Friday, December 16, 2011

Panama Polleras

I am linking up with Scenic Sunday and click to see my Camera Critter post at the El-Nispero-zoo-Panama

I am skipping around some showing our last night in Panama, our tour guide arranged a special dinner at the Miraflores Lock at the Panama Canal. After a great dinner we were treated to a show which was a group of Panamanians doing their traditional dance with their beautiful costumes.




The women's costumes are called Polleras, it is said this dress is the most admired and beautiful costumes of the Americas. There are tales saying that the Polleras are copied from a gypsy dress in Spain at the time of the conquest of Peru and was brought to Panama by servants of the colonial families.










Each female dancer had a different color dress, shoes to match, jewelry and the ornments to decorate their hair was also gorgeous. The hair piece called a tembleques is made of a tortoise shell comb embellished with pearls and gold and is worn on top of the head and resembles a crown or a halo.

Watching the men and the women dance was just lovely as was the music they played. It was a wonderful time on last night of our trip. We met nice people on our tour and everyone got along great during the whole week we were together.


To see more wonderful scenes from around the world please visit Scenic Sunday.. Thanks to the Holley's for hosting Scenic Sunday. And thank you for stopping by my blog for a visit.  I hope everyone has a safe and happy weekend.

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Panama Skyline and skyscrapers

For my Scenic Sunday  I am showing some of the Skyscrapers in Panama City, Panama.


My link for Camera Critters...common-moorhen


Panama has some tall buildings and still even more being built.  You can see some of the Panama's skyline on my header photo above.





The corkscrew design on this building above was one of my favorites. Some people in our tour group said it reminded them of lego building toys.





The skyscrapers include offices, banks, hotels, casinos and condominiums.  There are over 80 banks in Panama City.







A Hard Rock Cafe is a must have in a big city, I also heard there will be a Hard Rock hotel also.






This shot above was taken from the moving bus, I assume they are playing a soccer game.





There are over 100 skyscrapers in Panama City and over more than 150 being built.  Panama is in the middle of a building and economic boom.





Before visiting Panama, I pictured Panama more of a lush rainforest and the canal. I did not even think of a booming city. The cool thing is the rainforest is probably no more than an hours drive away.







The Metro Mall was right outside our Panama City hotel. A very popular place to shop with the locals and the tourist.
Edit: An answer to Ann's question I am adding some info on Panama's economy and wealth. The tourism industry generates over 2.5 billion dollars, the re-export business (free trade zone) is another 2.5 billion dollars and the canal generates over 1 billion a year.

To see more beautiful scenes from around the world check out Scenic Sunday. Thanks to the Holleys for hosting Scenic Sunday. And thank you for stopping by to see my post. Have a safe and wonderful weekend.

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