Colon, Panama

We arrived at the northwestern end of the Panama Canal Zone today. Yes, I have my directions right. The Gulf of Mexico side of the Canal Zone is farther west than the Pacific side at Panama City. We have been in Panama before, but that was 37, almost 38, years ago. A lot has changed.

Darrell took a bus tour to Panama City, a little over an hour away.When we were here before, there were no skyscrapers.Now there are more than most cities like New York. The weather here is very warm and exceedingly humid so most of us were very wilted, quite quickly. Even passengers from Phoenix complained of the heat, likely from the high humidity.This climate will be with us for months to come until we reach the Mediterranean in late April. One exception might be a day in Muscat, Oman.

I chose to visit a native Embera village. After a short bus ride we boarded a flat bottom boat for a ride on Lake Gutan, a lake formed by damming the river to provide water to operate the first set of locks on the Panama Canal. I think all 55 inhabitants of the village came out to meet us, dressed in traditional costumes, with music and singing. The skin dye is from a local nut and has no significance, other than decoration. Oh yes, it also keeps the bugs away! This is only a small group of the Embera people. The rest of the tribe lives in the south of Panama, near Colombia. The Embera are one of seven indigenous tribes in Panama. The live much as they always have, hunting and fishing for food. All children must go to school through 9^th grade, but in the larger community, the school is in the villages. The group we met send their children by canoe to catch a school bus. They also have access to cell phones, but usually only the chief has one. As the elected leader he has to represent his people to the government and attend meetings.

The women are skilled basket and bead weavers, and many of the men are carvers. We learned how they lived and saw the handicrafts, but the best part was seeing the children, and there were lots of them!

I wanted to add more pictures of the children, but it takes several minutes for each picture to download, so you will just have to settle for this.