Good Friday on a tropical island. March 24.

My first Good Friday spent on a tropical island. Not my normal style but I can recommend it! I rented a bike and cycled for hours, watching the surfers catch the high swell, sitting drinking fresh fruit smoothies under a palm tree, bumping along sandy dirt tracks through rainforest clad volcano slopes gazing down into deep valleys alive with colour.

A salutory lesson that life can change in a second: by chance I stumbled across a dramatic situation, lifeguards struggling to rescue  a surfer who d got into deep trouble, swept  way , way out to sea,. Crowds gathered and prayed together while relay teams of emergency services and the marine lifeboat worked tirelessly until finally they got him to shore safely, when we all burst into spontaneously applause.

This Catholic community held their small scale Semana Santa procession at dusk. Hundreds gathered outside the church here in Bocas town to light torches, sing and walk the streets worshipping at impromptu stations of the cross intricately decorated in houses along the route. I walked with them, old and young together in celebration. I may not share their faith but I share their love and respect for life.

Town ready for procession..these are stations of the cross on houses along the route

Aother house station of the cross

The procession

Bigger cities have massive shows for Semana Santa, this was tiny by comparison but it felt special, intimate, joyous. The town bars were dark as the sale of alcohol is banned during Semana Santa (much to the confusion of some tourists). Hotels are unofficially exempt but most are keeping the faith and staying ' dry'.

Bocas , as all of Panama is a melting pot of ethnic races. My English sensibility still struggles with the casual use of terms like ' Latino, chino, nativo, Indian' and the like used purely as descriptive terms. I am simply 'engeesh' rather than gringo, which I am hoping is a complement! A wide variety of backgrounds but everyone lives, works and worship alongside one another here in this awesome archipelago.