Panama
Panama City
Arrived safely after a long flight. A change of plan for the first day of the tour meant another early start to catch a train which took us from the Pacific coast to the Caribbean coast, following the route of the Panama canal. The journey took about an hour so just like taking the train from Edinburgh to Glasgow and following the Forth canal. It was a good trip, but better was to come.
A short bus ride took us to a river where we were met by several indigenous tribesmen with a canoe for a river trip which was very scenic and full of birds and spider monkeys. We arrived at their Indian village and met with the head man and members of the village and learnt of their life. We saw some of the plants which they use to cure various ailments, had lunch with them (some lovely fish) and saw some of their dancing. Retuned to Panama by road and got some good views of the city. Tomorrow we will have a tour of the old part of the city, visit the locks on the canal and then drive on to Chitre in time for the Carnival for the start of Lent next week.
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Panama to Chitre
Today started with a visit to see the locks on the Panama canal. We watched a large tanker transiting the lock and visited the canal museum which was very interesting, especially as it included a model of one of the original dredgers which had been built in Scotland. Afterwards we had a walking tour of the old part of the city which is slowly being restored – a lot of it having been badly damaged in the 16th century by pirates looking for gold.
One of the pictures is of a golden alter in one of the churches, the story is that when the pirate captain Morgan came to plunder the town, the priest covered the alter in black paint and told the captain that they were just a poor parish – the captain made a donation of money to the priest, and the alter was saved. We bought a couple of Panama hats from one of the stalls in the town square. We also had some spectacular views of the modern skyline of the city. We then had a five hour drive to Chitre, we are now about to have dinner before heading off for a late night to enjoy the carnival.
Chitre to Boquete
Went to the carnival last night which was more like a street party with music and stalls selling food and beer. The activity was based round the church and town square, and round the sides of the square were arranged large oil tankers filled with water to spray water on to the crowds during the night – we left before we had the chance to be drenched. The carnival continues for the next 3 days with processions fireworks and parties.
On our way out of town this morning we saw some of the decorated floats. The morning was spent visiting local craftsmen and women, the first of which was a man and wife who make traditional dresses which are very elaborate and hand embroidered (not to mention expensive at $10,000 dollars a piece). Apparently the dresses are given to girls as a present on their 15th birthday. There were also hand made traditional shirts for the men which we were fortunate to have modelled for us by a top European model and by our tour guide.
Afterwards we visited one of the oldest churches in Panama which was very beautiful and met a man who makes very decorative devil masks from papier-mache. The final of these visits was to see the decorative headdresses which accompany the dresses we had seen earlier. From there we had a five hour journey climbing up 7000 feet to the lodge and coffee plantation where we’re are staying for the next two nights – more about this tomorrow.
Boquete: Coffee Plantation
An early wake up call for one of us when the dawn chorus started. We are staying on a coffee plantation, the grounds have been planted with flowers to attract the humming birds, which are very attractive, fascinating to watch and extremely difficult to photograph – every time you reach for the camera they disappear.
Our morning started with a walk through the cloud forest with a guide who was showing us all the birds, a tremendous variety, but sometimes difficult to spot. The views over the plantation have been spectacular. After lunch, (the food here is extremely good and well presented – even the vegetarian member of the group is happy), our guide showed us part of the coffee plantation and explained the process of production. This was followed by a coffee tasting and time for relaxing in the hammock before dinner. We could get used to this so easily.
Tomorrow we cross the boarder into Costa Rica for the first few days in a lodge in the rain Forest.
Images
Videos
No videos clips for this trip, probably because our old camcorder packed in.
Map