Part 1: Mar
I can’t believe how much has happened since we left Chitre.
First we spent a week at the beach – kind of. Our homestay was in the suburbs
of the city of David in a small fishing town. Every day we got into the most
rickety boats I’ve ever ridden in to visit the mangroves and take samples of
conches, fish, and lobsters. I never expected mangroves to grow that tall (I
knew they were taller on the Pacific coast compared to the Caribbean but didn’t
realize how tall that actually meant), nor did I expect them to be that muddy;
sometimes we were wading through mud past our knees! The highlights of our stay
in David were staying on a (practically deserted) island for a night while
following the lobster divers, and going to la ferria with my host sisters. The
island, Isla Paridas, was absolutely gorgeous. I felt like I was living in a
postcard for some tropical paradise. We followed the lobster divers as they
dove near sharp rocks with just a small set of goggles to search for lobsters.
I also snorkeled for the first time and it was terrifying and amazing at the
same time. I saw brilliantly-colored starfish, puffer fish that flailed
hysterically whenever approached, and huge sea urchins. Others saw sting rays
and sea cucumbers too! It was heartbreaking how devastated this reef was and
our director said it was still recovering from a huge El Niño from 1999. Our
boats definitely were not helping however, as we could feel the bottom of our
boat ripping apart the reef when we left because the boat had drifted too
close.
After we got back from Isla Paridas we got to go to la
ferria with our host family. It was huge! They not only had rides, food, and artisan
crafts, but also sold furniture, cars, and information about energy companies!
The fair lasts for 10 days in celebration of the patron saint of David. It was
so much fun to go with my host sisters, Adelaira (9) and Solimar (16). My
favorite part was when Sol told me I was like an older sister to her and she
didn’t want me to leave. We had had a three-hour conversation earlier about life
and school and the future and it was incredible how much she was eager to share
with me and how much she wanted to learn about my life as well. Clara, my host
mom, cried when we left. It was incredible how welcoming and loving they all
were and I miss them terribly. However it is exciting to finally have a host
family we can keep in touch with, since they have facebook and cell phones! Sol
gave me a bracelet the day I left that says “Me haces falta” (I need you) and I
think of her and her wonderful family whenever I look at it.
Part 2: Monos
After David, we went to Alouatta Sanctuary for mantled
howler monkeys in the highlands of Chiriquí.
The monkeys were adorable. They were rehabilitating three orphans while
we were there, Coco, Nina, and M and one successfully rehabilitated monkey,
Maisie, would come to visit the center daily with her wild troupe composed of
her two offspring, Jack and Boo, and Macho (the alpha male) and another wild
female. We spent one day walking each of the five transects to complete a population
estimate of mammals living in the forest and saw a wild mantled howler monkey
troupe, as well as an agouti and a squirrel. We also spent hours monitoring the
resident troupe’s behavior with scans and focal follows, which proved to be
very tricky with monkeys moving overhead. We slept outside in tents, which was
both thrilling and terrifying to hear the constant hissing and buzzing of
insects and the occasional howl of monkeys. I am now an expert tent-pitcher and
trouble-shooter when it suddenly pours in the middle of the night and your tent
becomes a river! It was inspiring to see the work they were doing at Alouatta
and it was also great to talk to the other interns about their previous
experiences and adventures. However, being in a place where everyone spoke
English reminded me of how much I have become accustomed to Panamanian culture
and how much I miss speaking Spanish. The majority of our group felt similarly
and we all decided to play Apples to Apples together in Spanish on our last
night there.
Part 3: Montañas
Now I am sitting in the office of AMIPILA (Amigos del Parque
Internacional La Amistad), a local environmental non-profit in Guadalupe.
Guadalupe is a small town near Cerro Punta, both of which as gorgeously
sandwiched by the mountain range of Volcán Barú, the highest point in Panamá. Here
we have toured an organic shade coffee and plantain plantation (which I may
return to for my independent project because the couple who owns it is adorable,
their story for switching to organic practices is inspiring, and the progress
of their organic practices is fascinating), a coffee processing plant (where we
were given a glimpse of the tedious and pompous process of coffee-tasting), and
a small farm trying to go organic. I had an excellent conversation while weeding
cabbages with Ana, one of the leaders of AMIPILA, and I felt perfectly at home
weeding and talking like I did at Crossroads Farm on Long Island this summer. It’s
incredible how weeding can facilitate camaraderie and conversation. Ana told me
about the problems in Cerro Punta with the infertile soil after so many years
of chemically-dependent conventional agriculture and how difficult it is to
switch to organic. It was disconcerting to hear that agriculture in Panama has
the same problems as the US agriculture system. Problems with our agricultural
system are worldwide, not only national and it will be a long while until
changes towards more sustainable and organic practices can be made.
