Panama Update #7
July 18, 2008
The Health Fair today was at a another branch of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute called the Barro Colorado in Gatun Lake. It is an island about halfway through the canal. I got a ride with some people who work for the health insurance company for the blank. It is about a 45 minute drive to the city of Gamboa where there is a very fancy and expensive resort ($225 per night) and then about a 45 minute boat ride on the canal to get to the island. It is a remote tropical island of about 120 square kilometers where scientists and graduate students from all over the world come to do research and walk the 40 kilometers of trails. The island has been officially protected and dedicated to science since 1923. It was part of the continuous land but became an island when they dug the canal. The brochure I picked up on the boat says, “We know more about blank Island than any other similarly-sized piece of tropical forest in the world. The reserve continues to be a Mecca for tropical biologists.” It goes on to say that, “Researchers have documented the behavior of tropical animals including primates, cats, bats, amphibians, and reptiles, often for the first time. They have greatly advanced understanding of how behavior and social systems evolve in tropical insects including butterflies, termites, ants, bees, wasps, and spiders.”
The Health fair was smaller than at the main branch a couple of days ago, but the scenery is definitely worth the trip. Most of the people coming by to try the biofeedback equipment were support workers from guards to tour guides to office workers, but not the scientists. I do not know enough Spanish to explain to them exactly what Biofeedback is, but hopefully they got the idea from seeing the graphs on the computer. I have learned the words for “to relax” (relajar) and tranquilo. The other health workers also noticed that their pulse rates were unusually low due to all the walking up and down the hills. Out the window next to my table I had a clear view of the Gatun Lake portion of the canal and all the ships that are coming by. They don’t come as often as I would have expected, but several come each hour. They are very huge and of all different colors and shapes, each hauling a lot of cargo. Some have the large steel cargo containers on the deck and some have the cargo below.
They had a very nice lunch in the cafeteria for all the residents and visitors with rice, black beans, fresh salad, cooked vegetables, and either tofu or chicken. I sat down at a table next to someone who said he has been studying soils and soil erosion for the last 30 years and at blank for the last 6 months. He is form a university in Pottsdam, Germany.
After lunch they took a group of us on a one hour walk through the rainforest. It was steep, humid, and hot. They pointed out some of the many experiments that were set up. There were no mosquitoes there and they said even at night they are not a problem. They said they don’t spray there, that is just the way it is.
