November, 2010
Beautiful Diversity in PanamaBecause Panama is so beautiful, there were just too many colorful pictures to choose from. So I've I posted more than usual.
Panama was interesting to me because of it’s diversity of people, plants and nature. Panama runs East and West between North and South America. There are oceans on both sides of the country, rain forests in the mountains, tiny red and green frogs, boa constrictors, quetzal birds (more than 1,000 different birds for that matter), beautiful greenery, hillsides of coffee plants, beaches, and of course, the Panama Canal. This time I wouldn’t be transiting the canal. I’ll wait to do that on a sailboat.
A tour book said it well, “a blond wife and kids from an American businessman, Shopkeepers from India, Korean crew off a tuna boat, Blacks descended from freed or escaped slaves (Cimarrones); South American shoppers, Emberá Indians from the Darien, a Panama Canal pilot, Japanese bankers, merchants with Central European origins possibly finding refuge from Hitler, French sailors with red pompoms on their hats, San Blas Indians, women in the Indian costume." And that is just the Canal area. When you go away from that area, you find many more Indians, criollos and mestizos. In other countries I visited, the different groups were much more separated. But not here.
There are three areas where most people visit and like to spend time in Panama. The first is the San Blas Islands South of the Canal on the Atlantic side (near the big boat on the map below). Most sailboats stop there on their way through the canal or to Columbia. I didn't get down to this region on this trip. Second, Bocas del Toro borders Costa Rica on the Atlantic side and is near the yellow X on the top left. Bocas is a charming, little Caribbean island village. Most people come here to enjoy the beautiful beaches with warm water swimming, rain forests, surrounding mangrove islands and some snorkeling. This is where I spent a week on Dances with Dragons enjoying the islands before I went land traveling. And finally, Boquete/David is near the bottom yellow X. David is a small town even though it is the second largest city in Panama. Boquete is a one hour local bus ride up into the hills from David at 3000 feet so it has a cooler, pleasant temperature. There are also about 20,000 foreigners living in this area.
Panama was interesting to me because of it’s diversity of people, plants and nature. Panama runs East and West between North and South America. There are oceans on both sides of the country, rain forests in the mountains, tiny red and green frogs, boa constrictors, quetzal birds (more than 1,000 different birds for that matter), beautiful greenery, hillsides of coffee plants, beaches, and of course, the Panama Canal. This time I wouldn’t be transiting the canal. I’ll wait to do that on a sailboat.
A tour book said it well, “a blond wife and kids from an American businessman, Shopkeepers from India, Korean crew off a tuna boat, Blacks descended from freed or escaped slaves (Cimarrones); South American shoppers, Emberá Indians from the Darien, a Panama Canal pilot, Japanese bankers, merchants with Central European origins possibly finding refuge from Hitler, French sailors with red pompoms on their hats, San Blas Indians, women in the Indian costume." And that is just the Canal area. When you go away from that area, you find many more Indians, criollos and mestizos. In other countries I visited, the different groups were much more separated. But not here.
The surprisingly large city of Panama City with it's many sky scrapers.
There are three areas where most people visit and like to spend time in Panama. The first is the San Blas Islands South of the Canal on the Atlantic side (near the big boat on the map below). Most sailboats stop there on their way through the canal or to Columbia. I didn't get down to this region on this trip. Second, Bocas del Toro borders Costa Rica on the Atlantic side and is near the yellow X on the top left. Bocas is a charming, little Caribbean island village. Most people come here to enjoy the beautiful beaches with warm water swimming, rain forests, surrounding mangrove islands and some snorkeling. This is where I spent a week on Dances with Dragons enjoying the islands before I went land traveling. And finally, Boquete/David is near the bottom yellow X. David is a small town even though it is the second largest city in Panama. Boquete is a one hour local bus ride up into the hills from David at 3000 feet so it has a cooler, pleasant temperature. There are also about 20,000 foreigners living in this area.
There are many different Indian tribes living apart from the rest of the population in villages. They often come to town to buy supplies and socialize with other Indian members. In Bocas, they wear tiny beads that cover their arms and legs from the knees to their ankles. In David/Boquete, they wear solid colored dresses with contrasting bric-a-brac.
