Pressing Sugar

Back in April, just after the All Volunteer Conference, we went to visit another volunteer who lives near Chitre, where AVC was held. While there, some folks in the community were pressing sugar cane.

Sugar cane is pretty much a grass that can be grown one little plot in your yard, or in massive fields. The companies burn the fields to get the scratchy leaves off before the workers go through and cut it (so they end up sooty and blackened, but not scratched), and you'll see heavily weighted trucks carrying stacks of the about 8-foot long, 2-inch across stalks to the factories, where it is processed.

But small farmers do it on a smaller scale. They load the cane into horse-drawn carts and haul it to the trapichi, which is a horse (or person) powered press. There, each stalk is passed through twice to squeeze out the sugar juice.

(Jon and April watching the horse and farmer press cane; the juice drains out onto the metal ramp which sends it to a filter to remove chunks and then drip into the barrel)

Once the juice is squeezed out, it is heated / simmered over several days to concentrate it. Huge metal bowls are used to the process. This farmer had his built into the stove for the process.

(The bowl of sugar cane juice concentrating. The stick has a large strainer bowl on it for scooping out the concentrate.)

His stove was almost like the Estufa Lorenas, in that it concentrated the heat, thus using less firewood. The mouth of this stove is an old wheel rim.

(The stove mouth. The barrels hold processed sugar juice; buyers will pay $50 for the barrel, but then probably sell the contents piecemeal in town for $100)

Of course, there are other kinds of sugar and honey you can press. :) April and I, dressed up to go to a Samy y Sandra Sandoval concert the next night at the International Fair of the Azuero (the Azuero is the eastern side of the big peninsula on the south of Panama, containing the provinces of Herrera and Los Santos, and is famous for its "typical" Panamanian culture). Samy y Sandra's grandmother lives in the community where we saw the cane being pressed.

Some Food Photo Updates

Back at Easter, several folks brought us traditional foods. These included: a cocado, which is a mix of shaved coconut and raspadura, a cake of raw sugar cane sugar; a sweetened yuca mash (yuca is a very starchy root crop); and balos, which are corn flour mash, slightly sweetened, wrapped in a corn leave or husk.

(cocado, yuca, and balo)

Last week, April returned from Isla Coiba (it went well, look for a summary and photos -snorkeling, crocodiles, the penal colony- in about a week, when we get out again and she has computer time) with a sport fisherman, who offered her a ride back to our island (he was going past on the way to port) as long as she was willing to go fishing for an hour or two first. They caught a 50-lb fish they said was wahoo(sp?), but I'm not sure if that is the same as wahoo in English.

(April's nice doctor from Panama City who offered a ride back from Isla Coiba; he goes sport fishing about once a month for a couple of days to fill his freezer)

They immediately fileted it and stuck the ziplocs in a cooler, and when she got out, they gave her a bag with probably 8-lbs of two-inch thick slabs of fish. We shared some with our neighbors (the first time we've ever been able to give them fish) and cooked the rest with garlic and olive oil as massive steaks (except one we blackened with Phillips Blackening Seasoning; thanks Kristin).

(Cooking three of our massive fish steaks)

Baseball Diplomacy - The Ambassador and the All-Star Game

After the Gulf of Montijo Health Fair, April left to be a facilitator at the Project Management and Leadership conference for PCVs and community members from the latest group. Kevin spent the week on the island, following up with folks about the fair. On Thursday, he came out, picked up April and they headed to Panama City. Friday was a day in the office working on the paperwork and receipts for the health fair, and Saturday was spent buying health-related books with grant funds (see the Health Fair post).


We also got invited to go to a baseball game on Sunday. With the US Ambassador to Panama, Barbara Stephenson. Back in Santiago - a four hour bus ride from Panama. But one of the PC staff was going, and offered us a ride, so we took it.

