Mangrove frolics

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.

Toothbrush defenders!

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! 

Crossing a creek on just a few branches- a little iffy!

Where is that iguana now?

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.

Julia and I hold up an iguana

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.

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.