Baseball, Toilets and Explorations

Panama Baseball

In honor of MLB Opening Day in the US, I can’t offer jet fly-overs or fireworks. Merely, this old and sadly neglected baseball field in a remote village of Panama that I walked by this morning. Even in this condition, its shape and size says “America’s Game” and holds a special place in my heart. While the Americans were in control of the Canal, they actively promoted the game and many great MLB players came from Panama. Some of the better known: Mariano Riviera, Rod Carew, Carlos Lee, Manny Sanguillen, Ben Oglivie, Roberto Kelly and Hector Lopez. (46 in all)
Since the Americans left in 1999, soccer has become more popular. But, those old fields still remain. And my heart still jumps a beat whenever I see one. And, if I can, I walk out to home plate and look out across the field and just let the memories flow……..

First geese I've seen in Panama

Lots of Cashew trees aroun d town

I LOVE this guy's drip irrigation - used  soda bottles

Not everybody has indoor plumbing . But everybody has
at least one sat dish

My new project with Global Brigades is a Water & Sanitation assessment of 20 potential new project sites in the Torti and Darien areas of Panama. Walk around new villages, mapping, observing, asking questions – sounds like a perfect job for me. Plus, I get to hang with my friend Cecilio.

First village was Ipeti Colono, near my dear village of Ipeti Embera. Much more developed, houses “nicer” and more spread out. Good water system. Most folks have indoor flush toilets, though not all use septic tanks. Lots of cars and trucks. Big shopping center with a motel and nice restaurant. They even have their own baseball field – nice one, too. Not much help needed here.

While Ipeti Colono seems more economically advanced, it lacks the sense of Community I find in Ipeti Embera or Pueblo Nuevo. Here, there is no Casa Comunal, no “center” of village, no people just walking about and chatting with their neighbors. Just (very nice) disconnected houses strung out along a road.

Did I just describe America ??

Why am I showing a photo of my toilet? Two reasons. First, I heard a frantic splashing noise inside the tank this morning and discovered one of my froggie friends had gotten into the tank, but couldn’t get out. I left the tank top open all day and problem was solved.

More importantly, this is an ultra low flush toilet, which saves large amounts of water. It uses only 5 liters (about 1.25 gallons) per flush and does a wonderful job. It really chaps my lips when folks decry low flush toilets (yes, you know who you are). “Oh, they never work.” “I always have to flush twice.” they whine. BULLFINGSHIT !! They work fine – IF these people would bother to read the directions. You do not simply press the lever and scamper merrily away. You hold the button down “for about 3 seconds or until the bowl is cleared” LIKE THE DIRECTIONS SAY. That 3 seconds can save THOUSANDS of gallons of water a year, per person. End of rant.

Two more new indigenous communities surveyed and mapped today, with the help of my good friend and compadre Cecilio.

Arimae (or Arimay) sits between the PanAm Hwy and the Santa Fe River. Very poor water service ( 3 days per week for 2 – 3 hours) That means you can’t use toilets or spigots. So, you

Standing septic water in Arimae = not good

Old concrete composting toilet seat, like I built in Peru

dip water out of a plastic barrel and hope like Hell that nobody has contaminated it already. Unlikely you will waste the water or bleach to clean the barrels, so they will probably stay contaminated. Sanitation is even worse, in places – like the large bowl shaped part of the village where everybody’s sewage flows into the center. Some nasty bugs hiding in there I’ll bet. There are a few old composting toilets that have fallen into total disuse , but could be rehabilitated (my specialty).  To make things totally insane, the government chose to build 40 of the new Casitas here in a village of 100 houses, with no water and bad drainage. We could only find 4 houses that used their bathrooms. They can only use about once per week, since the tank and drainfield are already backed up. All the other folks are sure theirs will back up, as well, so just don’t use them – what a waste of $18K per house.

Embera Puru – Is a much smaller Embera village, with many more traditional houses, zero government Casitas, great water supply and almost everyone has a nice composting toilet (older design, with concrete seat). They certainly need a refresher course on how to use the dry toilets and we will pull out a TON of sweet compost when we give them a needed “make-over”. But, other than fine tuning the toilets, this adorable (and very friendly)  little village is in pretty good shape.