(April, Ambassador Stephenson, and Kevin in the Presidential Box at the new Stadium in Santiago)

The afternoon game, the one we went for, featured the US Southern Command baseball team (we aren't sure if the players also have tours of duty or how that worked, but it sounded like a pretty nice deal) against a local team. The nightcap was the Panama All Star Game, but our ride needed to head back to Panama, so we missed that one.

(April and Madame Ambassador tossing baseballs from our perch in the Box Seats behind home plate to the crowd below)

The game was a pitcher's duel, and although we had a runner thrown out at home, it was the local team that finally scored one in extra innings to finish the game. But we didn't mind, as we spent much of the time talking with the Ambassador, who was interested in how we made our VW Beetle run on used veggie oil and talking about The Not So Big House, both environmental issues we enjoy.

Other fun parts to the game, besides chatting with the Ambassador and helping her throw out balls, hats, and such, included the food...

(Not the Great American Ballpark frank, but a lot cheaper ;)

The hot dogs (salchichas here) were sliced in half lengthwise to cover the entire loaf of bread (bread, not bun), and the relish, well, I didn't relish it.

Here is April (miming) eating a salchicha so you can see our view of the game from the Presidential Box (okay view, but I think the stadium isn't quite finished yet, and the box was a little raw, with unpainted concrete counters, etc).

(April, a salchicha, and the Veraguas team batting against the Southern Command All Stars)

The other highlight was the visit of Margarita, the Panamanian winner of Latin American Idol last year, to our box to talk to Ambassador Stephenson. They are big fans of each other apparently. I'm sure many folks both on Peace Corps Panama staff and in our community would be jealous of us for being so close to Margarita, but without TV, we hadn't seen too much of the competition. We did happen to be in a restuarant for dinner when she sang the Panamanian national anthem (with all the verses, a bit longer than the American, so it was a heck of an effort), and it was quite beautiful; she won for a reason.

(Madam Ambassador with Señorita Margarita)

After the game, we were invited to the hotel where the Ambassador was staying for a bar-b-que, but our ride was returning to Panama City, so we headed out. Baseball is huge in Panama (bigger than soccer, which most folks probably associate with Latin American countries), and we had wanted to catch a game in the new stadium before we left. Now we can check that off on our list. Thank you Madam Ambassador.

Eating Lobster

What better way to celebrate a good day than with some friends and a great meal?? Well, the other volunteers who helped out at the health fair seemed to think that a celebration dinner was warrented...so we asked a fisherman on the island to sell us some lobster for dinner...and he was happy to oblige.

Stephanie, Jim and Teri with thier lobsters. Watching them hold live lobsters was good for a few minutes of chuckling. Notice that these lobsters have no claws like the Maine lobsters that I was used to...otherwise they look very simular.

Chico, the fisherman brought over 4 good sized live lobsters. We had been advised by another islander to pay no more than $4 a pound...but when the lobsters arrived the volunteers quickly caved in to his requested $5 a pound. As I probably will not buy much more lobster in my time here I let them pay it.

They then went off and hauled all of the chairs used at the Health Fair back to the casa comunal (community house or meeting space) with the help of my neighbors and their boat. While they were hauling chairs I cooked up the lobsters...complete with the requisite guilt over the necessary murder (yes, lobsters can make a sound). By the time that they returned the lobsters were a rosy red.

Now many resturants serve lobster whole on the plate and the eater gets to wrestle the meat free. I have found that the gooey stuff inside a lobster or crab is off-putting and I like to rinse the meat and eat with clean fingers. Normal procedure in the Cropper house now is to clean the lobster and rinse away the goo and then flash heat the meat with a touch of oil and spice (usually fresh garlic) and then serve with something else...like pasta and veggies.

Stephanie, April, Lee, Jim, and Teri crowded around the sink cleaning lobsters.

So the others joined me at the sink eager for a new food experience. In my experience (I don't imagine that I will have that much experience to reference after I leave Panama) lobsters are not that hard to clean if you know what you are doing. I guided each of them through the process step by step. Each person cleaned a lobster and did a good job, but it was funny to watch. Jim's lobster had a little post-mortem revenge. I am proud to say that no one bled...Kevin has never managed (even with instructions) to clean a lobster without pricking his finger on lobster spines.

