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    Las Tablas, Panama Revels in its Festival de la Pollera

    Panama pollera, traditional dress

    Cascading ruffles like an explosion of jungle flowers: Las Tablas' Festival de la Pollera celebration showcases Panama culture through traditional dress.

    It is said that when certain plants are brought to non-native lands, their fruits subtly adopt new characteristics from the difference in the soil. In the case of the pollera (pronounced poy-AIR-ah), the national dress of Panama, this has also been the case. Flowing with ornate flower-print ruffles and crowned with baroque combs and hairpins, echoes of 16th- and 17th-century Spain appear to live on in modern Panama.The Panamanian pollera and accompanying hairstyle do have several elements in common with the dresses of Cordoba, Valencia, and Salamanca, but after several hundred years in the culture of Panama, the pollera has become something symbolically Panamanian.*******At this very moment, Panamanians are dancing, drinking, and full-on reveling in a celebration of these gorgeous...MORE

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    [ID] => 5180
    [post_author] => 13
    [post_date] => 2011-01-25 13:53:46
    [post_date_gmt] => 2011-01-25 19:53:46
    [post_content] => Ben's slideshow depicting the scale of Isla Palenque, comparing it to 9 other recognizable locations, helps viewers define its size. If you're a fan of our Facebook page, you see a lot of island shots on a weekly basis -- giant trees, island sunsets, and of course, howler monkeys and other island critters. You often hear that the pictures don't do it justice; that a photograph can never truly capture the beauty before your eyes when you stand on the beach and stare into the setting sun. This is true about Isla Palenque, but there's another thing pictures can't do justice to on our island - the incredible size of the ancient jungle and jagged volcanic boulders that form a large part of  the island landscape.

In this photograph-filled post, I want to take you on a different kind of journey through Isla Palenque, one in which you will realize that while just a spec on the map,  Isla Palenque is larger than life. While feeling so small among the jungle of Jurassic proportions, you intimately realize that the island's magnificence is definitely worth preserving and protecting. No matter how tall the human race builds our steel skyscrapers or how easily we can tear down rain forests with the press of a button, nothing we can build will ever do justice to earth's original skyscrapers -- trees and boulders.

This is one realization we hope that guests to Isla Palenque will have, and that you will share our dedication to preserving pristine places like Isla Palenque -- no matter how big or small.

We often use photographs of  giant island trees to help people understand what the jungle looks like:

But when you see Ben near the base of one here, you realize the gargantuan scale of the ancient jungle trees. I'd like to see you try to climb this one!

Isla Palenque tree, jungle scaleBenjamin Loomis with Isla Palenque tree

In our many stunning shots of Playa Palenque, you can see how black volcanic rocks jut out about half way down, giving the 3/4 mile beach its own distinct character. Here it is from a helicopter with the rocks highlighted:

Playa Palenque

Now you see them on the beach, just some regular old rocks right?

Playa Palenque

Actually, they're about twice the size of an intern!

Playa Palenque

Okay one more. Here you see part of an old tree trunk or branch that fell on the beach... we can just clear that out of our way right?

Tree trunk, Isla Palenque

Or maybe not... considering it's four times as tall as the average beachgoer. Of course, the photographs do well to illustrate the point here but to be in the presence of these larger than life natural elements is an unbelievable experience. The ability of travel to literally change one's perspective is truly incredible. [post_title] => Tropical Jungle Scale on Isla Palenque [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => open [ping_status] => open [post_password] => [post_name] => tropical-jungle-scale-isla-palenque [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2012-10-22 10:44:23 [post_modified_gmt] => 2012-10-22 15:44:23 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => http://amble.com/ambler/?p=5180 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 1 [filter] => raw )

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