Panamanian Martyr's Day

This weekend was a holiday that commemorates the death of some 20 Panamanian students who tried to storm a US military position in the Canal Zone. They sought to place a Panamanian flag next to an American flag, something that was guaranteed by treaty. Their deaths is generally thought to be the beginning of the movement toward the Carter - Trujillos treaty which returned the canal to Panama.

It is meant to be a somber holiday, but it is really just an excuse for loud music and much drinking. The Panamanians we meet and speak with, deplore this behavior, but it is very common. The beach was crowded, and we had loud music in our complex until 4:00 AM. We will complain to the owner of the offending unit. He was not here, himself.

Today we sought to avoid the crowds and noise and went up to Altos.

We sat on our lot for a while, talking about our building plans. We need to emphasize the view, the light and the air, and minimize the problems caused by the small size of our house.

We stopped to visit Damani and Ife Soralpina. We might rent their apartment in February/March when our exchange couple from Goteborg are here. We would then be close to our construction in Altos. Damani and Ife are a great couple, a few years older than we are. We share our support for Obama and health care reform. We even have a friend in common from Howard university.

We visited with Audra and Jose, our next door neighbors in Altos.. We brought them some fish from our local fish coop.

We also brought some fish for Inez and Gil and took it up to them at their rental house. They showed us the plans that they will execute on a nearby lot. Construction should start in a few weeks. We helped them find the lot last year.

The four of us then stopped in to see Richard and Bella from Iowa. They have been working on their view home nonstop since we met them, and it reflects their efforts. Richard is a retired farmer and professor and Bella has an artistic flair.

Inez and Gil and Jayne and I then went to dinner at a local Chinese restaurant, where we witnessed some of the previously mentioned loud and drunken behavior. One of the crowd called out "China" to our waitress, not a favorable expression. She was very irritated. Her family has probably been in Panama since the French tried to build the canal.

Friends in December

Before our family arrived, we had Cliff and Debbie over for brunch.

Here we are exploring our Gorgona beach.

We checked out a condo unit that a friend of their's is buying. It is just up the beach from our place.

Cliff and Debbie on our rustic furniture.

Shopping for gifts in Portabelo.

Lilly and Jayne picking a wave.

Portabelo

Lilly lazing on the hammock in Portabelo.

Shells for sale. $5 for the large conc shells. I used to buy these in Key West in about 1955 for $.50

Clay learning fishing from his Dad.

John with Linda and Doug in front of the Church of the Black Christ. It is a carving of Jesus, shown as black. It is quite famous.

Our house where we stayed in Portabelo.

The bay in Portabelo, which was discovered by Columbus on one of his later excursions.

Portabelo was a significant fortification. Gold from the slave trade was stored here. The escaped slaves' descendants account for the darker skinned Panamanians on the Caribbean coast.

Lonnie and Stacia in the fort.

Caribbean Trip and More of December Holidays

I managed to make it to the dock and sit down before my timer took the picture. We are on a dock just outside a house we rented for two days near Portabelo, on the Caribbean coast. We planned to do some snorkeling in the clear water, but there was an ongoing light storm which stirred up the water, and we didn't get to snorkel. We did see fish and sting rays from the dock, and our family tried a lot of fishing,

We did a zip line for the first time. Very exciting and fun, but not a way to see nature.

Us, dressed up for a Christmas party. I wore my new $12 Panamanian shoes, not shown.

Clay taking to horseback riding on the beach like a regular cowboy.

The movie is of Lilly riding on the beach. The zip lining did not phase her, but she was concerned about the horse.

Family Visit, Embera village

Our older daughter and her family were here in Panama from December 13 to 31st. We had a great time, but did not have time to blog. I'll do some catching up.

One of the best things we did was to take a trip

to see an Embera village of indigenous people. About 10% of Panama's 4 million people are indigenous. One quarter of these are Embera.

The indigenous people seem, in many ways, to have a better life than indigenous peoples in the US or Australia, two cultures we have had some exposure to. They are still caught between preserving their culture and joining the dominant culture. They seem to want to maintain their culture, which the tourism dollars helps them do, and begin to send children on to higher education. We heard of two advanced students who wanted to return to the village as teachers. The tribe is very family and child oriented.

The Embera use extensive, temporary tatooing. Tatooing a newborn from head to foot is a good luck omen. Here Lilly and Jayne are having their arms tatood.

Anne was our initial contact. Next to her is her Mother in Law and a Brother in Law who gave us a talk on the basics, and answered any questions. Anne met her husband while filming a movie at the tribal village.

Our trip to the village was about an hour in a dugout canoe, which had followed an hour car ride to the area near Colon. The traditional dugout canoe had an outboard motor. Otherwise, the hour ride would have taken a full day of paddling.

The children greeted our dugout canoe when we arrived. The men had a band playing for us.

The film which I have uploaded shows the men playing their traditional instruments and the women dancing a dance of healing.