Jim with a splash of lobster guts on his shirt.

We served the lobster with pan fried fish (caught that day as well) and pan seared vegetables. Yummy. No one went hungry that night. The next day we road to port with Chico and he was taking in lobsters to sell...and had one that was 4 pounds...as many pounds as all 4 of our lobsters the night before combined! This made me wonder about how fast lobsters grow and how old the lobsters were that we ate. So I did some digging online and came up with the following cool facts:

Lobsters, when not caught, can live for a long time. Living to the age of 100 is not uncommon. Of course, because lobsters are prized for their meat, many don't make it past just a couple of years old. Lobsters must be a certain length -- not age -- to be deemed legal for catching.

It takes approximately seven years (depending on the water temperature) for a lobster to grow to legal harvesting size (1-1 1/4 lb.). After that, a lobster will grow about 1 pound for every 3 years. (April Note: This would mean that the lobsters that we ate were around the age of 7-9 years old. The big 4 pounder could have been around 16 years old. )

It is interesting to note that lobsters show no real signs of aging, other than growing. They actually can reproduce and stay fertile continuously! The secret lies in their telomeres.
Telomeres are found at the end of chromosomes for all living creatures. As we age and cells divide, the telomeres shorten and eventually disappear- leading to aging and death. Lobsters telomeres take a much longer time to shorten , if at all- allowing them to 'maintain their youth' (A lot of anti-aging experiments are done with lobsters)

How big can lobsters grow? The largest lobster ever recorded weighed in at 44 lb. 6 oz. and measured 3 ft. 6 in. from the end of the tail to the tip of the largest claw. It was caught off southern Nova Scotia in 1977 and sold to a restaurant in New York City. In the Pliocene period, over a million years ago, lobsters were five to six feet long! These days a 3 or 4 pound lobster is considered a good sized feast!

Thanks to the following websites for the fun facts:
www.parl.ns.ca/lobster/faq.htm

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_old_do_lobsters_get

Visit to Demonstration Farm (and the biggest lemon I've ever seen)

Back in December, MIDA, the Ministry of Agricultural Development, brought Dario, the owner of a finca de difusion de tecnologia, or demonstration farm, to the island to talk to some of the cattlemen about methods he'd implemented with the guidance of the MIDA tecnicos (extension agents).

I arranged a visit on 20 January to Dario's finca on the mainland so the island cattlemen could see firsthand how he was doing things. They also scored some seeds for the biggest lemon I've ever seen.

(Like all good government projects, there is a sign to explain how the money is being spent)

It turned out only three of the cattlemen were interested and able to go that day, but that was a good number, as they could see everything easily and ask questions without hiding quietly in a crowd. We started just outside his house, where his wife (who is very involved in the farm; they both made the point that it is a family farm and family effort) explained their data keeping methods and financial recording, and why it is important.

That is not something many small farmers think about, the full cost of items from the start to the end; there are stories of farmers selling their crop or animals and thinking they've made a big profit because it is much more than they paid for the seeds or baby animals, but they have never calculated in the intermediate costs of time, fertilizers or food, pesticides or vaccines, or other supplies, and in reality, they are lost money on the deal. It seems most of the larger cattlemen on the island are making money, but they may not be tracking their costs to know how much.

(The group in front of Dario's house, minus Dario. His wife (blue shirt) and two sons (red stripe and black shirts), with Maria de Yepez from MIDA, talked about bookkeeping and family farming.)

Then Dario came back and we headed out into the fields to look at the grasses and other plants he grows to feed the cattle, how he has sub-divided his pasture land to rotate the cattle, and the trees and other products he has incorporated into his farm planning.

