February – It’s Carnival!!

Our 2009 Carnival! issue of Panama Today Magazine is now online for your reading pleasure. Please click on the cover to open your February Panama Today Magazine. Enjoy!

If you would like to have a copy on your computer, you can download a PDF version of the magazine. To download your copy CLICK HERE

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Kuna Air? Really?

We know that Panama’s Kuna Indians have their own homelands but do they really have an airline?

This is really our wonderful photographer, Dan Hendrichs having a little fun. Let’s see what Photoshop can do. But you would not believe the number of Panamanians who have seen this picture and done a double take, ” I didn’t know the Kuna had their own airlines” is a common response.

Well for the record you will have to fly a local airline to get to Kuna Yala but you will not find Kuna Air. In the meantime. Enjoy the fun with us.

Be sure to show Panamanians this and ask them about Kuna Air. You will get some startled responses.

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Formal Costume or Native Dress, Which do you prefer?

Whether it is the formal Pollera, pictured on the billboard or the colorful native dress of the Kuna Indian, worn proudly by the young Kuna woman in the foreground, the costumes of Panama are unique and beautiful.

However, the Kuna costume is generally made to fit the Kuna and since the Kuna are the second smallest people in the world, larger only than the African pygmy, they do not ft too many North Americans. Although they do make beautiful gifts for young teens.

Everything is hand made in the Kuna costume, and like their art work, the Mola, the costumes are very colorful. The Kuna are also quite shy about revealing too much skin so you will see them covered usually from head to toe as this young lady shows us. They are getting more used to the amount of skin that many of us are willing to show and think nothing of it, especially in Panama City, but if you travel to their homelands of Kuna Yala in the far northeast corner of Panama do not be surprised if they stare at you if you wear a revealing top or short shorts.

There was a time not long ago when people were not allowed into Kuna Yala without being properly covered, men in pants and shirt and women with shoulders and legs covered, at least past the knee. These standards have been relaxed somewhat as they have now interacted more with people from northern regions who bare skin when it is hot. However the men still can not go bare chested, and women cannot wear skinny bikinis, without risking being asked to leave.

Since Kuna Yala is one of the most interesting places in Panama to visit, nestled away along the Caribbean sea, with pristine, bright blue waters, diving and snorkeling enthusiasts are likely going to be willing to cover up a little, in order to see all the wonders that there are to see here.

This is their land, please respect it and their customs. You will be fascinated by this area of Panama, where the natives still live just as they have done for years and years and even centuries.

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Monkey Talk

Don’t the monkeys make you feel young? So much energy and so much flexibility. Wonderful!
Take the opportunity to see the monkeys to be in their presence and just enjoy the magnificent scenery all around. Talk about getting away from all our worries and cares.

When you come to Panama do not just settle for Panama City even though it is vibrant. Get out of the city, get over to the Caribbean side, get into the rain forest, find nature and enjoy. There is so much to see and do. Every day a new vista, every day a new adventure.

Find the monkeys and feel young again.

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Portobelo

The guns at Portobelo in their current state are amazing. Talk about a step back in time. These truly were the cannons that were put in place shortly after Christopher Columbus founded this beautiful port and named it Port Beautiful. Portobelo

There is no charge for entering this historical place and you can go right up to the fort, see where the gunners who guarded the ports stood, see the cannons as they were left, 180 years ago when Portobelo was deserted and activity moved to the city of Colon.

If you want to snorkel or dive, you will be amazed at all the interesting parts of history you will find here hidden beneath the waves of the Atlantic. Not long ago they in fact found a ship which they believe to be the ship that Christopher Columbus lost here 400 and some odd years ago.

So come and spend some time in Portobelo and let your imagination run wild. Imagine this beautiful port filled with those huge sailing galleons, what did the men from Europe think as they gazed out for the first time on a whole new world. Consider the trips of the gold across the country of Panama long before there was a road or a railroad or the canal. If you think we hqave life hard, imagine their days work. What did they eat, what thoughts did they think

This really is an extraordinary place. In America there would be a huge charge to enter this historical place and an amusement park set up around this very historical location, but here in Panama it just waits for your investigation.

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Kuna Indian and their Molas

The Kuna women with their unique costume and tiny size are readily identifiable all over Panama City as well as Kuna Yala which is their home. Never do you see a Kuna woman with empty hands. They are usually seen carrying a young child or making one of their distinctive Molas. This handiwork has been handed down through the generations and they weave intricate patterns using many layers of colored cloth.

Today, unfortunately, they have started creating designs that sell commercially. However, originally this was their form of art and worship and the designs were for the purposes of recognizing their deities, their stories and their history.

Look carefully and you can sometimes find the original art work hidden amongst the commercial art molas they have started to create in order to sell them to the unknowing visitor.

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Sun Sea Sky Paradise

The Caribbean side of Panama is far less developed than the Pacific side, so these amazingly beautiful, vacant spaces are readily available to everyone. To the boating enthusiast this is heaven on earth as the sea is calm and tide changes are less than 1 foot.

Come and enjoy Paradise awaits you

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