Panama

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Camping and coconut rice

April 5, 2009 in Panama, Tasty treats, surfing by tom | No comments

We caught the ferry from Bocas to meet up with our travel buddies Chris and Kristin in a little town called Santa Catalina on the Pacific coast—which is also home to a really good surfing break (named after the town) and it’s touted as having the most consistent surf in Central America. A long walk out over volcanic rock and then it’s a fair paddle to a beautiful but shallow reef break offering fast lefts and rights, when we arrived the waves were about shoulder high. We camped in a nice spot called Oasis right on the beach with plenty of shade and fresh coconuts falling scarily close to our tents, like manna from the sky. Try boiling a cup and a half of rice in the juice drained from two freshly fallen coconuts in a thin camp pot … best eaten under undiluted galaxies.

shady-camping

A few tranquilo days later we headed inland to camp with a rasta yogi, known locally as ‘Swami‘ and his rainbow gathering crew, the cheapest accommodation we could find in a town that’s centered in the crater of an extinct volcano, called El Valle, about two hours outside of Panama city. When the Panama Canal was owned and operated by the States a few Panamanian officials were getting fairly good kickbacks and we were told that this is where their kids bought up large chunks of fertile land, building grandiose houses with rambling manicured lawns set amongst awesome tropical landscaping. We had read that the town hosts an interesting arts and crafts market and were a little disappointed to find it much of the same and our only real discovery worth reporting was the Maracuya (passionfruit) juice served in a small out-of-the-way cafe.

Almirante to Bocas Del Toro – The Mouths of the Bull

March 31, 2009 in Panama by kels | 3 comments

For those headed this way with a car make sure you arrive EARLY… around 6:30am, the ferry from Almirante to Bocas leaves at 8am sharp (Monday through Saturday) there will be a line up for miles and each driver will be vying for a limited number of spots. Marlin was the last car on, made it by the skin of his little black bumper, accompanied by some fruit and vegetables, we were only one car away from having to spend an extra night to catch the ferry the next day.

Last one on

Bocas del Toro is the biggest town on the main island of the Bocas Archipelago and it’s seriously Caribbean although tourism has run rampant in the last six years and the prices and scenery definitely reflect that. We chose to stay at the beautiful La Veranda, a 100 year old home, on the outskirts of town for only a little more than the price of the dorm beds in town. The ambiance of the second floor, large wooden veranda complete with rattan rockers and lazy fans helped lull us into the slow vibe of Bocas.

Looking for surf we hired a boat to take us to Red Frog Beach on Isla Bastimentos. A boardwalk shortcuts across the island and as a local worker scuffed past us in his rubber boots, Tom asked where the red frogs were at. He walked directly to a tree, bent down and then presented us with a Poison Dart Frog. They are so tiny! Ok, we weren’t supposed to hold them but the young guy said it was ok. (This was pretty dumb and we do not endorse it at all).

Red Frog

The red frogs are native to parts of Central and South America and live in rainforests. They emit a funny chirp noise and their bright colours can range from vibrant red with black spots to dark blue with pale blue markings which are meant to ward off predators. There are more than 100 species of Poison Dart Frog and the colours can vary within the species, they do carry a poison (which is why you shouldn’t touch them) but only three are apparently really dangerous to humans. From what I could gather they need to inject their poison, which is lucky for Tom and I, since we just held them (DUMB). Interestingly the toxins are derived from creatures they eat like ants or mites, so should you choose to have one as a pet and control it’s diet, it could potentially be poison free. Generally their toxins can’t permeate our skin, however, I did have rather numb, red looking fingers (and a serious panic attack that I was going to die) after touching that damn frog and would NOT touch one again.

Warning Poison

One more interesting thing to note, it seems that the resort development aptly named Red Frog Beach, is rumoured to be encroaching on the habitat of its namesake and contributing to their declining numbers.

Bocas del Drago

Happy to be alive the next morning, Tom and I caught a bus and headed to Bocas del Drago which is on the other side of Isla Colon. It was all that you could imagine a Caribbean beach to be. Bleached white sand, turquoise clear warm water and huge palms. If we had known how beautiful it was we would have opted to stay here, away from the hustle of Bocas del Toro. After enjoying the serenity of the place, and the company of some great Aussie gals, we negotiated a boat ride back and took in the sights of the island lifestyle before packing up wee Marlin and continuing on our way.

Beautiful Bocas

When it rains…

March 24, 2009 in Panama by kels | 8 comments

Sometimes things just go wrong… maybe we needed a slap back into reality after leaving the realm of everyday life and spending a little too much time in the alternate travel universe. We were stranded in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica with a couple of rather large issues. The first being that the only bridge into town was half washed away by the unusually heavy tropical rains and had subsequently been closed. Tom’s surfboard needed a major repair after he lost a fin and its box surfing in Nosara; on top of that, Marlin was having some trouble with the alternator and his battery had died. Oh yeah and it had been pouring rain for 4 days.

Washed away

This is part of bringing a car with you and we both knew that we would be bound to have some mechanical issues, especially with an older vehicle and although our Spanish is progressing, our mechanical terminology is a little thin, which makes dealing with car problems all the more fun. We did manage to find a rather interesting mechanic, one with a penchant for all things pirate. His first mate was an efficient Tico teenager whom we called Smee, jumping to attention, repeating orders and being generally subservient, he was incredibly conscientious providing tools and parts on cue. It was a pleasure to watch them work and we both felt that Smee held an enviable position.

Pirate Mobile

As it turns out the plaque del Dios, the god plate, had malfunctioned causing the regulator to burn out (maybe one too many river crossings the week before). We were sent from the pirate to another mechanic, an older gentleman who had a spare god plate. He charged the battery and to showed Tom which part needed replacement as well as how to install the part. The regulador was the key to getting Marlin running smoothly again, it regulates the charge back to the battery (or so we think).

With Marlin working, Tom’s board fixed and the bridge opened for light traffic we felt a definite change in our luck. We took a risk and headed for the Panamanian border, which had been closed for two days because of the flooding. The god plate must have been working because the border opened an hour after we arrived and we cleared both Costa Rican and Panama immigration in under 30 minutes!

Insane Bridge to Panama

Knowing we needed the regulador we burned rubber to Changuinola, home of the famous Chiquita banana, a town of about 50, 000, 45 minutes south of the border. We rolled into the nearest gas station to fill up and Marlin died. I manned the car while Tom went off to find a new regulator. Returning fairly quickly we switched out the part but, since the battery was completely dead, we needed a jump to get started. Enter absolute chaos.

Somehow we had a policeman, two gas attendants, a truck driver and some random guy all trying to sort out why the car wouldn’t start. The policeman, a rather amusingly frantic fellow, had to try the ignition for himself… just in case. Then the truck driver who had been ordered to give us a jump by the policeman attached the jumper cables to the wrong terminals in his hasty obedience. Tom was looking a little stressed as he had noticed that the cables were mixed up but didn’t want to get the truckie in trouble with the cop who was dancing around the car looking anxious. The truck driver decided the terminals needed cleaning and the policeman whipped out a twelve inch hunting knife to help scrape away some of the corroded metal. While they were doing that Tom quietly reversed the cables on the truck and the next time Marlin came back to life. We thanked everyone profusely and were on our way.

Thinking that we should double-check that the battery was receiving charge we headed straight to a nearby mechanic for a multi-meter. After a bit of testing, some insulation paint, a lot of good will and a minor earthquake we got the alternator fixed and the battery charged. We spent the night in Changuinola and were up early the next day headed for Bocas Del Toro, a group of Islands in the Caribbean sea off the coast of Panama.

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