(Alex, from the island, walking through a plot of buton de oro, which grows about eight feet tall, has pretty flowers, and is an important component of the silage they produce)

We walked past some other examples of sustainable agriculture as well, including several varieties of compost piles.

(Pedro, from the island, Maria de Yepez, and Dario, talking about compost)

The part that was of primary interest to the cattlemen however, was the chipper/shredder. Dario had talked about making ensilaje, or silage, which is a mix of plants that provide good food for the cattle, and the cattlemen wanted to know more about how hard and how expensive it was. They were surprised at the size (smaller than expected) and the fact that it ran on gas (they'd presumed electricity, since Dario had electricity, which would have ruled it out for them), as well as how easily and quickly it would chop up buton de oro and caña de azucar (sugar cane).

(Julio, who also owns the upper tienda on the island, feeds sugar cane and buton de oro into the chipper shredder)

Julio currently cuts up sugar cane by hand with a machete to feed his cattle, a process he felt was fairly easy. His mind might have been changed by trying out the chipper/shredder.

By all accounts, it was a worthwhile and enlightening trip for the cattlemen from the island and several of them said they intend to implement some of the process they'd observed. Now I just need to follow up with them occasionally to help it happen and encourage them to share what they learn with others on the island.

By late morning, we returned to port. While grabbing lunch before the return boat ride (yes, out and back in one day; while rare, it is possible, especially if you plan it and go with the capitan, who in this case was Pedro), I watched the TV in the restaurant, which for a while was on a live feed of the Presidential Inauguration from the US; as April said, I cried for the national anthem.

Oh, and if you read through all this just to see a picture of the biggest lemon I've ever seen, here you go:

(Pedro, holding up the lemon from Dario's farm that he is going to bring home and collect seeds from to try to grow his own; he told me later it made good lemonaid)

(As far as I know, the big lemon is not a part of the demonstration parts of the farm. When asked what type of lemon it was, the Panamanians said it was a limón chino; they generally apply chino to anything that is much larger/smaller/different from the normal version of itself.)

Our new Solar Oven

Friends are a wonderful thing...even when they plot behind your back. Little did I know before Tabassum and Linda arrived for a Christmas time visit that they were plotting with our mutual friend Bill to haul a heavy gift to us.

Bill, who owns a business installing irrigation systems, did some work for one of the guys (I hope I got this story right) who works at Solar Household Energy (SHE), a 501(c)(3) not-for profit that makes solar ovens. Well, Bill was hooked with the idea of a solar oven that cooks using only the energy of the sun. He bought one and enjoyed using it.

Bill soon decided that we needed one and so sent us one via two petite couriers. (Linda and Tabassum were really looking forward to leaving that heavy stove at our house...little did they know that they would leave here with bags a little heavier than when they arrived. Thanks for hauling our beach glass collection home!) Due to good protective packaging and careful hauling, the stove arrived in excellent condition. We opened it Christmas day.

Well, I understand why Bill was hooked. It is a pretty cool stove, and works well with full sun. It is incredibly simple and easy to clean. I was also thrilled that I can use the pots as mixing bowls...something that I was lacking. They also serve well for overnight storage of food.



Why cook solar? The Solar Household Energy (SHE) webpage says:

Currently, more than half of the world’s population relies on biomass (wood, animal dung and crop residue) for cooking, according to the U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO). This practice causes disease, economic hardship, and environmental degradation. Modern solar cooking ovens like SHE’s “HotPot” offer practical, affordable, long-term relief.



In our community here in Panamá there is evidence of families that suffer from smoke related illnesses. There is a high incidence of respritory illnesses and colds. A couple of the ladies that we work with have even been advised by their doctors that they should avoid cooking with leña (wood) because of the negative impacts of the smoke on their health.



Of course, we were excited to receive it...and so made bread with it the same day. The first 4 photos below are from our first attempt at bread. I made the dough for a white herbed onion and garlic bread. I covered the dough with oil and put it in the pot...

