My friend Angela, in the Peace Corps, and I just parted ways. She has just return to her site earlier in the day. I’ll remain in the mountainous region of Chiriqui for one more night before heading to Costa Rica. I’ll recap the past few days I have spent. Visiting her was a special treat since I was able to see a side of Panama many don’t get the opportunity to encounter. Angela’s main job at her site is environmental conservation and education. Her simple while comfortable ¨casa¨ is in the town of Los Positions about a 10 minute ride from the volcanic beach, Playa La Barqueta. Half of her time is spent at the beach saving and protecting Olive Ridley sea turtles. I was lucky enough to take part in a turtle release. About 150 hatchlings emerged from their nests the day we arrived. Later that evening some community members and I released the newborns into the sea. Watching them struggle towards their new home was exciting and a bit depressing considering most of the little guys won’t make it. According to Angela only 1 in 1000 
actually reach adulthood due to a combination of humans, natural causes, and predators. Regardless of the survival rate watching the turtles scurry across the black sand into the roaring Pacific Ocean was memorable.
Other things we did in her town included simple daily activities such local errands, visiting neighbors and playing with the children. Since she took a couple days off form her main projects to hang out with me, we mostly chatted with the community as I soaked in the culture. One of my favorite thing we did was actually wh
en Angela took me to her first host family and we went on errands through different towns via a 21 year old stripped red Toyota pickup. I swear we stopped 10 times in an hour period visiting houses while our ¨guide¨ was chit chatting, swapping presents or actually I have no idea what she was doing, but it was cool because every time she stopped we got invited into houses and talked with the families.
After visiting Angela´s site we decide to head up the famous coffee region of Panama called, Boquete in the Chiriqui region. Boquete is a rapidly developing town. It acts as an oasis for cooler air since it is up in the mountains. Coffee plantations and other agr
iculture reign king in the area. Boquete reminds me of a ski village in Colorado substituting the ski hills with mountains and fields of coffee and bananas. Boquete is heading in a direction that many Panamanians aren’t fond of which is gringos (whites) buying prime land from the government and charging ridiculous prices for property. The prices have gotten so out of control the locals can’t even come close to affording the land or houses. As retirees are flooding the region the properties are being sold for the asking price which is driving the overall property values out of the reach of the locals. This common problem is something that will need to be addressed unless Panama wants to be the next Costa Rica (negatively speaking). This seems to be a growing trend around the world, or at least many of the places I have travelled in the past few years. Similar situation are occurring in the Philippines and 
Thailand.
To be continuted…
actually reach adulthood due to a combination of humans, natural causes, and predators. Regardless of the survival rate watching the turtles scurry across the black sand into the roaring Pacific Ocean was memorable.Other things we did in her town included simple daily activities such local errands, visiting neighbors and playing with the children. Since she took a couple days off form her main projects to hang out with me, we mostly chatted with the community as I soaked in the culture. One of my favorite thing we did was actually wh
en Angela took me to her first host family and we went on errands through different towns via a 21 year old stripped red Toyota pickup. I swear we stopped 10 times in an hour period visiting houses while our ¨guide¨ was chit chatting, swapping presents or actually I have no idea what she was doing, but it was cool because every time she stopped we got invited into houses and talked with the families.After visiting Angela´s site we decide to head up the famous coffee region of Panama called, Boquete in the Chiriqui region. Boquete is a rapidly developing town. It acts as an oasis for cooler air since it is up in the mountains. Coffee plantations and other agr
iculture reign king in the area. Boquete reminds me of a ski village in Colorado substituting the ski hills with mountains and fields of coffee and bananas. Boquete is heading in a direction that many Panamanians aren’t fond of which is gringos (whites) buying prime land from the government and charging ridiculous prices for property. The prices have gotten so out of control the locals can’t even come close to affording the land or houses. As retirees are flooding the region the properties are being sold for the asking price which is driving the overall property values out of the reach of the locals. This common problem is something that will need to be addressed unless Panama wants to be the next Costa Rica (negatively speaking). This seems to be a growing trend around the world, or at least many of the places I have travelled in the past few years. Similar situation are occurring in the Philippines and 
Thailand.To be continuted…
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