Panama

Bastamientos. Miles traveled 2.
We relocated to Isla Bastimiento the following day. The atmosphere there is more relaxed and a little less traveled. We found a great room at Hostel Bastimientos with private bathroom, fan, and patios overlooking the city and the bay. The owner, Dixon, helped put us on the right track for the day. We bought some water and headed out to Wizard beach. Wizard beach often has some of the best waves in the area. After waiting around for a water taxi and drinking a few beers, we headed out in a 15hp motor launch. After about ½ hour we rounded a rocky point, and sighted a beautiful long stretch of beach. In the center was a jumble of volcanic rocks with about a mile of open beach on either side. We couldn’t see any other people on the whole beach. It was nothing like the “popular beaches” at home where you fight for a patch of sand. As we drew nearer to the shore, we saw a few scattered groups of people. Sara and I got off the boat and walked about a half mile down a clear stretch of beach with no rocks in the water and set up camp. We lathered up with SPF 30 to make up for the burning that we got on our first tour and waited for it to soak in. The surf broke consistently but more gently than at red Frog. It felt like we had an island all to ourselves. We bobbed up and down in the waves, waded in and out of the surf, drank a few beers and about a half liter of water. We drank some more salt water when we got hit by an unexpectedly large wave. All in all we had a fabulous day.
We rescued another traveling couple, Harry and Tracy, who had hiked across the island. Actually, they just needed us to spot them water taxi fare for one(Tracy) back around the island. The hike that they did was not an easy one especially carrying surfboards. They left their gear and money at the surf shop halfway back up the trail so they would not have to worry about it at the beach. Harry hiked back around for his gear and planned to meet us in town. A few other hikers who had come across, joined our taxi home as well. It took the little old 15hp a little longer on the return trip and the 100hp boats motored past us. After reuniting in town, Harry and Tracy invited us to a thai dinner up the hill from town.
We sat down to eat with Tracy and Harry and Shane and Carrie were also at the restaurant. We met them earlier that day at our hostel. They had previously traveled for eight months in South East Asia and were finishing two months in Central America. During the meal we kicked around the idea of doing a tour together to see the sea turtles nesting. Sara and I were delegated to research. We agreed to meet the following evening in the square. The delicious thai food filled our stomachs, we swapped travel hints, and drank the “Magic Drink”, a mixture of rum and various juices. It was an excellent cap to a fantastic day.
The next day we ended up sleeping in, big surprise, huh? We had lunch at the local criollo joint on the water, called “Roots” and enjoyed the fantastic breeze and some amazing barbecue chicken. We met up with Shane and Carrie at the square, but Harry and Tracy were nowhere to be found. We hung around for about ½ before going to eat. We figured it wouldn’t take much investigation to find a group of four gringos in the four restaurants they had to choose from!

Boca del Toro…miles traveled…..197.

We departed Panama City from the bus terminal on an overnight bus to Bocas del Toro. Bocas is the “new tourist hot spot” in Panama. It was hot, and there were tourists, but it we had its beaches practically to ourselves. On our first day, at the urging of our host, Ben, at the Las Brisas hostel, we lunched at the Pickled Parrot and hit our first beach on the island of Costanera. We arrived at The Pickled Parrot by water taxi, and we were served up the best hamburger we have had on our trip and washed it down with a few cold Balboas. The owner is an ex-pat underwater nuclear reactor inspector who recharges his batteries on the beach in Panama! After that we headed to the beach. The sand was white and the water was warm and clear. Sara and I called it a very successful first day.
The second day we played to hit one of the beaches on Isla Colon, on the way to the water taxi we were solicited by a young man offering a tour. “Special Price, $15 per person. We go to Dolphin Bay, Snorkle, and Red Frog Beach. Inlcudes all except $3 additional to enter Red Frog Beach because it is a national Park.” After a few moments of conferring and several more references regarding the “Dolphins”, we joined the tour. In our party were , a large group of Brits on Uni vacation and a few stray Germans. At Dolphin Bay, we were greeted very pleasantly and promptly by a group of three dolphins swimming leisurely. We sighted several more groups of dolphins many of which were very near our boat. This portion of the trip climaxed when one of the dolphins put on a show punctuated by several leaps out of the water and splashing reentries! It was fabulous.

