Panama owns my heart

01.10.07
Since the tendering for shore was cancelled on the 31, we had to stay onboard for the night. Leo, the manager of the boat bought everyone a drink, apologizing for the inconvenience, very sweet, but totally unnecessary! Had a fun night, just hanging out with everyone. Next morning we took the tender from the boat to a yatch club. Yesterday, the sea didn’t look really rough, but when boarding the tender you really had to concentrate to keep your balance while keeping our luggage out of the water. When we reached the shore, we had to wait a while to get on the bus, because our guide, Osvaldo had forgotten his computer in a taxi, and was chasing it with our bus. Our driver was Luis, a quiet guy from Panama City. We headed towards Santiago in the Veraguas Province. We ate lunch at CEPAS, a NGO supporting indigenous rights. They gave us a great lunch, it was the first time we had to deal with Panamanian courtesy and our multicultural one, as well as that we had to consider the allergics in our group. We had a great conversation with the indigenous people that had travelled from their different provinces to complain about hydroelectric projects being built on their native land without their consent. I want to get some notes from alaine, because she took notes. One thing that caught many of us was this quote: “When we dry out the last river and cut down the last tree we will realize that money means nothing in this world.” The indigenous people told us that they had been offered big amounts of money for their land, but that money did not mean anything to them. They needed their land to get their livelihood, to grow, farm and keep animals. To relocate from their land would for them be to be deprived of the essentials of living, thus killing them and their culture. After 2 hours we boarded the bus again, and headed towards Palo Seco, which is a Protective reserve in Boca del Toro. We were to sleep in an eco lodge called Willie Mazu. The bus ride over the mountain really scared me. It was pitch black, and the rain was pouring down. Luis was driving approx. 100 km/h downhill, talking in his cell phone, passing cars with big trucks coming towards us extremely fast. We barely missed a giant hole in the road, half a tree and other cars and trucks driving by. I was so relieved when we reached the lodge. Willie Mazu blowed my mind. We had expected “TSS quality” accommodation in a safe environment. Here we where at this awesome jungle lodge with the coolest man who told us about all the dangers of the jungle. Awesome! A little recap: white flies, mosquitoes, parasites, spiders, fire ants, snakes, etc etc. After a great dinner we where told that the lights would be out in an hour because they had to save power. Later the girls sat upstairs in the lodge in the hammocks and on the floor talking about the experiences of the day. I decided to get the boys, and took the little hike up to their cabin. I experienced a new feeling walking alone in the jungle with only me and my flashlight. I wasn’t afraid of the dark, I felt some kind of inner peace, just listening to the jungle sounds and the sound of the rapids rushing by.
Andy brought a bottle of gin and Canadian dry, and we sat singing and humming as Mikal played the guitar. Insects where flying everywhere, but since everyone was well-DEET’ed no one shrieked and freaked out. I really did not expect that from some of the group members. Quite cool that they stayed calm. Well, it ended up with Andy and me drinking most of the Gin, nice being tipsy under the stars at an astonishing eco lodge. Had a great night of sleep.

02.10.07
Woke up at 5:30 of rain drumming on the tin roof, it was pouring down. I forgot to write about the little bird living in one of the abandoned nests at Willi Mazu. His name is Tito, and he moved in there with his girlfriend a couple of years ago. One day, his girlfriend left, and came back with another male. Tito scared them both away, and has since stayed in his nest, singing melancholically and only leaving for food. Poor guy. There is also a big big turkey-ish bird living there that had a crush on me. I took pictures of it one day, and made its sounds, and whenever I see it starts following me around. I don’t know if it’s angry or infatuated with me!
We woke up really early, I shared a room with Lindsey, and off course we had put the TT flag on display the day before. For breakfast we got willies special porridge, fruit, queso fresco and toast. Great meal to start the day. After the breakfast we checked out the area around Wille Mazu, last night it was pitch black when we arrived. It is in the middle of the forest, with only jungle sounds, and the waterfall rushing by. Hummingbirds are zipping around, you can hear the monkeys screaming from far away, the insects are buzzing, and the trees are moving in the wind. So peaceful, but still so vibrant and full of life. We left the lodge and took the buss for 2 hours to the tiny port of El Silencio, on the way we stopped in Almirante and picked up our translator, Sarah. We also bought delicious litchis from a guy selling them outside a tiny supermercado. They were so fresh and pulpy, and so firm that you almost could not chew them, you had to just suck them until you got all the sweet, gooey delicious flavor out. In El Silcencio we repacked our stuff and went to board the dug out boats of the Naso people. The boat ride up stream was incredible. The nature was like nothing I have seen before, the river was wide, so we had a great view all the time, bird where flying by, lianas where hanging under the trees that were stretching over the water. We navigated trough small but strong rapids, one man on the motor and one man in front to use a pole to push us if the stream took us in the wrong direction, and to look out for other dangers in the water. After an hour boat ride we got the Wekso travel lodge. We were only to be there for a couple of minutes, since we had to go to visit the Naso community. The lodging was clean and simple, to my surprise no one complained or made a scene.
After another transfer with the dug out boats we arrived in Naso territory. After a steep climb up a muddy hill we saw the Naso village in front of us. In that second the rain started pouring down. We ran into the community hall, where the Nasos where expecting us. It was a little awkward to begin with, I did not know if I should greet them or not, and in which way to do it. We where then asked to go to the dining hall to have lunch. It was about 100 m from the community hall, but the rain was pouring down. We ran over as fast as we could, it was like being in a warm shower. Mud splashed up our legs, and the Naso children at the school was laughing and cheering at us. When we got to the dining hall we were soaked. We were served a delicious meal, and as we where eating, some kids came in to spy on us. They were scared and curious at the same time, but Catlin and I started chatting wit them in my limited Spanish. I especially remember a little kid named Miguel, he was soaked in water since he had been running between the houses to observe us. I gave them some Norwegian kroners, and told t hem about the cold country of Norway. Not sure if they understood about the snow and such. After lunch we ran back, got even wetter, and sat down for a cultural presentation of the Nasos. One Naso tribe had travelled from upriver for 2 hours to perform for us. The dance was great, traditional and also primitive in its way of moving, but very suggative with the drums and song. The snake dance encouraged all to participate, we had a lot of laughs and fun twirling and spinning around while singing the song of the snake. I also took of some of the tension and barriers between us and the Nasos, what laughter can’t cure…..
After, some of the schoolchildren performed a great dance in very colorful costumes, very impressive of the youngest children! Then we came to the time to talk about the serious matters affecting the Naso communities in the area. After a lot of questions and answers from both ends I think we all where left with a feeling of insight, but still a hopelessness surrounding it all. They are too few, with to little organizing and education to be able to fight this, was my sentiment. After this we were supposed to go on a hike to see the areas that would be affected, but because of the rain, we arranged a football match instead. Mixed teams, in the pouring rain, mud, grass and water everywhere, we had a blast, and the Naso kids loved it as well. After and hours play, we were dirty, soaked and blissfully happy, every single one of us. I did not join the game from the beginning, just sat and watched for a while to soak up the surroundings. Then, a little Naso girl came up to me and gave me one of her beautiful glass-pearl necklaces, and smiled at me with the cutest, warmest smile I have ever seen. She was shy, but bold enough to offer me this token of friendship. I gave here some scrunchies, but soon remembered that I had a mother of pearl feather in my pocket that I wanted to give to someone special. This was clearly the one special person that this was meant for.