Music of Bocas

On our last day in Bocas, as we lounged on the dock of our hotel, we enjoyed listening to the neighbors next door who were playing the guitar and singing. This seems to be quite a tradition in Bocas - the last time we visited, over Christmas last year, we heard a lot of playing and singing. It is pretty hot, and most people don't have A/C, so they spend a lot of time catching the air outside of their classic Caribbean-style wood houses, which usually have wide porches on the first and second floors. Click on the photo below to listen.

Ngobe village near Bocas

We had the opportunity while in Bocas to visit a Ngobe (pronounced NO-bay) indigenous village called San Cristobal which is just about a 10-minute boat ride from Bocas del Toro. It is a Peace Corps site where a great volunteer named Piper is working on a tourism project with a group of Ngobe women. We had a guided hike through the jungle where the woman's group leader, Esperanza, explained to us the traditional uses of a bunch of native plants. It seems that there is a great need for treatments for fever, stomach aches, "bad spirits" and everything having to do with childbirth and labor. The red plant pictured here is used to mark the property lines of each Ngobe family's farm plot. They don't have communal land as some other groups do - families farm their own plots and pass them down to their sons when they die. The red plant also marks the boundaries for burial plots.

Making Cacao

One of the big cash crops of the Ngobe is cacao. Cacao grows on trees, and here, our hero Jim B is cutting down a pod. The cacao beans are enclosed by a super sweet white fruit. The Ngobe separate out the beans and dry them before selling them.

Lunch at San Cristobal

This was our lunch at the Ngobe village - coconut rice, chicken, plantains and a vegetable dish from the sepa plant that tastes similar to the Indian dish saag. It was great.

Making Ngobe fiber bags

Esperanza showed us how to make the well-known (in Panama) Ngobe bags made from the fiber of a long leaf found in the jungle. After cutting the leaf, you scrape off the green stuff until only fibers are left. The fibers are dried, braided, and made into woven bags that the Ngobe use for everything. I bought one for the beach. It is awesome!

Cutest baby ever

The Ngobes use the fiber bags for everything, including babies.

Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

In August, we visited Isla Barro Colorado, which is a biological research station run by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). The island is in Lake Gatun, a large man-made lake which was created when the Chagres river was dammed to as part of the creation of the Panama Canal. http://www.stri.org/english/visit_us/barro_colorado/

Scientists from all over the world come to STRI to conduct research - they have dorms and a cafeteria and the researchers, and sometimes their families stay for weeks or even years.

We had a nice hike in which it poured rain almost the entire time. It was fun anyway, because the rain made the howler monkeys come out and howl, which scares the crap out of you the first time you hear it. Here are a few photos from things we saw: bats, spiders and frogs. Cool stuff.