Panama

My nephew Braeden is flying to Spain this summer with a layover in Amsterdam. His parents are worried he will miss his connecting flight. That’s okay, I tell them. Kaitlin missed a connecting flight in South Korea and Kristen missed a connecting flight in Panama. Instead of a cautionary tale, this is intended to be an example of how we all make mistakes. Still, I warned Braeden to set an alarm. Kristen missed her flight because she fell asleep in the airport. The airline didn’t have another flight for 24 hours, so she was able to see the canal. Her friends who were sailing out of Trinidad and Tobago waited for her, so she still had a great trip.

Kristen’s second trip to Panama was more purposeful. She went sailing and snorkeling in the San Blas Islands and dove out of Bocas del Toro. For more information on diving in Panama, check this webpage and see the beautiful video about a third of the way down the page: https://divezone.net/diving/panama

I haven’t made it to Panama in person yet, but last August I went with Gladys and Joanie to the Panama Lawn Program in San Diego. The Lawn Programs are part of a series by the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages in Balboa Park. One group of Panamanian women dancers had wide embroidered skirts and flower headdresses with an apparent Spanish influence. The men in this group did a lot of hat work. Another group also had wide skirts, but with an African vibe of bright color blocks. Dancing is clearly important to Panamanians. They apologized several times that, due to COVID, they couldn’t invite everyone on stage to dance with them as they usually do. Panamanian dances I found online include:

· The Spanish descended dance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YfVzyMPYVY

· A dance from the Afro-Panamanian tradition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wztGGGYrnNE

· Kuna dancing (I didn’t see this native dance in San Diego, but I love the men playing the pipes while dancing. I think this video is my favorite): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hhZJa9elng

The organizers of the Lawn Program gave away a mola (a piece of art from the Kuna people) in the raffle. To learn more, I found an elementary school art lesson showing some example molas and teaching kids how to make their own: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSOE3oYpiF0

While I was at the Lawn Program, I asked the people around me about Panamanian restaurants. One woman told me there aren’t any in San Diego. She offered to cook for me. I might have taken her up on it, but I found the Panamanian owned Caribbean Soul Kitchen on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. Cathy and I ate there on our way to a play. We had the wonderful jerk yucca fries, patacon (fried plantain patties), sancocho (a well-known chicken dish from Panama), and fried whole snapper. We drank the spicy and delicious pineapple ginger and Rio Bajo mango juices. The friendly owner chatted with us about Panama and the food from there. Here are some representative recipes: https://ourbigescape.com/15-top-panamanian-cuisine-recipes-to-try/

While I was visiting Panama in San Diego and Los Angeles, I was also listening to The Path Between the Seas by David McCullough. Warning! The audiobook has a nine hour version and a thirty-two hour version. I had started the thirty-two hour version, but fortunately the library recalled it due to a hold and I discovered the nine hour version to replace it. It covered the details that I wanted to know about building the Panama canal, but didn't get into huge backstory on everyone who ever touched it. I highly recommend the nine hour version.

Depending on how much you like pirate stories, you might want to read The Pirates of Panama by John Esquemeling. Even though it takes this book awhile to get to Panama, according to Goodreads this is the only firsthand account of an actual pirate. It was published in 1678 and you can find it on Project Gutenberg: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26690/26690-h/26690-h.htm

What other fun things can you do in Panama while staying at home?

· Watch Sech in a Tiny Desk Concert https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdHPotMqv1M

· Read a weird little story about babies: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2018-08/august-2018-panama-open-hands/

· See a huge variety of hummingbirds at the Rainforest Discovery Center: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaSoz9BSlI8

· Compete vicariously for a million dollars in Survivor: Pearl Islands. This is the first of five seasons with Sandra (that woman can play!) and the season where Rupert steals the shoes. It’s available on CD from the San Bernardino County Library.

Kanopy has plenty of videos on the Panama canal, the Panama papers, the invasion in 1989 deposing Noriega, and migration to Panama, but I am being a tourist right now, not a historian, so I watched A Sloth Named Velcro and enjoyed getting up close with some adorable animals.

There are so many things to do in Panama! Here’s a list https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-day-trips-from-panama-city/ and yes, I would love to go! I look forward to a time when we can all travel, and hope we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Panama and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: Zdeněk Macháček https://unsplash.com/photos/kGPn_ElNw4c