This is what the whole stove looks like, the mirrored surface makes understanding it's shape a bit more difficult.


Within half an hour of putting it in the sun the glass was steamed up and the pot was really warm to the touch.

The bread turned out really well. It had good flavor and a rich dense even texture. I think that it will work better to let the bread rise more by not pointing it directly into the sun at first. The only problem that I had is that the stove lid catches the evaporation and sends it back into the pot...which is a good thing if cooking soup, a stew, or roasting something, but when cooking bread resulted in a soggy bottom crust.

I also tried rolls...and put them in a bowl inside the pot as a measure of protection from the moisture. They were ok, I think that they overcooked as they were dry and heavy. I will have to try that again. But, they did raise well.

I also cooked a casserole (rice, mushroom soup, veggies, tuna, and a bit of leftover cheese on top) and that cooked wonderfully in about 3 hours. It was enough food for 2.5 meals for the two of us. Below are before and after cooking photos.

Baco's also gave this casserole a good flavor boost.

Other things that I have cooked?

• rice (too sticky from long slow cooking),


• eggs (hardboiled well without water),


• brownies (my first failure as the sun clouded over about 45 min after putting out the stove...but I cooked them on the stove top as normal and did not mind the excuse to eat a little brownie batter)


• Zucinni / pumpkin bread (done 3 times now and a big hit with everyone who trys it)


• Water (heated to do laundry with hot water...best for the dirtiest clothing)

With direct hot sunlight things cook well, taking about 2 or 3 times as long as normal. This can be an issue if you need to go somewhere or the weather changes. Reheating foods is also possible and doesn't take terribly long. Wind, clouds and curious kids standing between it and the sun can all increase cooking time.

This stove offers a good alternative to fuel based cooking for some types of cooking. It is not a perfect alternative. Solar cooking is more suited to slow cooking foods and can not make fast cooking foods (can't fry with it for example). In our community here in Panama, this might mean that it would receive limited use...maybe for beans and soups and roasts, but it is too cool for frying and cooks rice so slowly that it is more sticky than most would like. It is not reasonable to think that people will change their traditional diet to use a new type of stove, when they still have access to the means to cook traditionally. In areas where the situation is more dire this stove would be more fully utilized out of necessity. Please do not interpret this to mean that my neighbors would not use it, rather it would be one of many cooking methods.

All in all, I am a fan of the solar stove and plan on continuing to try new foods. I particularly want to try to roast a whole chicken without oil or water like the directions book says you can...I think that that might just confirm my "wizard cooking abilities" in the minds of my nieghbors if it goes well. We like it so well that we plan on hauling it (even though it is HEAVY) to the next volunteer conference here in Panamá so other volunteers can see it too.



A big THANKS to Bill and his helpful couriers Linda and Tabassum for this wonderful and very appropriate gift. Our plan is to pass it along to another PVC when we finish here in Panamá so another volunteer (and their curious community) can enjoy it too.

Palm Wine

(Photos uploaded by April; text by Kevin)

There are lots of reasons to chop down a tree. Cut it into lumber. Make Firewood. Clear a field. Because it threatened to drop a branch on the house. Because it drops stinky fruit on our porch.

Recently we encountered a new reason: because it makes a vina de palma, or palm wine.

(April and Ancelmo at a felled palm; he will scoop the wine and fill that small container. It is hard to see the trunk of the tree for all of the fronds around it...but he is working with the trunk.)

On Ash Wednesday (in other words, the day after four days of Carnaval fun had finished), I was pasear-ing around the island to tell folks about a meeting on Saturday. My last stop was at Ancelmo and Paula's house. They had been our first host family on the island and are always glad to see us. This time, Ancelmo was even more amigable (friendly) than normal; for him Wednesday was the day to finish up anything (alcohol) that hadn't been consumed during the previous four days. After chatting for a bit, they asked if I wanted to see the vina.

