All bark, with a bite too (Drive day 114 minus 14 years)
Halfway back to Santa Clara is a village called El Valle, nestled under the protection of mountain in the shape of a sleeping Indian Princess. But we’re more intrigued by the small bark figurines carved by indigenous artists.
We’ve seen them before — life-size costumes worn by men summoning their animal spirits in the Azuero. Which is just the remedy for a weekend in Panama City and a reminder of how far from “America” it really is.
Follow this bonus-material blog and ride along on a one-year road trip that inspired the memoir The Drive: Searching for Lost Memories on the Pan American Highway. On sale now. Get yours through the buy-the-book links at the bottom of the landing page on my teresabrucebooks.com website or here or here. Planning a road trip? Buy the audiobook here. Like The Drive’s Facebook page and tweet back at me @writerteresa.