Global Business Brigades Austin

"Dam" Rocks

2010-01-20T12:50:00.003-06:00

On Friday, we woke up early and went to the Rincon Claro farm. They're suffering from a water infrastructure problem, which often leaves them without water during the dry season. We asses that their dam was too small, and the irrigation system needed to be repaired, so we went to work to fix these problems! Half of the students began collecting large rocks from the farm and loading them in the back of a truck, while the rest of the students dug out space to lay new PVC pipes. After loading the truck was full of rocks, it drove to a spot about 10 minutes away and unloaded. The students then walked to this spot and began transporting the rocks down a long pathway to the water reservoir. The entire process took us about 3 hours, without our help, it would have taken 2 months.

After completing the work on the farm, the students returned to the school for lunch and workshop preparation. We delivered the business communication skills workshop first, which was met with much enthusiasm! The farmers enjoyed the interactivity of the workshop by role-playing sales scenarios. After this workshop, we held a sales and negotiation workshop to teach the farmers about the various markets that exist and how to negotiate the best price for their products. We had an interactive component during this workshop as well, where we divided into pairs and practiced negotiating the sales price. We concluded the afternoon with a brief English lesson and a successful game of "futbol!"

A Dip in Luxury

2010-01-20T12:39:00.002-06:00

On Thursday of our Brigade, we visited the Hotel Bristol Buenaventura (http://www.thebristol.com/buenaventura/eng/travel.html). It is a luxurious hotel located on the Pacific coast of Panama. We were given a tour of the grounds to see the 2 pools and 5 or 6 restaurants on location. The hotel has rooms and well as villas that sleep up to 8 people. The villas are amazing! This is a definitely a place I would love to stay. After touring, we sat down in an air-conditioned gazebo to sample the restaurant's fare and meet the chef. Our intention at this hotel was to assess what products they purchase and in what quantities on a weekly basis, so that we could report to the farmers we are working with. We want them to be able to sell their vegetables to hotels in order to gain more profit. We were served lemon-pineapple smoothies and freshly made empanadas during our meeting. Delicious!

The meeting was extremely helpful, and we visited the beach on the way home to celebrate! While we were swimming, the farmers went shopping. They used their $1300 capital investment to purchase materials for their farms in order to improve infrastructure. After returning home from the beach, we had a large group meeting where we determined what workshops would be most effective for the next day. We assessed what the farmers' needs were and what knowledge gaps existed. We then crafted 2 workshops and an English lesson for Friday. The first workshop would be about business communication and the second about sales and negotiation.

All in a Day's Work

2010-01-13T22:19:00.003-06:00

Today was an awesome and productive day! We spent our entire morning at the Rincon Claro farm learning to transplant green onions and culantro in order to make it multiply. It was fun to get our hands dirty and experience the everyday life of the farmers we're working with. We returned home for a lunch of chicken and rice, then got started right away with workshops. We delivered a lesson on basic business and accounting skills so that the farmers can keep track of their earnings and expenses. We followed that with a marketing workshop about potential clients and how to present themselves. We also discussed the idea of creating brochures for a tangible marketing material, and will most likely hold a "hands-on" workshop to make a brochure for each farm. We followed our workshops with an English lesson where we all introduced ourselves ("My name is...") and a game of Pictionary with Spanish and English words. After the lessons we had a community-wide "futbol" game, which was a blast! We followed the game with a delicious Panamanian fried rice dinner. It's Rachel's birthday, so we celebrated with cake and a bonfire. And in case the cake didn't satisfy our sweet tooth, we also made s'mores as a cultural sharing activity. We had a great and fulfilling day in the community of Rincon Claro.

New Year, New Project

2010-01-10T10:30:00.002-06:00

We're all getting very excited for our next brigade. We leave tomorrow morning for Panama City, and then will be transported to the community of Rincon Claro on Tuesday. This year, UT Austin is working with a group of 6 farms to help market their agricultural projects to hotels. We'll first be working to sell their products to the Bristol Buenaventura, a gorgeous resort on the Pacific Coast. This process is intended to create a marketing model for future sales, as well as other farms in the area. We emphasize professionalism, local products, and organic farming. Stay tuned for stories about our adventure. It's sure to be a good one!

