Teak Plantation Day fell on the 9th of February; that was the day we visited our plantations. A visit to the teak plantations also meant spending a night in Torti proper.
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| Baby Teak |
Torti is a small village near the last outpost of civilization before entering the dense jungle of the Darién province, Panama's most easterly province. The Pan American Highway stops there. Columbus had seen the Darién on his 4th voyage in 1501. It was from the Darién that Balboa in 1513 first viewed the Mar del sur: The Pacific Ocean. And it was from the Darién that I first set my eyes on a teak tree.
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| My room De Lux |
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| El Hospedaj |
After our explorations of the teak plantations we returned to Torti. We were quartered in two small hostels separated by about 5 minutes walk. At the first there was a bar, restaurant and swimming pool. At the second, there was none of these. I was quartered at the second, Hospedaje Torti. At El Hospedaje people seemed to come and go all night long.
Meanwhile, at the restaurant the owner arranged a long-table for our dinner, as he had for lunch and would for our breakfast. He and his assistants did everything they could to make our stay a pleasant experience.
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| Dinner Torti style |
Also, the word had apparently gone out that "gringos were in town". During our dinner local Cuna Indians began to collect in the parking lot. That might have made Balboa nervous, but we began noticing that the Cuna women began to lay out their handicrafts on the pavement. And soon after dinner we gringos began bargaining. The evening ended with some great bargains on Indian handicrafts, a cold beer, a walk back to the Hospedaje and "a good night's sleep".
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Torti instant bazaar
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| Cuna indian women |
Nice photos!
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