Well, I wasn't sure what that was, but I agreed to follow them up into a field. They assured me that it was not that far...and sure enough we soon arrived at where they were making vina de palma and I finally understood. After realizing what it was we were after, and enjoying some good vina (not as much as Ancelmo), I agreed to bring April back the next day. These pictures are from that visit.

The palm (not all types of palms work for this; some are used for their fronds to make roofs, this one is used for wine) is cut down and a hole is cut in the side, near the former top of the tree. There are other countries where palm trees are tapped to make wine rather than cut down, but in the island these trees are basically weeds that are allowed to grow for a few years just so they can be cut to make wine.

(The hole in the side of the tree)

The sap continues to climb the tree for about ten days afterward, where it collects enough to empty the hole twice a day. The sap contains natural yeasts that start fermentation immediatly and naturally.

(Ancelmo scooping the vina from the hole)

The other option, besides scooping out all the vina into a container to bring back to the house, is to cut a reed that serves as a straw, and enjoy some vina right there in the midst of the long, dangerous thorns that cover the palm.

(Me following Ancelmo's directions to try some more, try some more)

So how does it taste? If you empty the hole, the next time it will have a very warm initial taste followed by an almost sweet vina. That was how it was the first afternoon I was there. Take a long sip, because while the first taste may be a shock, the rest is better.

But (possibly due to his enjoyment of other beverages earlier that day), they didn't bring the cup to scoop out the hole that first day, this left some of the wine fermenting for another 24 hours. So when we returned with April the next day, the vina had fermented a bit more, and was, as even Ancelmo put it, fuerte (strong).

(My reaction on day two shows the difference in flavor and strength)

To keep the sap flowing, after emptying the hole you need to carve off the upper-most layer of the heart of the palm. Like a Christmas tree, this keeps it from sealing over.

(Anclemo using his machete to scrape off the leading edge of the palm heart)

Then before you leave, the hole is re-covered with the chunks from cutting it, as well as some of the spikey palm fronds, to protect it from ants, bees, animals, dogs, horses, and neighbors.

(Ancelmo putting the frond over the chunks in the hole)

The day April and I visited, we didn't partake much of the vina, since it had developed such a strong flavor. But the first day, I'd been hiking and chatting for about four hours by the time I arrived there, and I was thristy. And Ancelmo kept saying, try some more, try some more. The sun was setting, and I needed to walk fast to get back at least to the sidewalk before it got too dark to go safely over the rocky trails.

But the sky and clouds were turning beautiful colors and we were hanging out in the middle of a field drinking from a recently cut palm tree. I just couldn't feel in a hurry to leave. Using a straw, I have no idea how much I sipped, but it wasn't too strong that day, and I made it home happy and safely.

Year end school party

At the end of the school year, which occurs down here in mid-December, just before the summer break, there is a party.

But it is more than just a party for the students. It is a party for the students, the teacher, and the madres and padres de familia (in essence, the PTA). This year, the students actually did some fund raising to help pay for the event, in the form of tumbulas, or raffel drawings. (Admittedly, similarly to in the states, most of the chances were purchased by the family, not by selling to neighbors and such, so the fund-raising burden was on the same audience.) The Padres de Familia (PdF) also had raised funds over the course of the year, including a chicken project (buy chicks, raise them, and sell them as 4-pound hens for about $1 to $1.50 a pound), and selling some teak wood planted on school property.

So what does all that fund-raising get you in a year end party?

Well there is the food: arroz con pollo (shredded chicken in flavored rice with olives, raisins, carrots, and other additions), ensalada papa (potato salad, with a pink or reddish color when made Panamanian style due to the beets they use), some bread (a rarity in our community), and the traditional Christmas foods of an apple and some grapes. They love apples but do not eat the pple skin...they bite off a chunk, chew until there is only skin and then spit out the skin.

Then there is a gift bag for all 21 students, with a toy and a Tshirt. And a gift for each parent, generally a nice shirt for the dads, and a fancy shirt, nightshirt or a cosmetic product for the moms.

