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NOT
to be reproduced or reprinted without permission. (The below group
are privately taken and owned photos.)
For many
more photos of Panama, see Dino's
Panama Photos
©
D. Barkema, 1999 - 2007
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The photos
below, taken October 12, 2003, were taken by Dino during a folklorico
festival at
San Benito
School in Volcan, Panama. Note the highly colored tembleques worn
by one woman
and the
very colorful costumes worn by all. The man is wearing the typical
men's costume, the montuno.
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The costumes
worn with the white, long-sleeved blouses, Basquiñas, are called
Montuna Chiricanas. Basquiñas
are custom
made to fit each individual person. They can't be purchased in a
store. A flower, instead of a tembleque,
is worn
in the hair when wearing the Montuna Chiricana although this style is more
prominent in the province of Chiriqui.
Miscellaneous
Pictures
Marisol Picota and her Godson, Abraham - 2003 (above) |
Pollera Panameña |
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Many thanks to Nina K. and Dino B. for submitting all of the above photos.
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Elsa Edna Oberto (Mrs. Al Garrett) born in La Pintada, Provincia de Coclé, Republic of Panama. Mr.Garrett was stationed in Ft. Amador from 1953 to 1957. He married Elsa, in 1954. Second tour of duty was at Ft. Clayton, 1967 -1971. They are still happily married after 50 years with children, grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. |
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| In late
1976, the newspaper "Estrella de Panama" with the English version called
"The Star & Herald" printed a calendar for 1977. It featured
12 different poses of beautiful young Panamanian ladies in polleras, the
national dress worn on special occasions. The Newspaper was (and is) owned
by the Duque family, one of Panama's richest. Since the Duques owned
the printing press, they printed all of the lottery tickets for Panama
twice a week. They still do.
In 1982-83, one of the young Duque girls, AnaGrace, was attending college in Pueblo, Colorado, taking a course in English. One of her classmates was a niece of my wife, Elsa, named Mayté Quirós from Penonome. Almost each weekend the girls, Mayté and AnaGrace, would come to Colorado Springs to stay with us. They were a lively and entertaining pair to be around, especially when they took charge in the kitchen. The first time I showed them the guest room which would be theirs to use whenever they visited, I had decorated the room with framed pictures from the 1977 calendar. Much to my surprise, AnaGrace announced that she was in two of the pictures. In one she is frowning because she had a toothache. Eventually the girls returned to Panama and led their own lives. AnaGrace became the Ladies Amateur Tennis Champion and graduated from Grand Canyon College in Arizona. She sent us another calendar and we also get a letter from time to time. When I first met her I asked her if she had learned any English yet. She responded, "Only Thriller, Michael Jackson". Really. that is all she could (or would) say in English.
larger ones. Back in the States, they hired a woman who provided the quilt and sewed the molas onto the quilt. They also purchased two pillow shams which you see above in the last photo. Naturally, the quilt and pillow shams are unique in that no one has a quilt like it, since molas vary from item to item. Very nice, aren't they? |
| Dame Margot Fonteyn, "Prima Ballerina Assoluta", granted the title of Dame by the British Empire and prima ballerina assoluta by the Royal Ballet. Was married to a past Panamanian ambassador to England who was the nephew of thrice elected president of Panama, Arnulfo Arias. She retired to Panama in the early 1970s to live with her husband who had been paralyzed in a shooting accident, Died of cancer 1991 in relative obscurity, predeceased by her husband. Wearing a pollera in the postcard portrait, she presents a stunning picture. |  |
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02/10/2007
