Our next destination: David, in the province of Chirique, it is located in west Panama. David is the capital city of Chirique Province. It is an affluent enough city with all the basic amenities that we all want in a household. Volcán Barú, a dormant volcano and also the tallest mountain in Panama, can be seen from the city limits of David. It is a town where the tallest buildings are the banks, some hotels, casinos, and apartment buildings where it reaches a height of two to five stories, with all the rest of the houses and buildings
being one story single family homes.

I decided to take the air route from Panama City to David instead of driving 5 hours in the humidity of the tropical weather to go there. Time is “precious” and very important for us so we can do the assignments. We arrived by flight to David at 7:30am, and we immediately grabbed a rental car and drove out. It was a honor bringing Alvin along to David because he was born and raised there.

We finally checked into the hotel, after that we met with a local Deaf resident of David named Jose to discuss the assignments. Jose agreed with us that we should try visiting a Deaf family who owns 35 land slots north of David, which was vast land, more than 1000 acres.

We arrived and saw a pretty nice home. We met a Deaf woman named Anna, who was so stunned to see a Deaf person drive a vehicle, her mouth was wide open, eyes wide, too. She asked “You a Deaf person can drive a car?”

Alvin took out his wallet and showed his drivers license, and mentioned that not only him, but Seth, Iris, and I can drive too, and quite well. Anna was speechless for a while, it took her a while for the notion that Deaf people can drive sink in. My heart was so touched seeing people in a foreign land coming to realization that Deaf people can do anything as well as hearing people can.

Anna told us, “You can go find my three Deaf brothers somewhere on our properties,” still marvelling over the fact we were savvy enough to drive.

Off we went looking for the Deaf trio brothers who was out there working the land.  As we drove looking for more than 45 minutes, we saw many lots with sugar cane, rice, vegetables, tobacco, cattle, and much more. Alvin suddenly stopped the car and pulled me out and guided me to a tree with cashew and fruit growing on it. I was surprised to discover that cashew grew first before being pushed out by the blossoming fruit. We collected the cashews and put them into the car. Jose went ahead and jumped the fence to go find the three Deaf
brothers.

We drove on through a rough, unpaved road for awhile, before stopping by a tobacco farm. The farm had bamboos built to dry the tobacco leaves. “Stop here please,” asked Iris, “I have never seen a tobacco farm before.” We got out of the car and walked towards the local farmer, getting a warm welcome to the tobacco farm from him. The farmer spoke Spanish slowly with Iris knowing that she was Deaf. The farmer explained that it takes four months to grow the tobacco and then another two months to dry the tobacco leaves before it can be sold to a tobacco factory. “Oh boy,” mused Seth Gerlis, our videographer, “they work so hard to farm the tobacco while tobacco companies are making billions of dollars in profits!”

After our fruitless but interesting search for the Deaf trio, we returned back to the family home on time to catch up with the three brothers, because it was their lunch time. I let Jose take the lead in discussing with the three brothers about us doing the video assignments, the logistics of it. The brothers, after hearing us out, advised us that the sugar cane is way past the harvest time. The brothers were obviously physically exhausted, because they start work in the very early morning to avoid the midday heat from the sun. Of course, I was disappointed, but Jose sparked things up, refusing to give up on my goals, taking the initiative to convince the brothers to join us in doing the assignments!

Anna wanted to cook the cashew while the brothers ate their lunch, and she cooked one big cashew. She opened the skin and gave me bits of the very fresh cashew to eat. I marveled tasting such fresh cashew, I never ate such fresh cashew before. Now that I have savored the organic goodness of it, I am not sure if I will ever be able to eat cashews again in the United States, realizing how bland they actually taste.

The three brothers came to us, announcing that we should go now.  The brothers always use old bicycles to reach their 35 lots. They don’t even drive at all, not even the tractors or vehicles.

Anna was still wandering around in shock saying “You can drive cars?”

I told myself, “This is really serious. People are so behind with the times.” Anna was very upset now because she always wanted to attend school like her hearing siblings, but her mom told her and the three brothers to stay home because they were Deaf and couldn’t drive, either. Anna told her mother, “See, these guys can drive. And they are Deaf.”

They always had to work the farm because of their “disadvantaged status” as Deaf siblings, while their five hearing siblings were allowed to attend school. The other five siblings went on with their own lives, running other farm lots while the four Deaf siblings stuck together and lived together.

