Back Home Again In Panama

 

Back In Panama

I returned to Panama yesterday (Apr 2) after a couple of weeks in Wilmington, N.C.  I had gone to N.C. for medical reasons and ended up in the hospital - The New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington. What an experience!

I was so 'blown away' by the experience that I am working on a separate blog posting to describe the experience. For those of you that have been hospitalized recently in the U.S., this may not be amazing info. If you have not been hospitalized I think you will be blown away just as I was. What  added to the shock for me was that I had been a patient in that hospital about six years ago. My, what a difference!

Stay tuned

The Easter Season In Panama

I am sure it would not surprise you that Easter is a big deal in Panama, as it is in most of the predominately Catholic nations in Latin America.  The Panamanians tendency to 'stretch' holiday celebrations of all kinds over several days makes it even bigger. And it is impossible to predict what businesses will be opened (and when) for the entire 4 day weekend (actually starting for many people mid-day Thursday).

So consider this. A million people (a third of the entire population of Panama) reside in Panama City. So this headline is a real attention getter.

400,000 People Traveling To The Interior for Easter

Yes, almost half the population headed to what is referred to as 'the interior' to celebrate with family and friends. And keep in mind there is only one highway that runs through the country, and only a couple of ways to cross the canal to exit the city. Do you see the potential for problems.

This is a picture taken in the Albrook bus terminal in Panama City on the Thursday before Easter as travelers crowded on to buses heading towards the interior of the country, to participate in the religious ceremonies of Holy Week.

The bus companies put on hundreds of additional buses to try and accommodate the increased passenger loads. Albrook terminal managers noted that about 5,000 buses were made available from different paths working 24 hours a day to move people. However, the highway will only accommodate so many vehicles.

And this is what it looked like on Sunday as more than than 47,000 cars returned to Panama City (as reported by the Transit Authority).  And what you can not see in the photo is that this jam backed up for miles for close to 24 hours. Sound like fun?

Happy Easter.

Ever Heard Of A Cabalgata?

Cabalgata is Spanish for a Horse Parade and the David Cabalgata is the biggest Horse Parade in Panama. And it is a big deal in this country.

The first year I was here for the cabalgata I was slack-jawed at the spectacle. For starters, the parade runs down the street right off my hotel balcony. It took almost four hours for the parade to pass by the hotel.

And every year I am surprised anew by this spectacle. It is hard to believe there are that many horses in all of Panama, much less up in this end of the country.

Panama's Pearl Islands

The Pearl Islands (Spanish: Archipelago de las Perlas or Islas de las Perlas) are a group of 100 or more islands (many tiny and uninhabited) lying about 30 miles (48 km) off the Pacific coast of Panama in the Gulf of Panama.  The archipelago has a rich and long history.

On Contadora Island and other islands in the group pre-Columbian artifacts have been found. The biggest island, Isla del Rey, more than fifteen pre-Columbian recognized archeological sites of the "Cuevas" and "Cocle" cultures have been identified. However none of the original population remain.

The islands were first occupied by Indians who were wiped out within two years of the islands' discovery by the Spanish. Spaniard Vasco Nunez de Balboa named the islands Pearl Islands on his discovery of them in 1513 due to the many pearls which were found there. A local chief, presented the 'visitors' with baskets of pearls, but this simply made the Spaniards want more and hastened the destruction of the native population. The Spaniards then needed workers to harvest pearls and imported slave labor in the 16th century from Africa whose descendants now live on the islands, particularly del Rey.

The Islands were relatively undisturbed until the 1960s and 1970s when the building of the resort on Contadora took place to which the Shah of Iran retreated in 1979.

The islands have a world-famous distinction - a hugh pearl that at the time of its discovery, was the largest pearl ever found. The original weight of this pear-shaped pearl was 55.95 carats. Named 'La Peregrina' was discovered in the early 1500s by an African slave at the Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama. Its name means "rare," or "special," and it was offered to King Phillip II of Spain, becoming part of the crown jewels of the Spanish Crown.

Fast-forward to 1969, when it showed up at auction in Sotheby’s. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who had married for the first time five years earlier, were both still enjoying the success of their movie "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf," which Taylor won her second Academy Award for.

Burton went to Parke-Bernet galleries, to attend an auction of fine art on Jan. 23, 1969. Burton bought and then gave it to his wife on Valentine´s Day. And as had happened a century before, one day the pearl went missing from the couples´ suite at Caesar´s Palace in Las Vegas.

"I reached down to touch La Peregrina and it wasn’t there," Elizabeth Taylor wrote in her book 'Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair With Jewelry'. "I retraced all my steps in the bedroom. I took my slippers off, took my socks off, and got down on my hands and knees, looking everywhere for the pearl. Nothing."

And then, she thought not her husband but someone else in the suite may have it. "I just casually opened my puppy’s mouth and inside his mouth was the most perfect pearl in the world. It was – thank God - not scratched."

 

Till Next Time. Pura Vida