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Also in this section:
Panama's Girl Scouts go camping
Don Bosco Procession on the Salesians' Panama centennial
At the American Society picnic
Pet of the Week needs a good home
 

In the foothills of Cocle province, just a bit farther into the hills from the Campo Trinchera redoubt from whence the Liberals' guerrilla General Victoriano Lorenzo launched his successful campaign to seize Penonome from the Conservatives during the bitter Thousand Day War of 1900 to 1903, you will find the Muchachas Guias --- Girl Scouts --- national campground.

Panama's Girls Scouts go camping

photos and captions by Eric Jackson

The camp extends from its hilltop lookout to the Zarati River, which tends to be a slow-moving stream during the dry season months.

 The older girls like to set up tents in a barranco apart from the cabins in and around

 which many of the younger scouts will sleep.

The tias and a male helper teaching the old craft of bread baking.

The camp has kitchen facilities sufficient to feed a large crowd.

In another part of the camp, younger girls' tents.

The camp also has a number of cabins, which, when other organizations (in particular

senior citizen groups) use the facilities are much preferred to tents as sleeping quarters.

Don't get mad....

This, one of the larger of several class or activity rooms at the camp, was empty

while most of the girls were occupied with an afternoon splash in the river.

The Muchachas Guias are serious about imparting values and knowledge that are essential to good citizenship. The national campouts include philosophical discussions about the nature of justice (above) and the standard scouts' pledge (below), and in recent years, some very frank and practical talks about AIDS and how not to get infected with the HIV virus.

Uphill at the lookout, there are more rustic meeting facilities.

And by the way, if you're going to be a competent scout, you'll want to know

which direction is north. A compass will do it, and so will the tiles on this table.

The Asociacion de Muchachas Guias de Panama uses its campground for a week every February during its annual national campout, and for other scouting activities a few other times during the year. The place has been used to host international scout gatherings.

The Muchachas Guias also rent their campground out to different organizations for meetings, religious retreats and other events. But for most of the year, the facility remains unused.

So might your scout troop in frosty North America want to take a winter break in sunny Panama? Might your club in Panama want to gather somewhere quiet, economical and out of the city for a few days? The Muchachas Guias depend in part on the rent they get from their campground to finance their activities around Panama. For more information about renting the campground, call the Muchachas Guias at (507) 225-5653 or send them a fax at (507) 225-0591. Often the office will be staffed by Spanish-speakers only, but their tenant at The Panama News or scout leaders of West Indian descent can arrange to do any needed interpretations or translations into English.