We left Bocas del Tora, an archipelago of islands in the Caribbean, this morning and I have some lasting impressions to share. Bocas is built out over the water…most of the stores and restaurants in town are built on piles and much of the business and daily life of this area is done by boat. The little panga’s (water taxi’s) zip around between the islands, dodging the slower and more traditional, hand-paddled (and often dugout) canoes which are still numerous and popular as a means of transportation.
The flavour of the area is much more “Caribbean” than anywhere else in Panama…which isn’t surprising, as it’s in the Caribbean!
The beaches are beautiful and numerous…
…and you may not have to be a millionaire to have waterfront property! Between the fish at his front door and the bananas at his back door, you can see why fried fish and fried plantains are so popular (and they’re delicious too!)
Although these hand embroidered Molas are made by the Kuna women of the southern Darien region, they’re for sale all over Panama. Molas are hand made using a reverse appliqué technique. Several layers (usually two to seven) of different-coloured cloth (usually cotton) are sewn together; the design is then formed by cutting parts of each layer away. The edges of the layers are then sewn down.
We ended our time here with a day wandering through the mangroves,
watching dolphins play in the bay, finding gentle sloths in trees and discovering the teeniest, tiniest of bright red frogs…barely an inch long!
But for most of the time that we were Boca del Toro during the “dry” season, this is what happened…
to get the actual effect of the torrential downpour that went on for days, the volume needs to be turned up loud...it was so loud we could hardly hear each other speak!
We got lots of rest, read lots of books and listened to the howler monkey in the jungle around us who were complaining about the rain too.
Gorgeous colours - I can almost smell the beach!
Posted by: Tess | 03/09/2010 at 12:36 PM
...I think I could spend years just exploring all of the Caribbean islands and inlets...and resorts!...Sometimes a few days of rain is just what is needed to catch up on reading and napping:)...Lovely photos!
Posted by: Gail | 03/11/2010 at 08:02 AM
What a gorgeous and colourful place! If you lived there, it would probably feel like you were on a permanent vacation. Wonderful photos, Kate! For some reason the last photo, just before the video, wouldn't load for me. Normally, I can right-click and choose Show Picture but, when I did that, it didn't give that option. Btw, we get that torrential, heavy rain here at times....it can get very loud.
Posted by: Serena | 03/15/2010 at 02:36 PM
oh, this is somewhere I must visit....your photos are stunning. The colors, the architecture, the beach...all perfect. When we were in Costa Rica we experienced these pounding rains and howler monkey's. Happy that you home and settled.
Posted by: Stephanie | 03/15/2010 at 08:48 PM