Beautiful Sky Over Panamanian Mountains
We got up early this morning as the ship was coming in to Panama. The sun was already a ways up into the sky as we came toward Colon, Panama, which is the Atlantic end of the Canal. I was elated to see that despite the Gatun Lake trip being canceled due to weather, the sky was merely partially cloudy, with most of the clouds you could see being non-rain-type clouds. Still with the stories I had read about how the sky can darken suddenly and an absolute downpour can begin, and then last either 10 minutes or the rest of the day, I was worried about being prepared for the chance of rain.
Arriving in Colon Panama
As we neared Panama, you could see a line of ships stretching across the horizon, and you could count: 1, 2, 3, 4 – a million, 1, 2, 3, 4 – another million, 1, 2, 3, 4 – a third million, 1, 2, 3. That’s a lot of money waiting there. Although it is not clear whether all of those ships were waiting to transit the canal or whether some were waiting to load or unload at the Colon cargo port. Again the pilot boat came out to meet us and the pilot hopped aboard.
Tugboat Guiding Our Ship to the Dock
We pulled up to the dock while Stephanie and I were grabbing breakfast. We ate with Sarah, who was bummed because her FDP for this port of call is to go to the Union on the ship on the second day and listen to some guy from a NGO talk about his organization and the work it does. Compared to that even our visit to a University or Garrick’s class visit to a landfill and a sewage plant seem greatly exciting. She was really interested in the Embera Indian Village trip that we had signed up for, but either didn’t sign up for it, or did but got closed out. I encouraged her to show up and hope that someone else on the trip changed their plans, and that there would be a slot available.
We went back to our cabin to finish getting ready for the trip: snacks, water, rain ponchos, cameras, sunscreen, bug spray, more sunscreen, more bug spray. We went down to the Union where we we supposed to meet, and after roll was called, and everyone had checked in, and they announced that the we were cleared to leave the ship, we started filing down the stairs.
Yay! Steph Made it to the Bus Before it Left
Halfway down to the exit Stephanie was concerned whether we had enough money, and went back to the room to get more, meanwhile nearly all the rest of the 95 people going to the Indian village had exited the ship and boarded the buses. I had Steph’s ticket for the tour, and I didn’t know whether she was going to take the elevator back to 3 or all the way to 2. We got outside and looked around for our bus, and saw two mini-buses that would hold 20 or so, and two full-size buses, that were nearly full. “Ah ha!” I mentally exclaimed, and ran to the big buses, and we managed to get the last two seats together. It turned out that either there were no open slots, or if there were, Sarah didn’t get one. However Ally and Katie were on the trip with us.
Driving Through Colon
We set off through Colon and although it didn’t look obviously life threatening, is didn’t seem exactly welcoming either. We continued out of town and before long were on the new Panamanian highway, racing along just like on any limited access, divided highway in the States, except for the view of rainforest out the windows.
The Chagres River
Along the way we crossed the Chagres River which fills the giant lake (Gatun Lake) that provides all of the water for operating the Panama Canal. In times of heavy rain, the river can easily have over 10 times the amount of water flowing as compared to during the dry season. Eventually about halfway across the country we exited onto a smaller road that went through several small towns, and then turned off of that on to a ill-maintained secondary road. At times on this road the driver had to drive in the other lane or slow to a bare crawl to negotiate a rough section or a pot hole or a flooded section of road. One irony I noted is that about halfway along this rough bumpy road, we passed a large concrete manufacturing plant. If only there were some way to get concrete to that road to be able to fix it.
Chagres National Park
We pulled into Chagres National Park and bumped further down the road, to the ranger station where we had a quick restroom stop since there were no facilities for us to use at the Embera village. However with 95 people, and only two small single bathrooms, the quick stop stretched on for about 45 minutes. While waiting someone noticed a trail of leaf-cutter ants making their way across the ground carrying little parasols of leaf clippings back to their nest. Finally everyone was back on the bus, and we bounced another 3 minutes down the road, and got off the buses and went down to the fast moving, muddy stream where Indians in colorful loin-cloths were waiting with their 25 foot long, hand hewn dugout canoes, with 40 HP Yamaha outboard motors.
