like to note that without the donations and work of many other small organizations and private donors, much of our work would be impossible. These groups include Rotary, Dead Wheat, some gringos on the island that wish to be anonymous I'm guessing, and the many semi-organized and funded government organizations in Panama. I can honestly say that the people and organizations trusting Peace Corps Volunteers with donation money are trusting it with the correct people. We have no other agenda and if we take a penny we are terminated from our jobs. Thank you for your continued support.