island life

dawn (it looks peaceful doesn't it)

So we went camping and it was great. There were toasted marshmallows, and coffee at dawn looking out over the water. There was snorkeling--a lot of snorkeling. The kids really took advantage of the time. There were a few minutes of rain huddled cozily, close in the tent. It was wonderful but... Oh yes, there is a but (there has to be right? or what kind of fairy tale am I living?) There was one small thing that prevented perfection.

So in Panama, people love music. They love music and they like it loud. Reggae, Salsa, Tipico, and really the list goes on. Panamanians love music, and love to listen to it everywhere (can you guess where I'm going with this?) restaurants, buses, stores, and even the beach. Now I knew this. I've been to the beach many times, and I've noticed the big booming stereos (hard to miss really). Usually we just move down the beach (to where you can just hear the faint thump of bass). It has never bothered me, and I've even admired people's obvious enjoyment. But camping on a small island... I did not feel admiration. People had generators and huge stereos. The music was constant and loud. I will be honest, at two in the morning, my feelings about Panamanians and there love of music was distinctly hostile.

So, don't camp on Isla Perro on a holiday weekend. Unless of course you plan to party all night, and then you'll have a great time. Our Kuna boat driver told us, we could camp a couple of islands over--where there were less people. And next time, that's what we'll do. Because it was glorious, and there are 378 islands in the archipelago so I'm sure we can find a quiet one.

Sunday afternoon Casco Viejo

We went down to Casco Viejo to see some streel theatre in Plaza Catedral. It was part of a performing arts that is going on right now and the show was really good.

clowns from Argentina

After the show we got ice cream and wandered around.

city view

ruins on the beach

the shady way

the lady with an iguana on  her shoulder

so many pretty things

gathering her wares

molas

the guy with the banjo played a little calypso

the bridge

tango on the saxophone

It was a very satisfying couple of hours. And the light was so lovely as we walked back to the car...

tips for taking a trip to Guna Yala

We're planning a camping trip to Guna Yala and I thought of a few useful tips that I didn't mention in my Guna Yala post.

• If you are going for the day, leave as early as you can. I think the prices are very fair, but you pay to enter the comarca, you pay to leave your car at the dock, you pay for the boat and finally, you pay to be on an island. Make a full day of it.
• The road to Carti is a winding, mountainous road. If you are prone to motion sickness you probably won't feel well. Come prepared.
• Bring your ID. If you are foreign, bring your passport and make sure your tourist visa is not expired. There is a SENAFRONT (border police) post before the dock at Carti.
• There are life jackets on the boats (all regular adult sizes, and some in better shape than others). But if you are traveling with small children, I would recommend bringing your own child-sized life jackets. 
• The boat drivers have snorkels to rent, but if you have your own bring them. Especially for kids--the snorkels on the boats are usually adult-sized and a little manky.
• Reef shoes are not necessary, but are excellent to have. My kids love their reef shoes and would not enjoy the beach, especially the Caribbean side, half as much as they do without reef shoes. 

Summit Municipal Park

Summit is a botanical garden and zoo. It's 20 km from Panama on the road to Gamboa. We usually go a couple of times a year and my kids always enjoy it. The grounds are beautiful and well kept. There are lots of picnic shelters and three playgrounds. There is a nice variety of trees and they are mostly all labeled. There's also an oropendola colony which is always cool to watch. But the big attraction is, of course the zoo.

The zoo has a decent selection of local animals including some big cats and a harpy eagle. There has been a real effort to modernize the zoo and the big cat enclosures are large and modern. It is difficult to see them in the heat of the day when they retreat to their dens. The harpy eagle is in a large enclosure, but it still makes me a little sad to see such a large raptor in a cage. There's an interpretive centre with some film footage of the harpy eagles in the wild. Harpy Eagles are threatened and i think it's worth the trip to Summit just to see the eagle. There is also a tapir. It is so beautiful, if you get to see it awake you will be rewarded with the biggest, soulful, brown eyes you've ever seen.  I would love to see one in the wild someday. The only exhibits I don't really like and can't reccomend, are the monkeys.

It's pretty easy to see monkeys in the wild around Panama. If you go to Parque Metropolitana early in the morning there's a good chance of seeing titi monkeys--which are actually tamarins and are sooo cute. We've seen howler monkeys and capuchins on the trails in Parque Soberania plenty of times. At Summit the monkeys are in older enclosures, and if you go on Sunday, you will probably see people feeding them chips beside the sign exhorting them to not feed the animals. Watching a monkey with orange cheeto dust on its face swing around its cage depresses me. I prefer to see monkeys in the wild.

