Series Finale

     As the clock ticks ever away, I have just over a week left in Panama until I hop on an airplane and fly hundreds of miles back to the United States to leave this tiny country far behind. While I write, I’m sitting out on a balcony overlooking the bright city lights illuminating the starless black night, and maybe it’s the sappy, heartbroken pop music I’m listening to talking, but I’m definitely getting that bittersweet series-finale vibe. You know, when all the characters part ways, sad to see each other go, but blessed to have had the opportunity to share their time and lives with strangers who became great friends. All that remains is to neatly tie up all the loose ends into satisfying conclusions, and to ice the cake with an obligatory tear-inducing yet hopeful and inspiring goodbye scene, and then roll the credits.

     There are a few minor plot lines I want to take care of in my spare time, like taking a few photos, do a bit more writing, and finishing The Hobbit (the sixth book I’ve read since coming here), and one major one: finish the construction of my aquaponics system. It’s coming along, I’ve got all the parts and the pond is dug and lined, now I need to get cracking on the piping and beautification. I can’t wait to see this project finished, it’s more than a little exciting and I’m hoping and pushing for aquaponics to be expanded upon in Kalu Yala in the future. To aid in this vision I’ve been creating a guide booklet to aquaponics to keep online and in physical form around the three Kalu Yala residencies, which I hope will inspire interest and lend helpful information and resources to interns who arrive long after I have gone. After all, that’s what we’re all about, isn’t it? I don’t have time to do everything I would love to see done, so I pass the torch and do my best to give that person a head start so they can build off of my work and take it even further. We’re working together to change something for the good.

     The only bad part about all of this is that it means that my time is almost over. It may be only a season closer for Kalu Yala, but my series is in for a much more final finale. I can already hear the sounds of the melancholy song fading in as the camera zooms out and pans away from the characters slowly. Goodbyes are hard to say, and sometime’s it’s hard to see the ‘good’ in them, but I’m thankful for everything I’ve been a part of and all the friends I’ve made that makes saying the word so sad. And who knows, if the ratings were good enough (and I’d venture to say they were), who’s to say that someday in the future there won’t be a sequel?

     This past week has without a doubt been one of my favorites since I’ve been in Panama. For one, my aquaponics project is finally completely ready to go, and all that remains is to put it all together, which will be cake compared to all the time and effort that went into planning and creating the design. I’ve been in San Miguel this week and will most likely remain there for the rest of the summer (my project will be installed there), which is great. I love the Valley, but San Miguel beats it by a hair in my book. I think it’s the community: the Kalu Yalans who live there are awesome people, the locals like our watchman and amigo Jorge are super friendly, and there always seems to be a positive atmosphere here, which doesn’t surprise me. There is a lot of good going on here, from teaching English and many other subjects in school, holding soccer practices for the local boys and girls, starting a fundraiser to help a mother and her family of five purchase a much needed new roof for her home, and just simply building relationships and friendships with this community, ‘Casa Llena’ is simply an encouraging place to be.

     And yet more encouraging still was Sarah’s and my day on Sunday. We met with our Panamanian brother in Christ Franco at 8am, hopped in the car, and drove a little ways to another christian’s home in the city. She cooked us a delicious breakfast of hojaldras, jamon, and something I forgot the name of, but it's pretty much bacon meets hotdog, and soon another christian arrived there. His name was Junior, and to our delight he spoke some English and could act as our ‘traductor’ (translator) in a pinch. With a full car now we drove to the supermarket and loaded up on rice, juice, cookies, and other treats to be used later that day.

     Our next stop was a family’s home where nearby christians gather for services in their house church. The father was one half of a pair of twins and they married a set of sisters, and their children, who were close to Sarah’s and my age, spoke fairly good English. We spent a little time there, and after having a conversation with the son about sports and where we lived (me talking in Spanish and he in English), it was time to move on again.

     Our last stop and final destination for the day was all the way in Colon, about an hour from Panama City. We parked the car and had to walk a little ways to get to the house, and we greeted locals all along the way. The house there was another house church, and we all gathered on the porch to sing songs and hear a lesson from the other twin brother.