Canal de Panama

2009-03-25T16:26:00.005-05:00

Hello loyal followers! (I'm certain there are many)

Chelsea here. Normally I'm a big fan of collaborative blogging, but since we've gone our separate ways now, I'll be flying solo.

After our meeting on Friday morning and a lunch of Pizza, those of us who wanted to go to the Panama canal did so. People who had already been to Panama went for a siesta at the Hostel. It was a bit of a struggle to work out our transportation to the canal - taxi? bus? taxi. We finally arrived at the canal around 3:30. This seemed like a great time to be there until we were informed that the place shuts down at 5. Double time!

We watched 2 boats go through the Miraflores locks and then went inside. We realized that due to our time constraints, we would have to choose between the video or the museum. It was recommended that we do the museum, even though I really wanted to see the video because I'm still a little confused at how these locks operate. I'm no engineer, that's why I do business!

The museum was neat. It did a little history and had some interactive activities too. They had created a thing where it simulated the experience of going through the canal on a boat. I'll post a picture of that!

Anyhow, Cade, Marshall, Kellye, Meaghan, Miachel, Will, and I all enjoyed our experience at the Canal. After all, it is (was?) one of the wonders of the world. When given the opportunity, everyone should see it. Next time, I want to be on a boat and go through. I wonder if they do dinner cruises that go through the locks. I'll report back on that later.

Here are some pictures of our trip to the canal:

On Friday night we ate at Casa Blanca again, but it was somewhat less eventful than the night before. We then went to a CD release party for yet another panamanian cultural experience. Good times were had by all, I'm sure. Then we went to the beach on Saturday, which Cade will tell you about later!

I apologize for this text being all messed up with the pictures, but I don't know how to fix it. I have a blog too and it never happens with mine. If anyone knows how to fix it, let me know.

Vaya con Dios,

Chels

Departure

2009-03-22T10:19:00.000-05:00

Hola! We are departing Panama today and will be in San Antonio around 10 p.m. We will fill you in on the rest of our week later - we´ve been so busy!

Hasta pronto,
GBB Austin

team obvlivious

2009-03-19T15:53:00.000-05:00

Since our last post, we have not had any phenom events. No more robberies, casinos, or shank fights, and we certainly did NOT kill any chickens with machetes. But, Cade killed a cat with his bare hands. That is the mark of a real man. Allen and Cade have started an a capella duet group -- One Day Apart. Their first single is going to be entitled Tag-Alongs (feat. Cats). Practice begins tonight.

Last night, we decided to bond. We spent a glorious evening on the roof of the hostle. We all feel that it brought us closer together. Team Inconsciente (but since cade and sarah no haba espanol, they are just Team Oblivious")

Blog must end now. El Fin. Jungle group returns.

Will blog mas despues la fiesta planteadora.

Paz y Amor,

Chelsea y Sarah

Don't go chasin' waterfalls...

2009-03-19T10:43:00.000-05:00

¡Buenos días! Kellye here, enjoying our last few hours in our jungle paradise. Last night we went to bed exhausted yet excited for today's plans.

Unfortunately, they weren't as seamless as originally anticipated. We all woke up, ate amazing omelet sandwiches (think a "McJungleMuffin"), and found out that instead of two trucks coming to meet us, a bus was going half way and an SUV was coming the rest. That meant that 7 students, 2 peace corps workers, 2 cooks, 2 drivers, 12 plants, and all of our luggage had to fit in two vehicles. After two hours of logistical planning, we realized the only way to get there on time is just pile in. Of course the moment we decied that we received a call that another SUV was coming. This is Central America.

Now the majority of the group is going to the waterfalls to have a little fun. A few of us are staying back to help load the luggage and pack up. I'm not going to lie, I think I might cry when I leave the jungle - it's been fun.

Shout out to the city group, we hope to be there by 3:30 p.m. to get ready and help set up, but it might not happen. We know you're working hard, and we really appreciate it. Please leave sangria for us for when we get back - after riding three hours in packed vehicles we'll need some relief.