We followed this with Sara and I snorkeling for the first time. At the reef where we snorkeled an abundance of fish and sea life were on display. Various types of coral, specific colors and their attendant fish covered the sea floor. There gentle current caused no problems, and the experience left us wanting more snorkeling.


Our next stop was red Frog Beach. To reach the beach we paid the entrance fee and hiked across a small stretch of jungle. A group of little boys met us up the trail to show off the famous “red frogs”(poisonous if eaten).


We were not disappointed by our second beach. White sand stretched about a mile in either direction. The strong and consistent surf pounded the beach providing a relaxing background noise. Our group entered the water to try our hand at body surfing. We caught a couple of waves and swallowed plenty of saltwater. The current strong current and pounding surf left us exhausted by the end of the afternoon. The tour probably rates as our best values of the Panama leg of our trip.

The next day, we took the bus to play at Bocas del Drago, also called Starfish Beach. The Beach here is narrow but extends for several miles.

Our first mile walking yielded exactly zero starfish. The second mile yielded a blue crab and a stingray.


Finally, we were considering giving up. “Should we head back?” Sara asked. “Let’s go a little further.” It was merely twenty yards further, and we hit the mother load of starfish. We saw different sizes and patterns. We picked up a few to inspect their feet. It was very cool.

Panama City. Miles travelled....(via Miami) 2326.

Panama…land of Contrasts.

Highly developed. Real estate booming. Beach resorts planted on the trendiest beaches. Yet, we couldn’t get money out of the atm or find a café with WiFi…! One taxi driver was kind and helped us out of a pinch at the atm, and another lied to us and tried to charge us 4x the agreed on on fare (more on this later).We saw the beautiful and amazingly engineered Panama Canal and yet saw garbage heaped on roadsides. Water is safe to drink, but your sidewalks have holes that small SUV’s could fall into. We ate a delicious and huge meal at the market for $3.00 and abottle champagne for $5 then we couldn’t find a dinner restaurant open that was for less than $15. Oh Panama …Panama.

Our first hours in Panama were traumatic. We had waited to get money until our landing in Panama so we could get the local money. Little did we know that the local money is the DOLLAR! Their atms would not cooperate and we could not leave the airport because we could not pay the tourist visa fee, which was only $10. We worked the phones and pleaded with the officials for several hours. We called the states numerous times to our bank. Finally, three hours later they mercifully let us leave the airport without paying the Visa. They helped us find a taxi driver willing to take us (with no money) to various banks until we could get a cash advance. He could have charged us any price at that point, but he only charged us a little more than the usual airport fare. He also helped us find a reasonable place to stay that night. Thank God for good people!
The next morning we walked to the Hotel Intercontinental on the beach! WOW! We used their business center to make calls and contacted our Panama hosts (via couchsurfing), Ronald and Laurys, and had a reasonable and delicious frittata. The staff was delightful and helped us overcome the previous day’s trauma.
We stayed the second through fifth nights with Ronald and Laurys. Ronald is a Venezuelan who lives in Panama and Laurys is a Panamanian studying Environmental Engineering. They have been married for about a year and have a Siberian Husky puppy named Leah. Cute, beautiful, and a little feisty. They had a spare room that they let us use and helped us learn to navigate Panama city’s myriad of buses and taxis. Ronald loves to talk economics etc so he and I got along great. He is interested in starting a batting cage business here in Panama (it is a big baseball country, but no batting cages!!). He currently works as an accountant in a supermarket. We shared some Chilean wine with them and helped clean up after the puppy!!


