Tarapoto: Being tourists

Last year when Liz came to visit me, we spent a couple of weeks travelling around Peru. We visited several places on the mountains and on the coast, but we didn't make it to the jungle. On her (what will hopefully become annual) visit this year, we decided to remedy that and chose Tarapoto as our first foray into the jungle.

As we had a lot of different things we wanted to do, we decided to customize a tour with Sacharuna Adventures...and we couldn't have been more pleased with the results!  Our tour guide, Daniel, took us to many places that we wouldn't have been able to access on our own.  It ended up being the perfect mix of tourist activities, eco-tourism & artisanal activities that we were looking for.

Tarapoto is known for a number of waterfalls in the area, so our first activity was to visit Ahuashiyacu Waterfall:

The legend of the origin of the waterfall involves the beautiful daughter of a village chieftain (Ahuashi and the love of her life, Shilly (of whom her father, of course, did not approve).  To further compound this sad tale, some witches turned the girl into the beautiful waterfall we now see and turned the lover into a black bull who was charged with guarding the waterfall's pool. [And you thought your love life was complicated.]

Though the jungle was hot, the water was quite cool...thus, merely wading was refreshing enough for us to enjoy our trip there.

We also took a trip to the nearby town, Lamas, to learn more about the native culture there:

Originally only a temporary home for nomadic tribes, Lamas is considered to have been conquered twice-once by a tribe who decided to settle there and once by the Spanish conquistadores.

Ayahuasca is not just a trendy hallucinogenic substance, but in the jungle is considered to be the mother plant and is represented by a snake with ears.  (Apparently it is common to see a snake with ears as one of your first visions under the influence of ayahuasca.)

Clearly, a snake with ears. Not sure I'd want to meet that, even in my dreams.

There, we learned about some of the myths and legends associated with the jungle:

The chullachaqui-the protector of the forest.  Identifiable by his one goat or deer-like foot.  He sometimes appears to you as someone that you know.  [The moral: if you're approached by someone that you are surprised to find in the jungle, check out his feet!]

El Tunchi-something like the Grim Reaper in that he appears when someone is about to die.  Identifiable as a shadowy figure that whistles so shrilly that it produces goosebumps.

This picture depicts the legend of the Chicharra Machacuy.  It seems that if you are bitten by this insect, the only cure is to have sex...immediately.  [Why do I suspect that a man came up with this story???]

We took in some traditional dancing in the native village of Wayku:

But, one of our favorite touristy parts was visiting the castle in Lamas.  After visiting both Chancay castle as well as Unanue in Cañete, I must admit I had pretty low expectations of the use of the word 'castle'.  So you can imagine that I was pleasantly surprised to turn the corner and find this real, honest-to-goodness castle...in the middle of the jungle!

Does anyone else see a face on this tower???

A man, a plan, a canal: Panama!

Of course you can't go to Panama without a stop to see the canal!

Shannon and I headed out to see the Miraflores locks (I can´t seem to get away from Miraflores!).  After taking part of the morning to learn to navigate the bus/metro system in Panama City, we successfully made it out to the locks (and back!  Not bad for my basic Spanish!).  I remember learning about the Panama Canal in school, and the operation of the locks, but seeing it in person was much cooler!

Luckily, we were just in time to see the last two boats of the morning:

It takes about 10 minutes to fill or empty the lock.

Random fact: The engines that keep the boat straight through the canal are called mules...after the live mules that performed the same job on the Erie Canal...even though they never used the live ones here in Panama.

We were pretty excited to learn that the lock doors were fabricated in Pittsburgh
and have been in operation since the canal opened in 1914.

Since Panama took over the operation of the canal from the US in 1999, they have been working on plans to expand the operations to allow wider boats to pass through the canal.  You can see the new construction in the distance from the observation deck:

This model of the canal expansion was on exhibit in the Biomuseo.

Costa Rica!...errr, Panama

Traveling to Costa Rica has been forefront in my mind for many months now. I've been talking to Shannon about what we'd see and do there and telling everyone how excited I was to go. With great anticipation, I left Lima last week….to have it all come to a screeching halt when I reached the gate for my last flight in Panama. I handed my boarding pass to the attendant...

“And your yellow fever vaccination card?”

“My what?…. But I don't need that-I'm American... I checked the requirements!”

“Yes, but travelers coming from Peru must have one.”

“... <jaw drop>...”

And thus my plans came crashing down around me. What an idiotic mistake!  

“But wait,” you may be asking, “Why didn't you get the vaccine in Panama and then go on to Costa Rica the next day?” Well, I would have liked to, however, to be effective, the vaccine requires a 10 day waiting period – longer even than my planned journey!  I was left with two options - turn around and return to Peru the same day or stay and explore Panama.  As I was already geared up to explore a new place, I opted for the latter.  Fortunately, Panama doesn't require the same vaccination! 

Happily, Shannon was able to join me for a couple of days as well, so we were able to have a bit of the adventure we had been planning for so long.

After some quick research, we decided to stay in the up and coming part of Panama City, Casco Viejo. It had a great view of the skyline of Panama City.

Although it's not so pretty when the tide is out...

Casco Viejo has a bit of a Village-y feel

...much like my beloved Barranco 

Iglesia San Francisco

...where the old and new sit harmoniously side by side

It would be interesting to see the changes in a few years.  Many of the buildings we saw were just in the beginning phases of reconstruction, with just the front walls finished, but mere shells inside.