Panama

The Team

1 from Pennsylvania, 2 from N. Carolina, 12 from Michigan
and our host pastor From Panama City, Pastor Roque

The Kunas go out to sea 3 times a day to fish, morning, noon and night.

The dentist pulled 250 teeth over the course of one week!

the doctors combined saw approximately 1300, patients, plus over 450 pairs of eye glasses were given out and many therapeutic massages. In total 2253 patients received some sort of treatment.

Zach put his Spanish to good use. He translated all the doctors English prescriptions to Spanish for a Spanish speaking Kuna Indian who then translated it to the patients who only spoke Kuna, (once back to school he received 5 extra credit points for his efforts) Our Last day on the San blas islands we had time for a little bit of fun in the sun, It was over 100 degrees every day so we did not spend any extra time in the sun, because it was too hot! ( I know, can you believe I said it was too HOT?)

The traditional Kuna dress was provided to me my my new friend and a pastors wife Jessica. In Panama if you are married to a pastor you are called Pastora. Pastora Jessica and her husband minister on the island of Achutupu.

We took boats to get every where, on this particular day the waves were crazy, Zach was our guide though the shallow waters but out in the middle of the ocean he was being tossed every where, at one point he had a rope tied around is waist in case he fell overboard. I am totally serious. The waves were that strong.

The kunas on Mamatupu gave us our first fresh coconut, very delightful.

The children were all very protective of family, they spent hours waiting in the sun for their turn to see the doctor.

The Kunas on San Blas Islands are known for their molas(sp?) and were very excited to show off their handi work, one mola could bring in 20-40 dollars and 40 dollars could feed their family for more than a month and families varied from 1-13.

The children loved to show off for the camera, on one particular day they deiced to walk on there hands, if one child does it the whole community is soon in on the act. It was very precious.

Duck, duck, goose ended up being a favorite, but they called it duck, duck boose? I guess that is how they heard it; especially so they could see the mercki (kuna for American) run and chase the children!

Fish was served fresh with the head on:( and lots of rice, we may not eat rice in this house for 6 months! :)

Our boat rides to each island varied from 1 hour to 1hour and a half, and the Kunas traveled farther to see the doctor. Amazing.

Our Hotel, was called the Konesega, but was really a glorified thatched roof hut on the Caribbean sea, totally solared powered, so it got dark pretty early, but not before Zach got in a good game of basketball. (there was a photo here but I am not sure what happened to it)

Well I tried to summarize the trip if you want more details send me an e-mail or give me a call, Zach and I will be happy to share our experiences with you.