Isla Iguana

The school is on trimester break, so we have a bit of free time before it resumes on Monday.  We have Peace Corps and Ministry of Education meetings this week, but we managed to squeeze in a visit to the town of Pedasi and its famous Iguana Island.  Pedasi is a quaint small town with many wilderness beaches.  It is rapidly developing into a tourist site.  Its population of almost 3000 consists of 25% foreigners from all over the world.  There are lots of restaurants and hotels to cater to the tourist population.

Iguana Island

Edwin was our captain for the day.  He took us on the 20 minute ride to Iguana Island.  It was pretty choppy heading out into a fresh breeze, but the way back was much smoother.

The island is a nature preserve, so there was lots of wildlife.  Of course we had to look for iguanas, given the name of the island.  This one didn't mind standing still for a photo op.

These little guys are actually quite endangered.  People here like to eat them!

These little multicolored crabs were everywhere, especially in the woods. They tended to stay out of the open so the birds wouldn't get them. There were literally hundreds of them.

These are frigate birds, quite large, with forked tails.  This is their nesting ground, so there are lots of them.  They like crabs for a meal!

These little hermit crabs didn't mind crawling around in the open where the birds could get them.  I guess the shells they carry around with them really do work for protection.

They're everywhere!

Here we are enjoying the beach!  There is a coral reef just offshore, so we were able to see lots of tropical fish.  It really is a beautiful spot.

There was another beach on the back side of the island.  There was no coral there, and there were more waves, but it was a pretty spot.

We found a lovely quiet bed and breakfast inn in the town of Pedasi.  It was a short walk from the beach.  The owner, Robert, is a wonderful guy and speaks several languages.

Orchid festival

This past weekend was the annual orchid festival in the town of Las Minas, a larger town down the mountain from us.  This is the time of year when many orchids are flowering, including the national flower, the Flower of the Holy Spirit.  You can see the figure of a dove in the flower.  

Flor del Espiritu Santo 

This flower is so popular that many hybrids have been made.  Here is one.  The dove has a different shape.

Here are some examples of other orchids. (No, we don't know the names!)

Heather in front of an orchid display

Steve makes his first orchid purchase

There was a lot of other activity during the weekend.  Many artisans were selling their work.  A group from our town makes colorful crocheted handbags from recycled plastic bags.  The group was organized by a volunteer from the Japanese equivalent of the Peace Corps.

Of course the weekend would not be complete without a parade with women in their polleras.  

There was a booth manned by the teachers of the Chepo school.

Steve with Heather's co-teacher Ormelis

It's never too soon to start the kids on the traditional costumes.

Where did he get that moustache?

There were also dancing troupes in the parade.

Each town in the district had their own cart drawn by a pair of oxen.

The parade somehow started 3 hours late.  We expected it to start "Panamanian time", which would have been an hour or so late, but we were surprised by the 3 hour wait. Even our Panamanian friends joked about it.  As luck would have it, rain came in the middle of the parade.  Panamanians, though, are used to the rain and the parade continued without a hitch.

This girl was smart enough to bring an umbrella

Here is the cart from our town of Chepo.  Luckily this girl has a roof over her head.  The driver of the cart seems more interested in the mom pushing the stroller than anything else.  His typical Panama hat suffers when wet.  Many campesinos put a plastic bag over the hat in rainy weather.  This man has to make do with a bandana. 

This girl represents Chepo.  She lives two doors away from us and  often visits our home.

Chepo's queen for this festival

Every parade in this area has someone representing a bull

This little boy smiles for the camera.

That's it for this week!

Steve and Heather