Here and There; December 2016 Panama Travel Blog #1; To Aunt Gerry (91 years young at the time)

This series of December 2016 posts were in the form of emails to my auntie Gerry, 91 years old at the time, now deceased.  She would comment on our adventures and looked forward to the daily communication.  We hope you enjoy our travel log as well.

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We arrived in Panama without incident or delays despite hurricane Otto having swept the area north of Bocas Del Toro.  Everything went as planned with our plane trip through Panama City and on to David where our guide, Raul, with Cloud Forest Tours would meet us and drive us over the continental divide with a few planned stops.   Raul met us at the David airport right on time.  We loaded our gear, adjusted for the warm and humid day and we were off toward the mountains!

Nature Preserve Entry

The road through the forest was extremely steep and very twisted.  I was surprised to see very big trucks navigating the lanes and moving freight between the Caribbean and Pacific sides of the country.   Our day of touring was perfect.  We trekked a rain forest for a couple of hours and viewed interesting critters that Raul said he had not seen before.   

The rains of the past weeks had stopped the foot traffic along the preserve’s trails and the inhabitants gained confidence in leaving their hidden homes.  Small snakes, colorful lizards multiple birds were either seen or heard as we stretched our legs and navigated the mud.

  I was happy to have my professional camera gear with me but frustrated also that I had only brought one general lens.  What was needed was the telephoto lens and that was thousands of miles away at home.

Near the top of the divide, we stopped at one of many hydroelectric plants.  An indication of Panama’s progress in developing infrastructure to meet a growing population.  The Caribbean side of the divide was markedly different from the type of trees and plants to the construct of the indigenous houses.    Apparently the weather and rain was very different in just a few short miles dependent which side of the divide the land was facing.

 We arrived in Bocas late Thursday after a very rough water taxi ride from Almirante to Bocas Town on the island of Isla Colon and our friends, Carlos and Raine, greeted us at their casa.  After a quick shower we were off to the neighbors for a big Thanksgiving dinner.   Talk about a cadre of characters!  There was enough colorful conversation to fuel several seasons of dramedy or a sitcom.  We met Robert, a guy that grew up in Venice Beach and trampled in the same L.A. areas that I did.  We played the name game but could not find a commonality.  He is my age but looks 20 years older.    Long grey hippy hair but a joie de vivre in his eye.  The hostess Jane and her husband Frank were from Fort Lauderdale.  Her daughters and two grandsons were visiting and the kids were very sharp but very cheeky.  I had fun talking with them and outsmarting the 11 year old.  Jane kept disappearing into the restroom and the bedroom.  I didn’t think anything of it until we returned to our casa and Carlos and Raine told us that Jane controls some imagined illness by toking on weed and popping pills.  Like I said….colorful…

 One of the other guests was a very attractive blonde from Louisiana.  This girl took no shit from anyone and controlled the evening conversation about some very expensive patio chairs she had purchased and ruined by one of her renters.  She was incensed that the retailer would not do the repair on the chairs and had no idea where to send them for warranty work.  However, ‘warranty’ was up for description.   When a 350 lb drunk guest jumps on the chair and breaks the bands, is that a warranty repair?  According to Rita Rae, since the chairs cost $2500 each, the retailer should put that back in new order.  Later on I learned that Rita Rae is an icon on the island and not an icon of positive description.  Her large bright blue house is considered an eye sore and the Panamanians avoid her like a plague, even though she is loaded (with money, not weed).

 That party notwithstanding, our second visit to Bocas Town yielded that although the island is going through immense growth, the downside of that is noise and pollution and sewage.  The government is building sewage treatment plants around the island but a bit late to stay ahead of the growth.  A new hospital is being built quite close to the casa and the construction traffic goes on from 6A to 9P.  Paradise lost… at least for a time.

 

Casa AbundancYah Bocas Del Toro

Carlos and Raine did sell their place and we will meet the new owner on Sunday.  They will be leaving the island mid Dec and are closing on a nice little place near Tampa, FL where one of the kids live with their two granddaughters.  They will be back to Panama to visit.  Carlos is in a battle, aligned with 4 of his siblings, against one brother that lives in Panama City.  Their Dad purchased acreage on the pacific side about 1.5 hours out of Panama City early in the 1900’s and it is now worth millions.  Each year the case is locked in the court, the value goes up.  Carlos figures that it will settle in about 5 years (after 20 years in the court system-welcome to Panama), and he will take his acreage and build his vacation home and sell improved lots. 

 We still like it here but we already knew we would not want to live on this island full time.  We will visit several of the other islands during this coming week for recreation and then go on to Boquete, the other area we liked from the last trip.

 Until next post, hugs and kisses.