What is your commute like?

How do you get to work? How do you get home? We thought that you might like to to see how PVCs get to and from their communities, so below is a good first example.

Foy and Jeff are another couple from our group. They live in a community east of Panama City, the only volunteers from our group on that side. From the "hub" town in their area, they have about an hour and a half ride in a chiva, the pickup truck with a caged back and hard roof. The chivas tend to have two hard benches along the sides for passengers. This is the only regular transport into their small village (other than 2-3 private vehicles that go up to their area) and all the local families use it regularly.

A full chiva will typically have 6 adults on each bench, some kids in the laps of the adults, a couple of people sitting on the mound of cargo in the center of the truck bed between all the knees. Also, there will be people hanging off the back bunper...and they tend to get a bit muddy. More cargo (and occasionally people) go on top of the chiva roof. Chickens, other animals, large sacks of grain, propane tanks, and construction materials are all common cargo.

This video shows the view and the chiva. Looks almost like the Metro in DC.

Most chiva rides last anywhere from a 1/2 hour to 4+ hours. When the roads are bad the passengers will have to get out and walk until the truck clears the worst of the mud. It is also not unusual for a chiva to cross rivers high enough for the water to seep in the truck bed at the back end.

Stay tuned for other interesting commutes....

Isla Rummy (game rules)

We have all at some point been asked "If you were stranded on a island what would you want with you?" Well, we are not quite stranded on our island community...but my answer to that question will now always include games and cards. Imagine, we are alone together without electricity almost every evening. (Some of you should get your minds out of the gutter!) The sun goes down around 6:30 and we head to bed around 9:00 so there are 2-3 hours to fill. We tend to have only the following options for entertainment:

• read
• study spanish (not really entertainment)
• visit nieghbors (usually already used all my spanish brainpower for the day)
• play games: cards, yahtzee, dominos, other card or dice games
• call family and friends
• search around on short-wave radio for interesting programs (like news in Spanish broadcast from China)
• sleep

We do a lot of all of the above, but I must say that rummy is only amusing for just so long when played by the same two people every time. The lack of options eventually lead us to try to make up a game...and that lead to the following version of rummy for two people. It is good for at least a month's worth of evening entertainment. Introducing: Isla Rummy

Isla Rummy

(for two people)
Courtesy of April and Kevin Cropper, Group 59, Veraguas Panama

These are the changes from the normal game of Rummy to get Isla Rummy. You can play with whatever version of Rummy rules you desire; if you need Rummy directions, check these links (which are different from the house rules we were taught...feel free to use your house rules.):
http://boardgames.about.com/od/cardgames/a/rummy.htm
http://www.pagat.com/rummy/rummy.html

Dealer deals four piles of seven (7) cards, using whatever manner they want except all seven at once. The other player picks which two piles they want first. Each person selects one pile as their “hand” and one as their “foot”. Set the “foot” aside where you won’t lose it and won’t mistake it for the draw pile or your “hand”.

Play Rummy like normal, using your “hand”.

When a player gets down to two (2) cards in their “hand”, they can pick up their “foot”. If you get to two cards during the course of your turn, you can pick up your foot and continue to play with all of your cards. If you get to two cards by a discard ending your turn, you can pick up your “foot” but must wait until your next turn to play it.

If you make it to the bottom of the draw pile without a player using all of their “hand” and “foot”, the player who draws the last card finishes their turn and the game ends; the other player is stuck with the cards they are holding. Total your points (played cards positive, cards still in your hand negative). Highest total wins.

Persistant toe bugs loose war

Just a quick update to let you all know that the persistant infection that caused Kevin to visit the hospital two weeks ago seems to have given up the war. His toe still looks funny...but this seems to be it's natural funny look. It is pealing skin, due to the swelling, but otherwise seems good. I would post a photo with this blog...but who wants to see a healthy toe? I didn't think so.

To all of you who were upset that we didn't tell you about the hospital visit...please remember that his parents were about to come down to visit and we didn't want to worry them just before departure on an issue that REALLY was not a big deal at the time. In reality, we felt kind of funny hanging out in the hospital when he felt very healthy. I promise that we will always be as open as possible about our health and give the correct information as soon as possible.

