Finishing Projects and More Cacao

Marilin is delighted to have water running at her house for the first time
No more trips to the spring, carrying water home in buckets !!

The finished spring box with lines to house, village and overflow

We finished up the last bits of construction on the new springbox in Junquito today. The 8 GPM flow will almost double the water going to the village. Plus, some new connections to 2 families that never had water service before.
As Sgt Preston would say, "King, This case is closed !!"

The illegal water line was not well hidden

We may have done TOO good a job of repairing and upgrading the Santos water system. They have such constant water and good pressure that some of the folks across the bridge in Valle Risco got wind of it and have pirated the water.
The good news is that when Simone and Juan confronted a lady about it, everybody just decided that she would now be part of the Santos system. She paid her $1 monthly fee and that was that.

This is how they bake bread, Campo Style. 
Yep, the fire goes on top of the pot.

I think the beer and liquor producers have done a brilliant job of taking the anniversary of an obscure Mexican battle victory and turning it into an international party day.
I went to Playa Estrella (Starfish Beach) , my favorite beach on Isla Colon today, only to discover my quiet little beach had become the scene of party boats, loud music and huge beer tents.
Happy Cinco de Mayo.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE the jungle?  I get to hike through it most every day going to "work" in one of the villages. It still overwhelms me with its giant trees, lush diverse green foliage, bird and insect sounds, rushing waters and the fragrance of abundant oxygen and flowers. My photos never seem to do it justice. Extraordinary beauty. 

I take random photos of the village kids and print them out as gifts. Everyone was delighted. Problem is that now the parents all want me to take and print photos of EVERYONE. 
I may have created a monster......
(Looks like the local barber has made his rounds since the first photos were taken. Around here, you don't go to the barber, the barber comes to you. 50 cent specials !!

The pod starts out as a tiny flower (note little spider at center)

Some photos of cacao fruit from blossom to dead, while you read more about cacao.

Cacao Economics, Panama and Fair Trade (FAIL)

My work on rural water systems in Panama takes me to the jungles that surround many communities, where families often supplement their subsistence and income with the sale of cacao beans. Seeing first-hand the extraordinary amount of work that goes into the sale of their beans for very little compensation, I’ve been pondering ways they might increase their earnings.

The blossoms that are pollinated form tiny fruit

Fair Trade – Cacao that is certified as “Fair Trade” is said to enjoy a 15 to 20% premium in price. This would amount to about $25 extra per 50 kilo bag – the standard sales unit here. To get certified they would have to prove just a few simple practices: 1. No child labor 2. No pesticides or chemicals 3. No GMO plants. Here in Panama, #2 and #3 are a given – the cacao trees all come from other local native trees and nobody even thinks of treating trees because of cost and lack of disease. The trees here are scattered almost at random among the other trees of the rainforest jungle.

Mature cacao pods on the tree

But, when I raised the child labor conversation, I was met with pure laughter. Of course the children help with harvest, drying and bagging – it’s a family affair. Besides, how else would kids learn how it’s done? Working together is quality family time. And who would watch the kids if all the adults are off working? And since cacao sale is mostly just a side-line, the extra money doesn’t seem worth the effort – unlike the African families, whose entire income is based on their cacao.

Cacao pod graveyard after seeds are removed

So, Fair Trade was a non-starter, even before we got to the issues of how to find a certification agent and how the beans would get to market. While there are two certified farms in Panama, total production in all of the country is less than 500 tons – about 0.025 percent of world-wide production – hardly enough to make a viable market.

Unharvested pods make food for birds and lizards

Moreover, the whole Fair Trade scheme is questionable. Many industry people have doubts about how well the separate supply streams are segregated. And Africa, the majority producer of cacao, is basically set up by Nestle, Cargill and Hershey as a feudal share cropping system, where growers are given company trees to plant on the family land. Child labor infractions are said to be common for the same reasons that families give here. In addition, while the Big Three maintain that the trees they supply are not GMO, they have suspiciously high yields and disease resistance.

Value Added – This seems to be a more viable option. Indeed, several other local communities have already discovered that by selling slightly processed cacao, they can net about nine times the amount they would get from selling the raw beans. In Quebrada Cacao, they sell ½ pound pure cacao blocks for $2. The community of Rio Oeste has taken the idea even further by offering “cacao tours” and a wide variety of products – from raw nibs to finished chocolate bars – to the tourist market around Bocas. Both communities were led to their cottage industry by Peace Corps volunteers of the Small Business Development program.

But, this too requires a level of effort and organization that the families I spoke with are unwilling to expend. Perhaps in the future some other PCV or whiz-bang local entrepreneur will lead the charge. But for now, the folks here seem quite willing to stick with the status-quo and just putter along with their casual side income that traditional cacao farming provides.

