This past weekend, we made a one day trip to Isla Grande on the Atlantic side of Panama. A baby sitter was staying with Raleigh and Stephen had access to a car so off we went. The drive was really pleasant, interstate style highways and very nice country roads with one brief interesting stretch through a little town that was jammed. This photos does not come close to capturing the chaos of this stretch of road.
We took a little motor boat from a busy little dock and parking lot place
a nice short 10 - 15 minute ride
and there is our hotel, and dockside restaurant where we both stayed and had dinner.
just a view of more of the hostels and tourist places
this is us going into the warren of little cottages where we stayed. I forget the name of the place.
The end of the Island was uninhabited and real rocky with a rocky shore that was quite pretty.
the rocks were volcanic and quite rough
On the way back we stopped at an old fort from the early 1700s the made me wonder if Captain Jack Sparrow had been here.
He would have liked my hat. No one else does
And actually while Jack may not have been, the British Navy certainly has. Below is a photo of a painting from Wikipedia public domain, Samuel Scotts depiction of Admiral Vernon of the British Navy attacking and ultimately defeating the Spanish at Fort Portobello in 1739.
He occupied and destroyed the fort and this is what is left. His victory was received with great joy I understand throughout the colonies. I did not perceive any lasting animosity at this particular location so I guess they have decided to let bygones be bygones. (or perhaps Patt and I do not look British)
The hat might give you away!
ReplyDeleteLooks like yall are having fun!