Boarding the Boats
Our bus guide explained that the water was very low and that what now is a well-flowing shallow creek is usually a backwater of the nearby lake, and that the Indians might have to get out and push us through shallow spots. They handed us the typical bright-orange life jackets, and loaded us 15 per canoe, and set off up stream, with the student next to me getting a little bit freaked out be the 6 foot caiman on one shore. As luck would have it we ended up in one of the first boats to depart so the Indians were just coming down the bank to meet us as we pulled in.
A Musical Greeting
After we climbed the path up the bank, we were greeted by drumming, flute playing and singing by the male members of the tribe. This continued until about half the boats arrived, at which everyone was directed to move to the main building, which had a giant woven palm roof, no walls, a large open area in the middle, with wooden benches along one side, and tables displaying handicrafts around the perimeter.
Inside the Main Grass-Roofed Structure
A Woven Mask for Sale
We first browsed the tables looking at large and small carvings, woven baskets or animal masks and jewelry, while the rest of the people from the boats filtered in. When everyone was there, they asked us to be seated on the benches, and explained where they came from, how they got to this location, how they do the carvings, and make the woven materials, including making their own dyes from plant materials or local minerals to dye the dried palm leaf pieces they use for weaving.
The Village Dancing
The women first came out and danced in a large oval pattern. Then they then described some of the instruments they make and play: stretched hide drums, gourd maracas, and a turtle shell tympani, and a bamboo flute, and they the men played their instruments, similar to what we had heard outside when we first arrived. Next they played flute music and the men and women danced in pairs in a circle, and then invited us to join in dance with them, with a guy Indian taking a female from our group and guiding them into the ring, and similarly a female Indian taking a one of our guys and joining in.
Table of Handicrafts
After the dance we were invited to browse the tables of handicrafts, or walk around their village or get painted with the skin dye they adorn themselves with while they brought out the lunch they had prepared. The lunch was a piece of breaded fried fish (talapia ?) and several slices of fried plantain, and while you had to be careful of bones the fish was delicious. I also browsed around the tables with Stephanie and walked some around their village. Then when I was about finished, I thought “I’ll get one of the temporary tattoos that everyone else is getting”, and gestured for a young girl villager to draw a pattern on my right wrist.
Showing off her New Temporary Tattoo
Because I was very hot and sweaty, the ink pattern she painted on my wrist mostly ran down the palm side of my right hand, and made a big mess of a stain, rather than a “fierce” tribal design like everyone else was getting. Our guides then said that the sky was starting to threaten rain, and we should begin to finish up and go down to the boat loading area, where we said goodbye, and re-boarded the boats for the trip back down stream eventually arriving without incident back at the bus.
Ally, Katie and Us Showing Off Our New Tribal Tattoos
Leaving the Village
On the way from Colon, Stephanie and I debated going to Panama City directly from this trip since where we turned off of the main highway was already about half way along the road to Panama City. Later at the Ranger Station we talked to few other students who were planning to do the same and talked with the tour guide, Roberto, about arranging for a taxi to meet up with us, near where we turned off the main road. Then in the main hut Roslyn asked who and how many might be “voluntarily separating” from the trip and only Stephanie and I raised our hands. So now that we were back at the bus and ready to head back, and since no one else was wanting to go and since we might not have enough cash for the taxi trip and since the tour guide hadn’t yet been able to get a taxi arranged, we decided to just stay with the tour and go back to the ship.
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Tired on the Way Back to the Ship
Everyone seemed tired from the long day, and most of the people on the bus slept at least part of the way back. Upon arriving we dropped our stuff from the trip off back in our cabin, and then went back out to check out the “safe area” just outside the ship. We shopped around for some gifts and such, but there really wasn’t much that was open in the little area of shops, aside from a bigger-than-reid’s-market supermarket, there was only 6 or 7 gift shops that all pretty much had the same selection of merchandise. We returned to the ship for dinner, and decided to call it an early night, with Stephanie reading a paper for work, and me doing a bit of blogging before bed.
Bob Voyage 
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