Carol's Travels

This morning we took two tours of family businesses. First, we toured a pottery business located in a family home. The parents and grown children throw, paint, and fire pots. They also make decorative items made with slabs of clay. All family members live there.

Next we went to a bakery. Employees often work for eight hours with hardly any breaks. We got to make some fancy braided rolls, then they were baked. We enjoyed eating the hot rolls.

Some of our group were dropped off at the hotel, then the rest of us went on an optional tour of Abuelo Rum Distillary. First, we went to the old family home and heard about the beginning of the business. Next, we rode by the sugar cane fields in oxen-pulled wagons, then we tasted ice-cold sugar cane juice. Before lunch we enjoyed drinking the colorful orange and red welcoming mixed fruit and rum drinks. After lunch we toured the rum aging warehouses with thousands of used oak barrels bought from Jack Daniels. Then our the factory guide took us where the cane is pressed to extract the cane juice. We saw the fermenting tanks, distillation towers, pipes, and other equipment used in the process. After we left the building, we went back to the visitor center and learned how to taste the four types of rum. They make five-year, 7-year, 12-year, and 30-year (Centurian) rum. There was a definite difference in the rums. As they aged, they tasted more mellow.

We went to an Italian restaurant for dinner. They served salad, wine, and trays of pasta with three kinds of sauce served family style. We returned to the hotel where there was a wedding happening. Our rooms were assigned away from the reception area because the celebration would last until 1:00 A.M.

Kiln at family pottery business in La Arena

Oven at bakery La Arena

Abuelo Rum aging in used Jack Daniels barrels

Tasting all four types of Abuelo Rum

We drove to the town of Las Tablas where we learned about the Panamanian hat and sandals. We were given the opportunity to shop at a street market for these items. Then we visited the shop of the man who makes the ornate costumes for the queens the annual Carnival in the town. Queens have to be 18-24 years old, and it costs the queen’s family 250,000-400,000 dollars for the ornate headdress, costume, and jewelry required. The queen’s families are obviously rich. I got to try on one of the headdresses.

We had lunch at a restaurant with a gorgeous view of the water and palm trees. Paul and I both had shrimp with salad and French fries.

We went to the home of a young woman and her husband who make lavish embroidered traditional dresses. Each complete costume could cost a family $180,000. The work was exquisite. We also went to a mask maker’s home to watch his process for making paper mâché masks.

As a special treat Abdiel had arranged for us to see a special presentation of folklorico dancing. About ten elementary students danced traditional dances in costume, and four instrumentalists played the music on accordion, drum, and guirro. At the end some of the students asked us to dance with them. Cha-Cha-Cha came out then while I was dancing to enjoy the fun too.

Back at our hotel, several of us went swimming. Then the group gathered by the pool for free Abdiel specials: rum, ginger ale, ice, and lime. The hotel provided this plus some very elaborate appetizers. It was compensation because their hot water tank needs a part and we won’t be able to take warm showers during our stay here.

Carnival Headdress

Jodee wearing another Carnival headdress

Embroidered skirt for Carnival

Head piece for Carnival Costume

Folklorico Dancer

We got into the full-sized tour bus and drove to the entrance to the Panama Canal. Abdiel explained the process of going through the canal as we watched some ships go under the bridge and begin cruising through the canal.

In the city we toured a medical clinic. Then we rode through town on a
Red Devil bus. These buses are privately owned, and many drivers paint wild designs on their buses. Thirty cents is the bus fare.

Next we rode to Abdiel’s mother-in-law’s house for a cooking lesson. When we arrived, his cute little girl took my hand. I was surprised because I hadn’t taken Cha-Cha-Cha out of my tote bag yet. First, some of the people in our group peeled and cut up ripe plantain, then his wife fried it in butter, cinnamon, and cloves. Then green plantain was sliced, smashed in a press, and fried in olive oil until crispy by his mother-in-law. She had made some fresh pineapple juice in her blender and chilled it for us. Yum!

She handmade a chimichurri sauce with a spice similar to cilantro, pineapple mustard, and a few other ingredients. I asked her for the recipe since it is the best chimichurri sauce I have eaten. She wrote out the recipe and gave it to Abdiel, and she showed me the ingredients. Now he has two recipes that he will be giving to all of us.

I then got out Cha-Cha-Cha and talked with the children. They loved her.

Next we rode to the restaurant for lunch where I had salad and lemonade. Then we rode over three hours along the Panamanian Highway. We had a short break at a large supermarket. Then thirty minutes later we arrived at the new Cubita Hotel in Chitre.

At 6:30 we left for dinner. We ate in a private room of the popular restaurant, Salsa y Carbon. I ate veggie lasagna, broccoli soup, and flan for dinner. Then we had after dinner entertainment by two devil dancers.

Ship beginning trip through the Panama Canal

Abdiel and his family

Abdiel’s mother-in-law and wife frying green plantain

We rode on this Red Devil bus

One of the Devil dancers who danced for us after dinner