The Central Provinces (Azuero) & more!

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Buenos dias,

here I come with another blog from beautiful Panama!


Boquete, Las Lajas, David,...
After I left Panama City I went straight back to David, Chiriquí where I visited the "Feria International de las flores y del café" in Boquete, a city 38 km north of David. Boquete is a very well known tourist destination in Panama, it's located in the hills and has a cooler temperature compared to David. Many Americans and Europeans retire in this area. The city itself has about 20.000 people and grew fast over the last few years. The international fair was ok, many people told me it was nothing compared to how it used to be before. Because of a heavy flooding last November, several parts around the place where they organize the fair were destroyed, and also other parts of Boquete and the provinces of Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro suffered damages. But Boquete recovered quite fast.
At the fair there were dozens of stands, selling handcrafts etc. and all sorts of other local gifts. The garden was full of all kind of flowers, which is the reason why it's called Feria de Flores (fair of flowers). At night, the two disco's called "El PH" and "X-Zone" entertain the local, mainly young crowd. During the day, on the last Sunday, I went to Boquete with Ernesto, Maria, Abdel and a cousin of Maria.
On the last Saturday of the fair I went there with Nancy, Ernesto's cousin an there I met with Edgardo and Fernando who I know from 2005 when I stayed in Bágala, Chiriquí. We met them in the X-zone and we stayed with them the whole night. A few days later Fernando called me, and said that two girls wanted to go out so he picked me up and we picked them up and we went to a small town outside David where they had something called "carnavalito". The girls were called Yahaira and Giselle. We had a very good time with them and I'm probably going to see them more often 😉. Giselle had her birthday party the week after and didn't want me to miss it, so together with Fernando and Edgardo we went there but I couldn't join them to the beach afterwards (La Barquetta) because I was already going to Las Lajas Beach with Ernesto, his parents, Maria, Abdel and the colleagues of Ernesto. We left around 5:00 to the beach, got there at about 6:15 and stayed until around 14:30 because Ernesto and his colleagues had to work at the end of the afternoon. Everyone had to put something for the beach: drinks, food etc. etc. Mama Glenda, Ernesto's mom (who'se like a mom for me and I do call her mom sometimes), cooked all the food and brought it to the beach about two hours after we arrived. I had to bring two bottles of softdrink and buy two bags of ice. We had a good and relaxed afternoon there.

Azuero: Herrera and Los Santos
Maudy is a Dutch friend I knew from a forum on internet. I wrote something about Panama and she contacted me, that was in 2005. She was in Panama to work as au-pair at a family. She found a Panamanian boyfriend and she stayed in Panama until this day and doesn't really want to go back to The Netherlands (which I understand, lol). In 2007, while she was in The Netherlands, I got to know her personally for the first time. Now that I'm in Panama she invited me to visit them in Pedasí, Los Santos province. This province, together with Herrera and a part of Veraguas form the Azuero Peninsula. This peninsula is considered the part of Panama which is the richest in culture and tradition. The first cry of independence from Spain occured here in early 1800's. The capital of Herrera is Chitré, which is a small city with everything you might need. It's the largest city of the peninsula with more than 30.000 people. The capital of Los Santos is Las Tablas, which has about 20.000 people. Both Chitré and Las Tablas are famous in Panama for their carnival. I'll probably go to Las Tablas with Abdiel and his friends, which starts on February 20th or 21st until the 24th.
Pedasí is a much smaller town, located on the southeastern part of Los Santos. It has a bit more than 3000 people, and the first female president of Panama, Mireya Moscoso (1999-2004) was born here. The place is experiencing a big growth of tourism and also real estate proyects all over the area. A Dutch friend of Maudy, Arnaud, came to Panama for a trip of two weeks together with her girlfriend Hasina from Madagascar. They're both living in London, UK. Maudy showed us Pedasi and the area around it, also Playa Venao which is a famous surfing beach. Here was the first time I've ever been on a surfboard. I did catch some waves, but only made it on my knees....standing is of course too difficult for the first time. We also had the chance to meet Sonia "Pucha" Garcia which is a well known pro surfer and model here in Panama. We visited also Isla Iguana, which is a tiny island with a long, beautiful white sand beach on one side, and a smaller beach on the other side. Tourists have to pay US$10 to get on the island and boats that dock in front of the beach have to pay US$15. All exxagerated in my opinion, ridiculously expensive. For those in Curaçao: just imagine you're going to Klein Curaçao and you have to pay ANG. 18 per person to get on the island and ANG. 27 for your boat. Anyway, it was nice on the island though, I always wanted to go and see Isla Iguana and I'm happy I did it. But I wouldn't do it anymore because it's nothing that special to me and it's way too overpriced. The island is called Isla Iguana due to the presence of many green and black iguana's on the island. I saw some along the track between the two beaches.

