I fell in love with the brightly colored printed
fabric which the women use to make their
little wrap skirts.



I convinced one old lady to sell me a little scrap.
She drove a hard bargain.



The, um, bathroom.
Notice the toilet paper on the right
and the lovely linoleum on the far wall.
Great atmosphere!

Above are masks that the Embera make.



Here are some local children waiting for the
women to start dancing. They all go topless
until the girils are about 10 or 12.



The women are doing the "Butterfly Dance".



These are two beautiful girls! The red flowers
mean they are happy. The little tops they are
wearing are made out of beads and covered with
coins which have no value or meaning, just
decoration!



Basket World

Part of the visit was spent learning about the
weaving and basket making that are an art
form that this group has mastered.



The grasses that are used are all
dyed using local plants to make the
colors.




We enjoyed lunch out of a banana leaf. We
had fish and fried plantains.
yum!

We took a day trip to visit the Embera indians.
They are an indigenous group similar to the Kuna.
The government has relocated them to a place they
can stay and in exchange they provide a "cultural
experience" for tourists.
At first I was quite amazed and thrilled that the
culture seemed so alive and intact but the more I
observed and the longer we stayed I began to feel
a twinge of doubt. When the busloads of tourists
from the cruise ships arrived I decided it might not be
so authentic.



These local men greeted us with some music.



The village. Each family lives in its own little
elevated home.

What?! Drink and get beautiful at the same time?!
Why didn't I think of that!!!

In Casco Viejo the boys bought a snow
cone to combat the intense heat.



SOooo refreshing.



All I could think was intestinal bug!!! but
everyone survived the snow cone eating without
incident.




The ladies in the photo above are from the
Kuna tribe. They now live in an area on the Caribbean
and in southern Panama. Before Panama was its'
own country it was part of Colombia*. The art form
that this tribe is most well known for are molas.

The people in this tribe do not like their pictures
taken so I sneakily took this from the back. Their
tops have molas sewn on the front and back.



I loved the SANTA themed mola hanging on this line.
The subjects of the molas has definitely changed
with the buying audience in mind.

* For you history buffs there's an interesting chapter
of (not very well known) American history intervening
n this area of the world, what a surprise!

The part of Panama City is called Casco Viejo.
It's quite pretty in a old, run down city kind
of way.



I haven't been to Cuba but the feel of
this part of Panama City is what I think
Havana would be like. Lots of music,
slow pace of life, delicious food with a
carribean flavor...



El gato



A typical little street.


After our canal trip we took a taxi
to the old, pretty part of Panama City.
It has been neglected for a long time so
the renovations are happening all
over.

Above, the view as we came into the lock.



We pull in and wait for the water level to go down.



You can see, from the sides of the lock, the water
level had to go down a lot!



The doors in the front of the lock opened and we
could continue our trip.



The process of going through a lock was really interesting. We
"drove" right in and stopped. Since we were just a little boat it
was like being a little person in a big bathtub.
Once we were in the lock the door we came through closed
behind us. Next, the water in our "bathtub" was slowly drained
until it came to the same level as the next part of the canal.
Then the doors in the front opened and we moved out of the
lock.
For a little boat it was interesting, but for a huge freighter there is
barely any room, the big boat JUST fits!
There are super duper freighters being built now that are 3 times
the size of the current ships. These ships can't come through
the canal right now but the canal is in the process of being
widened so it won't be too long!

A man, aplan, a canal, Panama

Above, Oren is standing on the dock next to the
boat that we are going to travel on.



Every boat that goes through the canal needs to
have a special driver while they are in the canal.
In addition, this freighter has a tug boat to keep it
in the right spot.



Above is the view as we approached the first lock.

We departed Costa Rica on January 3 to take a trip to Panama.
We started in Panama City and the first thing we did was to visit
the canal. We choose to take a partial transit which meant
spending a half day going through 3 locks. It was just the right
experience for al of us.
We left our hotel early and caught a bus that drove us to the
beginning of our trip. We were to travel toward the Pacific once
we were on the canal.

I don't know if any of you reading this remember
that I mentioned a friend who was interested in
studying Chagas, a disease spread by the bug in
the picture above. Well, Carol received a grant
from Kaiser Permanente and she's working on finding
a publication to work with.
Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out where I can find
$928 or so because I want to go with her!
She wants to visit a town in Northern Argentina
where the disease is already known and it is a place
where people go to study it.

We had all fourteen of us for one night in our
cozy little one bathroom cabin.



It was Jay's 17th birthday on New Year's Eve

Our visit to the Butterfly Garden was particularly successful.
Not only did we see tons of cool butterflies but there
was a group of Capuchin monkeys passing by and we got
to see them up close.



Monarch Butterfly



Amy, Andreas and the kids in the bug room.
We spent a really long time here looking at scorpions,
tarantulas, stick bugs, hatching butterflies and
lots of other cool living things.



The is a cute little mammal related to a
kinkajoo but I can't remember the name
right now.
He made his way across a wire and then hung
down to the hummingbird feeder for
a sweet drink.

The whole darn tootin' gang

Back row: John, Nana, Jay, Caitlin, Cathy, Artie,
Andreas and Amy
From row: Ailey, Max, Cole, Ethan, Nicholas and
Oren

family fun, yes it's possible

Nicholas, Cole, Caitlin and Ailey



Caitlin, Ailey, Nana, Andreas, Oren, Amy,
Max, Artie and Nicholas, clockwise around the table.



Jay, Nicholas, Oren and Cole



Andreas, Oren and Amy



Caitlin, Ailey and Nana