I have to admit, I love fall. The cooler days are perfect for long strolls down streets transformed by every color from golden yellow to infra-red. Pumpkin spice lattes are reintroduced to local coffee shops and moms everywhere begin to adorn front porches with pumpkins, weird-looking witches, scarecrows and hay bales.
However, fall is also bittersweet. After just a few short weeks, winter is upon us and I’m wishing that those leaves would turn back to green and just forget about the whole seasonal ordeal. Luckily, we have Isla Palenque – a warm green escape that enters dry season right as we enter the dead of winter up North. (For those of you who don’t know, Panama has two seasons: rainy and dry. Read about the changing of the seasons in Panama.)
Out of curiosity, I pulled out some aerial shots of Isla Palenque to see what exactly the leaves are doing this time of year. The answer: glowing as green as ever. I was surprised to see just exactly how many tones of green there are in the Isla Palenque canopy. Between the dozens of species of hardwood trees and palms, it seems Isla Palenque boasts just about every color of green you can imagine. I used the Photoshop color select tool to target several shades from these photos. Those of you who are a sucker for seasons will be happy to know that among the bounty of “witches brew” green I found a pumpkin-y orange on a bromeliad-covered tree, a candy-corn yellow to compliment it and the steely purple gray that always paints the sky of a good ghost story. Whew, all is not lost when it comes to hints of seasonal flare.
The best news of all is that when the months of autumn are over, Isla Palenque will still be 80 degrees and sunny. I’ll take the little hints of fall in paradise over the whole kit and caboodle of this bittersweet season any day. And just so you know, Halloween is celebrated in Panama.
TAGS: Living Abroad Must Read Nature Panama Plant Life Seasonal