Jungle Fever

2009-03-18T23:29:00.000-05:00

Buenos diaz! This is Miachel writing on behalf of all the women. While the guys were involved in machetazo (a machete fight), we spent most of our "Day of Culture and Knowledge" cooking, trying on shoes, making bowls, and picking flowers. One of the highlights of today that we all participated in was the group presentation...this gringa didn't understand any of the Spanish, but apparently we told the ladies (and Marcelino, who made our shoes) about the receipt system. On each slip we'll write the lady's name, plant description, date, and identification number. We also taught the ladies how to keep their own copy of each receipt. Then we went around to several houses to get more plants. The flowers and plants are beautiful, Osman es ponche, and we can't wait to see y'all tomorrow. Tomorrow morning we're getting up early to jump in a waterfall. :)

jungle blog

2009-03-18T22:28:00.000-05:00

Hola, Marshall and Will here. We're writing to you from the jungles of El Valle. Today we have been sharpening both our Spanish skills AND our machetes. While the rest of the group (girls) were making sandals, we found it much more manly to purchase a "lima," or file, from one of the local shops, to sharpen our machetes in the school yard. This soon was referred to as the zona de hombres, which we quickly embraced. Soon after blacksmithing, we volunteered to kill the chickens that the group would later eat. We had a large meal with all of the locals that was prepared by the women who have been growing the flowers. Other notables: we played soccer with the kids in the village, and bought a bunch of plants which we will be bringing to the city after our adventures here in the jungle. For you guys in the city, the plants look nice and almost ready for sale. Lastly, although we haven't experienced any crime, we have experienced a broad spectrum of wildlife, including snakes, spiders, and mangy dogs.

Hasta la vista,

los caballeros

p.s. this post has been brought to you by the letter D.

Another day in the life......

2009-03-18T21:31:00.001-05:00

Hello friends, Christian here. So as you may have read earlier Cade and I went grocery shopping for some ingredients for the sangria. I hollered for a cab and when it came near.......you got the rest. But seriously, asked the man to take us to El Rey, and when he asked which one, I simply responeded, whichever is closest. So, as we drive a couple of blocks and then stop in front of the smallest El Rey I have ever seen, I realize it is in.....EL CHORRILLO! pum pum pummmm! I make a quick executive decision and decide that it will be safe enough if we just go into the store and walk straight out to the cab. The cabby says to us as we park, Cuando salgas, toma ese taxi, tengo confiancia en el. Which translates to, take that cab when you get out, it is trustworthy. So we shop around and as we walk out of El Rey, we see a bunch of commotion and a couple of cops at the front. We are not concerned with inquiring as to what is going on so we get in the first cab we see (not the trusted cab) and tell him to take us to Casa Arias. Before we leave we hear what had just transpired. A woman sitting in a chair next to her friends selling lottery tickets, decides to throw a bottle at a man. The man then pulls out a knife and pushes the woman over, braking the chair.....just another day in EL CHORRILLO! We get home, unscaved....that is a word right?

So the tape baseball/stickball game we played was awesome because it started out with just Chels and Allen and then turned into a real game with bases and little kids from the streets playing. We even had a cheerleader yelling through a street cone. Sweet. We played for a while and then a little kid hit a homer over the second story balcony of the adjacent building! GAME OVER! It was pretty, pretty, pretty good. Well we have been doing a lot of blogging and this is my first time to ever write my own personal blog sooooooooo y'all should hop two and write some more. Are there going to be any plants coming back with y'all? Did Meaghan get bitten by a spider? Has Marshall sang the song of the countries? Throw us a freakin bone here. Ok, I'm getting yelled at, so Peace Out!

-People of the City-

Sidenote numero dos

2009-03-18T21:05:00.000-05:00

Sangria is much more complicated than expected.

It will be good, though.

No cheese IN the wine, but cheese WITH the wine.