All About Cacao

Finished cacao blocks as sold in the village of Quebrada Cacao

While my primary Peace Corps mission here in Panama is working with local community water systems, all these villages rely on cacao production for some of their income. I share some of what I've learned about cacao with you here:

CACAO PRODUCTION
The base for all your favorite chocolate treats is cacao – the fruit of the cacao tree, native to 

Ripe cacao pods in the jungle

Central America, but now mostly grown in Africa on commercial mono-culture plantations. In Panama, cacao trees grow on family farms called fincas. The trees are scattered in the jungle among all the other jungle plants. The fruit is produced year-round, with two main production times tied to the rainy seasons. The family will walk the finca and harvest the fruit (or pods) as it matures. The pods are then sliced or broken open to reveal the seeds, which are the actual source of commercial cacao.

The seeds are covered in a fruity mass that tastes a bit like pineapple. The wet seeds are placed in a bucket or other container and fermented for 4 or 5 days, producing a pungent alcohol smell and melting away all the fruit from the seeds. Then the seeds are dried. Here in rural Panama, they are sun dried for 4 to 6 days (depending on weather) and rotated daily. African plantations use heated vats

Wet beans in fermentation bucket to remove fruit flesh

 for a fast fermentation and large, gas powered driers to dry the seeds.

The dried pods are then mostly sold to a local cooperative or company purchasing agent in 50 kilogram bags. The agents travel directly to the rural villages and pay in cash. The coop pays about 50% more, but the family must bring the seeds to a nearby larger city and gets paid by check, which must then be cashed.

A drying rack for the clean beans

Some local villages have started producing value-added products with their cacao seeds. Peace Corps volunteers from the Small Business Development program have helped promote this effort. The seeds are roasted for about 20-30 minutes, which dries the seed shell (cascara), which is then broken open to reveal the cacao bean. The beans are then passed through a fine grinder to 

Hand grinding shelled beans into paste

make cacao paste.
These villages offer several products for sale, in addition to tourist tours of the cacao process. They sell roasted, shelled beans (called nibs), dried cacao paste and finished chocolate bars. The dried paste is sold in blocks, which is similar to Bakers Chocolate, but 100% pure vs 40% purity of the commercial product. The chocolate bars are generally made by grinding cinnamon and sugar with the beans to produce a rich dark chocolate bar.

Beans (mostly broken bits called "nibs")

It is estimated that for every dollar that a consumer spends on a high quality chocolate product, the grower will get only about 0.3 cents – far less for a Nestle or Hershey low cacao content bar. For each 50 kg bag, the grower will get about $80 from an agent or $115 from the

Locals lined up at the cacao coop to sell their beans

coop. To earn that $115, they must harvest and open about 400 to 500 pods, remove the seeds, ferment them, dry them and transport them (by hand). If this seems like a lot of work for very little reward - IT IS !! That same bag will produce about $900 worth of pure dark chocolate bar if sold to tourists – well worth the extra effort.l

The locals use some of the beans at home to make a thin hot chocolate drink, sweetened by sugar or fine corm meal. Some folks drink the fermented fruit, which looks and smells pretty nasty. I met one woman who uses the outer shell of the pod to make a fruit jam that tastes a bit like pineapple.
Random notes: Pound for pound, cacao beans have about 7 times the caffeine of coffee beans. It takes about 5 years for a tree to start producing fruit. Each tree will yield between 30 and 50 fruits per year – dependent on weather and how well the tree is maintained and overhead jungle is cleared. There are about 40-50 seeds per pod.

 A bit more about cacao "nibs" - raw or roasted beans you can buy at the store or online. They are generally sold as "nibs" - bits of the cacao seed or bean. Like many tree nuts, they are hard to remove from the shell intact, though you might get a few in a packet of nibs. They can be eaten as is or used in hot chocolate drink or bars.

My friend Simone taught me the trick of eating them right, out of the shell. Don't try and chew or you'll get a blast of very bitter chocolate. Chocolate conveniently melts at about 90F, so just let the nibs sit in your mouth, while sliding and smearing the melted ambrosia around your mouth. The cacoa butter will coat the surfaces and enzymes will convert starches to sugar. Hold in the mouth and resist the urge to swallow as long as possible. I guarantee a whole new dark chocolate experience.
When cooking the beans/nibs, use very low heat - no more than 110F. You can add dried fruit, sugar, honey, condensed milk, nuts - whatever your imagination dictates.
The nibs are available online (Amazon has a large assortment). I suggest buying from Central / South American sources rather than the big corporate mono-culture plantations in Africa.

