Semana Santa

After Alex´s friends departed we have had some time to ourselves until Alex´s grandmother arrives on April 11. A long-awaited return!

We spent Semana Santa (the days leading up to Easter) back in the Azuero at Playa Venao. We went with José and his friends Andy and Pedro La Vaca. Brandy also went with her friend Eduardo. It was much more crowded this time than the last time Alex and I were there- holidays on the beach are popular here! The waves were also a lot larger than last time; we estimated the early morning waves to be as high as 7 or 8 feet at times. Great for the surfers, not as great for us swimmers.

José, Brandy, me, and Alex

Los Amigos de Alex Nos Visitaron

This past week, Alex’s two best friends since middle school, Matt and Austin, and their girlfriends, Jennifer and Alex, came to visit. The week was planned down the second thanks to Alex and his iCalendar.

We rented a minivan to pick them up from the airport when they arrived Monday evening. On Tuesday we got up early and drove to Isla Grande, on the Caribbean side where Alex and I had gone with José and his brother in January. Since we went on a weekday this time it was much less crowded and we enjoyed sitting in the water, chatting and drinking beers.

We drove back to Panama City that evening, stopping at Portobelo along the way to see the old fort.
For their second day we took them on the same tour as my brother’s first day: Panama Viejo, the Peatonal, and then Casco Antiguo. They also enjoyed raspados, but alas, no brochetas.

We then flew 20 minutes on the Pacific side, still within the Bay of Panama, to Isla Contadora in the Islas Perlas. This was the former “counting” island when the Spanish were here, and what they counted were pearls found in the island chain. We stayed in little studios, Cabañas de Contadora, a few minutes from several of the best of the island’s 12 beaches.
The first day we were there we stayed close to home and went to Playa Cacique. The water out there was COLD! Much colder than any other beach we’ve been to so far in Panama. Still, it was hot under the sun so we swam anyway (and it was still less cold than when I went to the beach in CA in September with Alex).
The second day we ventured further, first to Playa Larga, a long, sandy beach with warmer water than Playa Cacique, probably because Larga faces the coast while Cacique faces the ocean.
After cooling down with a swim we went to Playa de las Suecas, the only beach in the country where you can legally sunbathe nude. It was rockier, so we thought the snorkeling would be pretty good, and it was. Near some large rocks we saw a huge manta ray, probably almost two feet across. It was a little scary, but cool to see something so big. We also snorkeled at Playa Larga, which was excellent. Tons of colorful fish were swarming around us in the rocks. Alex and Austin also an even bigger manta ray and a poisonous rock fish. On the beach we found a blue jellyfish that had washed up on shore and died.

We returned to Panama City and Alex’s friends had one last day with us before leaving. We rented a car and took them to the zoo, the mall, and the Causeway, and then ended their visit with dinner at a sushi restaurant (Panamanian sushi is a little weird, and many of the rolls contain things like plantains, chicken, or cheese)

Resting and Mangos

After Kevin left Alex and I had a week’s respite before some of his friends came to visit. On Saturday we went with Jose and his family to Costa Esmeralda an hour outside Panama City. We spent some time at the beach, and ate tamarindo directly off the tree- so good.

Speaking of eating fruits off trees, mangos are finally in season here. Alex hasn’t stopped talking about mangos since we arrived (which was right after mango season ended, to his chagrin). There are mango trees all over the city, and the first fruits are finally turning orange and red. You can buy a bag of about 10 mangos for $1 on the street (in the US, one mango usually costs close to a dollar). So our lives are now mango-filled and that will doubtless continue until our departure.

Kevin Comes to Panamá

After returning from Santa Catalina Alex and I had about a week to settle back into life in Panama City, and then my brother Kevin came to visit. His ticket out here was a Christmas gift from me so I had been waiting a long time for his visit and was excited when he finally arrived!

Kevin arrived Sunday evening and José took us to go pick him up. Since it was a long day of traveling for Kev we didn’t do much that night, just hung out and caught up.

The next morning we boarded a diablo rojo (the bus) and visited Panama Viejo. We shopped a little in the artesania there and then walked the length of the old ruins. We then hopped on another diablo and rode to the opposite side of the city, to the Peatonal or pedestrian shopping street. There, Kevin had his first taste of raspados- sweet treats sold by street vendors. They are my favorite on hot days (meaning every day), and Alex is sick of hearing “where is the raspado man??” from me. The raspado man has a big block of ice on his cart, from which he scrapes ice chips into a paper cone. He pours in fresh fruit juice (maracuyá- passion fruit- is the best) and then tops it off with a drizzle of condensed milk. And all for only a quarter! Kevin was skeptical and didn’t get one at first, but then he tried (consumed most of) mine and had to have his own.

We walked down the Peatonal and then through Casco Antiguo at the end. It was a long day of walking! Especially for my brother, who normally drives everywhere. We ended at a street café for some beers and snacks. Turns out this place has amazing brochetas de carne (beef on a stick)- seriously the best I’ve had in my life. Kevin insisted that we return again before he had to leave.

