Panama
Location: Isla Solarte, Bocas del Toro, Panama --> Panama City, also Panama
Job: 12 day farm gig on Solarte, 3 day tourist gig in Panama City
Dates:
17 Aug-18 Aug: 2 day bus journey from Samara, Costa Rica; cross into Panama; bus to Bocas del Toro
18 Aug-20 Aug: Guests on Isla Bastimentos
21 Aug- 2 Sept: Farm on Isla Solarte
2 Sept- 5 Sept: Tourists in Panama City
This past month seemed to blur by a bit (no mom, we weren't drunk the whole time, just moved around alot). We started by taking a 10 hr bus from our hostel in Samara across the center of Costa Rica down to very bottom right corner on the Caribbean side, in a town called Puerto Viejo (where we had already spent 5 weeks for a different job). Then we bussed to the border, crossed into Panama and bussed to Almirante, the closest town to the archipelago of Bocas del Toro. Bocas del Toro ("Mouths of the Bull) consists of 9 main islands plus hundreds of other tiny islets. Our friends, Hannah and Adam, from our very first farm were working at a hostel on Isla Bastimentos so we originally only planned on staying there for three days as guests to visit them. But on the first night we met the owner of the hostel that they worked at, Emy, and he told us he was looking for volunteers to work at his new farm on a different island. So of course we said yes! Two days later he took us to his farm on Isla Solarte (about a 10-15 boat ride from his hostel) and dropped us off at his house!
After we arrived, there were four volunteers in total and three dogs. The whole island couldn't have had more than 15 houses; no roads, hardly even trails, only boat access to everything. His house was beautiful: situated at the top of a 50+ step staircase over looking the sea and other islands. The farm was very new, only about eight months old, so we were still very much in the physical/maneuvering the land in preparation for planting and building. The farm was located on a very sloped hill, at least 30 to probably almost 40 degrees in places. And the level land at the bottom of the hill, where the future house and toolshed will go, would flood every rain and be a swampy mess. So our two main objectives were: 1. build one long trench at the bottom to carry away the water before it could flood the flat land and 2. dig swales (like trench but smaller and designed to hold water rather than carry it away) down the mountain slope. The purpose of the swales are to hold rainwater and allow it to sweep through the top layer rather than allow the rain to wash off the topsoil and all the plants every storm. When we got there, there was already lemongrass, tumeric, garlic, sweet potatos, ginger and lots of papaya growing along the swales that were already dug. Other than digging, we also experimented with growing seedlings on the deck of our main house. We played around with seeds that we would save from food and several packs of good seeds. The major problems were the wind and rain: we couldn't grow the seedlings in the open elements because they would get destroyed by wind or drowned by rain. But keeping them on the balcony didn't give them enough sun. Ultimately, we were not there nearly long enough to solve problems, only figure out new ones:) I am very excited to see how this farm will look in a year or two!
On our free time here, we would go swimming off the dock ever chance we got. There were no beaches on this island, only mangroves which were soo interesting to see on a day to day basis and all the sea life they bring. On a clear day with no rain to make the water murky, you could see starfish, barracuda, little crabs and lots of colorful fish. But you'd have to check the for jellyfish before jumping in because when they were out, they were OUT, like swarms of them. I touched a few jumping off the dock but never got stung. A few special sightings included jumping dolphins and a big turtle that we saw from our little row boat one day!
After 12 days of soaking up the island life, we headed back to the mainland to catch a night bus to Panama City with Hannah and Adam. (Our other reason for sticking around was to stay with them in Panama City and fly together to Colombia:) We left Almirante around 7pm and arrived just outside of Panama City around 4 am. We checked into our AirBnb and napped hard. During our three days there, we walked up Ancon hill and got a fantastic view of the new city, the old city (Casco Viejo) and the canal. We cruised around Casco Viejo, walked along random roads to random parks (one of my favorite city activities) and got ready for our flight. The morning of the 5th, the four of us woke up at 4:30, took our Uber the teeny little airport and waited to board the plane for Colombia!