And the piñata, full of confite (candies) and confetti.

(Swinging the bat at the snowman piñata; see the line of boys behind, ready to go)

(Sometimes a hit doesn't break the piñata but results in a few pieces flying out; despite the possibility of another swing with a metal bat just over their heads, the kids go diving to recover the candy; I'm not sure if the woman in yellow is a mom trying to protect them from getting hit, or trying to grab a piece too. April's comment- She is diving for candy...pretty sure.)

This year's piñata was a good one, that took a while to break. April took a video of them swinging, the handler pulling it out of reach, and then it finally breaking and the mad dash to grab as much candy as you can, children and adults alike. (But video is too big to upload, so we have no pictures of the final mad dash.) Everyone brings a plastic bag to carry it all home.

(The piñata handler in the back of the room, watching the swingers and pulling the rope to make them miss; when the piñata started leaking, he also decided to pull it up of reach or shake it to break it and get everything out)

(Afterward, the confetti is fun to play with; Roxana and Soray swept the floor not to clean up, but to toss it back on each other)

They also bring plastic bags to carry home the distribution of left over school food. The education ministry supplies the school with rice and beans and lentils for the school lunches that the moms cook. But the distribution sometimes lags, with the first batch of food not arriving until school has been in session for a few weeks, and the last with no time left for the kids to eat it all. So the parents divide it up amongst themselves, since it won't keep over the summer until school starts again in March.

The maestra (teacher) and Cecilia (one of our host family moms and the president of the PdF) and some of the other moms pulled out the 50-lb. bags of rice and set about evenly distributing them into the bags the parents had. It was a bit of a mob scene at times, despite knowing they would all get some, in part because they could leave once they got it. At one point, Cecilia winked at April and said, "Parace como Somalia, no?" ("Looks like Somalia, doesn't it?"). For a woman without a TV, who just gets the news from the radio, it was an interesting observation.

(Cecilia distributing beans; the source bag, on the ground, is marked with the Panama flag and the government name)

(Distributing beans, with everyone waiting in line)

Oh, and while we were waiting for whatever was the next step of the party, Kevin became the entertainment for some of the smaller kids with the You-Jump-I-Lift game. Considering how much taller he is than most Panamanians, it was a bit like flying and rather exciting for them. Luckily, one of the moms finally came over and told the kids in line (they cycled back into line numerous times, organizing themselves and encouraging in the more timid littler ones) that Kevin needed a break and this was the last time. :)

(The You-Jump-I-Lift game; some got the concept and timing better than others)

(Kevin lifting Bebo (José), but note the look of excitement on Carlito's face)

It a fun time for all, and a pleasant way to end the school year and calendar year.

Fundraising for the Tortuga trip

April is creating a post about our trip with students and members of our community to the community of another PCV, Cassie, to see and learn about sea turtles and the environment. This post is all about how we got there.

First, what were our costs:

• Through several meetings with the Padres de Familia (PTA) of our school, we settled on how much gas (15 gallons) was needed to take us by boat to a port near Cassie's community. (We couldn't go directly to her community because the parents all agreed that the sea was too dangerous to try to come in with their boats. )

• Through talking with Cassie, we found a bus driver who was willing to drive us from the port to her community on his day off. That ran to $90.

• We also needed to buy some food to augment what Cassie's school had offered to donate. We budgeted about $30 for that.

Total: $165.00 Now, how to go about pulling together that kind of money.
One of the first places we turned was the Peace Corps Panama Volunteer Advisory Committee (VAC), which supplies Super Small Project Assistance Grants (SSPAs) with the funds raised by designing, printing, and selling the Peace Corps Panama Calendar (see our other posts about our involvement in that or visit http://www.panamapcv.net/calendar/calendar_2009/calendar2009.html to order one and support PCVs with small projects like ours). We won a $60 grant from the VAC in September and were on our way.

