I am writing because since I have been on a vacation and have taken a break here I have been sitting on a very rare photo that I could not wait to share but had been advised to keep it secrete until I was able to copyright it. So here is the story and the find.
Please note all of the photos that I post are taken and owned by myself. I have not authorized any person to use or share these photos.
In February of this year, I was given the opportunity to go on a vacation to Panama. Now I can go on and on about what an eye opening experience it was and how much I enjoyed everything. We were able to see the Panama canal the old and new. We saw the old part of Panama City and did a few tours. On one of our tours is where our story starts.
Because our resort was on the Pacific side of the country we had a 2 to 3 hour bus ride to Portobelo. Once there we had limited time at each stop. Portobelo being our first stop than we had to be off to lunch at a beach side restaurant and time to soak up some Caribbean beach before getting back on the bus to Colon where we boarded a historical train back to Panama City.
Portobelo Panama
This is a town that was founded by Christopher Columbus and has a history of pirates along with Captain Morgan. Sir Francis Drake also has some history with Portobelo.
Here are some pictures from Fort Jerononimo:
The fort was built from coral which we were told stands up to cannon ball fire pretty well. While we were there they were doing some repairs.
I was shocked that there was no information or gift shop to purchase information on the sights we were seeing. There were also no tickets to be purchased it was all just walk in and walk around.
Before I start my church bit, I want to say I was in no way "ghost hunting". I did sense some around but I was not in paranormal mode. Had I been I would have taken more photos in a row to show areas of Iglesia de San Felipe better.
At the end of this story and photos I will post some links so if you would like you can read up on some of what I saw.
The first sight we walked into in Portobelo was this amazing Spanish Roman Catholic Church. Now being brought up Roman Catholic I was a bit angry that we just walked in as a group, pretty much rudely took over the church and took photos where ever we wanted and walked out. I felt like we as a tour group were disrespecting the church. I will also say the group we were with was basically rude. The people in general had no issues staying in the way when you wanted to take a photo and just went on a head and walked in front of us as we were trying to take a quick photo.
The area itself is very poor. We witnessed a woman washing her daughter in the garden hose. Giving her a "shower" right there on the front steps to the house. There are also dogs and cats running around all over just free.
Iglesia de San Felipe Roman Catholic Church is the home to the famous Cristo Negro statue. This is the reason why we had stopped at this church. I was in awe of the beauty in the church. The alter and the statues of the Virgin Mother and the Stations of the Cross were amazing as well as the Black Christ.
Iglesia de San Felipe
The Alter
The Cristo Negro (Black Christ)
Two times a year they change the robes. In October there is a huge festival to honor the Black Christ and people walk hours from all over Panama some crawling the last mile to pray for miracles.
One of the stories we were told went that there was a ship the Black Christ was to leave on bound for another port. When they hooked oxen up to the cart to pull the statue to the ship the oxen team refused to move, so they would hook another and another team up all oxen refusing to move it. So they left it in the church in Portobelo. Another story goes that every time they tried to load it on board a ship a storm would kick up and prevent the people from loading the statue. It is said the statue does not wish to leave Portobelo.
And now the ghost........
I am in this church taking pictures and walking around, rushed because we are in a large group and the guide did not give us a lot of time. The photos I took I basically stood in the back of the group and didn't listen much to what was being said because I was too interested in the church. These next photos are of the wall to the right of the alter. The wall is made up of old gravestones. This wall interested me and I couldn't get a clear shot as there were people constantly walking in front of me....God forbid I get a photo. However.......Little did I know what would be in one of the photos. It wasn't until I was going through the photos at the hotel that I discovered this little one and showed him off to some of the non believers that were with me. I can say I wish I would have been in paranormal mode and had a voice recorder on me but I didn't and I wasn't. :(
Nothing Here....
Here?
Wait for it.......
 |
Here he is....Do you see under the guy's elbow and off the hand of whoever is next to me.
Pretty amazing.
Friends about fell out of their chairs when they saw this on my camera.
I am waiting on a clear photo of the head stone above him. I had Freddy my friend from our old paranormal group in Steven's Point, WI look at this and as Freddy's home language is Spanish, he did read some of the headstones for me. Again I am waiting on a clearer photo of the headstone in question and then I can release more of who we think this boy is.
Well All, That is what I have. No ghost story so to speak. Just my photo that I did copyright as advised by my friends since it was taken in a famous church.
Here are some links to web pages about Portobelo.
http://www.enjoypanama.com/portobelo.htm
http://africandiasporatourism.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=825:black-christ-festival-in-panama-a-celebration-of-miracles-or-a-spectacle-&catid=72:features
Please comment about any of the photos.
That's all for this week. I am at an expo at Barker's Island in Superior, WI this weekend. Please stop in and say Hi, maybe have a reading or a Reiki session. I will have the photos on hand at my booth.
The next Mystic Monday will be after my expos are done so maybe before Easter. I have an expo Saturday April 8th in Hayward, WI. After that weekend my time should free up a bit so I can write more. I'd also like to take some road trips around Wisconsin and hit some "haunted" sites to write about. If you have ideas of places please comment.
Blessings All,
Wendy
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