The national Panamanian costume worn for celebrations is colorful with distinctive hats for men, beads shaped like flowers for women’s hair, and full colorful skirts that were worn for the many festivities and parades that happen in November. November was a month of celebrations with independence from Columbia and also from Spain. There are many parades and festivities.
The national Panamanian costume worn for celebrations is colorful with distinctive hats for men, beads shaped like flowers for women’s hair, and full colorful skirts that were worn for the many festivities and parades that happen in November. November was a month of celebrations with independence from Columbia and also from Spain. There are many parades and festivities.
Hot sauce!!!
Bocas del Toro
Just like the house boats on Lake Union in Seattle. Well, not quite.
One week on Dances with Dragons and the mangroves in the background.
Looking over some antique local fire trucks.
Over to the island of Bastamientos with beautiful beaches, wild life, and a gathering place for body surfing and camaraderie.
Red Frog Marina in the background with taxi boats on the dock to get to the island. We arrived by sail boat.
Taxis with proud owners.
The very tiny red frog. See him on the circled leaf?
An extreme close up of the red frog.
A very small baby boa constrictor. It was only about 3" in width in this coil. I love my new camera!
Local transportation used by the Ngobes Indians. The boats (cayucos) are made from hollowed out trees and are very unstable because of the curved bottoms.
A longer cayuco with a motor.
A flowering banana tree.
Local restaurant / store / taxi stop.
Cabanas for rent.
Island taxi travel.
Waiting for the water taxi.
Paradise.
It’s the rainy season now which means almost every morning there is sun with a couple of hours of rain in the afternoon. The water temperature is warm at about 80-85 degrees. Nice.
It was a special day in Bocas del Toro (Population 10,000). It was the day they celebrated their city and provence. The parade started at 8am and didn't stop until 9pm.
Girls with their moms waiting their turn to march in the parade.
The littlest drummer.
One of the many hostels in Panama on Bocas.
Full color skirts are the traditional dress of Panama.
The traditional beaded head dresses of Panama.
The drummer is wearing a traditional Panama hat leading the band.
Toward the end of the evening the older groups would march at the speed of about a block an hour. I don't know how they lasted.
The first leg of the journey to leave Bocas to go to David was by water taxi.
Boquete, up in the mountains at 3500 feet or 1000 meters. It's main street runs about 6 blocks.
Below, the heavy mist clouds touching the tops of the mountains and the coffee plants.
Flowers and plants grow so easily here with even warm temperatures all year around.
Walking in the hills with Kimberly. We had fun together for about 4 days before she headed south to the Canal area.
A golf course for mostly expatriates with houses that remind me of those in California.
A trip to the rustic hot springs complete with a half mile walk in the mud. 'Cheetah' is our greeter.
She likes to play with all the hot tubbers.
And her owner who collects $2 to use the hot springs.
Getting all the crusty trekking dirt off. Ahhhh......
Ngobe-Bugle Indians selling hand sewn molas in the town square. The women make and wear their native Guaymi dresses almost exclusively while the men wear more traditional shirts and jeans.
The Indians live in their own villages and are governed by their own customs but freely intermingle with people outside their groups for shopping and social activities.
The next celebration was Panama's independence from Spain with another parade going from 8am until 11pm. Three large portable discos also played booming music into the wee hours of the morning.
Colorful vendors selling grilled chicken pieces on a stick.
More grilled chicken with another example of a Guaymi Indian dress in the village center.
My home away from home. The sound of the stream drowned out the sounds of the loud disco and traditional music which played until 4am.
With my dentistry done, I was free to go to Costa Rica for two days as my flight left from San Juan. San Juan was a beautiful 7 hour bus ride through the coffee growing hills. I haven't been to San Juan in 14 years and it has changed. It's quite dangerous to walk the streets at night now. It was very eerie being downtown because it didn't look dangerous at all. Our taxi driver told us two other drivers had been killed the week before.
I met up with Dan who also stayed at the last hostel I was at and was traveling in the same direction so we joined company touring around Costa Rica. We decided to stay in the small town of Alajuela nearer to the airport that was safer at night. But even there, they warned us to take a $1 taxis after dark and not walk the six blocks to our hostel.
A 45 minute bus ride to Sarchà where they are famous for making hand painted carts which were pulled with oxen for transporting goods. This is one of their plazas with an over-sized cart on display.
An iguana from Costa Rican post card.
