Panama Port Reflections

Tonight we have left for our next port in Ecuador. Memorable moments in Panama include . . .

Interacting with the Embera tribe

Tasting the rich flavours and freshness of a 12-course Panamanian meal at Manolo Caracol (old city) with friends from Morocco, US, Scotland & New Zealand

Watching traffic go by in the Panama Canal

Swimming in the waterfalls

Catching mosquito larvae in the Gamboa Rain Forest

Boarding and riding the tender boats when we were anchored out in the harbour

Seeing crocodiles, turtles, toucans, birds and butterflies in the wild

Standing among the ruins of the 15^th century old city of Panama (Panama Viejo)

Wandering the streets of modern Panama City (in the rain) looking for the “Crème” (a nightclub where TSS folks were partying)

Watching part of a quarter final World Cup rugby match in a pub on Calle Uruguay and sharing in our New Zealand friend’s grieve (the New Zealand All Blacks lost)

Listening to the sounds of the jungle

Walking the streets of old Panama City (Casco Viejo)

Riding one of the famous city buses from the Albrook Mall to Casco Viejo

Hobbling home in a broken-down taxi with five of us crammed in

Hearing about Davis’ adventures in the Darien Jungle (read below)

Only three more days and we’re in Ecuador! I think I’ll sign up for the “healing mud bath”!

Ken

The last few days have been some of the most life changing events I have ever experienced. I ventured out deep into the Darien Jungle region of Panama with 23 students, and we had the most amazing time. Our trip started off with a four hour bus ride from the boat, and eventually had to change into jeeps since our big van could not handle the tough roads of the jungle. After about 30 minutes in the jeeps, we came to a small village which had a school, a general store, and about 5 houses. I forget the name, but I will update you when I get that information from other people. The kid’s classes were in session, and they welcomed us with a warm heart. They sat us down in their small little desks, and then performed dances for us. They seemed like they were so happy to see us. The kids ranged in age from 5 to 9. Eventually, we were all pulled up to dance by someone. A little girl grabbed my hands and led me to dance Panamanian style. It was so fun and amazing. They treated us to a meal of their own chickens, and the meal was accompanied by rice as well. After we finished that, the kids had to get back to classes, but I first got to say goodbye to all of them and get a group picture with the kids.

The company that put on the tour rented horses from the locals. Advantage Tours is big on community trade and helping the local villages. We mounted the horses and started up the mountain on what we thought was going to be a 3 hour ride. If that wasn’t long enough for you, it was actually 6 hours. My body ached from sitting on a saddle for 6 hours, but nonetheless, it was so fun. The trail was so muddy that some of the horses ended up getting stuck and falling over. Nobody got hurt, but I felt bad for the horses. We finally got to a point that was too steep for the horses, so we had to walk in thick mud and straight uphill for 20 minutes. A lot of falling left people fairly unhappy, but eventually, everyone just didn’t care about the mud anymore. By the end of the trip, we were used to sinking in knee-high mud. My white shoes did not take kindly to that.

We finally made it up to base, which had 5 rooms that each held 5 people. I took top bunk in one of the rooms. The base looked over a huge mountain-top which was so beautiful. Everyone was tired, so we had dinner and went to bed early.

The next day, we woke up at 8 and ate breakfast. The chef, Jesus _[hay-zeus], cooked the most amazing meals. He didn’t even have an oven; just a little stove top. After a big breakfast, we went on a 2 hour nature walk through the woods. We saw green and black poison frogs, monkeys, toucans, amazing birds, and the beautiful trees and forest. We also learned about the forest and the trees in the area. That hike was easy. We got back and ate lunch, and then ran down to the river. We swam in the river under waterfalls and in pools. It was incredible! It looked like a movie. We got back and sat around camp, because we were too tired to do anything else. We had dinner, and then followed up that by playing cards and the students drank the alcohol that they bought for miniscule prices at the super market. It was like 5$ for a huge bottle of anything! I went to bed fairly early that night.

The next morning was about the same as the first, except instead of going on a 2 hour hike, we went on a NINE hour hike to the top of the mountains that look over our camp. It was probably one of the hardest hikes I have ever done. We saw all of the wildlife that we saw in the previous hike, but we saw a whole lot more of them this time around. That took us the WHOLE day, so we got back, ate dinner, and then had another night the exact same. That was our last night on top of the beautiful mountain.

The next day was earlier than the rest, because we had to pack up and ride back down the mountain. We cleaned up camp, and then grabbed our bags and left. The ride down on the horses only took half the time, and it was so fun! My horse was really aggressive and always wanted to be in front. My horse also loved to run. At the end, the guide told us to finish it off on our own, so we ran at full speed with the horses! We were going so fast! It was one of the highlights of my trip! We returned to the village with the school, returned the horses, and waited for the others, since we were so ahead from running. When we all got back together, we got back into the jeeps and returned to our van.

We rode down the road for about an hour until we got to a little locally-owned restaurant. We had a great meal of beef, chicken, or pork. We piled back into the van and kept going for another 20 minutes until we got to a native village. They only have visitors every 2 months, so they welcomed us very happily! They were wearing their traditional attire; topless, men and women. It was such a cultural experience. They danced and danced and then asked us to dance with them! They also showed us an enactment of getting married for the women. The girls get married at 15! They have to do a test for virginity; they tie a string around her neck, and if that string doesn’t go over her head, she is ok. We were nervous because somewhere in translation, that information got switched. We thought she was going to be in some trouble, but luckily, she was ok. The second test was to give her an alcoholic/narcotic beverage, and if she passes out, she is a virgin. It was very interesting and different. After the demonstrations, we had free time to talk to the children and buy handicrafts from the family. That went on for about 2 hours, but sadly, we had to leave to get back to the ship. It was a sad goodbye, because we all became quite close to the kids. As soon as we got into the van, I slept until we returned to the ship. We said goodbye to the three guides and presented the 250$ we gathered for tips to them, and the 350$ for the school at the village. They were so appreciative of the money, and we hope it got to the school OK.

I will never forget that experience in the jungle, and I bet it will be pretty hard to forget it with SIX HUNDRED pictures.

-Davis