Day 3!

Day 3, January 10, 2010

What can we say about this day except tiring?! By the end of the day I think everyone in the group felt like we had crammed three days worth of exercise, eating, talking, and working in one day. We learned so much about the community and their way of life and we also shared some of our culture with them along the way.

Breakfast was a traditional Panamanian tortilla topped with queso and a side of delicious fruit. We all ate quickly and started our hike up the mountain to harvest cacao. Those of us who laid around all Christmas break regretted not spending some time exercising before the trip, and our legs burned for days after.

The cacao trees are an hour long hike up a muddy, jungly, incredibly steep mountain. We took our time, but it was quite obvious we were slowing the locals down. They navigate the low hanging branches and slippery mud as though they have spikes on the bottom of their worn rubber boots.

According to Brian, villagers climb the mountain to their “finca,” or farm, every few days to cut down the pods that hold the beans. They use small blades attached to long wooden poles to cut the large, yellow pods out of the tree. A partner in their work catches the fruit, inspects it for problems, and then tosses it in a hand made basket on his or her back. When their basket is full they take the collection to a location where they all work to cut the pods open and scoop out the beans. Each bean is covered in a sweet, sticky fruit that is delicious to eat, but tastes nothing like chocolate.

After we were done with the exhausting work we climbed a little further up the mountain to a spot where we could see through the trees all the way down to Almirante and the Atlantic Ocean. It was truly beautiful and we took way too many pictures. The hike down the mountain was also gorgeous, but much harder to stay balanced. The locals all had a good laugh watching us slip and slide our way back to the community. Get it walking sticks.

Lunch was quick and then it was back to hiking, but this time to one of the most beautiful waterfalls I’ve ever seen. One of the things that makes Rio Oeste so amazing is that it is untouched and in its natural state. There is no litter on the trails or tourists infecting the traditional way of life.

The trail to the waterfall followed a small, tranquil river through huge trees covered in vines and boulders green with moss. The water was crystal clear and just the right temperature for a swim. The last part of the journey before we reached the large waterfall was a swim though a deep hole in the river. When we finally all got to the waterfall we washed our hair and took pictures that would make National Geographic jealous. It was the first “shower” we had since our night in David. We all swam and played and watched the kids jumping from rocks and having contests.

Adriana and Daniel enjoyed themselves too, but they just about had to drag us back to the village to get to work. We spent several hours continuing our interview with the community members, getting more in depth answers to our questions so that we could better help them grow their modest business. Each day the community gets more open with their answers and more willing to share opinions.

As a group, we decided to spend our evening preparing for the next day when we would be having workshops to teach the community basic business practices. Everyone was tired, but it was important we work hard so we could be ready for the next day. It was so exciting to see everyone participating, sharing opinions, and thinking of ideas.

After getting everything we could ready for the next day, we all crashed out on our deflated air mattresses and got some rest. After a day like as tiring as this one, it really doesn’t matter where we rest our head, sleep would come easily.