Medical Issues

Ferro-cement frame ready for cement

Overall, I’ve been fortunate to enjoy good health during my Peace Corps services. I had a nasty case of Inka Revenge when I first got to Peru and a 4x by-pass surgery between my 2^nd and 3^rd services. But other than that, no medical issue of note. Until now.

The last six weeks have been a cavalcade of medical problems. It started when a young lad passed me on his bicycle in Changuinola. There was a stick of some sort strapped to the bike which clipped my hand and damaged a tendon in my thumb. I wound up getting a wrist brace and taking anti-inflammatory drugs. Then, a routine filling replacement turned into a painful and swollen infection, 8 days of face pain, culminating in extraction and replacement. 

My special passengers - tapeworms

The 10 day course of anti-biotics may have caused the trifecta to manifest – tapeworms. So now I am on parasite medication for a few more days. All the trauma and medications have left me weak and woozy. Add to that the numbing effect of 3 trips to Panama City (12 hour bus ride each way). I’ll be glad when it’s all over.

The village kids always cheer me up

Despite the medical problems, I have gotten out to the villages for inspections and planning sessions. Both communities have done a superb job of going on without me. We also managed to demonstrate ferro-cement technology by building tank and spring box covers in both villages. I like this technology as it uses far less materials and is easier to build than concrete block or cast concrete tops. The tops are also easier to move. A video of the process can be seen at :    Click here to see video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f46EE4omP3k

Progress and a new Volunteer

The Santos community turned out this morning to welcome Hana and Martin from Peace Corps staff and voice their support for hosting a two-year volunteer. I think they made a great showing and have already found housing and a list of projects for a new volunteer.

Jimenez house

There are no seats (yet) in the Casa Comunal (community meeting place). But, we have a plan - when we clear the trees from around the newly renovated water tank, we can cut them up and make benches. 2 birds, 1 stone.

Simone's house would make a nice PCV private residence

Part of the site selection process for new Peace Corps volunteers is finding suitable housing for their 2 year stay. Santos has some good possibilities. 
This will give an idea of "normal" PCV living conditions. Normal is hard to define, since every village and town has different conditions.

The family latrine has a superb view of the Risco River

In Panama, PCVs live with a host family for their first 3 months. The Jimenez family (no relation to Jose) has grandfather, Mom, Dad and 7 kids - a good sized host family. The PCV would get a private room, but share bath facilities.

After their first 3 months with a host family, PCVs can elect to stay or move to private quarters. This house is vacant and available - a bit of a fixer-upper. Right now, there is a small solar panel. But the house will soon have regular 110VAC power from the grid.

New ladder gives easy access to the tank for more better
maintenance

We tested the new access ladder on the Barriada Santos water tank today. It worked like a charm. Then we used it to clean out the mud and water that has been sitting in the tank for over a year. After that, we inspected the new "end around" supply line - a GREAT success - folks on the other side of the canyon have only had water pressure at night, when all the other taps are turned off. Now, they have good water pressure in the middle of

Tank cleaning time 4" of muddy water

the day!! Big smiles all around and Well Done to the community workers for their hard work.

Three Little Pigs - the story comes to life with these adorable 4 day old piglets.

Work a Dog Days

The "Senior Staff" of Santos - all of us over 60

At last, the time has come to do work on the waterlines – my favorite part. Construction and repair work is just so instantly satisfying and gratifying. While the rest of the community was busy schlepping materials up to the new spring site for Barriada Santos, the “Senior Staff” and I did some plumbing work.

Waterline cleared and repaired

First, we cleared a plugged line from the lower canyon water intake – full of mud and some small animal skeleton. Then we replaced some bad pipe and added a valve for more control options. 

The MacGuyver field patch

Along the way, Usevio clipped the tube with his shovel, so we had to do a MacGuyver field patch (having no proper fittings). It was a clever fix and didn’t leak a drop.

The new water control center

Then we created a new junction where the dirty water from the canyons (quebradas) meets the clean spring water from the storage tank. New valves will allow full control of water flow.

We are running an “end-around” pipe direct from the main line to the houses up high on the other side of the village, across the canyon. They have never had decent water pressure and this will give it to them. We made a valved spur, but didn’t run the full 320 meters.  It’s a start that the youngbloods can finish.

The waterline ran right in the middle of a major trail
and was dangerously exposed - we made it all better

Finally, we corrected a really bad situation where the water line was right in the middle of a frequently travelled path. (They call it “Camino Real” it’s so popular). The tube was exposed well above the path and made for a tripping hazard, as well as the cause of frequent breaks by people, cattle and horses. We just spliced in some new heavy gauge pipe and buried it 12” below the path.