Our next steps were to involve the community in the efforts. Traditional fundraisers here often include selling food or snowcones at an event. In early October was our patronales, or patron saint day, on the island. Working with the students and the parents, we planned to sell raspado, or snow cones. April ended up being the one to go in to town to buy the supplies, which included blocks of ice, coloring, flavoring, sugar, cream, and paper cones and straws. But at the actual day, it was the students and parents who did most of the hard work.

(Yoel, pronounced similar to "Joel", and one of our favorite students, scraping ice to sell snowcones)

(José, aka Bebo, one of our students putting flavoring on a snowcone; resuse is common here - a 2-liter bottle holds the flavoring/coloring mix)

(Yoel adding the condensed milk - which has been put into a ketchup bottle for easier application - to a snowcone; as far as the Panamanians are concerned, it isn't a snowcone without condensed milk on top.)

(April working with both hands to put coloring and cream on cones, with the assistance of community members.)

After the Mass, community members milled about and in the end bought, at 35cents each, enough snowcones to use all the ice (about 40 pounds). In an interesting aspect of Panamanian fundraisers, the extra condensed milk was wasn't an unrecoverable cost; instead, community members were more than willing to buy the unused cans at cost. That is a hard lesson for us to remember: you don't really need to worry about overbuying supplies for an event, as someone will likely buy the extras.

(Some adults helped scrap ice too; Ovidio's daughter didn't even go on the trip)

(Some community members were willing to work to scrap their own cone)

The raspado event was popular and successful, but only garnered about $35 and thus left us short of the total we needed. So we planned for a BINGO day, where players could buy cards for 5cents a game and there would also be food for sale. Again, April bought the food, and we supplied the game, along with some "donated" prizes. But the students made the signs to put around the island at all the tiendas, and parents volunteered to cook (salchichas-hotdogs , patacones-fried plantains, and holajdras-fried dough kinda like a funnel cake).

(Kenia, Soray, and Angelica copying wording from one BINGO announcement onto another)

(Soray putting the finishing touches onto her sign)

(Dianeth, aka Beijing, Yoel, Maycol, Amarylis, and Milagros working on a sign)

(Three of the signs before going around the island; Angelica, Soray, Amarylis, and Kenia)

The actual event was held in the Casa Comunal near our house, but the Representante did not bring the key for the storage room, so there were no seats. Additionally, we had planned to cook on our stove, but our gas tank ran out as soon as they started cooking. Everyone adapted as usual, and sat on the floor and cooked over leña (firewood), which worked out better since they were nearer the fun.

(The cooks made a small fire in the corner of the Casa Comunal and served up yummy fried food.)

(April called the numbers with the help of several of the younger students)

(Older students enjoyed playing as well; our table was brought over to play on.)

(Maria Luisa, one of our original host moms, played the most cards at once, trying to win an environmental volunteer Tshirt that had been donated as a prize.)

In fact, BINGO was so popular that even the cooks were asking us when the next one would be as soon as the first one wrapped up. At the next Padres de Familia meeting to discuss the Turtle Trip, they asked again about playing another time. So they set another date, and with a few small changes, we eventually played again, under a roof near the school.

(At the announced start time, not too many folks showed up, and again there weren't chairs)

(But they began to arrive)

(This time, we rotated who called the numbers)

(Cecilia, our second host mom, cooked; fried chicken parts and hojaldras)

(In the end, we had some great numbers, and the benches from the chapel, all packed under the roof once the rains started.)

We raised about $24 on the first bingo, and about $24 on the second one too.

The other part of our costs was the gas for the boat; April asked ANAM, the Panamanian environmental agency, for assistance with that, and they donated 15 gallons. (Actually getting that to the island wasn't as easy as you'd hope; the gas station in port was out of gas the day we were going back, so April had to stay out an extra day until it was delivered from Santiago.)

So that is how we patched together the bus, the boat, and the food for our trip to see Sea Turtles. In Peace Corps, sometimes the adventure is in the preperation, as much as in getting there and being there.