 The most interesting part of the lesson was reading the passage James 5:13-20: there were a few women with us that had ailing family members, and in light of that we decided to take those words to heart. We gathered together around the three women to pray with them as the preacher stood in front of them and anointed them with oil as we prayed for their families’ health. It was a symbolic gesture, the oil clearly has no powers or magic, but much like the bread and wine we partake in every Sunday morning it represents something greater than itself, and it helps us to truly take to heart what it being done. It biblical times oil was prized for its healing qualities and was always taken along for journeys, and many cultures in the East still maintain oil in high regard. It was believed to have to power to cure some sicknesses (some of which have been proven) and olive oil is a great natural salve for wounds and bruises. Oil thus became associated with the power of healing, which is why we see it here in these verses and many others like it throughout the bible. However, the true power comes from prayer, which through a fervent and righteous man has power unlike any other on this earth.

     Afterwards we ate a delicious meal of typical Panamanian food (ie rice and beans and meat) and handed out gifts for the impoverished families. Franco and some others had bought and wrapped clothes to give out along with a typed note written by Junior’s wife containing the scriptures Deuteronomy 6:5-9 and Proverbs 4:1. Sarah and I passed them all out to the families, talked some more, and finally had to bid farewell. 

It was just another amazing experience in Panama, one of too many to count. It’s a totally different culture here: on the bus on Sunday morning we will often here someone preaching the gospel as they head to church of work, cab drivers who must work are listening to worship music or recordings of sermons on their radios, families sit out on their front porch to read the bible together, and so much more. Americans could learn a lot from these people, I sure know Sarah and I am. If I’ve gotten anything from my time in Panama this summer, it’s that seeing people follow their Father from all across the world and in all languages is an amazing thing.

"And they sang a new song, saying, ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation’."

                                                                                                 -Rev 5:9

A Day in the Life...

     Continuing with the theme of my last blog, I wanted to devote this entry to further familiarizing those friends and family reading about what life has been like in Panama. While trying to explain to my mother what I’ve been doing the past month and where I’m staying and when I can make contact with her (along with assuring her of my safety and caution every couple hours) I’ve realized that, at least to her, Panama is and has been a dark, enigmatic void of scary jungles, poisonous water, and ever lurking danger. While this illustration may for her describe nearly everyplace out of her field of vision while her children are in question, it is the purpose of this entry dispel such mystery and provide a walkthrough of a typical day as a Kalu Yala intern. 

     Some quick things to know: I live in ‘The Valley’, which is our name for the huge amount of property the company Kalu Yala owns in Panama. The Valley and surrounding land are inhabited only by ourselves and the ‘campasinos’, Panamanian mountain men who own ranches or work for ranchers. It lies approximately two miles from the nearest town San Miguel, though that two miles takes nearly two hours to traverse due to the fact that the hike in is almost entirely uphill. The company also owns a large house in San Miguel, a small, rural town (though very beautiful), and the interns living there do a great deal of community outreach work and teach in the local school. Another two hours journey by bus will take you from San Miguel to Panama City and the company hostel, a big pink building rented out to people for revenue, the only place of the three with reliable internet access, and also the home of the business interns who do... actually, we’re not really sure what it is the business interns do, although keep in mind that that they have internet access 24/7, so I’m pretty sure we can safely assume the answer is absolutely nothing. Anyway, we live in the Valley in stints of 10 days, from Tuesday until the Thursday of the next week, and the later half of Thursday through Monday are our days off to go wherever we please, whether it be between the Kalu Yala locations, the beach, or a huge variety of tourism destinations here in Panama.

     In the Valley, my day begins sometime between 6:30 and 7 AM each morning to the sight of warm yellow sunlight rising above the tips of the lush green mountains which surround us.  Once fully roused I forcibly remove myself from the cot in which I have been sleeping, climb down from the second story of the rancho that serves as my shelter from the elements (our broken tent isn’t quite up to the job, although I hear it’s holding together slightly better than one of the others currently in the process of developing its very own aquatic ecosystem), and await breakfast time. Until it arrives, however, I like to kick back in a hammock and enjoy a book or simply the view before me. Soon the chefs are up and cooking to the beat of whatever music they are playing (lately a fitting soundtrack of Eddy Vedder’s performances from the movie Into the Wild) and breakfast is served by about 8:30. 

