Enjoying the Country Life in Panama

Salutations, most esteemed viewers of the Global Glimpse Blog,

I am Alistair, working with notable contributors Eamon and Liam, now relaying the blog of our time in Chitré to you in excellent quality and detail. This morning, after the group had been woken and readied for our day, our palette was treated to boiled eggs and Hojaldre, with a drink of passion fruit juice to wash it down.

Hi, this is Eamon taking the computer away from Alistair for a moment. We got onto the bus for the roughly half hour drive to the farm, arguing about which Beyonce song to play next (Me Myself & I was my favorite). We arrived at the farm smoothly and read through our Mental Warm Up. A quick reference to Calvin Coolidge and a little history about Finca PAMEL, we finally left the bus and were welcomed by the staff.

I´m Liam, another LDD (Leader of the day). After we were greeted by the tour guides we split up into 4 groups, each station being a different part of the farm. The stations were, painting a mural, cleaning the goat pens, feeding the goats, and planting cucumbers. Then we had a meeting in their gazebo to discuss the small museum that held dresses from festivals from around 30 years ago. They told us some participants spent around a million dollars by the end of the competition.

This is once again Alistair, assuming command of the laptop from my peers. Upon finishing listening to the speakers in regards to the dress museum, our group was given a large quantity of freshly cut mangos (not exceeding 2 buckets). During the bus ride back, I was finally freed from the arduous task of enduring more of Eamon and Liam´s Beyoncé music, as the speaker on the bus began to play more Radiohead. After lunch, consisting of rice, beans, beef, salad, and plantains, we had some rest before listening to our visiting speakers. Two visitors, representing the Guna people of Panama, arrived to teach us about their culture. The Guna are indigenous to Panama, and inhabit many islands off the Carribean coast in a semi autonomous reservation. Despite much oppression in the past, and economic hardship in the present, they still thrive as a proud culture, and have a unique and beautiful form of art.

Eamon. We had the chance to buy some of the accessories that the Gura people had made, which is only possible with the approval of a member of the Gura people. After our nightly meeting where we passed the torch to our next LDDs, we were freed to our own shenanigans. We are here now during our free time, enjoying our time together as unlikely friends over the past 9 days. I am personally going to finish writing in my journal and thinking of good music like Malcom Todd and Daniel Caesar. 

Lastly, Liam again, as our last day in Chitre, we all had a blast, from playing with the farm animals to collecting mangos from a massive mango tree, we got to experience the country life in Panama before we travel back home. 

P.S. Alistair doesn’t know what good music is. – Eamon and Liam and the rest of the world

P.S.S. I will die on this hill. – Alistair