Blogs from Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 146

Today we flew to David, Panama from Panama City. David is in the West part of Panama about 50 km from Costa Rica. David is the the capital of the Chiriqui Province. Chiricanos have a certain independent attitude that is very simular to Texans in the United States. They are proud of their province and their heritage. You can even get a Chiriqui passport and Chiriqui ID card! David is a thriving city of 80,000 people. We flew out of Panama City from the Albrook Airport. It was one of the former US airbases. The flight was short and pleasant. We were met by several of the David Rotary members and were soon on our way to review the first water project funded by the District 5710 major grant. The David Rotary Club has been assisting ... read more

Today we traveled to the Youth with a Mission organization outside of Gamboa. YWAM is an international and inter-detominational Christian missions organization. YWAM is operating in more than 900 locations in over 140 countries. The YWAM in Panama is headed by the wonderful Tracy family. They had been working in Panama since 1993. There are three main things that they do here. The first is YWAM training programs. YWAM is a large international movement of Christians working to help make a difference in a needy world. They offer a five month discipleship Training School (DTS). They also offer Staff and Leadership Training. The purpose of the SALT school is to produce better equipped staff members for their schools and base staff. The second thing YWAM Panama offers is short term Mission Adventures. They offer a 7 ... read more

Today was a true National Geographic day for us. We woke up early and was met by members of the Panama Sur Club. There were also members of a club in Ohio. The Ohio club had helped fund some motors for the dug-out canoes that the Embera Drua village uses to transport people to their village. The village was re-populated by the government in order to show the traditional way that the Embera live. The Emera are one of the seven indigenous people of Panama. It is a very popular village because you can see how people can live in harmony with the rainforest. It was neat seeing something like this so close to Panama City. We drove until came to the Chagres river. The river is one of the main sources of fresh water for ... read more

Today the group broke up to look at several projects around the Panama City area. Greg Peterson and Bob Green traveled to Piedra Ancha where they got out and walked for a long time up and down a mountain to find the village. John and Wanda Wilhite traveled to San Jorge y Tomas Arias. Wes McCoy, Lois Kastner and I travled to Villa Italia and the to Colon. Villa Italia was a special trip for me because this is the village that the Gardner and Atchison Rotary clubs started by partnering together to fund. This village is made up of 3,500 people that are some of the poorest in the area. For many years they received their water from a small river that ran close to their village. Several years ago the government came in and ... read more

18.02.06 Heute schlief ich einiges besser. Wir standen gegen 07.30 Uhr auf und konnten den Blick aufs Meer geniessen. Wir verbrachten viel Zeit im Wohnmobil. Zuerst fruehstueckten wir alle und dann gings ans aufraeumen. Waehrend Anette joggen ging, schaute ich mit Peter die Fotos seiner Reise an. Das war auch sehr interessant, aber irgendwann zog sich das sehr in die Laenge und ich wollte doch noch ein erfrischendes Bad nehmen. Die Wellen waren heute leider nicht so gross, aber ich ging trotzdem kurz bodyboarden. Als ich wieder beim Wohnmobil war, kam José Luis auf mich zu, den ich gestern kurz kennenlernte. Wir unterhielten uns recht lange. Wir wollten jedoch schon bald los, deshalb kehrte ich ins Wohmobil zurueck und machte mir was Kleines zu essen. Peter lernte in der Zwischenzeit zwei andere Deutsche kennen und redete ... read more