Cultural and Technical Weeks

Culture and tech weeks are now a thing of the recent past and I am currently trying hard to decompress all of the novel experiences of the last two weeks. While the last two weeks have been crazy exhausting, they have been huge morale boosters and have left me worrying less about the next two years of navigating through relatively unchartered waters alone.

Culture week was a crash course education on indigenous groups in the Bocas del Toro Province. I lived with an Ngäbe family for the first few days. The Ngäbes represent Panama’s largest (and ever-increasing) indigenous group. Lots of kids and plantains and unabashed stares were mainstays in my few days there. That and alternating bouts of constipation (from the plantains) and diarrhea (from the water). But I survived, through lots of laughter.

After my time with the Ngäbes I was boated up the Rio Teribe to visit the village of Sieyic, the home of the Naso king. The stay was an amazing one. The only downfall would probably be not being about to meet the Naso king, but maybe that could be a later visit. The father of the family I stayed with shared Naso folklore (e.g., a grandmother rock protects the Naso), explained old customs (e.g., preparing girls for womanhood), and presented new issues that confront the Naso (e.g., construction of a nearby hydroelectric dam). Most of the Naso adamantly oppose the construction of the dam, and the tensions over the project have apparently even spurred violence. The same day I went upstream to visit the community another boat with Nasos was stopped, stoned, and force to turn back downstream. The Naso indigenous group also lacks a comarca (Panamanian equivalent of a reservation) of its own, and has been fighting for years to gain one in an attempt to preserve its cultural identity. It was incredible to hear about these struggles and to consider their implications on my next two years of working with the Naso. It is daunting but fiercely exciting. The Naso are a proud and such a beautiful people. And they’re organized. I can’t wait to work them.

After culture week fellow future Bocas agriculture volunteer Kate and I headed to the islands during our day off. Crystal clear water, white sand, and hardly another soul around on Isla Carenero made for a perfect morning on the beach. I definitely will be going back, especially since it’ll only be a few hours from my site. Hopefully one of you will provide me some company.

Technical week was also in Bocas del Toro, and the bulk of it was spent on an amazing cacao farm. It must have served as the inspiration of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory with its brightly colored cacao pods and gnarly trees. We learned about the crop and plagues that affect its production and practiced pruning and grafting techniques. We also processed the cacao beans into unsweetened chocolate. And from this amazing organic cacao the volunteers I was with made these amazing brownies that served as my birthday cake, which we enjoyed with boxed red wine. It was all a bit impromptu, but it was really touching and a very good way to begin my 23rd year of being.

Making food for culture language class over a fugon

From the water taxi to Isla Colon

The life jackets onboard that no one wears

A perfect example of agroforestry (cacao in the forground)

Chocolate in its natural habitat (Willy Wonka-esque, no?)

A tree nursery

More cacao pods

Drying the cacao beans

Toasted, crushed, and de-shelled cacao beans

Kate, grinding the beans

The fnished product, 100% cacao... a little bitter but so yummy!