So Summit is a nice, non-strenuous way to spend an afternoon, particularly with kids.

el charco

El Charco is a hiking trail and swimming hole in Soberanía National Park (25 km from the city).On Sunday we walked the short hiking trail and had a picnic. While we were eating we saw some capuchin monkeys. The trail is short, 15 minutes--I'm not sure what the exact distance is. It is a very easy hike but you have to cross a small creek in two places so be prepared to take off your shoes or wear something that can get wet.

The swimming hole is a pool where the creek has been damned. There's a picnic area with bathrooms and places to barbeque. On Sunday it was packed. But I imagine it's empty during the week, and I know it's less busy after summer vacation is over. We like it best during the rainy season when the pool is a little fuller and the waterfall a little bigger. But during the rainy season, the trail is muddier and the little creeks you have to cross are fuller.

March 2009, we had it all to ourselves

Our kids love this spot and I would really recommend it for families. Kids under twelve get in free and residents pay one dollar. I always forget to check the price foreigners, but I think it's three dollars.

Take a picnic and your bathing suit!

all-inclusive

The kids had a week off school (a break between terms) and we wanted to do something fun and get out of town.  We had some travel points on the credit card so we decided to try one of the all-inclusive places.  We usually rent some kind of cabin at a quiet, less popular beach and cook for ourselves.  We usually avoid the crowds.  We like adventures and to be off the beaten path.  We'd never been to an all-inclusive before and the kids were excited; I decided it was a different kind of adventure and was determined to go into it with an open mind.

When we arrived, the lobby was crowded and there was a pre-registration line (they gave you a number, like at the meat counter).  Somehow, when I saw all those people my mood plummeted and all my negative ideas about resorts came rushing in (so much for an open mind).  We had to wait more than an hour.  I tried to shake my mean mood, but I felt miserable.  How was I going to handle lining up with all these people for the next three days?  I knew I was being awful and petty, but I couldn't stop; I think the reality of the all-inclusive was hitting me a little hard.  When we finally got into our ground level (basically basement)  room (this did not cheer me up) I knew needed to do something or I was going to poison my kid's holiday.  I grabbed my runners and ipod and ran the curmudgeon out of my system.  Running relaxes me and honestly, once I got out on my own, I couldn't help but notice how pretty the place was.

We had a nice time.  We read and chatted and napped.  The kids swam and swam.  It was relaxing and really one of the laziest holidays we've ever had.  We didn't do any hiking or snorkeling or anything more strenuous than walk from our room to the pool.  It was good.

I have to admit that I didn't really like the food.  It was all that kind of chicken fingerish, generic, industrial kitchen, kind of food.  I understand that there probably is no other way to feed that many people.  I am not very tempted by food prepared by people in surgical masks and plastic aprons.  Although I'm sure it's all very sanitary, I do not equate hairnets with yummy.  But there was always fresh fruit so I didn't complain (too much).

It was fine for three days, but not not my favourite beach trip.  My kids might tell you different though, they really liked it.

miley

Not many big North American stars play concerts in Panama; Panama is small and the venue is not very nice.  So it's always a big deal when somebody does come and people get pretty excited.  But a few weeks ago when we heard Miley Cyrus was coming to town I didn't think much of it.  My husband said "you should take the girls," and I probably shrugged.  My girls are not huge Miley Cyrus fans.  Sure they've watched Hannah Montana and heard her songs on the radio, and my eleven year old is pretty fascinated by Miley's recent tattoos (we have some mother-daughter bonding over celebrity gossip--neither one of us can resist it).  But the expense and effort of a school night concert did not seem necessary to me.  My husband on the other hand, decided that they should go to the concert (he is the fun parent, if he could, he would take them to every concert and event that came to town).  I thought he would forget about it, he's a pretty busy guy and the girls were not begging to go or anything.

Then, in an odd convergence of events, he and I were at the mall together, on a weekday morning, doing an errand.  There was a big Miley Cyrus promotion going on: if you spent fifty dollars at the mall, concert tickets were half price.  Well, that was all the encouragement my husband needed, and within minutes I was in line with a lot of other parents for Miley Cyrus tickets.  Despite all my school-night, mom, trepidations and my total lack of desire to attend this event, I decided to just roll with it--I never do this kind of tacky, over-indulgent thing for my kids, and I thought it would be fun to surprise them.

