Janine, Kristen, Robyn, Kathleen, and Linnea: Panama Day 2

Group Blog for Room 1
Written by Janine Villot
Contributors include Janine Villot, Kristen Corpion, Robyn Sagal, Kathleen Pombier, and Linnea Eberhart

On Sunday, we toured El Valle´s hot springs, zip lining, visiting the Sunday market, then going to the beach. It was a day of fun activities, preceding our more serious academic adventures on Monday.

The bus ride was long and offered impressive scenery. Considering that El Valle is in Panama´s interior, it is impressive that so many city dwellers make the long drive to visit it, suggesting this is a large tourist attraction for more than just international visitors. El Valle is an extinct volcano, the third largest in the world due to its 12 square miles. The ride there revealed a great many poverty-stricken areas, but also some affluent areas. The weather was still warm and hospitable, and the plant life abundant: we saw wild roses, cashew trees, mango trees, and many other flowers and fruit.

El Valle was a bit disappointing. The hot springs looked dirty and crowded, and the scenic development did not appeal to the senses. Even the facial mud area was lackluster. On the bright side, we all enjoyed visiting the local restaurants which offered delicious Panamanian food (for a great price), and the Sunday market, where we shopped (though not until we dropped).

Following this, we visited a local resort at the beach. While the beach was quite lovely and the volcanic ash gave it a unique sparkle (literally), the experience was dampened by incidents with the rocks and high tide. No one was injured, yet the minor cuts and bruises did dampen the experience. However, we all are quite satisfied that we got to see the Pacific ocean and in some cases, wade into the cool water.

However, our best experience of the day was when Mr. Mejias and the gentlemen at the hostal cooked dinner for the ladies. It was a delicious dinner of garlic chicken and arroz con gandules, and the males even washed up for us. It was quite the role reversal, and a fine feather in the cap of the male gender.

Janine was particularly pleased to see the Pacific Ocean and walk into the water for the first time. She spent her day reflecting over the Embera´s situation and some of their inauthenticity when we discovered their "handmade" goods for sale at El Valle, apparently not original to their tribe, and far less expensive. However, she understands they need to make a living, and all societies constantly develop--we cannot expect them to be static creatures, lost in a pre-colonial time. They adapt to the times like everyone else. Being able to converse in Spanish while purchasing souvenirs was also quite the experience--it was the first smooth conversation Janine had in a language other than English, though she still has much to learn about the language.

Robyn loved going to the market and being able to interact with people. She was disappointed with the ziplining, which was too short and fairly unimpressive, and the hot springs. Janine, Kathleen, Kristen, and Linnea agree.

Kathleen particularly enjoyed haggling for a mola (embroidery done by the Kuna Yala women), which was a unique experience for her. She disliked how the visit to the beach left quite a few of us with bruises and small cuts from the rocks, particularly when the tide submerged the rocks and made it difficult for us to see them.

Kristen liked the cheap food and the amazing smoothies, as well as the males making dinner for the feamles. She felt this was an important step in the right direction for the male gender, as this does not happen every day.

Linnea was upset that we had to pay a dollar to use the bathroom at the beach resort, as it seemed unfair, particularly given the dire situation for some of us. However, she did enjoy seeing a multi-colored hummingbird with a tufted orange and black head, but was unable to get a picture.

Due to the day being a string of tourist activities, we are unable to make much commentary on the culture, except for noting how important tourism is becoming to Panama, though their hot springs do not compare to Costa Rica´s according to Kristen. The haggling at the market is fun, but Janine notes that Panamanian haggling is much more limited than Chinese haggling--haggling in China is a cultural norm, but not in Panama.

On Monday, the real work begins!