During our free weekend, nine other students and I decided
to test our stamina on Volcán Barú. We hired three guides and were determined
to see the sunrise at the top. In short, we paid $40 for over 14 hours of
self-torture. We started the climb at midnight after just 2 hours of sleep and
I expected it to be a long hike, but not
necessarily a treacherous one: boy was I wrong. We walked sleep forested trails
for half the time, and then scaled steep rock faces with our bare hands for the
rest. It was definitely the most difficult, most satisfying, and craziest thing
I have ever done. Over the course of the 6 hour climb to the summit I was on a
roller-coaster of emotions. Sometimes I felt strong and connected to the jungle.
It was as if the trees had grown their roots to help provide us with
hand-holds. Then I would feel completely exhausted, like I couldn’t move
another inch and my feet were like lead, and I couldn’t breathe from the
altitude and I felt weak and stupid for thinking I could even attempt this
climb. I would curse at any rock that proved to be an unstable foothold or yelp
at any scratch or bump. Thankfully I never fell completely, but I would have
fallen a good way down the mountain if it weren’t for a handy tree root. I don’t
think I have ever pushed my body to such extremes. There were parts when I
honestly wanted to lie down and cry, and others when I didn’t ever want to stop
and my adrenaline propelled me upward. When we got to the top at 6am as the sun
was rising it was like a dream. We floated above the clouds tinted with red and
orange, and I took at least 40 photos of the exact same view because it was so
gorgeous and I was so delirious. My 45 minute-long nap on the hard rocks was
the best sleep I’ve ever had. There were so many other people at the top, but
they had hiked up the day before and camped at the top for the night (a much
more sane idea). After properly admiring the view and the clouds and the fact
that we had done it, we slowly realized we had to somehow get back down and began
our 6 ½ hour long decent. Going down was even harder because we were so tired
and the slopes were so steep. It was terrifying to actually see the steep slope
that we had climbed up in the dark and realize we somehow had to get ourselves
down it without a sled and a helmet. Our poor guides could have probably gotten
down in half the time we did, but we moved so sluggishly and my knees and ankles
were screaming the whole time so honestly it’s a miracle we got down at all. I
complain about the hike to illustrate just how miserable the whole endeavor
was. While the hike did not cancel out the two hours of glorious success and admiration
we enjoyed at the top, it remains the most difficult thing I have ever done –
no contest. When we got back to our house, we bought strawberry milkshakes from
this adorable old lady with a tienda who knows our academic director, and then promptly
returned to our house and slept from 4pm until 8am the next morning (only being
gently prodded awake for dinner by our concerned host mother). Right now all of
that seems like a dream, and if my entire body didn’t still ache I would have
believed it to be just that.
Our homestay family here in Guadalupe is the sweetest, with excellent
fresh vegetables from their farm, and three precious grandchildren that have
endless energy and curiosity! This
morning our host dad showed us his two farms on the very tops of the mountains.
It’s incredible how careful he has to be to conserve soil and avoid erosion on
such steep slopes. Although he was cutting down primary forest and using
pesticides, he had a great respect for the land he used and left skunks and
other animals he encountered alone because he knew he “was in their territory.”
It made me frustrated with the lack of availability of organic practices,
because he knew that there was a cost to pesticides and fungicides and
deforestation, but he also had to make a living and he was doing what he could
(using rainwater, using wood from the forest to make furniture, digging ditches
to fight erosion and control flooding) to care for his land. We saw
cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, potatoes, corn, onions, and some fruit trees.
He is so proud of his farm and it was amazing to hear him talk about how he
built all the different parts of it and what he hopes to build in the future to
improve it. One farm had no water source at all and is only reliant on the rain
while another he invested in a sprinkler system from a gravity-powered piping
system from the ChiriquI River and it has greatly improved his onion harvest.
He also spoke of improving conditions for the indigenous workers he hires and
is starting to build a more study house for them compared to the dilapidated
wood and aluminum shacks they currently live in. The tour was truly incredible
and completely shattered my previous notions of farming, now I picture the
steep slopes surrounded by jungle and covered with cauliflower instead of flat
planes.
Next we are headed to Bocas del Toro and I can’t believe our
independent projects start in two weeks! Hasta luego!
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