Police station = cultural experience

2009-03-18T18:28:00.000-05:00

Sarah here. As previously discussed, my purse and all belongings were taken last night at Casablanca. Cool. So today we had to go to the policae station to fill out a full report of said incident. Allen, Juan Pablo and I went to the station after breakfast. It was actually soemthing different than a police station, like a main office, but I am not exactly sure. We waited for a long time in the waiting area where E! was on and we saw the Pam Anderson reality tv show. That was obviously fun. Then they called us into the incident report room where I could not explain anything because I do not speak spanish. Juan Pablo took care of the situation, and we went back to the waiting room. Then about 30 or so minutes later a verrrrrryyy rude translator/detective came to talk to me. I filled out a report about what happened and then he said he needed to take lunch so we should come back at 3.. it was 12. After a three hour rest/delicious lunch with cheese, clearly, we went back to the station where I became somewhat of a celebrity. Upon entrance someone instictivly said, "Are you Sarah?" What could have given me away? Then we went back to the waiting room, which was actually kind of interesting because various people came in and out. It was a good people watching spot. After several people came and asked if I was Sarah, a new nice female translator came and got me to check on the report. Allen however did not get the same treatment; they told him to just stay put. I signed some papers, verified some facts, and we were out of there. Lesson of the story, things take longer in Panama.

Anyways, it was an interesting experience. Things have been really fun in the city! We painted the doors this afternoon, and I came back in time to use the roll-brush a little -- loved it. We just played baseball with a tapeball, stick, and some awesome Panamian kids.

Sidenote: Cats have become the new cheese. Circle of cats. Cade took around 20 pictures of cats, we had cats as the mascot for the baseball game, you get the idea.

Dinner time!
Sarah

Las Puertas

2009-03-18T18:09:00.000-05:00

All in all, we have had a very productive day here in the city getting ready for the gallery opening. When we arrived at Casa Arias this morning, the man we hired to clean/polish the floors of the gallery was already hard at work. We had also planned on hiring someone to paint the front doors of the gallery... but he wanted $400!!! Um, I'm pretty sure a can of paint costs $19, so we told him he was out of his mind and sent him away. We then proceeded to go to the Novey, the local hardware store, to but paint and supplies. Guess what... a can of paint DOES cost $19! In total, we spent $43 on paint, supplies, and still had money left over for a snack. While we were safe at the hardware store, Christian and Cade went to el Rey... in the most dangerous part of Panama. More to come on this story.

After buying cups and napkins for la fiesta at the $.99 store across from Novey, we headed back to the gallery to begin painting. Five hours and a few Balboas later, we are watching the second coat of paint dry. I must say, it looks like a $400 paint job. We are still amazed by our frugal awesomeness.

Well, it looks like we are off to visit our friend Rene for dinner. Pork chicken or fish anyone? Tonight... we make sangria!

Gatsby

Rollercoaster ride de una noche!! Ayeee ya yeeeee!

2009-03-18T10:11:00.000-05:00

Hola Amigos! Es Chelsea y Christian aqui!

Despues de la ultima blog, nosotros fuimos a Casa Blanca para cenar. Everything was going fine and dandy until it was time to pay the bill and we realized that Sarah's purse was M.I.A. Perhaps we were enjoying our dinner table conversations about cheese, holler monkeys, and the perfect ten a little bit too much.

S.O.S.

We had a lovely trip to the police station to report the incident. Another wonderful cultural activity en Panama.

One of the waiters ended up coming with us and describing los ladrones. Hopefully the cameras around the city will be able to identify the get away vehicle. We believe it is a grey honda.

After the police station, we went back to the hostile to shower and go to the "casino" (apparently, it is the same in both english and spanish). The casino tiene musica vivo y una buena ambiante. Christian won $60, Gatsby and Chelsea lost $40, but Sarah, without purse, is down many $hundos. Oh, and Cade, the high roller, lost $20.

Upon return to the hostile, we came to find out, los ladrones had spent $33 at McDonalds, taken money out at an ATM, and had been to a gas station. We don't know how you even spend $33 at McDonalds, suggestions are welcome.

All in all, the good thing is that no real damage was done, she gets all her money back, and she still had her passport. Much props to those los ladrones for getting past 6 very bright, yet extremely oblivious GBB students.

Today, we will paint the doors and get materials to make the Sangria and punch for the party tomorrow. We will also be setting up the gallery & tying up any loose ends.

We will plan accordingly for the stay of the 4 community members and make sure that there is enough queso to go around.

We are making 85 servings of sangria. FIESTA!!! (Which the guys are in charge of)

We will update the blog later this afternoon, as we will be at Casa Arias most of the day.

