Chapter 48: Panama in Pictures

With the Americas portion of this adventure drawing to a close, we’ll be home on Saturday, I find myself in all the feels. There is the excitement of seeing friends and family, coupled with the desire to hold on to my truth, and not regress to the person I was when I lived there. I realize that this awareness is a sign of growth. I want to stay grounded in gratitude for all that this life has given us. I also want to continue to be intentional about my actions, words and deeds. I want to do it all of it while protecting my peace and energy. No small feat. 🤣

It is typical to be in all the feels at this point and it is somehow, still surprising. It is interesting to me that none of it really gets easier. No matter how much you reflect and learn about yourself and life it never ceases to amaze me. I guess that is part of the adventure too. My dad always says, “never stop learning.” I’ll add changing and growing to that as well.

With everything going on in the world, and especially in the wake of the devastation in Minnesota last weekend, with the terrible murder of the Minnesota House of Representatives Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, I feel even more the sense of privilege that I have. The privilege of being separated from the cruelness in the world, although I know terrible things are happening to humanity everywhere, because I live a relatively comfortable life, where my needs are met and I have the luxury of turning off/tuning out the news when it becomes too much for my heart to handle. None of those things, that I find myself doing as a tool for survival, keeps me from feeling it.

Dave and I both have a lot of feelings about being back in the United States. It feels hard to reconcile with the direction our country is going in when it is one that doesn’t align with our hearts/truths/souls. We only had a few days of direct exposure to it before we left the country six months ago. We are informed and it is impossible to know the full extent of it. It is so much, and, I know that “you have to feel it to heal it”. I also know that forgiveness is the only way through. I’m just not there yet. Right now it feels far from my realm of understanding.

As an empath I have found that reiki really helps remind me of what matters and what I want to prioritize. It resets what my intentions are for my life. I know that at the beginning of this adventure I really wanted to share my light wherever we went. It makes me think of the quote from Gandhi that I had in my classroom all my years of teaching that said “be the change you want to see in the world.” I will try to hold on to that important reminder moving forward. My hope is to do everything with and through love, because that is what the world needs more of.

Sending you love wherever you are!

❤️Alison

After three weeks in Puerto Rico, and a 4.5 hour layover at the Bogota airport, we arrived in Panama City, Panama on June 7th. This was the view from our balcony that we woke up to that first morning.

Dave said that one of the YouTube videos he watched called Panama City “the Dubai of Central America.” With all the tall buildings you can see why.

Panamá Viejo (Old Panama) Ruins. Our first Sunday we visited Old Panama which was founded in 1519. I appreciated the juxtaposition between the old architecture and the new.

There was a lot of cool wildlife around the ruins of Old Panama as well. The Green Iguana.

The Black Spiny-tailed Iguana. Which from what I could gather, loves to stretch its head up to the sun. Which we have learned there isn’t a lot of during the rainy season. At least we got lucky on the weekends when Dave could explore too. 🙂

Panama City has a nice esplanade along the Cinta Costera that offers great view of the bay.

Where you can meet friendly kitties along the way.

And also has views of Casco Viejo (Old Town) Panama. Even when the sun isn’t out it is a hot and humid time to be in Panama. Most days it is 85 degrees by 8am and even the shortest walk can have you soaked with sweat. Yay! 😉

And, the nighttime rooftop views are spectacular! It also is one of the few places where you can find a breeze!

One of the days that it wasn’t raining I made the 55min hike to explore Casco Viejo.

Conjunto Monumental de Las Bóvedas (The Vaults used for prisoners and storage.)

Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Santa Maria the Ancient. It is the biggest church in Panama and construction began on it in 1688.

Casco Viejo has great views of the skyline.

I bought a vintage Panama license plate from one of the vendors on the pier.

The ruins of La Iglesia de La Compañía de Jesus (The Church of the Company of Jesus.) The church, as well as the entire area of Casco Viejo, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978 and dates back to 1578.

The Coca-Cola cafe is the oldest cafe in Panama. “It opened in 1875 and has been a meeting place for historical figures, including Fidel Castro and Che Guevara during their planning of the Cuban Revolution.” (Google)

More cool architecture. The F&F Tower, also called “Revolution Tower” or “El Tornillo” (“The Screw”), for its cool design.

On the 14th we took a boat tour on Gatun Lake. We were able to see where the middle of the Panama Canal is and spend the morning with some of the local wildlife. This is the White-faced Monkey enjoying some peanuts.

We also saw the very shy Tamarin Monkeys and fed them some bananas.

These cuties were on the roof of another tour boat. They were using the lemons to clean themselves and each other.

One the way back to the bus we got to see a huge cargo ship on Gatun Lake.

One night we did a little more exploring around our neighborhood of Belle Vista. This is the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen (Spanish for Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel).

We also saw the Einstein Head in El Cangrejo which is a bustling college neighborhood.

This past Sunday, Dave and I went back to Casco Viejo together to explore some more. We saw the inside of The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Santa María la Antigua.

Art inside the cathedral. “Come Gallina” by Ureña Ramos.

Beautiful stained glass of San Vicente de Paul.

Views from the Casco pier. This is the Bio Museum.

We also visited the Panama Canal Museum. This is an old light/glass from a lighthouse.

This is a ceramic funeral mask recovered in Miraflores from 600-800 c.e.

This flag covered Ambassador Miguel J. Moreno when he went to Washington D.C. in 1964 to aid in the Inter-American Peace Commission.

“Mirages of the Gap” by Cisco Merel.

The following pictures are some of the pieces from and exhibit inside the Panama Canal Museum. It is entitled Surcos. “Traces: On the Body and on the Land. The exhibit is “a profound reflection on the enduring traces that migration leaves on individuals and their surroundings.” The messaging was very powerful an current to the happenings around the world.

The curators Ana Elizabeth González and Mónica E. Kupfer write, “The extraordinary works of art in this pavilion shed light on overlooked experience, forging a path toward empathy. They serve as a poignant reminder, urging the viewer, not to relegate to oblivion the stories of those who have faced unimaginable violence and hardships in their efforts to reach a better place. The exhibition aims to establish a connection between art and a current crisis that we only understand in an incomplete and fragmented way. It endeavors to create an echo within the viewers as they consider the lives of others who are forced to carve out their own arduous journeys-the kind that leave indelible traces on the land and on the body.”

“Everything that is noble and true” by Giana De Dier.

Migrar (To Migrate) “Migration is a right, not a crime, and no one is illegal. Far from being an isolated phenomenon migration is part of the fabric that connects societies. Throughout history, people have moved in, search of safety, stability, and opportunity. Today, immigration policies and public perception impose barriers that determine who can move and under what conditions. Criminalizing migration reinforces stereotypes, dehumanizes, and fosters discrimination, affecting social coexistence and human rights. This exhibition invites us to observe, reflect, and contextualize a phenomenon that continues to evolve. By bringing it to Panama, we seek to broaden the conversation on an issue that, although global, has direct consequences for our region.” Amen!