Isla Grande, Colón

A small group of Peace Corps volunteers and I decided to spend a few days of our vacation in Colón, a northern province in Panama on the Caribbean side. Colón has a high concentration of the country's black population. People from countries like Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados came to work on the Panama Canal back at the turn of the 20th century and stayed there. Nowadays, Colón and Panama City host a fair amount of the country's Afro-Panamanian population. It was an interesting change of pace from the homogenous "shades of brown" at my site, and helped me remember the country's diversity.

Here is the first view we got of Isla Grande. It was a nice spot, a very relaxing place to swim at nearly any point in the day. The first day, we arrived in the mid-afternoon, had time to settle down and eat, and then went out for an evening swim. It was pretty awesome. The hotel in the middle-right of the picture is where we stayed. If you can't tell, it was pretty darn close to the water.

The island lent itself well to casual walks, but sadly, a fench prevented us from going all the way around. Every now and then we arrived at nice little stretches of beach like the one above.

We spent a fair amount of our time at this one particular restaurant, but it was totally worth it. Great food, pretty chill, and not too filled with tourists. In fact, I could describe the whole trip that exact way. Supposedly, we picked the wrong days to be there. We left on Saturday, which is when things kick into high gear, the music gets louder, and people come in droves. Whatever. I really liked the atmosphere.

One night we went to a restaurant suggested by a sign on the "sidewalk." Roasted chicken and patacones (twice-fried plantains) for only $2.75, or something like that. We found out that the place was actually just a house. The man who served us was a really nice guy. He eventually pulled out this huge, fancy historical encyclopedia and told us about how a Spaniard spent time on the island gathering info on the book he was writing. This man later gifted the restaurant guy a copy, which, according to him, was reserved for the embassies. Nifty. This guy was extremely friendly. He showed us his little cabins nearby for rent, which we plan to use when we come back sometime later. Then, the next day, he offered to give us a ride back to the mainland on his boat.

On our way out, we stopped by Portobelo, another small tourist destination famous for its church depicting Black Jesus, and the forts in ruins along the shore.

The rolled-up khakis were kind of the theme of the trip. I didn't want to bring shorts and get labeled a gringo tourist, but I was on vacation. I had to let loose a little bit. Thankfully, this picture was taken at that exact moment, because only moments later, I slipped in the mud and got those pants super dirty. That almost ruined my day.

We finished strong by having a final night in Panama City before going our separate ways. As it usually happens, we met up with other Peace Corps volunteers, met random international tourists while we partied, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly before going back to the ol' grind.