Paz y amor,

Christian "I'm a 10" Diez y Chelsea "Nike Shorts" Robbins

2009-03-17T22:19:00.000-05:00

Buenas noches (for Cade and Sarah- it means good night)! It's Maggie, Elizabeth, and Meaghan. We're in the rainforest, just enjoying some jungle juice (Spanish for Ron Abuelo). We'd like to let everyone know that we do in fact have toilet paper! Not much, but it will do.

Today we left the city at 9 am and headed out to El Valle. We stopped in Chepo for food, drink, shoe leather and machetes, then at the river for lunch. Everyone had ham and cheese sandwiches on hamburger buns-a Panamanian specialty! We dipped our feet in the water, while Will proceeded to skinny dip. We then left the river and headed to the community of El Valle. We divided into groups and went around to talk to all of the families. Great news- 4 community members are coming to the Fiesta de Plantando Ideas! (Bad news- this means we'll have to buy more cheese). Everyone seemed excited about tomorrow's cultural activity and business meeting. We will make totumas which are bowls made from gourds and cutarras which are handmade leather sandals. We ate duros, frozen fruit juice/kool-aid with milk, with the women and children in El Valle. We also enjoyed seeing everyone's gardens. Sobieda's was so beautiful and it was amazing to see a mother hummingbird who has nested in one of Sobieda's plants to protect her eggs.

We left the community in the late afternoon and took our first journey to the Earth Train preserve. Six people rode in the back of the pick-up on the bumpy, treacherous terrain. It was definitely worth the literal pain in the nalgas- the preserve is beautiful! We took a short hike to explore the surroundings, showered, then ate a delicious dinner of spaghetti and saucy chicken. After dinner we had a meeting about tomorrow's meeting. We are preparing a Power Point with photos from El Valle and the preserve for Thursday night.

We're now just relaxing with one another and our favorite "Abuelo." We look forward to tomorrow's adventure and the fiesta on Thursday!

Hasta manana....
MEM

Everything is coming down to queso.

2009-03-17T16:49:00.000-05:00

Hola, buenos tardes! This is Sarah and Cade in Panama City. We are part of the "city" group and we are helping the team prepare the art gallery for the town hall meeting on thursday. Today was our first day working on the project. We went to Novey, the home depot of Panama, to buy potting soil, gravel, and cleaning supplies to get the gallery ready for thursday. We were excited to see the light installed in the gallery - something we spent a lot of time working on last time. It had already been painted and the lighting was one of the final stops for finishing the renovations.

We had pizza for lunch. Cade had combinacion and I had margarita, Christian has weird pizza with weird cheese. Clearly the circle of cheese was discussed at lunch.

After lunch Gatsby and Chelsea went to shop for some remaining supplies (m.i.a. lightbulbs, curtains to cover the very public toliet located in our gallery, and sangria pitchers). Christian, Andre, and us went to pass out flyers and talking to people about the town hall style meeting. We could contribute nothing. It was awkward for us because neither of us speak Spanish fluently/at all, so we stood in the corner and avoided the conversation completely. (If anything is misspelled this is german computer, which is weird, and causes spelling problems). Claire, a local business owner, confronted us about our non-spanish speaking ways, so we smiled, waved, and said gracis and adios, which are the only words we know how to articulate.

Then we crashed the townhall meeting. Our spring break is going of two town hall meetings in Panama? We went to talk to the local welder, who happened to be on his way to a NGO meeting for local artisans. We followed them to the meeting, where Christian and Andre presented the materials to the locals. We again sat in the corner, hoping people would not call on us to converstate with them. Both of us so badly wanted to enter into conversation, but it was not an option. However we were able to gather how the locals reacted to the material by their nonvocal body language, their excited faces, and anticipation of the flyers.

After this we soon realized we would have to get more cheese for the opening. The circle continues. Every decision we have made thus far on the trip has involved cheese in some way. We are still debating how much cheese to get for the opening - suggestions welcomed.

Currently, we are having a round table discussion on where to eat tonight. Casa Blanca or Coca Cantina? Decision made!!!! Because we have been sweating allllll day, we are going to Casa Blanca so we can enjoy the nice breeze coming off the Panama Bay.

This trip has been awesome so far and we are so blessed to be involved in such a project. We want to give a shout out the the jungle team, who is braving the jungle without toilet paper (they left it in the gallery this morning).

That is all for now, hasta la vista.......Baby!

