Thursday, March 19, 2009

Buabidi - Land of Rainbows

Wow, it´s been a long time since our last post, nearly a month. We would have posted about a week ago when we were last out but the internet cafe was really slow and frustrated the pants off Lisa. Instead, we gave up and went back to site, barely getting our necessary work items accomplished. I´m down in San Felix alone today looking for concrete, gravel, and sand to make a cement floor for our house and shower. Unfortunately, the costs are prohibitive so I´ll be looking for a more complicated (and possibly manual labor intensive) way to get-er-done than simply purchasing the rock and sand. Lisa is at home doing ¨woman´s work¨: washing clothes!

First, the Saga of the Salmon has finally ended. Our boss brought the stuff to us from Panama City when we attended our reconnection training. Sort of anticlimatic but I´m sure they will be delicious when the little suckers are opened.

We recently hiked to Ñano Tugri (named Buabidi in Ngoberi), the capital of the Comarca. The Comarca Ngobe-Buglé was created in 1997 when the people living here marched on Panama City to demand some land of their own to self-govern, like the other provinces have. Comarcas are similar to reservations in the U.S. To choose their new capital, the story goes that they looked at the map, found the geographical center, and named the closest significant village to it. It didn´t have a road, though one has been built in the past several months and a second one from our town has been partially put down.

We hiked the 5 hours through hard winds so that we could attend a coffee convention. Our guide and fellow Chamí-ite Stephanie was planning on giving a little talk about a couple aspects of coffee cultivation and processing, and Andi, Lisa and I tagged along for the adventure. There was also a vote for new chiefs that we were interested to witness. Lisa and I had knee issues along the way, both of us carrying far too much stuff in our backpacks (a good learning lesson for our next overnight hike.) We carried on despite the pains, slowing down our companions more than we would have liked but it was worth it.

As we ascended the last hill before Tugri, the wind that had been whipping over the continental divide nearly knocked us off our feet, making our steps all the more painful. It carried a mist that lightly, slowly drenched us. I was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and good boots. Lisa was more sensibly dressed in pants and a jacket. Still, the hike itself was invigorating and we were in such great company that was really enjoyed ourselves.

And there, as we pulled ourselves up the last hill, we spotted a rainbow in the direction that Steph had indicated for Tugri. Each of us hurried to share it with each other, but I think that we had all seen it at once. Since we were above this village nestled into the high mountains that receives heavy winds and misty rain nearly every day, we were looking down on the rainbow rather than up. And the end of it came squarely down on the biggest visible buildings, the school, to which we were headed. It felt like our destination was literally at the end of the rainbow, and as with most rainbows in Tugri that trip, it was a double.

We found the best path down the hill and to the school. Steph found a friend of hers and got caught up on the latest news. He offered us a place to stay in his small home, but she had already arranged another place with a different friend. We headed to the new government building in the center of town and searched for booths that lined the open space for some dinner and coffee.

We were quite an interest to the people gathered there from all over the Comarca. They were impressed that we had hike in on foot. Most of the big wigs and those who came from really far (it´s a 3-day hike over the divide) had come in by car from Tolé. Though I´m sure most of the folks walked themselves, and many from farther than us, I think seeing some Gringos trek in made it feel a little more special, like a sideshow at a circus.

After leaving the gathering place, we sought out our sleeping arrangements. The roads were a bit changed since Steph had last been out so it was a while before we found her friends home. As some strangers led us to the home, a rainbow bloomed over the man´s property. Unfortunately, the politico who had been given the building to arrange sleeping quarters for the out-of-towners was not advised that we coming and didn´t have any more space for us. Literally, every bit of space on the bed-tables and floors was taken up by other people. He did tell us that they had opened the church up the hill to take in people.

We spent a comfortable night on the smooth, concrete floor of the beautiful, austere, wooden church. It appeared fairly new and didn´t have access to the aqueduct yet. Nevertheless, we were very happy to get out of the cold wind and rain and into our sleeping bags. Andi and Steph found us some snacks from the store and Lisa broke out her usually prudent supply of extra bars and raisins.

The next morning, after going down to the open space around the government building again to see and be seen, we got back on the trail. We wanted to be home before dark. As we left Tugri, this time with the sun behind us for it was still before midday, a rainbow showed us our path toward home. There was a beautiful waterfall that we hadn´t noticed the day before (primarily because we hiked up and over it and then away from it) and the rainbow arched perfectly over it as it cascaded down into the jungle. It was gorgeous.

Of course, we took tons of pictures of our trip. And of course, I´ve left the camera behind today. When we have a chance, we´ll look into getting this post upded so that you all can see a bit of it as well. I apologize for flubbing that one up! I would also answer the questions that have been sent to us today, but the majority came to Lisa´s email and I don´t have the password for that. Next time, then.