Connections

Baby shower and birthday

 

Gisela and friends celebrate the impending birth of Matteo 

On October 26 we joined Gisela and friends for a baby shower for the new grandson, expected December 5.  My job was to be photographer and to double team with Bob watching Hana and Ethan. 

 

Hana and Ethan inside the toy box

Two days later the family assembled to celebrate Bob's 70th birthday. We again got some good grandchild photos.

 

Clio and Tian were given flowers by the restaurant staff.

Unfortunately we didn't think of photos until both meal and birthday cake were devoured.  Just a small piece and some crumbs remain.  Tian doesn't much like photos so a smile was not forthcoming in either of the two photos

 

Ethan, Grandpa, Tian and Grandma

Brazilians walk for Obama

 

Gusto y Marla from Brazil join Bob to Campaign for Obama

Our friends from Rio arrived yesterday evening.  This morning when Bob grabbed his signs and stepped outside to do his daily walking for Obama, Marla grabbed a sign and said, "I want to do it too."  Augusto soon joined in.  Both of them reacted joyfully to the many honks and waves.    This is just one example of how excited our many foreign friends are about Obama's candidacy. 

Orchid Nursery at Gamboa Rain Forest Resort

   

One of the most interesting of the five on-site interest centers was the orchid nursery.  I had no idea how orchids were propigated.  I knew it wasn't from seed but I never would have thought of starting them on slices of tree trunks.  The hotel produces its own flowers for dinner tables and decorations by growing them in flower gardens and in the orchid nursery.

 

More flowers from the Gamboa flower gardens

 

One of many beautiful fresh floral arrangements in the hotel

This is the last photo and blog post about Panama.  I will put some other photos in the Panama 2008 album on the left side of this blog.  Gleaning from the over 400 photos I took during the 5 days in Panama will not be easy.

Spider, Tagua Carvings and baskets

 

Spider, web and leaf from Barro Colorado Island hike

The last day of our Panama trip was spent hiking onBarro Colorado Island, the home of the Smithsonian Research Institute.  Ten of us climbed the steps and listened intently as each of the rainforest wonders was explained.  Among the literally hundreds of photos taken on our five-day visit to Panama was this happy accident.  I pointed, zoomed and hoped the image stabilizer did its job.  It did. We had watched this colorful little spider working for some minutes when I decided I might be able to capture him digitally.

Over the years we've brought home our share of souvenirs from other countries, trying in some way to capture the culture and memories in something tangible.  Lately it has dawned on us that these small tangibles are taking over our house.  Knowing this, however, did not keep us from purchasing 3 small items to add to our collection of favorite things.  The first was a basket woven by some members of the Embera Indigenous People of Panama.  It is tightly woven and designs are colored with natural plant dyes.  To see more examples of art by Indigenous People of Panama, click this link.

 

Small basket (about 5 inches diameter) from Embera People

Below are two tagua carvings.  Tagua is known as the environmentally friendly ivory. The carvings are done on the extremely durable white enterior of the Tagua nut/seed.  Here are the two we purchased at a local market.

 

Carving of a common rainforest poison dart frog

 

   Tagua carving of a rainforest iguana 

Rainforest trees, trails and vines

 

Bob and I by a bombacacio tree on Barro Colorado Island

A highlight of our rainforest hikes came the day we took a 45-minute boat ride across Gatun Lake to the island where Smithsonian Institute has a research  center for studying tropical plants, animals and insects.  We hiked for about 5 hours in 90 degree temperature and 90% humidity.  To guard against insect bites we had to wear long- sleeve shirts tucked into the waist of our pants and our socks taped up over our pants legs.  In the days we were there, the main culprits were chiggers, not mosquitos.  The guide told our party of 10 that the buttress base of this tree was 60 feet in diameter.  It was so tall that we really couldn't see the top of it.

 

This was truly Tarzan country.  We did not leave the trail.

After 5 hours of walking we were all drenched with sweat and our clothes were dripping wet.  Following the hike we heard a lecture by one of the researchers on the use of sound by bullet ants to communicate different messages to both ants and predators. 

   

The prepared trails we walked for 5 hours up and down

At 3:30 p.m. we returned our walking poles,  drank some fresh squeezed juice and made our way to the pier where we boarded our boat for the return trip to Gamboa.  We picked up our rented car at the pier at 4:30 p.m.--just in time to spend almost 2 hours in rush hour traffic on the way to the airport.  Bob turned in our car and we went to the nearby Riande hotel where we spent our last night in Panama.  We boarded our flight at 9:30 a.m, had an uneventful transfer in Atlanta and arrived home around 7:00 p.m.

Panama Vieja

 

An art market in a plaza in Panama Vieja 

This art market accompanied musical entertainment for the people who came for the monthly lotteria which is held in a different area of town each month.   We rarely buy souvenirs for ourselves these days so the only things we brought home besides photos were a woven basket and two tagua seed carvings.  Tagua seeds are known as the environmentally friendly ivory.  It has a white, extremely hard interior that lends itself well to intricate carvings--and no animals die for their tusks or horns. I'll post photos of these in a later post.

 

One of many blocks undergoing restoration in Casco Viejo

Many of the charming old buildings already have been remodeled and sold to new residents and in almost every block renovations are underway.  I always love the older parts of cities and this is no exception.