So that is how is how I ended up escorting four preteen girls to a Miley Cyrus concert.

The concert was full of little girls and tiredish moms thumbing their blackberries.  I have to confess that I was fascinated by the spectacle.  Miley Cyrus is eighteen (I kind of suspect she feels much older) and her fans are mostly girls who've watched her as Hannah Montana.  Miley Cyrus is working hard to shed the whole Disney, teen-star image and cross over to regular, adult stardom.  However, her current fans are mostly girls, and stardom for a young woman is all about the male-gaze.  So there she was, in her leather underwear, covering "Smells Like Teen Spirit" for a bunch of twelve-year-olds in Central America and I could not look away.  Awkward  contradictions are my favourite! (I can't help it, I went to art school).  She did a Joan Jett medley complete with "Cherry Bomb" and "Bad Reputation" (two songs I love).  She sang her songs (how awful is that "Party in the USA" song?).  My girls seemed to enjoy it.  All in all it was a successful evening and not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.

Sunday in Casco Viejo

We had a great afternoon in Casco Viejo on Sunday.  We started with pizza at Caffe Per Due, a cute little, place with good pizza.

We wandered over to to Granclement for some ice cream.

and then we made our way over to plaza de la catedral, for the flea market.

We walked through the stalls and were delighted by a teenage folklore group doing some dancing in the middle of the plaza.  They really looked like they were having a good time, and the foreign tourists around us were totally blown away by them.  The girls were beautiful and the boys sang and yelled and waved their hats with joy and without irony or self-consciousness.  The folk dancing from the interior of Panama is full of good humor about hard work and country life (in one dance, the boys fan their hats just behind the girls because they are just too hot to handle and in another they wave their machetes as if they are going to cut the back of the girls skirt off)).  It was fun and totally unexpected.

There was also a group of kids from Colon doing the folk dancing from that province.  This particular folklore tradition is fascinating because it is a wild mix of Catholic and African that goes back to the Spanish Colonial period, and the communities of escaped slaves on the Atlantic coast of Panama.  The music is all drums and singing.  The songs are laments, it struck me yesterday how sad the words to the songs are.  The dances are very theatrical with a narrative about the devil trying to steal one of the children.  We went to the Festival of Diablos and Congos in Portobelo a couple of years ago and I can't recommend it enough.  The festival is a little rough around the edges, but the singing will give you goosebumps, and the devil masks are spectacular.  The kids yesterday did a nice job, and even got some the crowd in dancing with them.

My kids are convinced that the raspados in Casco Viejo are bigger and better than the ones we can get in our neighbourhood, and no visit to Casco is complete without one.

5 fun places to go with kids around Panama City

A couple of things you should know, I am not talking about places designed specifically for children, rather places that will appeal to the whole family.   Also, Panama City is hot and humid and you probably want to plan outdoor activities for earlyish morning and late afternoon (you will end up red-faced and soaked in sweat if you hike in Parque Metropolitano at high noon--trust me, I know).  In no particular order (and I'm sure this is not the definitive list), here are five great places to take kids in Panama City that are not the mall:
Parque Metropolitano

This is a beautiful park right in the city.  It is called the "lung of Panama."  On a recent morning visit we saw monkeys and a Motmot.  It always seems incredible to me that these beautiful animals are just right there (who needs zoos?).  The trails are all easy and well marked; it is possible to walk the network of trails in under three hours.  There are some of the best city views from the top lookout point (this is also a great spot to stop for a picnic).   The park is also home to a rehabilitation center; when we were there the other day, they were bringing in a tranquilized deer that had wandered out of the park and into the city.

The Causeway

The Amador Causeway has 5 kilometres of bike path/walkway along the Pacific entrance of the Canal.  It is possible to rent bikes and there are places to get ice cream and cold drinks (as well as lots of restaurants).  You will see spectacular city views and you can watch ships entering the canal.  There is usually a decent breeze on the causeway, making it a great place for kite flying.  The Smithsonian has a small nature centre on Punta Culebra, where there are touch pools (you can hold a starfish) and other marine exhibits.  Something I am very excited about is the opening (at the end of this year) of the Museo de Biodiversidad.  This natural history museum and botanical garden was designed by Frank Gehry and is interesting to look at under construction; it will be a great addition to the city.

