We were indeed awake at 5:45 for a walk on the beach to watch the morning sun
rise. The interesting thing is that we are on the Pacific coast and watching the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean I wouldn’t want to do that every
morning but today was fine for this one morning.
After breakfast we drove to the town of El Valle
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| Vegetables at the Market |
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| Mola at the Market |
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| Girls at the Market |
The afternoon was spent here at the Resort – a nap and in
the pool. Actually it was cooler today as the sky was cloudy.
Not much has happened today and we decided to post this blog
before we go to dinner tonight.
Sunday March 25,
2012:
After a leisurely breakfast we said goodbye to the Royalton
Resort on the Pacific Ocean.
We drove to a market place that specialized in Kura Indian
crafts. The Kura Indians use a sewing
technique called mola. Molas are designs
depicting rain forest animals, flowers, birds and marine life that are sewn in
layers – 2 to 7 layers of fabric. We saw
the native Kura ladies dressed in native attire actually sewing.
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| Mola at the Market |
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| Lady Making Mola |
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| Lady in Native Dress |
Lunch was at a Marina at the end of the Amador
Causeway. We had a beautiful view of the
modern Panama City skyline.
After leaving the Marina we visited a small museum dedicated
to the beautiful national dresses of Panama, the Pollera. These dresses are
made with yards of fabric plus hours of hand stitching – appliqué or
embroidery. They were beautiful dresses.
This museum also had several buildings depicting a Panama village of the past.
We had several hours at the hotel in Panama City before our
farewell dinner. The location of the
farewell dinner was not disclosed to us until we made the final turn, however
due to the direction we were driving numerous of us had a sneaking suspicion it
was at the Miraflores Locks. Sure enough
we had a lovely dinner overlooking the Miraflores Locks – the same place as we
had our first lunch at the beginning of the tour. The sun was setting so we saw
the locks and canal at nighttime. It was
light up! What a way to finish the tour.
Numerous ships went through the lock during the evening. It was interesting to see on each ship their
‘country of origin’, and the type of cargo they were carrying.
We had a buffet dinner so between courses we would go out on
the balcony to watch what was transpiring. At one point, those watching, saw a
metal cable break, others saw a ship scrape the side of the locks.
After dinner we watched a folk dance presentation by a
Panama group who has won national competitions.
The women were wearing their national dresses – similar to the ones we
saw at the museum this afternoon. It was
a lovely evening, and a fitting conclusion to our 8 days in Panama. During the week there were several other
dance performances, but we enjoyed this one the most.
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| Cal with One of the Dancers |
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| Cal and Rachel Overlooking the Canal |
Our month in Central America is over! We have seen and experienced a lot! Each country was a different experience. Guatemala and the medical mission seem so
long ago. After the mission we enjoyed
exploring on our own in Guatemala. In
Costa Rico we experience such diverse activities with Caravan tours – wildlife,
rain forest and then the dry Pacific side of the Continental Divide. In Panama we not only ‘saw’ but ‘felt’ the
Panama Canal – considered the 8th wonder of the world.
The Nova film we saw on the history of the Panama Canal is
“A Man, a Plan, a Canal – Panama!” This
is the name of the movie we watched the night before we went on a cruise of the
canal. The title can be said both backward and forward! Interesting!
Monday, March 26,
2012:
The alarm was set and rang at 4:30am!!! Our flight was
leaving Panama City at 7:00 am so we were on the 5:00 shuttle from the hotel to
the airport.
Our flight home was via Miami, Chicago and Cedar
Rapids. All went very well and our
daughter Cherie was there to meet us. It is always good to return home!
