Panama Project: Experiencing Panama Like a True Panamanian

Saturday, August 17

This morning was a little slower paced compared to the other mornings and it was very welcomed because we have been blowing and going our trip. We ate breakfast at our hotel in Chitre, Herrera with Jose Pablo and Paulino Vasquez who we would visit later in the morning. After breakfast we headed out on a wild goose chase Jose Pablo took us on. We headed South out of Chitre where he showed us the district of Los Santos (which he claimed was the best but, that may because he was from the area, but I won’t speculate). The tour consisted of seeing his brothers house, his house, his farm, and we even stopped at a lottery winners house so Jess could use the bathroom, and she claimed it was the nicest house she had ever been in. I won’t go into details of the facilities I used a local store/cantina. We made a quick stop at a farm of Jose Pablos where he used horses, which would walk in circles, to power a machine that squeezed molasses out of sugar cane. The further South we drove the farther into the mountains we went and it was possibly the most beautiful area we have seen, if that is possible in a country where everything is breathtaking. The towns we drove through including Marcaracas, were bustling with people out on a Saturday morning.

The horse powered machine Jose Pablo uses to make molasses

After the wild goose chase that took us on windy roads (which were not helping Jess’ car sickness nor was the way people drive here where it is petal to the metal and bob and weave because I have places to go), through country villages and the most beautiful mountain vistas you can imagine, we arrived at the ranch of Paulino Vasques. Paulino was a dairy producer who used a marketing strategy for his milk which was very ingenuitive. The dairy processors in the area would pay $.48/ litre if you could produce 400+ litres per day and $.42/liter for anything under 400 liters per day. Paublino did not have enough production to exceed 400 liters per day so he bought the milk from smaller producers in the area for $.44 and marketed it to the processor for $.48 because he was now over the 400 liter threshold. This margin alone made him $9,000 per year and he didn’t have to invest in more land or more cows to make the money but rather provided a service and higher price to other dairymen in the area. The area of Los Santos experiences an extended dry period of 6-7 months, to overcome the obstacle he used irrigation sprinklers driven by pressure created by gravity fed rivers in the mountainous region. At the end of our visit our host reiterated what so many others have expressed, the producers in Panama simply need to be taught how to project a budget and make decisions based off of financial analysis, not spend money and have no idea where it is going.

Paulino in the blue cap explaining his operation and Jose Pablo in the red cap entertaining as always

Gravity fed irrigation system with a grass known as Tawain, which is cut fresh and fed daily, in the background

I feel guilty as I try and type (see the road conditions and driving style of the area from before) while we drive through the gorgeous countryside and witness children riding horses in the streets and cattleman driving cows and calves down a dirt road on foot, using a tree branch (not a hot shot) while I am looking at my computer screen.

Paradise? Si

Kids playing in the streets

Life in the Pueblos of Panama

After driving down a road for close to an hour, which was so littered with potholes there was no way to avoid them and you had to bounce your way through, I thought Jess might be ready to throw in the towel because she was practically doubled over from being so car sick, but she was a champ and didn’t complain once. We pulled up to a beach where there was a beachside restaurant and we ate lunch while overlooking the crashing waves and surfers attempting to ride the them in the Pacific-literally life cannot get much better than this. The lunch of fresh ceviche and red snapper (that was caught on the beach we were overlooking) was tremendous and the cool breeze blowing under the canopy of the open aired restaurant had Jess feeling better. We had great conversations with our hosts and I truly feel we are forming a friendship with the producers in Panama that will last for years and years to come.

Words cannot do it justice

Buena comida

After finishing lunch we went to visit our last stop and had a roadside meeting, and when I say roadside I really mean in the middle of the road, with Emilio Espino. Emilio raised dual purpose cattle, as I’m sure you can tell is extremely common in this area. Emilio knew all his costs and even told us his break even price to raise an animal was $.85/lb but the price of the animal to sell was only $.75/lb. Emilio really got on his soap box when he started talking politics and explained the market situation in Panama. The labor in the area was also extremely expensive costing $22 per day because if you didn’t pay it they would get a job somewhere else because there was no shortage of jobs in the area. we wrapped up our meeting listening to the rants of Emilio and him explain ranchers in the area do not know their costs because if they saw what they were spending and what they were being paid they would not be raising cattle.

Listening to Emilio in the tan cap on his soap box

Once we finished the visit, Jose Pablo took us on yet another adventure and as always, this one ended in paradise. We drove through a development Jose Pablo’s father owned and he showed us the beach houses of Mel Gibson and Arnold Schwarzenegger. We cut and shared a pineapple Aquilles had given us earlier on our trip on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean before leaving. On our drive out of the development Jess saw the one thing she has been looking for the whole trip and it made it worth battling through a day full of car sickness and horrible roads-an alligator in a river we crossed. As always, our hosts had another surprise for us and Emilio met back up with us and treated us to pan dulce and a traditional drink or milk, corn, and sugar at a local bakery. I cannot reiterate enough the kindness and hospitality everyone has shown us this far and I am so glad we still have a week ahead of us in such a great country.