Panama City - Panama

Today we docked in Panama City early in the morning and went through immigration for Panama.
Our excursion was a visit to the Panamanian rain forest and the Embera tribe that lives there. We traveled through the Chagres National Park and boarded dug out canoes owned by the village for a visit to their village. We met the Embera Chief and they performed some traditional music on our arrival and later on there was some ceremonial dancing. Along our way out of Panama City we stopped to get watermelon, mangos, pineapple, plantains and passion fruit. They prepared this for us along with some local Tilapia caught from the river we just traveled on. The fruit was very tasty and fresh. Probably harvested today. This is one of the seven tribes still living in Panama. There were some birds along the river we could see from the canoes. They described their native clothing and ways of using what they find in the rain forest for the woven baskets. They dye them with plants found in the forest for the red, blue, yellow, green and black coloring. They weave all sorts of baskets, plates, bowls and covered pots. We purchased one of the covered pots to bring home. We also found a hummingbird the is beaded to use as a christmas ornament.
One our return, we stopped to see a Tree Sloth just taking it easy in an almond tree. They don't eat the almonds, just the leaves. Another tree they showed us in the rain forest was the cashew tree. Very interesting to see the trees of something you have only seen as the processed nut.
Then back to the ship for some hot tub time and dinner. Tomorrow we travel through the Panama Canal!Read more