     

     The official work day begins at 9, and then we are off working on various tasks according to our respective internship program. As an agriculture intern, I am often doing jobs like working on our gardens, fencing them, planting seeds, trees, and plants, clearing weeds, reading farming and agriculture textbooks, planning crop and plant placements, and other such tasks. There is a lot else going on as well: the bio team is forever on excursions observing and identifying plant and animal life and exploring the vast amount of company property (such as the summit they have dubbed Candy Mountain, which may or may not contain a candycane forest or chocolate river), animal science has been hard at work finishing their chicken coup complete with a screened run, a bathouse (no, not for us, jerk), and very soon a new horse stable, and outdoor recreation in conjunction with some business team representatives have been working on marking and cleaning up trails through the mountains with the intent to put together and market eco-tourism packages filled with such activities for those crazy enough to join us in the wilderness. Around 1 in the afternoon our work is interrupted by the manic cries of chief chef Largo announcing far and wide that lunch is served, and once our appetites are sated and co-chef Alex has given up trying to force third and fourth helpings on our plates like your grandmother does at every family gathering, it’s back to work.

     Finally, the closing bell rings at 4, and after that our time is our own. We all gather underneath the rancho and the cabana to hang out and talk for a while, often times a volleyball game will form, and I usually find myself with my nose in a book or a pen in my hand, writing. I especially love it when the skies darken and a storm rolls over us to put me into a lazy, contented trance, which is fairly often in the rainy season. Every day a group goes down to the river to swim and bathe before dinner, although I soon learned that ‘clean’ is a relative term in the valley.  Eventually a hot dinner is cooked up and served by mad geniuses Largo and Alex (who else but a mad genius thinks up deep fried pineapple or peanut butter apple pancakes?) and we eat by tiki-torch light amongst the company of friends. Finally, by about 10 in the evening, I ready myself for bed, climb up to the second story of the rancho, slide underneath a sleeping bag to shield myself from the cold winds of our lofty elevation, and drift off to sleep under the moonlit sky to the bright, sporadic flashes of fireflies and silent strikes of lightning far beyond the mountains which enclose us within our home, the Valley.

     It occurred to me recently that while I have spent a lot of time writing why I am here in Panama and what my goals and endeavors are for this summer and beyond, I have blogged very little about what actually goes down out here in the valley on a day-to-day basis. So for this entry, I will elect to forgo my usual highfalutin language and grandiose platitudes in favor of a slew of annotated photos illustrating everyday life here in the wilderness.

Behold, the rancho, Basecamp 2.0. This new two-story structure is where take a break from the shade, study up on research (using actual books and encyclopedias, remember those?), and, most importantly, eat. No joke- using only a propane fueled stove our chefs have us eating like kings thanks to an abundance of fresh food and raw cooking talent (raw referring to talent, not our food).

It rains quite often here in Panama, and as a result most every structure which frequently houses human beings is surrounded by water drainage trenches, also known as muddy death traps once daylight fades around 7 each night.

Standing right next to the rancho is the cabana, fully equipped with hammocks and hand crafted benches and tables. The upper story houses a bookcase crafted by fellow UF student and intern Alice, or Big Al. It’s here that I prefer to relax and focus on my writing at the end of the day, staring off at the misty mountains in the distance.

Behold, the aforementioned mountains.

Of course we don’t waste all our time playing volleyball. We call it valleyball here.

One of the local rios. Also, the shower.

This lovely couple frequently visits our home in the valley. I have yet to see them separated by a distance more than about twenty feet.

See, I told you we actually do work. The working day lasts from 9-4 with a lunch break in between, and after the day is over our time is our own to relax, play volleyball, cards, or, in my case, read and write. Here the Ag Crew is constructing a raised bed using bamboo, sticks, and rocks, which we subsequently planted with various crops after researching mutually beneficial combinations. The raised bed allows us to plant seeds in softer, better soil. It’s basically like a permanent planter that you never have to transport once the plants grow too big. Why yes, I am holding a machete.

The finished product, with cowpeas already growing down the middle after less then 3 days. Also, note the barbed wire fence we installed ourselves around the agriculture land. The fence posts you see are actually tree branches, and they’re still living. After a few months they will have sprouted limbs of their own, and eventually each and every fence post will be a small tree growing in the ground. It’s called an agrofence, and it’s awesome.

