10/4 -- Transfer to Fort Clayton

On our way back to the southern entrance to the canal (near Panama City), we stopped to see Dario Lopez, a renowned dirty devil mask maker. Back when the Spanish arrived, converting the indigenous tribes to Christianity was a high priority. However, these tribes did not have a religion as such, and were not that impressed. To persuade them, the Catholics emphasized what would happen to them upon their death if they were not believers, and this was the beginning of the dirty devils. A practice grew up of making devil masks and doing everything they could to scare the populace into believing.

Today, the concept of the dirty devils continues and mask-making is a big deal. Dario has been making masks for 50 years, since he was nine, and was recognized by a Panamanian president for the quality of his work. The process starts with creating a clay mold for a mask. One of our fellow travelers, Frank, was coerced into building a small mask along side Dario. Frank did a credible job! Once the clay form is built, it is dried in the sun for 2 hours and then it is covered with Vaseline (so the paper doesn't stick) and coated with 3 layers of paper: a heavy Kraft paper, then newspaper, then a lighter brown paper -- all mixed with glue. This paper layer is dried and carefully cut off the form, glued back together, and painted.

Dario (left) and Frank start to build the small masks.

It starts off sort of looking like an eagle with a big beak, but
gets creative from there.

Dario's result

For a first timer, Frank did great!

 We saw a life-sized mask ready to paint, then were treated to a dance  by two of his relatives -- a young man and a 3-year-old boy. The youngster has been taking  lessons and was really good!

Dario shows us an unpainted mask

 

 

 

 

There is a hole in the mouth so the dancer can
look out. The decorations on the back of the
head represent the flames of hell.

Then we were back on the road toward Fort Clayton. Octavio told us about the rise and fall of Noriega as we drove. There are now seven political parties in Panama. A president is elected to a single 5 year term and cannot run again for two more terms. Although the constitution has been changed maybe four times, it now takes two different governments to approve a change. Since no political party after Noriega has ever been reelected, it is unlikely to happen again.  

Fort Clayton was where the U.S. forces stayed until the canal was turned over to Panama in 1999. Octavio took us on a walk around part of the base. It is now filled with NGOs and the site of the 'City of Knowledge', with many educational institutions having branches here. It also has athletic fields and is place that Octavio brings his family many weekends.

Our room overlooks the first two locks, the Miraflores, and we saw a couple ships enter. Interestingly, the Pacific Ocean is actually lower than the Atlantic. Plus the tides on this side are greater than the Caribbean side. The original plan was to build a sea level canal, but apparently, there were huge advantages to using locks instead and raising the boats up to the level of the center of the country.