The rainforest of Panama is stunning. We caught the bus to the bus station to cut down on the taxi expenses. We asked the taxi driver if he knew where the park was. The first driver said no and left. The second called on the phone. While he was talking a third came up and said he knew the way and that he would take us for $5. I felt funny about this, but Sara was ready to go. We hopped in and he tried to take us somewhere else and say that it was where we wanted to go. A few moments later, Sara said she had a funny feeling and wanted to know if we should get out. I said, “na, it’s okay.” (Hint…always listen to your wife’s hunches.) When we didn’t fall for this he went inside to ask and came out rather downfaced. “It is much farther,” he said in broken English. “we thought so” we answered in Spanish. “How about $13” said Sara. “OK” he said and we were off again motoring into the jungled countryside past the canal. Finally, he pulled up to a building that said “National Park”—“Open” that was completely locked with no one in sight.
After a moment of conferring he said,” surely we had to go further in to another spot.” He kept driving until he finally pulled up in front of a gigantic resort. I asked to pay, and he said,” No, we’ll take care of it later. What time do you want me to come back?” We arranged the pick up, and he left Sara and I to our tour.
The rain forest trees tower into the sky and it rains almost every day after the heat of the day drives the humidity up. The diversity of animal life is dazzling. We took a small boat trip to the “Isla de Monos” --Monkey Island. Did I mention that Sara loves monkeys…anyhooo. We went there. We saw cappuchin monkeys, howler monkeys, iguanas, crocodiles, turtles, and various birds. It was truly amazing.


After a torrential downpour we met up with our “friendly taxi driver” again.

He took us back to the terminal. We gave him $40 figuring for the extra distance plus tip. He said,” No way. You owe me $60.” After a small conference, Sara and I left the cab and left him with our $40. We went into the nearby mall to cool off before taking the bus home. A few moments later we heard him yelling behind us. He caught up to us and said he wanted us to wait for the police. We said it was fine with us, but he had to get the police.
He disappeared, and we headed for the exit. As we prepared to leave he stopped us again and asked a security guard to call the police. Meanwhile he intimated, “This will take at least an hour for the police to come. Just give me $10.” “No ,” said Sara. “we’ll wait for the police. It’s okay.” “He will bail before we get to the station,” I said.
The police finally came, and he began badgering us again. The police warned us,” This could take several hours.” Meanwhile the taxi driver again whispered to us,” $10 and I’ll go.”
Sara responded calmly again, “No, It’s okay. We have time.” As we headed to the police station, he still tried to badger Sara, and I kept between him and her. The walk to the station was long, through the whole bus terminal and out the back door. About half way through he disappeared.
“He’s gone,” I said.
“He just needs to get his taxi moved,” said the police man.
We had a really nice conversation with the police men in the station. They reminded us to set a price before entering the taxi. We assured them that we had. The police were very friendly and courteous. Ten minutes passed, and then twenty. “He is not coming back,” I said. After thirty minutes the police said we could go and escorted us to our bus. WOW. That was a adrenaline rush.
We visited the Casco Viejo…the old part of the city…

which was founded about 100 years after the original city which was sacked by Henry Morgan…that is right Captain Morgan of later rum fame. Sir Henry Morgan to fans of the British Empire. The old city is charming and in a state of semi-renovation due to tourist interest. The beautiful buildings are painted different pastel colors which reinforce the Carribbean vibe. You can look in one building and see marble stairs and deluxe apartments. In the next building, which looks identical, a glance inside reveals only the sky above and a decaying staircase that leads nowhere.

The French embassy still inhabits the southern point of land near the French Plaza and the original Cathedral sits on the plaza of independence. A handful of completely forlorn ruins of churches and monasteries dot the rest of the old city. We ate in the local market to get our fill of rice cooked in coco water with beans. The pork chops and onions were fantastic and we spoke to one of the local businessmen who brought the pork to the market that morning.