Monday, July 13, 2015

7/9 -- Zip Line, Drive to Antigua

Before leaving Pana, we went on an adventure, hiking up over hanging bridges and coming down on zip lines.What a hoot! There were 8 lines all together, strung back and forth over a ravine, with the longest ones (and best views) and the top and the end ones zipping through the jungle.


Abandoned squirrel monkeys live in this reserve.

Walking the hanging bridge.

Coming in for a landing

Then we had time to finish packing in preparation for our drive to Antigua. When we stopped for lunch, there was a chocolate shop across the street that closed at 1, so virtually all of us dashed over to get something.  They specialized in dark chocolate, while we prefer high quality milk chocolate, so  I only got 3 small bars.

There was news of demonstrations along the highway we were supposed to take, which fortunately cleared by 1 pm when we left, but Luis requested a tourist police escort  just  in case more trouble popped up, which fortunately didn't happen.
Our escort at the lunch stop. Very friendly.

On the way, we stopped at a women's cooperative, which was all but closed today, and got a tour through the facility with no students. They teach sewing, cooking (to sell), and basketry. To ensure the women are committed to improving their lives, they are charged $2 per day of training and typically come once a week. Most of the sewing machines are Singer treadles because so many homes don';t have reliable electricity, but more modern machines are available too. All these machines can be sold to the students as others are donated or purchased.

The co-op has an outreach program to convince the husbands that it is safe for the women to enroll. It also has a small store where we bought some of the things the women made.
Beginner's treadle machine

One of the instructors with a more modern machine.

Cooking instructor in a commercial-looking kitchen.

Cake on display in the gift shop

Our next stop was a brick maker's home and 'factory'. He and his family have fallen on hard times as mass-produced products have become available much cheaper that he can make them. They make roof tiles, floor tiles, and extra  heavy duty tiles like you would need for a garage floor. His father demonstrated how to craft a curved roof tile with two forms and then we took a look at their kiln.
Luis with the head of the brickmaker's family who has taken
over day-to-day operations from his father.

The father demonstrates making a roof tile.
First, pat clay solidly into a form.

Then flip the flat piece gently onto a rounded form.

Carry the rounded tile to a dampened part of the yard.

VERY carefully slide the form out from under the tile

Allow the tile to rest on the ground for 2 days before fireing.

The back of the kiln, where tiles are carefully stacked. The wood-
burning kiln is checked every 2 hours for the 40 hour burning
period.

From there we went to our lovely hotel in Antigua, which is centrally located for dining and shopping.


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