Ngobes of Kusapin

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I'm still volunteering at Lost and Found, still in Panama. What can I say living on a mountain in a cloud forest, making enough money to cover my costs is great. I will probably be leaving in the next 2 weeks, but who knows. I've been cooking a lot, it's pretty much all I do there. I think it annoys the owners that I never pay them, they always pay me. I like it. Ok, I check people in and out and carry things up the mountain once in a while, what a terrible life.

One day while I was hiking I literally stumbled upon some bones. I was positive it was a raptor... but supposedly dinosaurs are extinct. Ends up it was a dog. I kept some of the bones and boiled the head, it will be the mascot of the Lost and Found's new Jungle Bar. If the rest of the bones are still there when I get back I will boil them an recreate a new animal (it kind of goes with a lost and found theme, plus it's just fun). I freaked out one of the cleaning women. She asked me what I was cooking. I told her (in my very broken Spanish) a dog head. She quickly responded, "is it for dinner?"

There was a coral snake right near the house the other day.

There is a whole new set of volunteers now, only 1 other person has been there longer than me and he isn't just a volunteer. He runs tours, is developing his own tour and wants to live in Panama permanently. which brings me to two days ago... He used to be in the Peace Corps and still has friends volunteering. When I decided to tag along with two volunteers who were leaving and going to Bocas he suggested, semi in jest, that his friend was in this amazing place we should all go to. We decided it was a wonderful idea and he should take us there, so he did.

Kusapin is a town on the tip of a peninsula in the Ngobe Indian reserve. We started by taking a bus to Chiriqui Grande a little port town that tourists generally have no reason to visit. It has very active docks, and lots of bustling people. (I would have pictures but my camera died about a week ago.) We stopped to have lunch, and I tried my first piece of chicken in 12 years. By piece, I mean tiny sliver but it was tasty. From Chiriqui Grande we caught a 45 minute motor boat to a town I can't remember the name of. The views on this boat ride were amazing. Everything from the gigantic boat owner whose nose was crooked and smashed in, to the ngobe kids playing in the water still care free of the craziness of life. Several people knew the volunteer we were with because not that many white men come through, especially ones who can speak ngobe. After talking to a few people we walked to the other side of the peninsula on a sidewalk built by the government. They are supposed to charge people to use it, but someone was keeping the money and it was not getting back in to the community. Of course the community stopped charging. Without this sidewalk it would have just been a mud trail, and I mean knee high mud. (I guess I forgot to mention that this is in Bocas Provence, which is the rainiest area of Panama. It is the northern section of Panamas Caribbean coast. So far I like the landscapes in Bocas more than anywhere else, probably even the mountain... it might be because it reminds me of where I was in Ecuador.)

We walked to a brautiful beach where children were playing, men were playing baseball, women were talking (one while holing a chicken upside down) and cows are wandering in the mud and on the beach. Here they don't view nature like we do, it's not a big deal. The only people who swim are the little kids, they also poop in the rivers that lead to the ocean. Men fish in hand carved wooden canoes and go skin diving 60 feet for lobsters...

I have to checkout of the hostel now I'll have to write more later.




Info I've learned:
If you have a thatched roof you must keep a fire going to stop animals and termites from invading your roof. The fire only keeps them out of that part. Zinc panels are the only other roof option and those are expensive, and a pain to get to rural poor places. I hear the best option is to have thatched roof over the kitchen area and zinc over the bed area, that way the bedroom doesn't have to have a fire thus is less hot, and the kitchen is easy to repair.


See volcano surfing on youtube.

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Comments

[mmom]

this is what u went there for!
Sounds like a grand adventure. So Ngobe sounds African. Were they slaves? Cool that you are not spending any money! All is well here. Finally we have beautiful weather. Love to read your adventures. mom

[Alex and MA]

Hey You!
Dear Laura, Wow! what an adventure you are having! all these birds and boys and bugs and all sorts of b lettered things, and that mud!! whoa nelly, you need some killer boots with anti-suction soles for that area... and lasers! yeah lasers are always good to have in the cloud forest. things are chugging along here, still trying to find my way in the corperate world of traders joe's, its not always smooth. i swear i hit so many bumps along the way if this idea were literal, I WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO SIT. EVER. and the beautiful weather outside does not make it any easier. Let's see, got a new car: from some a half-assed (didn't know it at the time) dealership in New hampshire, but it's survived the first few days without dying on me, unlike the last car i got (also a dealer's fault). There was a whole weird thing with the sales manager being a real asshole on something his own dealership changed about hte car, so i'm reporting him to the dealership auto bureau... It's a 2006 Subaru Outback sport, can't decide on a name, looking at Mabel, Molly, or Layla, but Layla's too sexy a name for my car. My car is more modest and efficient than sexy. Chris hasn't proved much help in the naming department- after all, I named the porche (isabella) and he named his motorcycle (percy) HAHA chris rides a dude! (he'd be ticked if he knew I said that- tee hee!) Oh speaking of travels, Chris FINALLY invited me to come to Goa, India with him in December- to a wedding, no less. I think he needed the okay from his aunt and uncle, who are up for easter and some. Im super excited, only problem is that my classes don't end that week that he wants to leave... Hurumph! Did I mention that we have to book the tickets um- now?! since the prices go up every month or less. Goa's on the coast of Bombay, its more Portugese than all out Indian. But I have to say, We saw that movie Slumdog MIllionaire? and he kept saying, "That's what it's like!" on a lot of unflattering parts of the movie... So I have a lot to look forward to. AND THIS TIME IM BRINGING A DUMP LOAD (pun completely intended) OF IMODIUM!!! not going to crap on a hill or open volcano again. Fool me once, shame on you fool me twice I'm shitting wherever my but can squat. Anyway, I think that about covers everything interesting that's going on around here. Oh and my cellphone is broken. hoorah- so now my costs are looking at a new car, a new phone and a new computer... I will be lucky to make it through the rest of this year alive. On the upside, that new Ipad came out. it's essentially a touch screen computer. I also call it an accident waiting to happen, almost completely useless form of a USB storage drive, but the perfect opportunity for Apple to drop their prices on the mac book pro. Still, I'm looking at a $16,500 bill if i get all these things. I hate my life. and my wallet hates me. I had to break a bond from what is now my grad savings hole. These Joke classes cost me 2,500 a POP! Seriously? Higher education my ... Last week my teacher sent the assignment to the wrong addresses- needless to say, I am now behind. thanks teach, way to go... aren't these people supposed to be role models? I don't know if it's because I'm getting smarter and more aware of what a good education should be or the teachers are just not as equipped. Glad to hear you're not having to spend money, I WISH I HAD THAT OPTION. mom- says hello, thinks you are cool "a real cool girl", and that its great what you are doing, and she wants to trade places with you. she's "got a bum knee (miniscous), a bad back, but [dammit she's] willing to try!" Love you, miss you, can't wait to see if if you get a new camera! I bet I could score you on online- what occasion do you want it for? haha- but seriously, if there's an address I can send a camera to, let me know. LOVE! a.