 

Bust of Margot Fonteyn who danced with Nureyev

She married a man from Panama and lived her post career years there.  Jose had said we should see the first performance art theater in Panama which is located in the old city.  We thought we'd just stop in and take a photo before we continued on our way. When we entered, someone indicated that there was a rehearsal going on.  We turned to leave but the guard called to us that it was permitted to go in and watch.  What lucky timing!  We were able to watch about 30 minutes of the rehearsal in this beautiful theater in the classic style with dark wood--like rich mahogany--boxes and heavy velvet curtains. The ballerinas floated through my mind for the rest of the day.

Dancing Pollera

 

Folklorico dancers dancing pollera

Jose took us to a place called Mi Pueblito where dancers performed various dances typical of Panama's past history. Jose explained that this dance got its name from the long flowing skirts that women once used to herd chickens (pollos).  Here it was performed to a cumbia rhythm.  I took small videos on my digital camera but have yet to figure how to embed them in a blog post. 

 

More pollera dancers

We watched many dancers for almost an hour but the real heart-stealers were these two little ones below:

 

Little girls dancing pollera to a cumbia rhythm 

Panama Vieja

 

Bob and Jose at the beginning of our Casco Viejo walk

Jose is yet another of the "connections" that seem to be a hallmark of our lives.  The husband of my Spanish teacher--originally from Venezuela--plays on a softball team with Carlos from Panama whose best friend from childhood is Jose.  Jose met us at our hotel on the Sunday after our arrival on Friday night.  He drove us around most of the day giving us a tour of food, culture and history that really helped us to see Panama through the eyes of a Panamanian.  Before Casco Viejo which literally translates as the old shell of the city AKA old town, he drove us through the rasca cielos (sky scratchers) of the financial and business area of downtown Panama where he pointed to the one where he works as a partner and CPA in a financial company.  He then took us to Panama Vieja where we saw the ruins of the old Panama which was burned to the ground by the pirate Henry Morgan who pillaged the Inca gold that was traditionally transported through Panama.

 

Ruins of the cathedral in Panama Vieja.

Tomorrow I'll continue our tour with Jose.

Butterfly house

 

Butterflies in the butterfly house in the Gamboa rain forest

Our second morning in Panama we went walking through the forest that adjoins the hotel grounds.  We visited the butterfly house, the orchid nursery, the serpentarium and a small acquarium featuring species from the area.

 

One of many owl butterflies we saw during our stay 

When these butterflies open their wings the conspicuous circles become "owl eyes" to predators who might be tempted to have a butterfly lunch. 

 

A butterfly on a leaf with the common rainforest drip tip

We spent almost an hour watching all the many butterflies who seemed not to know--or care that we were there.

Gamboa Rainforest Resort

 

The back view of Gamboa Rainforest Resort in Panama

This is where we spent four of our six nights in Panama.  We stayed our first and last nights near the airport to simplify logistics as we arrived late and left early.  The location of this hotel is right in the middle of the rainforest, built on land that was once used by the U.S. Military.  Now this hotel features many ecological exhibits on its grounds:  an orchid nursery, a butterfly house, a serpenterium, an acquarium and even a replica of a village of the Embera indigenous people where representatives appear to demonstrate items from their culture.  It was one of the most relaxing places I have visited in years. See the official website of this beautiful place here.    

All the rooms face a view of the Chagres River and Gatun Lake.  Below is what we saw each time we walked out onto our balcony.

 

View of Chagres River from our balcony

We rose early each morning and walked in the rainforest, spotting birds, agouti and capibara.  The agouti is a rodent about the size of small dog like a jack russell terrier.  The Capibara, a nocturnal animal, is the world's largest rodent. The morning wake-up call was birdsong.  We took a nocturnal walk sponsored by the hotel and saw a few animals and heard a lot of night calls. 

We saw such signs for various animals along roads & trails.

The Canal tour that almost didn't happen

Water level in the locks before the fill 

We eventually did make the canal tour but no thanks to Grayline Discovery Tours, with whom we had a paid reservation and instructions on where to meet the bus at 7:15 for an 8:00 a.m. departure to the boat pier.  We arrived at 7:20 and waited, and waited and no Grayline bus arrived nor any other people waiting for a bus.  At 8:15 a small 20 passenger bus from another company arrived.  We asked if they knew about Grayline and how we might contact them as there were no public phones in the area.  She called the number on our paid voucher but got no answer.  Since the tours only go on Saturdays, this was our only chance.  Finally she came over and said we could ride with her group to the pier and then she had arranged with another group to bring us back in their bus after the tour as her group was going on an all-day tour through all the locks and we were scheduled for the partial tour.  We climbed onto the bus and were greeted by 18  "Gutentag's."  It was a German speaking tour.  Neither of the tour operators would take payment.  They just made room for us.  They asked us to demand a refund from Grayline and gave us their numbers and said they would be glad to verify that they provided the service.    I've never before used Grayline and now I certainly never will!

Once on our 100-passenger boat that was only half filled,  we had a marvelous experience. The tour was narrated in English, Spanish and German.  Breakfast, lunch and cold drinks were provided. You can view the Panama Canal 24-hour webcam here.  The large cargo ship partially visible above is what we followed through the first three locks.  In this photo below you can compare the water level after only 7 minutes in the lock.

 

Fully filled lock and ship underway

The other boat that joined us and the cargo ship is the one below.  Because the engine wash could toss them around a bit, they tied onto our boat for the trip through the locks.