Miraflores

Unless your kids are fascinated by feats of engineering (and I know some kids are), this is probably a place you'll only want to visit once.  Miraflores has a very good museum explaining the workings of the canal.  There is also a viewing deck to watch the locks in action.  The museum has some good hands-on exhibits that children will enjoy (a simulation of driving a boat through the canal).  It is one the most visited tourist spots in Panama, but with good reason.

Casco Viejo

The old city is beautiful.  The cobblestone streets and plazas around every corner make for some fun exploring.  You can get fancy ice cream or just a raspado (snow cone).  There are little shops and interesting buildings in various stages of repair and disrepair.  Casco Viejo is the cultural heart of Panama City and there is some interesting street art to look at as well as galleries to duck into.  Casco Viejo is great for a couple of hours of wandering on quiet afternoon.

Kiwanis Park in Clayton

I chose Kiwanis over Parque Omar because you can cycle on the loop around Kiwanis.  Parque Omar is a beautiful park but you can't cycle there.  If you don't have your own transportation, Parque Omar is probably a better choice than Kiwanis (taxis to Clayton can be difficult).   Kiwanis is a large sports complex in the canal zone (it's beside Ciudad de Saber/City of Knowledge) in Clayton.  There are soccer fields and baseball diamonds, a running/cycling path,  a gym, and a full-sized pool ($1 to use the pool!).  The pool facilities are clean and well maintained and there is a kiddie wading pool beside the big pool.  There are some beautiful trees on the perimeter of the park.  The park itself has picnic shelters and a playground.  The park gets quite busy on Sunday afternoons, but the rest of the week it's  quiet.  We taught both of my daughters to ride their bikes in this park.

“Don’t forget to marvel at the wonders of the world.”-Quan Yin

picnic in the pagoda

Sundays are for getting out of the house, for leaving the computer, for sitting under a tree.  We packed up some chocolate chip cookies and bought some ceviche on the way, and had a picnic at the little park behind the Chinese school.  

statue of Quan Yin (bodhisvatta associated with compassion)

The day was hot and bright.  There was a rowdy game of baseball on a diamond just below us and the sound of traffic from the corridor was relentless.  My youngest eyed the food; there was nothing she liked on the tablecloth.  I have to confess that sometimes I think that if I ignore her fussiness, it will go away (like one day she'll wake up and ask for a grilled eggplant and fontina sandwich).  She looked away from the food down to the, mostly dry, fishpond; she sighed dejectedly.  But she knows me too well, and instead of whining voicing her discontent,  she grabs a cookie and wanders off to discover the koi hiding in the shade of the bridge.

 I've been telling my kids a lot lately (in a thoughtless, get out of my hair, kind of way) that, "boring people get bored."  I know this is frustrating and not helpful to them, and a total cop out on my part.  But I do actually believe it.  And I honestly wonder, how do you teach your children to get inside the dull, and not so pretty, and see the beautiful and profound that is hiding there?  How do you keep them from carelessly turning on the TV, and flopping down in front of it at the first sign of a lull?  I know I probably can't force them into creativity and contemplation, but I so wish it for them.    

Phalaenopsis

  It was not perfect idyll, but we did find some peace and beauty in this small, unexpected park.

I scan the horizon for you, Mimi

We had a quick overnighter at the beach on the weekend.  It wasn't the greatest place; overpriced and only okay.  We needed to get away though, first-day-of-school anxiety was making an insomniac of my sixth grader.  The beach was the best remedy I could think of.

She reread all her Judy Blume books in the weeks before school started.  We chatted about  puberty and popularity.  Me, paddling madly beneath the surface, keeping my head up, maintaining a calm, effortless, buoyant, composure.  She's wading in and it scares me a little.

When I run, I often repeat the mantra, "step lightly" and sometimes just the word "light."  I think of it often when I'm talking with her; how important it is to not slam down on her with the full force of my own anxiety and fear.  light.  light.  light... 