Here fellow ag intern Jordan and I are working on our Magic Circle. This is where we plant the enchanted beans we traded one of our cows for. But not really though. It’s actually a big hole in the ground we throw leftovers in, giving it the dual purposes of garbage can and composting heap. The nutrients from the decomposed organic material spread to the surrounding soil with the help of rain, making the surrounding soil ‘magically’ rich and fertile.

We learned the Magic Circle technique from a local campesino like this one, Ramon. Ramon lives here in the house he built in the mountains and lives off the land. He is also a wizard. For example, he has a pet parrot that has lived with him for 23 years that herds his cattle for him. Here he is teaching the Kalu Yala interns how to make baskets out of thick vines which he has sliced up with his trusty machete.

Here is a small basket he whipped up.

Here is how Ramon eats oranges. After cutting them this way he squeezes the juice out, he doesn’t even need a cup.

 

Here we are enjoying Ramon’s fresh coconuts, cut down with what I can only describe as a hand made Gopher Grabber. 

This is a secret waterfall Ramon took us to. Of course I was wearing a shirt, mom.

Finally, we’re not in the valley all the time. On weekends we venture out to the city where we meet and worship with our family here in Panama. This picture was taken at a bible study one Friday night at a family’s home, and we also meet Sunday morning for an extended service in a small one-room shop where sermons and songs are in Spanish. To the far right is evangelist and great guy Greg Roark who gives his sermons in an American accent that I can understand and who translates for Sarah and I if we have any trouble.

     So there you have it, a little taste of the good life. We work hard and play hard out here in the valley, and I’m really enjoying my stay. I’m learning a lot about agriculture techniques and management, honing my Spanish skills, taking on responsibility and independence, and having a great time in general. I miss my friends and family back home a lot and think about you all the time, but my place is here this summer.

Speak Softly and Carry a Big Knife

5-25-12

     Most days, when I'm feeling angry or upset or depressed about anything that's happening in my life or that I'm dealing with, I channel my emotions into playing a song that parallels my emotions or by writing, finding refuge in a world of my own creation where everything is as it should be, as opposed to real life. I find the experience cathartic, and it allows me to come to grips with whatever is troubling me without letting the situation reach volatile or violent levels. Today was not such a day. Today I ventured a ways from Base Camp with a well-sharpened, arm-length machete in hand and released the (unrelated to Panama) frustration that was inside of me into the decapitation of innumerable shoulder-height weeds littering the valley in full Indiana Jones fashion. Fields need clearing out for new growth, and so too do minds.
     With that out of the way, and feeling considerably more awesome for having spent a whole afternoon swinging machete around, I must say I'm loving my stay here in Panama. The view is magnificent, the staff is always great to work with, and, believe it or not, the chefs here in the wilderness of Panama have us eating like kings. On the business side of things, I have big plans within the Agriculture program. I'm currently researching and designing an aquaponics system, and would eventually like to integrate full-fledged aquaculture into our sustainable farm. I still have a lot of work to do before my project has a chance to get off the ground, but I'm excited about the implications of such systems (fish and aquatic plants!) and how naturally I believe they will fit into our environment and climate. My end goal is for there to someday be in the town of Kalu Yala a truly natural ecosystem of organisms like tilapia, bluegill, minnows, mussels, reeds and brush, taro, kiwi, passionfruit and more existing in a symbiotic relationship that both minimizes any negative impact on nature and maximizes efficiency and yield through intelligent design tapping into the awesome and too often overlooked power of nature and mother earth.

 6-2-12  

    On the more spiritual side of things, last night Sarah and I visited with a family for a bible study about what the world would be like if Christ had not come to earth, or “Si Jesucristo No Hubiera Venido”. And yes, it was almost entirely in Spanish, with someone translating main points into english periodically. Thankful for my Spanish classes in high school, I was able to decipher, if not all the exact details, at least the message of what was being said before being translated, and I was also able to converse a bit afterward as we ate a delicious meal of arroz amarillo, pan, carne, plantains, y te de pina. We even stumbled our way through a song or two, and I was surprised to learn that a lot of our songs are the same music but with different (and Spanish) words. Overall, it was a great experience for Sarah and me both, and I know we're all the more excited to be spending time and worshipping with these people over the next two months.


"One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in His temple."

