A Long Time Overdue

I have had two weeks in site now and finally can enjoy the prospect of regular internet access. I will try to post once every two weeks or so when I have the opportunity to go into the nearest city, David. My future home for two years Paja de Sombrero is a little pueblito nestled at the feet of the Chiriqui Mountains. The higher elevation affords it a slightly less uncomfortably tropical climate, but it does get quite humid and hot during the day.
The area has its share of beautiful vistas and I hope to post pictures in the future. Unfortunately, the area is heavily deforested due to cattle-ranching and dam projects. What used to be bosque (dense forest) is now reduced to wide expanses of grubby cattle fields. The redeeming factor is that everything is lush green as we are entering the wet season. Even the most heavily deforested areas are, at times, stunning. It seems the best asset of Paja de Sombrero is its proximity to the Rio Chiriqui- one of the largest rivers in Chiriqui. For about 3 or 4 months of the year the river is brimming with tourists and Panamanians looking to swim in its waters. The province of Chiriqui is known for its rivers, and unfortunately, its dams. Huge swaths of beautiful forest are destroyed and countless communities uprooted in the name of these dams. Some of my work will deal with reforestation of the watershed- a burden that falls upon local communities. A community member told me that Panamanian law dictates that for every tree cut down, ten must be planted. As we see in the States, there is a huge disparity between what is written and what is done. The government is failing to close this gap, and by initiating more dam projects, is only widening it. It´s incredibly disheartening to hear from people that they regularly saw Toucans and monkeys during their childhood, while nowadays such creatures are banished to the surviving forests higher in the mountains.
One of the oddest aspects of life here is my regular exposure to Norte Americanos, i.e. Gringos. Chiriqui is the up-and-coming place to live in Central America for Gringos because its mountainous areas provide a lush tropical landscape, without the uncomfortable heat or humidity. The vast majority of the inhabitants in my area work for Gringos in Bouquete, or are constructing their mansions in gated communities nearby. I have seen more hideous Hawaiian shirts and heard more massacring of Spanish than I care to remember. To say the least, it is disturbing to see how self-rightous these ex-pats are as they cluster together in private communities and hardly interact with locals. Many care little about learning the language or the culture, and see Panamanians as cheap labor, not members of their community. It´s not neccessarily the concept of ex-pats that is so wrong, just this unwillingness to exchange. Great people have been ex-pats (my favorite being Joyce), but these people used their unusual situations to achieve greater things. They embraced foreign cultures, learned from them, reflected on their own, and achieved something greater than their own culture could afford. Even in my case, I feel as though I am learning more about American culture by comparing with Panamanian culture. It as is though I am viewing my life as I saw it through a different lense. For this, I am becoming grateful.....