Tuesday we went for a short hike in Parque Natural Metropolitano, which is the only rainforest located within the city limits. At first it wasn’t too impressive, but as we hiked up further we found an awesome view of the city and even saw some wildlife- most likely a tapir (looks like a gerbil the size of a cat). Kevin and Alex also took the opportunity to try to swing on some vines, Tarzan-style. The first few vines broke (or seemed like a break was imminent), but finally they found a large enough one to use to swing to another. Kevin has the photos of all this, so ask him to see.

The next day started the crown jewel of Kevin’s visit here: a trip to San Blas, a group of around 365 Caribbean islands (one for each day of the year) located in the Comarca Kuna Yala. The Kuna are the best-known indigenous group in Panama (remember Alex and I volunteered with another indigenous group, the Ngöbe). The Kuna are completely autonomous, controlling the laws, tourism, and real estate within their comarca (unlike other indigenous groups who have to fight with the national government for the same rights).

Our flight departed from Panama City at 6:30am and here is the view of the city from the air (well part of the city):
We stayed on Isla Narganá, where the grandmother of one of Jose’s friends runs a guesthouse. This is one the more modern islands in San Blas; it has the comarca’s only bank, one of few public phones, and other services. Most of the houses are made of concrete, and the guesthouse where we stayed was very comfortable and nice. Narganá is connected by a (Kevin would say rickety) bridge to Corazón de Jesus, a neighboring island.

Our flight arrived around 7:00 in the morning, so after settling into our rooms and having some breakfast we set out early for our first beach day. From Narganá we could see at least ten other islands nearby, the majority of which were deserted. In San Blas only a few islands are inhabited (maybe 20 out of the nearly 400). The rest of the islands are communally owned, and individuals can only legally own the coconut trees on an island. Pipas (young coconuts) are one of the major cash crops for the Kunas, and prices are set by a council each year to prevent competition.

We were taken to our own personal island for the day, where we swam, snorkeled and relaxed.
While snorkeling we found this starfish.
And Kevin climbed a palm tree to retrieve pipas.
And here’s Alex enjoying the pipa water.
The next day we visited a more traditional Kuna island, Isla Tigre, about half an hour away from Narganá. Here all the houses are made of bamboo and palm leaves and women sell molas from their doorways. Molas are hand-stitched, multi-layered textiles made by Kuna women, usually depicting sea animals and fish. Some are really intricate and beautiful.
After shopping a little, we went fishing from the boat with two locals. The Kuna use only a line with a hook, with which Alex successfully caught a decent-sized fish. He happily exclaimed “dinner!”, at which our hosts laughed. They then proceeded to cut up the fish Alex caught to use as bait for the real fish. It didn’t take long before they were pulling a 15-pound barracuda into the boat. It fought for quite awhile and one of the guys had to beat it over the head with one of the benches from the boat before it stopped flopping around. They quickly caught a second one and then we headed home. Here is Alex holding the first one (yep, his finger and thumb are shoved right into the eye sockets. Strangely, once he removed his hand the eyes popped back into place).
We feasted that night and the following night on our barracuda. It is one delicious fish!

For our last day we decided just to hang out at the beach again, but this time on a different private island. This one was larger than the first, with more vegetation and a big sandy area in front. The water in San Blas is amazingly clear, great for snorkeling.
We were sad to leave San Blas the next morning, but we were particularly sad because we woke up an hour earlier than necessary- thanks to Alex and his fancy automatic time adjustment watch that switched to daylight savings that weekend. Unfortunately Panama doesn’t have daylight savings, so when we thought we were arriving at 6am to catch the boat to the airport, it was really 5am. We started to worry about missing the flight, but finally the confusion was cleared up and we looked like fools to our hosts. At least we didn’t miss the flight back though.

We got back to the city early and decided to rent a car for the day so Kevin could see a few more sights before departing early the next morning. I decided to try my hand at driving a manual car since it is cheaper than automatic. Disastrous. Well not completely, but Panama City is difficult enough to drive in with all the traffic and crazy drivers, so it is not the ideal to place to learn how to drive stick. After much amusement for Kevin and Alex we traded it in for an automatic and then finally got on our way.

Our first stop was Summit Zoo and Botanical Gardens, located about 20 minutes outside the city. It is impressive in how many animals it has for only $0.25 admission, but it is depressing in that all the animals are overweight and given food by Panamanian children (and adults actually). Nevertheless, we saw the jaguar, monkeys, a variety of colorful birds, and the Harpy Eagle, Panama’s national bird. It’s the largest eagle in the world and is now only found in Panama. It has enormous talons and a sharp beak, and it hunts mainly perezosos (sloths). It can carry up to twice its own weight in one talon while flying. Of course, the ones in the zoo were a little less impressive since they have chunks of raw meat provided to them on a little platter so they just seem to sit around all day.

After the zoo we took a short drive over the Puente de las Americas so Kevin could see the Canal, and then we returned to Casco Antiguo for more brochetas, as well as some fried ceviche and langostinos. Delicious!
The next morning I saw Kevin off at the airport around 4:30am. I was sad to see him go, but luckily it won’t be long before I see him again since Alex and I are returning to the U.S. on May 5th. We need to get summer jobs and save up, since both of us have been accepted to graduate school! I will be attending the Women’s Studies MA program at the University of Arizona on a full scholarship this fall. Alex will be at UCLA doing a dual Master’s degree in Urban Planning and Latin American Studies. Congratulations to us both!