Chagres National Park, Cerro Azul

view of the city on the way up

So I've been wanting to visit Chagres National Park for a while, and I decided that the easiest day trip would be up to Cerro Azul.  Cerro Azul is best known for its chicken barns and private gated community; it also borders on the park.  Cerro Azul is an hour from Panama (after Tocumen, you keep going to 24 de Dicembre, here you turn off at the Super 99--keep a close eye out for the signs because it's easy to miss them and end up in a maze of neighbourhoods).  On the road up, there are some nice views of the city and ocean (you may not want to stop, as people seem to be using these viewpoints as impromptu, garbage dumps).

There are many signs marking out the border of the park (often with chicken barns and big houses behind them), but there was no sign of a park office.  There's a police station, near the entrance to a private gated community, so we stopped to ask directions.  The officer told us that there was no park office, and that the road just ended about a kilometre further (both things totally untrue!).

We decided to head back to a restaurant we'd seen on the way up (it had a pool, so it wouldn't be a total bust for the kids).  While we drank cold beer, munched torrejitas de bacalao (salt cod fritters), and watched the kids in the pool, we talked to the owner.  The owner set us straight on the park office (it's about a kilometre past the police station).  I have no idea why the police officer lied to us--maybe he thought we looked a bit dicey in our SUV with two kids in the back.

After lunch we went to the park office and talked to the ranger.  He directed us to a trail down to a river.

the girls leading the way

pretty in pink

It's always important to look up in the jungle

It was a very pleasant ten minute walk down to a pretty river.

We got into our bathing suits and spent a relaxing couple of hours.

Later we drove further up the road to see what we could see.

a lovely view despite the deforestation

The Chagres River basin provides water for Panama, Colon and the canal.  The Chagres National Park is a huge park/conservation area, and seeing this little corner of it only made me anxious to see more.  I'm hoping we can check out the park by Lake Alajuela in a week or two. 

The Beach

Playa Santa Clara, Panama

We love the beach.  Like connoisseurs of sashimi or oysters, we like the beach unadulterated.  To me, resorts are like mayonaise spoiling a perfectly lovely piece of fish.  I have nothing against resorts (or mayonaise); I just prefer the beach without them. 

When we lived in Costa Rica, we spent every weekend at the beach.  We lived near a long stretch of pristine beach that has pretty much spoiled us for any other beach.   We would load the car with lunch and dinner, beach chairs, boogie boards, and kayak and we would spend the day, leaving only after the sun had set.  We shared these weekends with an amazing group of friends.  Those really were the best of times, and are the source of some of our fondest memories.

at the beach in Costa Rica (Esterillos Oeste)

Of course my children adore and exult in the beach; nobody gets the beach the way kids do.  My children arrive at the beach, throw open the car, and inhale (it's like some kind of primal homecoming).  It seems criminal to deprive them of this, and we try to get to the beach as often as we can.

When we first moved to Panama, one of our first questions for new acquaintances was, "Where do you go to the beach?"  The answer was never very satisfactory, either they didn't like the beach (?!) or they'd recommend a resort.  We started to wonder if there were any good beaches in Panama.  Turning to the internet, I found a great site that catalogues our kind of beach (Almanaque Azul) and we've been exploring all kinds of beaches since.  Last Sunday, we discovered a beach that meets all of our criteria (shade, no quads, no jet skis, no resort).

Playa La Ermita, Panama

Playa La Ermita is one of the last beaches in the province of Panama.  The entrance for this beach is at the first pedestrian bridge after the town of El Higo.  When we turned off the highway there was a police checkpoint, (they were checking for guns and hard liquor) and a couple of nice ladies collecting an entrance fee for the municipality (I don't mind paying this kind of thing at all--I applaud and support communities that look after and take pride in their beaches).  After two and  half kilometres of roughish gravel, the road divides; take the left road down to the beach.  At the beach there's a couple of restaurants (we had a packed lunch so we didn't stop).  There were two buses parked at one end of the beach, we just went the other way--there was plenty of room for everyone. We found a nice shady spot and settled in for the day.

The day was spectacular.  The beach was nice and clean and not crowded at all.  There is quite a large estuary that seemed popular with the local people.  The beach is quite steep going down to the water, but we didn't notice a big drop off in the water.  The kid-sized waves were perfect for playing in, and my youngest could not bear to be out of the water.  It did look like there was a surf break at the far end of the beach, but I didn't check it out.

After eating and walking and lots of playing, we left at three, hoping to beat the traffic.  The traffic back to Panama on a Sunday can really spoil the relaxing effects of the beach.  Thankfully our tactic worked, and we had a nice drive back to the city.  All in all, a marvelous day!