April and Kevin in Kuna Yala, the northeast coast of Panamá

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Photos from Volunteer Visit - previous post

These photos are from our visit to see Noah and Karinne in thier community. Every trainee gets to visit a current volunteer at thier site for a weekend. See the previous posts for a discription of our visit, when we posted we did not have a way to upload the photos.

April and Kevin on a chiva.

Chivas are a main method of transportation in the campo...which means anywhere off of the main highways and big roads. Chivas are 4wheel drive trucks with a roof and two hard small benches in the back. Cargo gets strapped to the top, and people get crammed inside. We were the last stop...that is why you don´t see other passengers.


Kevin on the Chiva. Clearly head room was not a high priority in the creation of this chiva. They tell us that not all chivas are this short. Kevin hit his head multiple times each way...hard enough to be heard over the engine noise.


A view of the community fair grounds. Each small community has a Saint or "Patronales" that they celebrate - sometimes for days or weeks at a time. The fair grounds at this communtiy become a market and activity area for thier week of celebration.

The view from Noah and Karinne´s porch. They have a beautiful site location. Almost (emphasis on almost for me anyway) worth the 3 plus hour chiva ride.
My first of the really big Panamanian creatures. This spider´s main body was easily as big as my thumb. Wow. The list to date includes: two small scorpions, a BIG tarantula, many mosquitos, tocans, many interesting and colorful birds, a cool big lizard (that bit Colin in our group 4 times...but Colin is the guy who catches lizards and stuff and gets bit as a result of the fun) and a lightning bug that had to be as big as my thumb with an orangey colored light rather than the typical green/yellow. (Ok, on that one we didn´t actually get a look at the bug as it was dark....but there are other witnesses who agree that it was a lightning type bug. I guess we could all be wrong...it could have been a tiny UFO.)


We took a walk/hike with Noah and Karinne to a water fall and swimming hole. Our camera batteries were limited on this trip, so these are the best of the photos.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The pictures are great and help to give us an idea of what you are seeing and doing. Thanks for all of the preparation you did to set up this blog and be prepared to share your adventure with family and friends.
Love, Mom C.