Estamos en Panama - Segundo Dia

2009-03-16T17:05:00.000-05:00

OK. I hope I titled this post correctly, I get stage fright when I actually have to use my Spanish.

Hola everyone!

We arrived in Panama around 7:40 last night after a small scare that the connection from San Antonio would not make the flight. Luckily, everyone did, and we arrived in Panama to a wonderfully humid evening. We went straight to a place called Niko's for our first "Panamanian" meal, where many of us had things such as pancakes, french fries, mashed potatoes, and sandwiches.

We then checked into our hostile, picked rooms, and decided we would go out to experience a little Panamanian culture in the form of night life. We called it an early night though because we wanted to be fresh for our first full day.

MONDAY

We all got up around 7:15, got ready, and went downstairs for a wonderful continental breakfast consisting of a ham and cheese sandwich, an unidentified flavor of muffin, and an apple. It was interesting.

We then got on our bus and headed to the building where the gallery, "Artes Natura", will be, called Casa Arias. It's a beautiful 3 story building that was the home to the first Panamanian president (don't quote me, i heard that in passing this morning).

We had a meeting on the third floor deck to plan out our week and what each team will be doing.

We discussed the main goals of the city team, which mainly consist of preparing the gallery and distributing market materials to get people to come to our "La Fiesta Pantando Ideas" on Thursday, which is basically a pre opening for the gallery. We're hoping the people from the embassy, journalists, and other local shop owners will come and hear a presentation about the mission of the gallery and contribute suggestions and ideas that will make this business run successfully.

The jungle team's main goal is to do a workshop for the women in the village about basic finances and receipt keeping, so that when the plants are ready for sale and the gallery opens, they can keep track of their money and profits. They'll also do a cultural activity with the community and make a meal together as well.

We then had lunch at Super Gourmet, a place very close to Arias, that had soup and sandwiches prepared for us for lunch.

We went on a short hike at Cerro Ancon to experience some more Panamanian culture. Cerro Ancon used to be a Naval Base (part of the Panama Canal Zone) many years ago, so it's a really big cultural area and a really big deal. It was never really developed because it was in the zone, so it's very pristine. From one side of the hill you can see the canal, which has the middle set of locks in the distance. From the other side, there is a wonderful view of the city. There was a nice breeze, so it was a pleasant afternoon. I think we all enjoyed it.

We are now back at Casa Arias enjoying a bit of free time on the deck before we go to dinner.

Tomorrow, the real adventure begins. The Jungle Team will leave for the Maderno valley and will return on Thursday morning. The City team will stay here and work on getting the gallery ready.

Adios!

Chelsea

Packing up!

2009-03-15T01:56:00.000-05:00

So it's 2 a.m. before the big trip, and I'm excited/nervous/anxious/packing. Not really packing, just looking at the awesome gadgets I get to use. I went to REI today and bought:

the handy superdry towel (or "shamwow" as coined by Cade)
a dry bag to keep my laptop
ridiculous bug repellent that will save me from malaria
an umbrella, because it's supposed to dump buckets

I'm afraid my rolling duffel will dominate everyone's luggage, but I don't mind playing mom to keep everyone's valuables together. I'm also scared it won't roll well in the jungle...

We are all meeting at 9:30 tomorrow morning and roadtripping it to San Antonio, then a quick connection in Houston where we'll pick up Chelsea, and a much longer flight down to Panama. From what I can see on Google Maps and the pictures people have posted, the area we are going to is BEAUTIFUL.

Jungle + beach + small village in Panama + 12 Texas students = set-up for an amazing adventure.

Stay tuned,
Kellye Kuh

Trip preparations

2009-03-09T21:18:00.000-05:00

Hey, everyone!

Welcome to the official GBB Austin blog. As many of you know, GBB Austin is a University of Texas organization devoted to improving the lives and situations of people through adaptive business solutions. We may operate from within the classrooms and cafes around campus, but our ideas and designs incite real-world change in communities throughout Panama.

Several times a year, some of our members get a chance to checkup on our long-term projects. They venture down to South America for one week to implement and improve the business models on which we've been working all year.

This is a place for these students to let you know what's going on--before the trip and while there.

Best,

Cara
GBB Austin
VP of Technology