Panama
I wrote this diary on a trip I took to Panama in August 2004. Photos will be forthcoming.
August 7, 2004
I am going to try to take some notes about my trip. Currently I am sitting at the Pittsburgh Airport waiting for my 1:35 PM flight to Atlanta.
There are shops here- a mall. One of the shops sell headphones. I must remember to tell John and Bob about the cost - $179.00. Didn't seem to be anything special about them.
Security was ok. Not too difficult to get through. It was harder buying that DVD at K-Mart yesterday.
Flying in post 911 seems to be less frantic. I see a lot of soldiers either going on leave or returning. They are handsome young men.
Most people seem to be taking domestic flights. The few people I've talked with is curious about my trip to Panama. They would really be surprised about San Blas.
One lady here is telling another about leaving her purse in Minneapolis.
Atlanta 3:55 PM
There are a lot of solders here. Many have Arabic on their uniforms as well as English.
I walked from concourse 'b' to concourse 'e.' The train's audio is much more clear than when I was here previously. It use to sound like a zilon - not any longer.
There are also a lot of guitars going on as carry-on luggage. Most are in soft cases. I wouldn't do it - hard cases are much better though heavier.
August 8, 2004 Midnight
I finally made to to Panama City, Panama. It's humid here. Not as hot as I imagined but it's in the middle of the night.
Saw cops with automatic weapons. This doesn't seem to be the type of place to get in trouble with the police.
Tomorrow morning is a tour of the rain forest.
I wonder why airlines show terrible movies?
Someone got on the wrong plane. They wanted Panama City, Florida. They said they wondered why they got a meal.
August 8, 2004 6:25 AM
Only slept for a few hours - strange bed. Annoying!
Got CNN on TV - it's mostly the American elections. Many of the stations here are English with Spanish subtitles.
Found the Bible - English and Spanish.
Saw a billboard for a "learning community." Rosemary would be proud.
Ok, my first view of Panama actually has to be the song birds. Many of the songs sound the same as Ohio but then you can hear something completely foreign. The birds are everywhere.
Off in the distance I can see huge ships lining up to go through the canal. Somehow it reminds me of Lake Erie just on a larger scale.
I've seen mangos, coconut and mangrove trees. The mango trees have parking places available but no one parks there. The mangrove tree has long spindly offshoots form it.
There are many trees I cannot identify.
Except for the humidity it is a wonderful day. It is damned humid.
The sunrise I saw was with lightning off in the distance. Pity I did not get a photo of it. (2008 comment - this was the hurricane that hit Porta Gorda, Florida in 2004.)
Later -
Ok, I am onboard ship after being in the rainforest.
Here is a list of the animals I saw:
three toed sloth
black vulture
lizard
toucan
ant nest
wasp nest
Whit eaglet
slider turtles
Blue Morphos butterfly
White faced monkey
Howler monkey
Iguana
Croc
Spider monkey
Agonny
Eagle in flight
Panama makes $2.3 million in shipping every day. The people live by subsistence farming and fishing. The Panama Canal is fresh water not salt water and is dependant on the rainforest to exist.
We got stopped three times by the police. It's a bit disconcerting to have to talk to someone when he has an automatic rifle and does not speak English. I think it was a show for the gringos though.
I already got sunburnt!
August 9, 2004 - AuchoToTo (Dog Island)
The trip here was rough. Many of the passengers suffered with motion sickness.
We are 600 miles from the equator and in the doldrums.
Today should be snorkeling. Gotta get the sunscreen going before I get totally burnt.
AuchoToto 3:30 PM
Spent the day snorkeling off of Dog Island. There is a ship wreak off of the coast.
It is turning into a reef. The fish are outstanding here - from tiny little minnows to an eel that was at the bottom of the ocean.
Some say that the Kuna are descendants of the Mayans. I would say that is possible because their facial features are similar. The Kuna seem to be in transition.
The Kuna's cash crop is coconuts which we cannot pick up. They do subsistence farming and fishing - mostly fishing. A crab or lobster is $2.00. (I bought a huge crab for $3.00) The Kuna's population is 50,000 people on 356+ islands.
Dolphins in Kunalaya
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