This stand has been on this corner ever since I have been coming to Panama. It is on Via Espana, one of the busy shopping streets. He has never had a mola that I have even been slightly interested in.
Same street. The female figures on the ads across the street are advertising a bar with lap dancers.
When I checked back into the hotel they only had a double room. It was very comfy, larger than the single, and in the quiet part of the hotel. I decided to splurge and keep it. It was $33 a night including tax. Oh...the luxury of comfort.
Off to the Handicraft Market near Plaza Cinco de Mayo where I used to be able to find lots of molas and the appliqued black squares. This year I found ONE mola here I was even vaguely interested in buying, and none of the little purses I also used to buy here. Prices had gone way up and quality had gone way down. I managed to find a few black squares in this shop run by a Kuna couple. But no molas. There were only around half the mola shops which I found on my last visit.
The plaza at the market. 
The outside of one shop. There seems to be less molas and more trinkets everywhere.
I had lots of time in the evenings to work on getting the molas and black squares ready to sell. The black squares all were sewn in rows and needed to be taken apart. Then when I get home they have to all be pressed (I don't think the Kunas have irons) and trimmed (sometimes the backing is hanging out). The mola blouses also have to be taken apart...a process that sometimes takes a couple of hours or more. The molas also have to be pressed and trimmed.
Another favorite market is in the suburbs in the other direction at Panama Viejo...the ruins of Panama City from the 1500's. I have been through the ruins a number of times and although I am a big history fan they just don't excite me all that much. This is the famous tower, which has heavily been restored.
More ruins. I was slightly more successful in the Handicraft shop across the street from the ruins and bought 4 or 5 molas here. On my last visit I probably bought at least 30 here as well as lots of the small black squares. Again, there were a lot fewer vendors here as on my last visit and the quality of the molas is declining.
The outside of one shop. There seems to be less molas and more trinkets everywhere.
I had lots of time in the evenings to work on getting the molas and black squares ready to sell. The black squares all were sewn in rows and needed to be taken apart. Then when I get home they have to all be pressed (I don't think the Kunas have irons) and trimmed (sometimes the backing is hanging out). The mola blouses also have to be taken apart...a process that sometimes takes a couple of hours or more. The molas also have to be pressed and trimmed.
Another favorite market is in the suburbs in the other direction at Panama Viejo...the ruins of Panama City from the 1500's. I have been through the ruins a number of times and although I am a big history fan they just don't excite me all that much. This is the famous tower, which has heavily been restored.
More ruins. I was slightly more successful in the Handicraft shop across the street from the ruins and bought 4 or 5 molas here. On my last visit I probably bought at least 30 here as well as lots of the small black squares. Again, there were a lot fewer vendors here as on my last visit and the quality of the molas is declining.
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