Buenas!

Today’s focus was global business and working like a local. We had a really early morning to get the feel of being a local and we pushed through the tiredness. We visited Finca Pamel which is a farm. We read information about Finca Pamel on our way there.

Finca Pamel is a family business mainly run by 2 people, Pablo and Melani. We also discovered interesting facts like how they don’t use pesticides on the foods and plants they grow. Finca Pamel grows many fruits such as mangoes, papaya, and lemons. They also have livestock animals like chickens, cows, goats, and bunnies. When we arrived on the farm, we were greeted by Pablo and Melani who are both bilingual. They took us on a hike to learn more about the history of the land. We found ceramics that were there 2,000 years B.C and also seashells that people used to make their houses out of.

After our hike, we went over to the livestock. We all had the chance to milk a cow. It was really hard at first but most of us got the hang of it. When we all finished milking the cow, we didn’t even fill up 1/5 of the bucket. It was an eye opener about how much work goes into making an entire bucket of milk. Most people’s favorite part was when we were allowed to hold the bunnies. They were really fast and hard to catch.

After the bunnies, Pablo had us start the hard work. We had to prep a piece of land for planting seeds. It was an extremely hard working process but we didn’t complain. We got the work done and had some fun in the process. Melani then took two girls to try on polleras which are traditional dress that Panamanians wear when they do their folkloric dances. There were a lot of pieces that were needed for the polleras. They take about two and a half hours to fully put on every accessories and do make up. The dresses are handmade and cost $10,000-$15,000. That was the end of our experience at the farm. Being ‘Lider del Dia’ or ‘Leader of the Day’ was a really fun experience because I got to take a lead in everything going on. I had to be very tentative on the time to make sure everyone else was good.