Job: 12 day farm gig on Solarte, 3 day tourist gig in Panama City
Dates:
17 Aug-18 Aug: 2 day bus journey from Samara, Costa Rica; cross into Panama; bus to Bocas del Toro
18 Aug-20 Aug: Guests on Isla Bastimentos
21 Aug- 2 Sept: Farm on Isla Solarte
2 Sept- 5 Sept: Tourists in Panama City
This past month seemed to blur by a bit (no mom, we weren't drunk the whole time, just moved around alot). We started by taking a 10 hr bus from our hostel in Samara across the center of Costa Rica down to very bottom right corner on the Caribbean side, in a town called Puerto Viejo (where we had already spent 5 weeks for a different job). Then we bussed to the border, crossed into Panama and bussed to Almirante, the closest town to the archipelago of Bocas del Toro. Bocas del Toro ("Mouths of the Bull) consists of 9 main islands plus hundreds of other tiny islets. Our friends, Hannah and Adam, from our very first farm were working at a hostel on Isla Bastimentos so we originally only planned on staying there for three days as guests to visit them. But on the first night we met the owner of the hostel that they worked at, Emy, and he told us he was looking for volunteers to work at his new farm on a different island. So of course we said yes! Two days later he took us to his farm on Isla Solarte (about a 10-15 boat ride from his hostel) and dropped us off at his house!
After we arrived, there were four volunteers in total and three dogs. The whole island couldn't have had more than 15 houses; no roads, hardly even trails, only boat access to everything. His house was beautiful: situated at the top of a 50+ step staircase over looking the sea and other islands. The farm was very new, only about eight months old, so we were still very much in the physical/maneuvering the land in preparation for planting and building. The farm was located on a very sloped hill, at least 30 to probably almost 40 degrees in places. And the level land at the bottom of the hill, where the future house and toolshed will go, would flood every rain and be a swampy mess. So our two main objectives were: 1. build one long trench at the bottom to carry away the water before it could flood the flat land and 2. dig swales (like trench but smaller and designed to hold water rather than carry it away) down the mountain slope. The purpose of the swales are to hold rainwater and allow it to sweep through the top layer rather than allow the rain to wash off the topsoil and all the plants every storm. When we got there, there was already lemongrass, tumeric, garlic, sweet potatos, ginger and lots of papaya growing along the swales that were already dug. Other than digging, we also experimented with growing seedlings on the deck of our main house. We played around with seeds that we would save from food and several packs of good seeds. The major problems were the wind and rain: we couldn't grow the seedlings in the open elements because they would get destroyed by wind or drowned by rain. But keeping them on the balcony didn't give them enough sun. Ultimately, we were not there nearly long enough to solve problems, only figure out new ones:) I am very excited to see how this farm will look in a year or two!
On our free time here, we would go swimming off the dock ever chance we got. There were no beaches on this island, only mangroves which were soo interesting to see on a day to day basis and all the sea life they bring. On a clear day with no rain to make the water murky, you could see starfish, barracuda, little crabs and lots of colorful fish. But you'd have to check the for jellyfish before jumping in because when they were out, they were OUT, like swarms of them. I touched a few jumping off the dock but never got stung. A few special sightings included jumping dolphins and a big turtle that we saw from our little row boat one day!
After 12 days of soaking up the island life, we headed back to the mainland to catch a night bus to Panama City with Hannah and Adam. (Our other reason for sticking around was to stay with them in Panama City and fly together to Colombia:) We left Almirante around 7pm and arrived just outside of Panama City around 4 am. We checked into our AirBnb and napped hard. During our three days there, we walked up Ancon hill and got a fantastic view of the new city, the old city (Casco Viejo) and the canal. We cruised around Casco Viejo, walked along random roads to random parks (one of my favorite city activities) and got ready for our flight. The morning of the 5th, the four of us woke up at 4:30, took our Uber the teeny little airport and waited to board the plane for Colombia!
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