Trip to Panama

 Ok.  This trip was about 2 months ago.  But due to my problems learning to use this camera I didn't unload the photos until tonight.  My computer guru (commonly known as Michael, my son-in-law) came over and solved my user error problems. 

 For my first night I chose to stay in a hostel for a number of reasons.  Its cheap. (Panama City is expensive) It is a short night.  And my ride to the San Blas Islands was booked through the hostel and left from here (at 5:00 am)

 My room wasn't much and had a shared bath.  I had originally booked it for the three days when I returned and luckily changed my mind and booked another hotel.

 I can't imagine being cooped up here for three days working on molas.  It was fine for one quick night.

 The next morning it was off in a comfortable van to the edge of the city, through the countryside and over the steep hills to the dock where I caught a boat to the San Blas Islands.  Before you hit the dock you have to go through Army Security and check out of the country.  A couple without passports were turned back there.  At the dock you have to check in and pay a fee to visit.  They are a territory.At the dock a boat picks you up and takes you to the appropriate island.

 This is common for one of the boatmen to stand in the front.

When I arrived the hotel owner's wife organized a display of molas in front of her house.  The Kunas are a matriarchal society and she had just built a new wooden house across from the hotel.

 My room.  No screens or glass.  Electricity from dark to dawn.

I usually have a room downstairs so this was a treat to have a bathroom with light.  Try combing your hair and putting on lipstick in a dark bathroom sometime.  No hot water of course.

 A soccer field by the school.  Basketball is their other big sport.

 This is a hotel which takes up the whole island.  It is a former Smithsonian research station.

 A playing field on another island.  That is a store in the front.

 Dinner.

 The view from my window.

 The hotel owner's wife and mother.  It was a treat to be able to photograph them.

 The street in front of my hotel.  The restaurant is to the right, the hotel to the left.  As streets go here it was quite wide.

 Back in Panama City I had splashed out and had a suite.  Boy was I glad that I did.  Terrific air conditioning and really comfortable.

 With a nice little kitchen.  The hotel furnished a nice breakfast and I stocked up for my other meals at the local supermarket.

 Tons of space.  I sat and worked at taking apart mola blouses for three days

The end of the toilet paper roll the way the maid folded it.