Trekking to Pueblo Nuevo

As we set up for my second week of clinic, one of our translators, Kelly, brought up the point that the city of Bocas is completely different than our next multi day clinic site, Pueblo Nuevo.  Pueblo Nuevo is a small community only a couple hours drive south of Bocas del Toro but somehow it is a completely different character in Panama than Bocas is.  In a way, all the communities that the Floating Doctors visit contrast in their own ways. 

Kelly, being raised in a rural Panamanian town, feels back at "home" in Pueblo Nuevo because it is filled with similar second world characteristics of her home town.  The people of Pueblo Nuevo live in small shacks with one metal suspension bridge leading into the town, limited electricity, no cars or roads, and wild animals roaming the walkways.  This world is completely different from the life she has lived in Bocas town where street lamps and traffic are constantly buzzing and indoor plumbing runs rampant.  She describes these two places as "two different Panamas" because regardless of how close they are geographically, they house people of differing worlds and lifestyles.  The rural communities we visit simply represent two facets of the same stone; they are a part of one entity but as one facet of a diamond gives off a shimmering white sparkle, the other shows off its dark blue depth.  These two Panamas give me a glimpse of rural life and city life all at once.  Neither is better than the other (but the toilets in Bocas is a plus).  Instead of working against each other in their differences, they end up complimenting each other by highlighting the endless number of lifestyles in Panama.