This is the last set of photos from our recent trip, taken on the drive home. They are the photos that I like best from my collection of that day, and I hope some will give you a feel for the area and the beauty we saw on our drive home.
I snapped this photo as we left the hotel because I love these wood pillars. There is a lot of wood everywhere – the ceiling, furniture, trim, cabinets, lamps, everything you can think of. Someone there must be a good woodworker who loves this type of beautiful wood.
As we drove away from the hotel we saw this man walking up the road with a heavy bag on his shoulders.
Every typical mode of transportation in one photo – car, bicycle, and horse. Of course we can’t leave out the dogs.
We head to the center of town, this intersection with the convenience store in the blue building.
Traffic jam! Cars and horses try to make their way though while the school kids practice their parade marching in the street, and the policeman keeps order and watches out for the kids.
Just a guy on his horse
This man was stopped in the middle of the road to check on his horse’s foot.
Another man with his machete and work tools.
A dog taking a nap in the street.
As we drive, we go through more hills and it seems to get more and more beautiful.
Even in this rural and remote area, the road is in very good condition.
We saw some very basic housing, like this place made of thatched roof and walls.
Here’s another. The door is just a plank leaned up against the opening.
The rice is so green that it makes a beautiful sight.
More hills, more green….
A little housing complex?
A guy with a gas can on his shoulder walks along with his little boy.
More beautiful hills
It’s so pretty here that there are endless photo ops
The ups and downs make driving interesting
Seeing how people live in this area makes me feel like I have so much
More driving through the hills
Panamanians are concerned about skin health, and they don’t want to get any darker so umbrellas for sun protection are very common.
It seems to get more and more beautiful, and more hilly as we get closer to the PanAmerican highway.
A man with his machete walks along the PanAmerican highway.
Later we saw what appears to be a dam under construction. Panama uses a lot of hydroelectric power since there is a lot of water here.
The PanAmerican highway also goes through beautiful scenery.
Some men ride their hoses along the highway.
Clothes for sale – the type of dresses worn by the indigenous people of this area.
As we get closer to home, we see the huge waterfall in the distance.
The Panama Adventure 
looks so beautiful!!
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It is! Panama is a really beautiful country everywhere you look.
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Over the years living here in Panama I’ve seen a lot of those shacks and certainly neither you, I, or anyone we know would choose to live in one of them, but then I also think, well, they aren’t living under a bridge. They aren’t sleeping on a park bench or in some doorway somewhere. They have a place to go to when it rains, and it’s THEIRS! And to me, the poor who live in those shacks are WAY AHEAD of the homeless back in the States.
I remember taking the bus over to Almirante to get out to Bocas del Toro, and on the other side of the continental divide you see a lot of shacks like that. No electricity, no running water, but the children who live there came out to catch the bus to go to school and their school uniforms were CLEAN! The shirts and blouses were brilliantly white and the skirts and slacks were clean and pressed. There’s a lot of poverty here, and it’s not hard to find it, either, but you don’t see “bag ladies” wandering around David with their lives in shopping carts.
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What strikes me – these people living in conditions that we think are so bad – they are hanging out with their friends and neighbors. Often there are flowers in the yard. The kids are running free outdoors. They are not freezing on a street corner hoping someone will give them a handout. I think they are way happier than our poor and homeless in the US, but are they happier than a lot of our middle class too? When we left there was so much suffering, lost jobs, lost homes, stress breaking apart families, shame, despair. When society is so much about material things, not having things is viewed differently.
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I use an old saying “You are possessed by your possesions”
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I love this! I have been thinking of writing something on this subject, and this is a great saying. Thanks 🙂
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