We went to a nearby sugar cane lot. It was one of the few lots left over with fresh tall sugar canes. I couldn’t believe that sugar canes  could grow more than 8 feet. The brothers used knives to cut the cane. I felt so hot and humid right then, it was 95 degrees with 100% humidity. They cut the cane, and gave me the knife to try it, too. I was really anxious to touch the sugar canes for the first time in my life. They taught that it is easier to cut a sugar cane at a 45 degree angle, in order to cut the cane quicker. Jose jumped in to help cut the skin of the cane so I could eat the sugar cane, and it tasted so sweet. I considered it a very vital health drink!

I helped them by bringing the cane on my shoulder to the car, getting myself very dirty in the process. I laughed with the brothers at the mess of myself I was making, and the labor I was doing. We drove back to their place so we can squeeze the sugar cane into liquid. They pulled two big bulls into the sugar cane grinder shed. They asked me to put the cane into the cane grinder while the bulls circled the grinder like a machine, except it was live animals doing the pulling.

After 30 minutes, after doing a small bundle of sugar canes, I was already worn out. I had to remind myself that these brothers do this kind of work with 1,000 acres to harvest from. We finished the small bundle of cane within an hour. Relieved it took only an hour, I watched as the jug was filled up with sugar juice. The brothers put firewood under the big pot, and poured juice on it. It boiled for 2-3 hours, and while we waited for the final stages of the sugar process, they explained to us about the natural salt from the river.

Iris said, “What? I always thought salt was from the beach area, not the river!” The brothers said “yes,” and they jumped into our rental   car to show us where it was, a 15 minute drive from their home, driving through a thick palm forest.

We saw a river receding the bank, and seeing the dirt, I pointed out to them that “the dirt was colored black, not white,” causing the three brothers to break out into laughter. Iris thought they might be kidding. Sure enough, I raked the dirt and put the dirt into the boiling pot. They boiled and became pure white salt, the more healthy kind than the regular counter top salt. I left the area with a visual picture in my mind pouring the healthy salt on my favorite dish, my taste buds absorbing the salt.

We rushed back to their home to complete the final stages of sugar processing. As we were returning, we saw a group of young men climbing coconut trees. They had climbed over 40 feet to collect the coconuts.

The brothers then sold them the picked coconuts for 80 cents each, and the group of men left to go resell them to the store.

One of the brothers went to grab some fresh coconuts so we could drink fresh coconut milk for ourselves. They tasted many times fresher than the brown coconuts. The “brown” coconuts are considered a dried variety.

When the time was finally up for the final sugar process, we noticed that the green liquid turned into a thick brown liquid. They put the brown liquid next to the next wooden pot. I had to stir with a wooden paddle as it became harder, I couldn’t believe how the liquid became gum so easily. We had to pour them into small pockets of the wooden pallets. They become hard when it hits cool air.

Taken out of the small pockets, they are wrapped in banana leaves and sold for 40 cents each. It was about four inches round, and one inch thick, and tasted very freshly sweet, much sweeter than brown sugar. There is nothing else like the sugar chemical process kicking in more flavors.

It was beyond my expectations, how the family survived together making a living. Their mother came to us to give the “gracias” for supporting her four Deaf children, since their father passed away a long time ago, giving the land to them. I learned that the four siblings work so hard everyday without any breaks or even a short vacation. Their lives were so restricted simply by the need to make a living, they never traveled outside of David in their entire lives.

We stopped by the Chiriqui Association of the Deaf. We were surprised that Gerardo Carrillo Naranjo, the Director Regional of Central America Deaf Federation happened to be there giving the workshop on leadership. I gave a brief presentation about DeafNation. The Chiriqui Association of the Deaf is sponsored by government, with the members still paying a $25 annual fee to cover the activities. I told them to give their full support to their leader. Gerardo smiled and stood up to confirm my statement, and we took a group picture. They understood my assignments after I showed them a preview video of “No Barriers with Joel Barish.”

They were drawn to by the fact we make an impact in every Deaf community. It was a perfect way to close my evening with the Panamanian Deaf community.

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Related posts:

1. Chirique Highlands: Coffee Farm & Mora Winery
2. Run in with Deaf Tribe
3. Deaf School in Panama City
4. The Panama Hat in La Pintada
5. Journey to the Paradise Kuna Yala
6. Stillness of Panama City