Hola de Panama!
So, I am currently staying in (and loving!) Panama City. Though, I had a blast with Dad in Dominical, Costa Rica (see the Outings and Activities page for more about our time there). I'll be here for another week or so, taking Spanish classes and doing a bit of volunteer work. It's the first place I've visited where I really feel inspired to make and do! Stay tuned for more Panama fun in the next post.
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| First things first, though, a little story. Dad and I made plans to take a bus from a stop close to Dominical all the way to Panama City. We bought tickets. We packed our stuff early in the morning and planned our day so we would have everything ready. Then, when the bus finally came, we totally missed it because we were spacing out in the shade checking our email. I was pissed. All that yoga zen withered away. But then, in a restaurant later on, as I was bemoaning our faux-pas, a lady at the next table offered us a ride to the Panamanian boarder for the next morning. Que suerte! Here we are in her car (not pictured is her pal and her two kids) they were playing music about hemp the whole time but what the hell? |
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| The next leg of the trip was on a bus with this great sign on the bathroom door. It is particularly meaningful because a cute little girl on board took a really stinky poo and her Dad got scolded by the driver, then had to clean it up. I'm sure my Dad would have done the same for me. |
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| Flash forward...the Panama Canal! Truly an engineering marvel (I think that's what it says in my guidebook, like 17 times). It was pretty cool. Apparently it costs close to $400,000 to pass through. Yikes. |
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| A nice view of the bay with fishing boats and the skyline behind it. To the right is the old city, a totally different look. Apparently the skyscrapers shown here were all built within the last 5-10 years. More on the old city (where I am staying now) in my next blog update. |
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| Gearing up for Carnaval! This guy wasn't wearing the most elaborate costume, but I still loved him. |
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How gorgeous is she?
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| There were a bunch of guys wearing really cool, hand-made costumes like this. They would creep up on you then make you pay them to take a picture (though I actually snuck this shot). Some of them were just kids. |
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| As it started getting darker, more and more people arrived and the atmosphere became so magical and energized! |
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| Then the parade started. Float after float of elaborately costumed beauties and crazy sculptures of all sorts of non-Catholic things. So colorful and exciting! |
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This little girl was amazing. We were walking by the floats that hadn't entered the parade yet and when I approached her to take a shot she instantly struck this pose. She's a natural.
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| And the music! These guys were so great. There were so many different bands and speakers blasting super loud music from the floats but these guys really stood out. I'm a big brass fan. |
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I loved these ladies. They had giant watermelon slices as hats.
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| And to top it all off, a fireworks display at the end, right over the parade. Panamanians really know how to put on a show. |
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And here's our Carnaval-jazzed shadows on our way back to the hotel.
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