A tale of adapting to life in Panama with the Peace Corps

During the past 16 months in Panama, 28-year-old  James Bowden has learned to live with no electricity, getting his water from a creek, and dealing with the heat, different foods and a flesh-eating disease, in addition to the 40 pounds he lost in his first four months there.

Those trials also include close encounters with insects.

“I live with scorpions in my house,” Bowden said. “I’ve had them crawling on me while I was asleep. They’re everywhere. There are poisonous snakes all throughout the area, and it’s just something you must adapt to. You can’t live your life scared.”

All of these challenges come with the 27-month commitment he made in June 2014 to serve with the Peace Corps in Panama.

A 2005 Salina Central High School graduate, Bowden talked about his experiences in Panama during a recent visit home to attend his sister Christina’s wedding.

Shortly after he graduated from Bethany College in 2009 with a degree in chemistry, Bowden spent six months in Chile working as a volunteer on a ranch that was being converted to a nature preserve. But for him, nothing compares to Panama.

Getting used to the heat

“Being in Panama, I had to get used to the heat, a different diet and not eating foods that I’m used to enjoying,” Bowden said.

“I caught a flesh-eating protozoa disease called Leishmaniasis, and I also caught Dengue fever,” he said, displaying a scar on his neck from one of the diseases.

“I had to get all sorts of treatment and really get used to the fact that I may be catching diseases a lot out here. Every couple of months, someone has to go to the doctor for a disease. It’s just a thing. There’s so much moisture and humidity here.”

The water he gets from the creek has to be treated by boiling or bleach.

“I certainly prefer to boil it,” he said with a laugh. “Being here has given me more perspective with my own culture. I get to see that we all have some of the same problems.

“Here, kids leave farms to go elsewhere and make a better living. It’s not just America. I also see how infrastructure affects cultures. Without it, cultures are primitive.”

Working as an ag agent

Bowden, who is joined by a few members of the Peace Corps in Panama, works as a sustainable agriculture sector agent and is in charge of overseeing various conservation programs and training.

“I teach environmental health and help deal with basic needs involving crops in my area, such as corns, beans and bananas,” he said. “I’m in charge of all cacao grown in the area, and I go throughout communicating with people who are producing them.”

He wishes his hometown of Salina had more of the hospitality shown by Panamanians.

“I just don’t feel like that happens as much back home as it does here,” he said. “People here don’t have much, but they want to share what they do have with you.”

Always has his machete

Another highlight of his stay in Panama has been interacting with children in his area, spear fishing and playing with his new toy — a machete.

“I love that thing and I can’t go anywhere without it,” he said. “Like I said, there are poisonous snakes here, and I use it to fend them off. I use it to peel oranges, gardening, everything.”

Bowden also said he enjoyed having his brother, Carl, visit him for 10 days.

“We shared an experience with kids in the village,” he said. “We put an air mattress in the creek and let them get on it with us, and it was a thrill.”

Carl, 23, graduated from Kansas State University this past spring with a double major in wildlife biology and environmental science and a minor in business. He works with the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America with the environmental specialist program.

He, too, yearns for different experiences, having spent the summer of 2013 in Wyoming tracking mountain lions and collecting data.

It’s what he wants to do

Bowden’s mother, Nancy, said she speaks with him about once a week for 20 to 30 minutes, something James said “helps me get through the week sometimes.”

“I’ve kind of gotten used to the kind of person James is — adventurous,” said Nancy, who’s worked for OCCK for the past 24 years. “Of course, I miss him a lot, but it’s something he wants to do.”

James’ father, John, is manager of the Morton Building Co., where he has worked for more than 40 years while also taking care of the family farm, located 3 miles east of Gypsum. The farm has been in the family since 1871.

Being a travel writer

Bowden has 11 more months in Panama with the Peace Corps, but already he has his eyes open to the future.

“I really want to become a travel writer,” he said. “I’m considering applying for a Horizons Grant through the Salina Arts and Humanities Commission and hopefully get to share my photos and experiences with others through the Salina Journal.

“I feel like it’s important for me to reinvest in my community. This is my home. I travel everywhere and help their cultures move forward. I want to do the same for Salina.”

Before that, Bowden must find a way to incorporate the family’s business into his plans.

“I’m really trying to figure out what I’m going to do when I come back in 11 months,” he said. “I’m supposed to be next in line to take over the family farm. I want to make sure I can fit that into my plans of traveling. There’s a lot that people can learn, and that can be taught through traveling and I certainly want to make that happen, no matter what.”

It’s all about connections

Bowden said he’s going to continue to travel, because life is all about the connections we make with others.

“Building relationships with people who are different than you really has an effect on you,” he said. “Whether they’re coworkers or indigenous people, that bond between everyone makes for a deeper connection.”