Day 2: January 4, 2013

 By the time we had arrived the night before, it was too late to really see anything. I woke up early so I went out and explored the compound. Ever since eating in the Rainforest Cafe as a kid, getting to see a tropical country has been number one on my bucket list. There isn't really any way to describe how incredible it was to wake up to a dream come true, so I won't try

On the left is a photo of our dorm building

There were also banana trees everywhere. And I mean literally everywhere. Honestly, how cool is that??









After breakfast in our open air dining hall, we headed out to the village of Piriati. Here's some snapshots of the scenery along the way:

Once at Piritati, we were welcomed by the community members, who gave us an overview of their history, culture, and traditions.  Luckily we had translators, who were students from Panama University. Not having taken spanish for two years, my linguistic abilities were seriously rusty.

During the lunch break after the welcome presentation, our group lost no time in befriending the children.

Having finished lunch, the group split up to go on house visits with various members of the Piritati. I went with a few others to the house of a woman named Eloida. By that time, my spanish was beginning to resurface and I could hold a halting and broken conversation (Dani, our translator, was still much needed). I really wish I took pictures of the visit, because it was incredible. We talked about everything from our favorite animals to Eloida's perception of the United States.

The visit really got interesting when Eloida started teaching us to speak things in Embera (Boosuri Dibuwa Buta Oohnoonah Bera = It's nice to meet you). We taught her things in English in return, and she even showed us her bible which was written in Embera.

Another snapshot of a Piriati home. It blows my mind how simple they are, because they're comparable to the abandoned barns and sheds I explore in North Carolina. In the U.S we would probably ask to tear the buildings down and have them removed, but these are their homes. Just a little mind blowing.

What also frustrates me about blogging is how normal everything sounds. Our visit with Eloida doesn't sound groundbreaking when written out and explained, but you leave with such an amazing sense of cultural exchange and new experiences.

These two shots on the left were taken in the fields of the Piriati. They took us back there where they showed us a lot of the crop plants that students on Environmental Brigades had helped them plant. According to our host, it took about 20 some men to harvest the field, which included banana plants, rice, etc.


We went home to the compound after visiting the fields, where we debriefed and then began playing every card game known to mankind. Seriously, card games are so underrated. Egyptian Rat Screw anyone?