Well, my time in Panama has come to a close. I’m
back in Portland
at my folks’ house, with a box of souvenirs and dresses. In the last hectic
weeks of packing, getting ready to move, and saying heartfelt and tearful
goodbyes to my friends, I found I had a few more stories to tell on this blog.
Here’s a couple of them!
Love those teeth!
I organized a series of talks
on dental health with Jeff, the new Volunteer and my replacement, at the local elementary school and gave away some donated toothbrushes to
127 children. The
toothbrushes were donated by a visiting group from Emmaus
Baptist Church
in Moore OK,
and Dr. George Brant, my Portland
dentist. (The brushes from Moore
were repurposed donations from tornado relief efforts, after a devastating
tornado hit the town in May!). We talked about consuming sugar, the damaging
effect of bacteria on the teeth, cavities, and the importance of brushing and
visiting the dentist. (There is a dentist at the government health clinic in a
neighboring town, and she loaned us her demonstration mouth with teeth, which
was pretty fun). We acted out a game with us and kids pretending to be a
toothbrush protecting teeth from bacteria’s attack. We also made up a
fun song: “Brush, brush, brush my teeth! I want to brush my teeth and always
have them! Brush up and down, inside and outside!” Some families in the community have good oral hygiene and others do
not, and money is generally tight in all families. I think a lot of the
kids were hearing for the first time about how and why cavities form. It was a
fun activity and a good way to introduce Jeff to the school-kids and teachers.
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Toothbrush defenders!
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A different kind of day...
It’s an old tradition in my area of Panama, which is up in
the hills a day’s walk from the Pacific Ocean, to spend a few days in the dry
season down at the beach hunting crabs and iguanas and even boiling seawater to
make salt. It’s like a family vacation. Jeff and I were invited to spend a day
hunting at the beach, though we skipped the salt-works (nobody does that
anymore). A pick-up truck dropped off 10 Ngabe friends, Jeff, and I for a day
of traditional fun at the mouth of the San
Felix River,
a place called Playa Boca Viejo. The group brought jugs of water and a couple
large cook-pots, and pitched a tarp near the beach to make a shelter. After a
round of cacao, a drink made from unsweetened chocolate, we were ready for the
day. We trudged through a mangrove swamp in the morning,
searching for iguanas that live in the trees. Mangroves are a special kind of
tree that grow in saltwater wetlands, and the area was very muddy and smelled
like sulfur!
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| Crossing a creek on just a few branches- a little iffy! |
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| Where is that iguana now? |
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| Slingshot pros |
The sun was warm and we hadn’t brought enough water to stay
adequately hydrated. Julia carried cacao in a jug and shared it around in a
plastic cup, which was much appreciated. My companions shot four iguanas with
slingshots and we cooked them for lunch, along with crabs.
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| Julia and I hold up an iguana |
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| I think iguana
tastes a little bit like turkey. |
In the afternoon the women and I walked along the high tide
line, searching for beach crabs under pieces of driftwood. You have to flip
over the driftwood and if there happens to be a crab underneath, dart in to
grab it before it runs away! There’s a special way to hold the crab to pin down
its pinchers, and then you drop it in your sack. I caught 4 red crabs and 3
hermit crabs. One of the crabs I caught pinched me hard on the index finger-
and even when I pulled off its leg, the detached claw kept pinching! I had to
cry out “Help! Ayudame!” because that crab was about to run away and its leg was
still biting me! My friend Mikaela came and rescued me and showed me how you
can bite the crab claw in your teeth to get it to release. We had a good laugh.
It wasn’t even a big crab like the ones my friends were gathering, which means
they’re very skilful!
Meanwhile, the men looked for a different kind of crab that
lives in muddy holes back in the mangrove swamp. After four hours searching for
crabs, we returned to our lunch site where the men were running and playing
soccer with the energy of boys. We finished off with another round of cacao and
leftover rice.
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| My neighbor Tito goofing off in the surf |
When I got home, tired, muddy, and sandy, I headed right to
the creek to take a cold shower in the dark!
We carried live crabs in sacks to our respective homes and ate them
later. Now I know that you can get a hermit crab to leave its shell by holding
a flaming stick to the shell, and they are small but delicious! In summary, it was a fun trip to the beach, I learned about important traditions, and it was certainly very memorable. I'm glad we don't have to rely on my hunting and gathering skills to earn supper.