                                                                                                       -Psalm 27:4

Ants Marching/Misty Mountain Tops

5-22-12


     Today I visited Bella Vista. Not Bella Vista, Panama City, but truly a bella vista: beautiful view. We hiked up a decidedly tortuous trail through the mud and thicket and up the sides of a mountain overlooking Base Camp in the valley, and after a solid half hour of batting branches out of my face and feeling my feet squish through the mud (did I mention it was raining?), it all became worth it. From where we stood perched, I saw the entire valley sprawled out in front of me, with patches of forest, rolling hills, and great mountains looming over the horizon shrouded in mist from the rain. I wish I could hold on to that image forever, I know no photograph could hope to do it justice. The sheer size of it all was awe inspiring.

    All of this just moments after crossing a tiny ant highway, where thousands of miniscule leaf cutter ants running back and forth through the jungle has formed a perfect, clear dirt path no longer than three or four inches across but stretching on and on seemingly endlessly. From the tiniest ants to the great mountains, nature's beauty and complexity is overly apparent everywhere around us here in the valley, and along with it the glory of God. 


"By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance, O God of our salvation; you are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might. You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples. Those who live at earth's farthest bounds are awed by your signs; you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy. You visit the earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full of water; you provide the people with grain, for so you have prepared it. You water its furrows abundantly, settling its ridges, softening it with showers, and blessing its growth. You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness. The pastures of the wilderness overflow, the hills gird themselves with joy, the meadows clothe themselves with flocks, the valleys deck themselves with grain, they shout and sing together for joy." -Psalms 65:5-13

good news and Good News

      The other week week I was thrilled to find out that my classmate, friend, and sister in Christ Sarah McIntyre was interviewed and accepted for the Biology program of Kalu Yala, and will be spending the summer with me! This is certainly good news for the Good News as we travel to Panama looking to work with christians and spread word to those who are not. For those of you who haven't met Sarah, she is one of the most enthusiastic, outgoing, passionate people I have had the privilege to meet, and she will absolutely bring a great deal to the table. She's the kind of person who can't help but share to all who are in contact with her just how much her Savior means to her and how great a God is ours. So now my lone venture has evolved into a partnership, a tag team with the person I have already spent so much time in study and in the Word with. During our internship we will have a lot of free time and flexibility in our schedules between projects and setting up the infrastructure for the town we are creating, and we will be working with local churches (I am also conversationally fluent in Spanish) and an evangelist Phil has put us in contact with named Greg Roark.
      This semester I spent my Monday nights in a leadership program called Joshua Team through an unaffiliated, inter-denominational campus bible study group. We focused on how to share the gospel, and specifically how Christ shared the gospel when He walked the earth, which is very different from current trends in the world today. Rather than focusing on numbers and getting people 'saved' as quickly as possible and moving on to the next person, the example Christ gives us is to truly invest in person, continuing to work and grow a person rather than calling it a day the moment they're dunked in some water. Our goal is to create a spiritual generation that will in turn create more spiritual generations, bringing the lost to Christ in an exponentially increasing chain. When our Lord began His ministry, he could have preached to the entire world and told His message to every soul on earth, but He didn't. Instead, we see Him spend the vast majority of His time with only twelve men. Why would He focus on just twelve, when He could have easily used His miraculous power to persuade entire nations that He is God? I think the answer to that question is in the frailty of the hearts of men. The Israelites saw the power of God time and time again, yet still fell away every time because of their lack of faith and the hardness of their hearts. If Christ would have given the gospel to every person on earth and saved every man and woman alive, but hadn't created followers with the devotion of the Twelve who would continue to proclaim God's grace and message in the face of death long after the Son had departed, the message would have simply died along with those it had been given firsthand, erased from earth as quickly as it arrived. God does not ask for lukewarm followers who tentatively make an attempt to follow His will most of the time, and when Christ said "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you", it wasn't merely a suggestion. The focus here is on depth, not breadth, because breadth will have weak and limited results, while depth will multiply and continue to bear good fruit.
      And by now I've gone off on a tangent, but what I want to say is that this is my goal. When I study with people and work to create a follower of Christ, my work isn't done until that person is not only able to stand on their own, but ready and willing to make disciples of their own, coming full circle. Sarah and I make a great team, and we're both very excited to get to work, starting with this summer as we work with christians and nonbelievers in San Miguel, Panama.

"Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.'"                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 -Matthew 9:37-38