| Highlights of Panama (October 2006) | ||||||||||||
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We knew Panama would have Hats, Canals and Cigars - but what else was in store at the end of the line in Central America?
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A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts
Bocas Del Toro: a set of gorgeous islands on the north coast of Panama. Time for one last swim in the warm turquoise waters of the Caribbean, watching dolphins leap over the wake of our boat and lounging on Red Frog Beach, next to tiny polka-dotted red frogs! |
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Panama City
We arrived in cosmopolitan Panama City expecting to stay only a day or two. A week later we were still there, bewitched by its fantastic food, colonial architecture, sultry nightlife and vibrant streets. |
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Robocop
Even the traffic wardens are seriously tooled up here. This chap looks like he hadn't fully changed out of his Darth Vader outfit from last night's costume party. |
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The Panama Canal
Mechanised tugs inch a cargo ship through the multiple levels of the Miraflores Locks of the Panama Canal. Watching these mighty vessels navigate the Canal was like watching something really exciting, slowed down 100 times. |
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Cross Your Fingers And Hope
After finding the Pan American highway between Panama and Colombia blocked by the impenetrable Darien jungle, we took a small twin propeller to the Rio Sambu, to begin a Heart of Darkness adventure upstream. Things did not start well, with our Captain flying with one hand and reading his recipe magazine with the other! If we'd seen the state of the (extremely short) landing strip we would probably never have boarded the plane. |
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Somewhere, Over The Rainbow
After discussions with tribal elders, we procured a long wooden dugout canoe and headed up the Rio Sambu, past increasingly primitive Embera villages. |
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Is That A Canoe You're Sitting On, Or Are You Just Pleased To See Me?
With dense jungle on all sides, rivers are the transport highways in Darien. This member of the Embera tribe has adopted western dress. Further upstream, men still wear traditional clothing - a tiny loincloth. Women go topless with a sarong - popping on a bra when company appears. Hunters still use poisoned arrows and blowdarts. |
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Riverfront Property
It rains A LOT in Darien. As a result, rivers flood, bursting their banks and change course seasonally. As a result the Embera have long been a migratory people, used to their houses being eaten up by eroding river banks every few years, and simply building afresh at a new site. |
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No Village Left Behind
Government intervention means that all villages have a phone. But with locals living in tight community groups and hunting and growing all essentials, one local said to us "Who would we call?"! |
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Throne With A View
Toilet seat with the best view in the world? Ahead is the cloud forest that leads to Colombia. |
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Traditional Embera Life
Though modernity is encroaching on the Embera, their way of life has not changed much in centuries. Their stairs are still hacked out of a single trunk (if you want privacy, simply rotate the trunk 180 degrees). Food is cooked in a pot balanced on three burning tree trunks, which are artfully manipulated to adjust the temperature. |
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Last Of The Man-Thongcans
Our host, Rosale, holds to the old traditions (with the exception of a stylish NASCAR baseball cap!). For him, our insistence on wearing shirts and trousers was just silly in the heat. All he needed was a tiny loincloth and, of course, a machete to hack the jungle to pieces and he was happy! His home, Jingurudo, was our furthest point in the jungle. Though only 20 miles from the Colombian Border, the hills in our way teemed with Colombian guerillas and traveling there would be a potentially fatal mistake. So, we turned back towards Panama City, to find another way across the Darien Gap... |
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