Peace Corps Tech Week!
This week we went to Bocas del Toro/Comarca region for technical training and learn more about the specific sectors our jobs will be in. Though it was very muddy and rainy, it was a beautiful landscape and the people were very welcoming to their community.
Again, these are the type of houses that the Ngabe community members mainly live in, stilted wooden houses and the village was about an hour hike in from the main road.
These are the plaintain/banana trees and these vegetables are very common in all of the dishes that they eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
One of the fincas, or farms, was about an hour hike through the hills and jungle where we did some of our training this week to learn about cultivating coffee.
This is a Pifa, which is a spiky palm tree with fruits at the very top! Most times when they have to harvest the fruit from these trees, people get pricked by these needles.
So I found out that I my main focus will be agribusiness with coffee farmers! These are the coffee fruits that hold the coffee bean inside and once they transition from green to a beautiful red cherry color, they are ready for harvesting.
During my site volunteer site visit week, we mainly toured Cacao fincas, or cocoa farms, and saw that many farmers had this white, chalky substance that was forming on the pods. When they look white or a black color, the cacao is diseased and no good for selling.
One of the issues that PCVs are trying to resolve with cacao farmers is teaching them better shade control methods. If the trees get too tall and are not pruned, they cannot control the shade or harvest the cacao which will allow for fungus and weeds to grow more easily and will lose potential profits.
On our last evening in the community, the kids and families performed their typical dance that is unique to their village! The dress were designed in floral patterns and the boys wore hats and a chakara.
If you saw in my previous photos during the week of my volunteer visit, I was extracting white fibers from a green plant, or the pita, which are used to create these purses! It was very nice that our tech week host family showed us how to create these bags and keep them to remember them after we leave!
Again, these are the type of houses that the Ngabe community members mainly live in, stilted wooden houses and the village was about an hour hike in from the main road.
These are the plaintain/banana trees and these vegetables are very common in all of the dishes that they eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
One of the fincas, or farms, was about an hour hike through the hills and jungle where we did some of our training this week to learn about cultivating coffee.
This is a Pifa, which is a spiky palm tree with fruits at the very top! Most times when they have to harvest the fruit from these trees, people get pricked by these needles.
So I found out that I my main focus will be agribusiness with coffee farmers! These are the coffee fruits that hold the coffee bean inside and once they transition from green to a beautiful red cherry color, they are ready for harvesting.
During my site volunteer site visit week, we mainly toured Cacao fincas, or cocoa farms, and saw that many farmers had this white, chalky substance that was forming on the pods. When they look white or a black color, the cacao is diseased and no good for selling.
One of the issues that PCVs are trying to resolve with cacao farmers is teaching them better shade control methods. If the trees get too tall and are not pruned, they cannot control the shade or harvest the cacao which will allow for fungus and weeds to grow more easily and will lose potential profits.
We had to give a charla, or lecture/session, to the community members about abonos, or fertilizers, as practice for when we have to give charlas in our own individual communities!
On our last evening in the community, the kids and families performed their typical dance that is unique to their village! The dress were designed in floral patterns and the boys wore hats and a chakara.
If you saw in my previous photos during the week of my volunteer visit, I was extracting white fibers from a green plant, or the pita, which are used to create these purses! It was very nice that our tech week host family showed us how to create these bags and keep them to remember them after we leave!
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