Panama - the Colonial City

Colonial Panama City is a very interesting place. There are some incredibly beautiful old buildings in all the glory of tropical Spanish colonialism (I say glory in terms of architecture only). There are also some amazing ruins of old churches, and the old presidential building that the US bombed to smithereens (because we didnt like the guy we put into power, shocking!) is pretty darn fascinating with all of the trees reclaiming the walls. There are many building that have been abandoned, but their walls still stand, pretending to shelter people. Then there are the buildings (and I really cant perceive the difference in stability) that have all sorts of little cubbies filled with families of all sorts. The people wandering the streets here were incredibly beautiful. They have all the amazing features of the Caribbean mix of Africa, America, and Europe. The kids could break your heart just by smiling at you, and the adults hanging out in the doorways or in groups on the streets have faces that tell you their entire history (if you are perceptive enough to read them). Alas, I am way to shy, or way to afraid of offending someone, to take these pictures.

Panama - Bocas del Toro

One day in Chiriqui, Angel and I reached the top of the mountains dividing Panama and decided we might as well go see the other side. This is the Bocas del Toro province, on the western Caribbean edge of Panama. It was a beautiful drive. We stopped and had lunch in the town of Chiriqui Grande. Most of the houses looked like they were about to fall into the ocean, but they were quite picturesque!

Panama-Chiriqui

Angel´s Grandmother was an incredibly feisty and wonderful old woman. She is 90 years old, had 12 children with 5 different men, and still chops her own firewood (much to the chagrin of her grandson!). She moved like a dancer, and talked circles around everyone present. The only unnerving thing was that she was very obviously inspecting me as a future mother of great grandchildren (the concept of why Angel would bring a WOMAN from the States to visit his family unless she was about to fill this important roll seemed to escape most of the female members of his family). She made me take off my glasses and turn this way and that, I guess I passed though. Angel and I stopped to visit her on the way to do a wetland scouting session in Chiriqui.






Chiriqui was by far my favorite part of Panama. It was so beautiful. And I got to see quite a bit of it during our scouting attempt. There were a number of beautiful little lakes (without my plant, of course!) At the end of one of the days, our wanderings took us to the base of Panama´s only volcano. We decided we might as well explore, since the day was getting late enough to make collecting my plant impossible, even if we had found it. So, we started to climb. It turns out we took the short cut through the jungle (I swear, we were just following the signs!) It just about killed us, that 20 minute climb practically straight up the mountain, but the view was incredible.

Panama

Finally, after hearing about its beauties for years, I got to visit Panama! Granted, I was supposed to gather data for my PhD and was spectacularly unsuccessful, but that is irrelevant. I have many other countries to go, and they dont have my plant on their species list without actually ever having seen it (do you detect some bitterness? No, never!). It was a beautiful place though, and seeing Angel there was wonderful.

Panama City was huge, and quite crazy. I am very glad I never had to drive there, traffic laws were obviously only there for show. I must admit that the busses were pretty darn cool though, even if they constantly exuded a thick, black, lung rotting cloud of nastiness. They were called the ´Diablos Rojos,´or red devils. Angel´s family was great, he has quite a set of brothers... and his mother is adorable.

The first place that Angel took me to was the Caribbean city of Colon, where he grew up. I loved to colors of the houses in his old neighborhood. This dog was thoroughly adorable, begging for attention and sticking his head out of the fence to say hello. I just love the way this picture turned out.








Then we went and spent a few hours watching ships move through the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal. Im not the biggest fan of machines and ships, but it was pretty fascinating to watch these monster boats move through the tiny locks.