So our heath continues to be good. Little bouts of travelers diareahha every now and then...but that is a wonderfully small issue compared to what is possible world wide. We feel lucky here with our health.

Snakes alive? (Video)

I feel a bit like a bad luck charm for snakes...there are few snakes that see islanders and live to tell the tale.

I find that people on the island seem to have more fear than knowledge about wildlife in general and snakes in particular. They tend to kill every snake that they see and many of the animals too. Every time they kill a snake they look at its mouth and head. They are curious about the snakes but fearful of them. They assume that it is venomous even when it is clearly a boa that kills by constriction.

Recently our neighbors encountered a 7-foot boa in the vacant house nearby, chopped its head with a machete, and carried it by our house on their way to dispose of it by the shore. We asked to see it, and then we talked about why snakes don't all have to be killed. We used the opportunity to talk about what this snake eats and how often and what alternatives they have to killing it. We also talked about how to tell a venomous snake from a non-venomous snake.

Since the snake's head was only split, and the snake was clearly responsive to stimulous and still writhing 20 to 30 minutes after they'd hit it, we chopped the head off to end (our feelings for) its pain. This video was taken probably 20 to 30 minutes after that. All the motion you see is after beheading and is reflexive.

You can see from the video that it was a large snake...more than 4 inches wide at its widest point. It showed all the distinticve signs of being a boa: squarish and stout muscular body that doesn't taper much before the tail, narrow slightly bulbus head, and sets of small inward pointing teeth...no big fangs for venom. In my experience, most people do not have enough knowledge to look for these traits. Seeing the differences is the first step towards thinking about whether or not to kill a snake.

When our neighbor Elvis touches the snake in the video it is likely the first time that he has touched a moving (even if dying) snake; he touched it after seeing me do so first, before that he touched it only with a stick. It is my hope that conversations like this one will result in the future in them coming to get me to show me a live snake...maybe even a snake that could be lucky enough to survive the viewing.

Panama Visit

[Ed. Note: Mom & Dad Cropper started this post earlier this week on the date indicated, but didn't get to finish it before they left this morning. We are finally online again and are uploading images to go with it. Some other updates: the train trip didn't happen (full), and we saw lots more of Panama City's history.]

Our Panama visit is more than half over and we are having a wonderful time, thanks to two terrific tour guides. We have travelled by jet, taxi, bus (many and adventursome), boat (fast and slow), propeller plane, and often on foot (both in the extreme heat and in the rain) -- a train is scheduled soon.

(April and Mom C and a bunch of sleeping Panamanians on the bus from David to Cerro Punta)

(Dad & Mom C on the fast boat from Almirante to Isla Colon in Bocas del Toro.)

We spent several days at Kevin and April's site, meeting the people they work with and exploring much of the island. We learned the ropes of no electricity, a cold shower and the rules of the compost toilet. We are VERY impressed with Kevin and April's creativity in the way they use the resources they have in the community where they live. Seeing children walk to school every morning in a fresh uniform was quite a sight.

(Sixth graders Amarylis and Kenya on the shore path home from school)

We were able to help with English lessons, story time, and even planting. IF the seedlings live, we will be able to say we helped to reforest a part of Panama.

(Dad and Mom C looking at pictures of community members with Carlos, Christian, and Kenia, after English class)

(April and Mom C reading Donde Viven Los Monstruos - Where the Wild Things Are - in storytime)

Then it was off on more buses to explore more of the country. We have been to the cloud forest and we have snorkeled in the Caribbean. Today we visited the Miraflores Locks on the Canal.

(Starfish in shallow water off Isla Carenero, Bocas del Toro)

(Mom & Dad C at Miraflores Locks Visitor Center, Panama Canal)

Along the way we have had an opportunity to see beautiful hummingbirds, a few monkeys and red dart frogs and other wildlife. Not sorry that we missed the snakes!


When the time comes, we will be sorry to say goodbye to our hosts and to their beautiful country. But we will be happy to share some of the hundreds of photos when we return.