The major trail "Camino Real" - used to be the major route
to Almirante - now mostly supplanted by bus and paved road

All in all, a good productive day. I love working with the Older Guys – our work is thoughtful, steady and deliberate. Kids bring us coffee and cacao and we chat while we work. They have great curiosity about what life is like in the US. Of course, explaining that is like describing an elephant while only touching one part. Their biggest puzzle is our tendency for violence – against each other and other nations. Does everyone in the US have many guns?? Etcetra.

PC Regional Leader Hana meets with the Santos elders

A couple of days ago, our PC Regional Leader, Hana, came to lay the preliminary groundwork for getting a new WASH volunteer to live (regular 2 year service) in Santos. The community is excited and has already secured a host family for the first 3 months and a small private house for the rest of the PCVs service. They have a ton of ideas of what they’d like the volunteer to do – it should be a great 2 years for some lucky person.

The latest fad in Santos is the kid’s begging me to take their photo. They get all excited and crowd around to see the photo replay. Their surprise will be that I’m printing the photos and giving them, so they will actually have a photo of themselves. This is pretty rare here – no school photos or family snapshots are available. Oh, the simple things we take for granted in Estados Unidos.

Muddy Days and Rainy Nights

As work continues on the water line projects in Santos and Junquito, we are slowed by the continuing rains. The rainy season normally ends in early February and “summer”, as the dry season is called here begins. This is true on the dryer Pacific side of the isthmus, but the Caribbean side is still wrapped in fog and rain. Fortunately, the rain comes mostly at night, allowing work during the day, albeit humid and muddy. There are times I yearn for my service site in San Luis de Canete, Peru – where EVERY day was clear and dry. But, the rich, lush, green beauty of the jungle is rewarding compensation.

Sometimes, the mud gets so deep that my boot gets suctioned in and my foot starts to come out. I’ve developed a twisting motion that let’s me slowly extract it. The slimy trails also make downhill travel a bit hazardous for me. I’ve done the “back-side slide” more times than I’d like to admit. After witnessing some of my better slides, the folks in Nudobidi decided to give me a Ngobe (indigenous) name. It translates as “butt bone towards ground”. Glad we all have a good sense of humor.

The communities have made some progress moving materials to the construction sites and I’ve been supervising and assisting with replacement of damaged pipes, fittings and valves. The folks are really happy to be working on a project they know will bring better water to their villages. I’m particularly excited to see the children so eager to help. They work hard, often lifting materials much

larger and heavier than you might expect – racing ahead to do more. A bit sad that the young adults – teenagers – don’t show up to help. Perhaps they’re too busy with their phones.

Before (above) and after

The lot next door to the apartments where I stay used to be a gorgeous tree-covered plant nursery. Lamentably, it’s been sold and the new owner has CLEAR CUT every single tree. Does devastation always need to be the price of progress? Very sad that the hundreds of parakeets that used to sit in those fallen trees and squawk all afternoon have fled, leaving the neighborhood oddly silent.

You Unload 6 Tons and Whadaya get

Whole families showed up to help move materials

We delivered the construction materials for the water system improvement project to Barriada Santos today. Lots of folks, including some kids, showed up to move materials to secure locations. Next step is to HAND CARRY all that stuff (about 3 TONS !!) up a steep, muddy 1.8 KM trail to the construction sites.

Big load for a little guy

Many Thanks to our dear friends at Waterlines, a water charity that provided funds for the project materials. With their kind help and hundreds of man-hours from the community, we will provide beautiful clear, clean spring water to the 350+ people in this community.

All materials secured and sand and gravel covered
Water Committee President Juan Carrera is pleased

Another good day delivering construction materials - this time in the precious village of Junquito. Fewer materials and a shorter path to the site of the new spring box (only 1 km) will make this project go faster. Water Committee President Roberto says his community will have all 4 tons on site in one week. Vamos a ver....

The Junquito crew was smaller, but fewer materials there

We had to wait several hours for the rain to subside, so materials wouldn't get wet. But, it was fun sitting around with the men, drinking coffee and cacao and chatting about all manner of topics.

When the flow from the new spring is added to the existing system, it

All Junquito materials go across this bridge, through the
other half of the village and up to the new spring site

will double the volume of water available and mean that far fewer families will have to carry water from a not-so-pretty river.

Once again, a huge shout out to the good folks at Waterlines.org for supporting this project and my PC service.

 

This little guy was carrying 6 Gallons of water
(about 50 lbs) - He couldn't weigh much more than that