Santa Catalina and Coiba Island, Veraguas
We drove to Santa Catalina, a very small town with not even 1.000 people, in southern Veraguas. From Pedasi it took us about 4,5 hours to get there. Panama's best surfing beach is located here and there are many tourists arriving here to surf or to go to Coiba Island. There is still a lot to do in the town in order to make it a real tourist destination and I think in the coming 10 years it will grow and change a lot. We arrive early in the morning, had breakfast and met with the American guy who took us to Coiba Island (I forgot the guy's name, I think it was Richard). He has no license to drive the boat himself, so he took a local guy from town who drove the boat. We arrived at the island where we had to register and pay for the entrance of Coiba National Park (US$ 20 per person, the second most expensive national park I've been to after Uluru-Ayer's Rock in Australia) and also for our accomodation there. The island is 496 sq. kilometers big and it's a natural gem with very little human influence at all. Probably there are still many parts on the island where no human has ever been. This is why the island is unique, has many species you wouldn't find anywhere else and is on the Unesco's World Heritage List. During our stay around the area we visited the "Sendero de Monos" (Monkey Trail), which is a trail of a little longer than 1 km through the rainforest. We also visited Isla Coibita and Isla Granito de Oro, where we snorkeled around the island and I saw small, white tipped sharks (between 1m and 1,20m maybe) and also a turtle.
The most interesting part of Coiba to me, was the old prison. The prison was opened in 1919 but is closed down. There are only 3 prisoners left who all will get their freedom this year after being there for 12 to 13 years for murder. Since early 1990's the island officialy became a National Park. About 1200 prisoners where kept on Coiba during the years it was functioning normally. During all those years, locals and tourists avoided the island but now it's a tourist destination. Once at the old prison, one of the policemen there will show you around all the old celblocks, the old hall where the prisoners ate etc. etc. Although on an island located more than 20 km off the coast of the mainland, several prisoners escaped from Coiba. They tied pieces of wood together to float away from the island. Some made it, others were eaten by sharks, others disappeard.

At the end of the trip there was a small problem I was not aware off. We all put a certain amount of money in a "pot" for gas and Maudy drove Arnaud and Hasina to Boquete, but I left the car in David. Because the trip to Santa Catalina and then to David didn't consume that much gas as we thought, I asked Maudy for the half of the amount of money that I paid for gas (having in mind that I have a tight budget and that I already spent a lot that week). Later she called and said she wasn't happy with it and we had a discussion about how the trip went, that I'm not grateful and I take advantage of situations etc...then she asked me to come to the restaurant in David where they were eating and to bring her documents for her (documents I brought for her from The Netherlands). When I arrived and we all spoke to each other I understood what was going on. Because I'm on a tight budget (they didn't know about this, maybe I should have told them), sometimes I was going to the shop on my own to buy a piece of bread and two slices of cheese, an apple, a banana etc etc instead of having to eat outside all he time because like they were doing, because I had to take care of my budget. Because I never asked them if they needed something from the shop, or asked if they wanted a piece of bread etc. during the trip, it pissed them off and they said that I don't like to share with others and that I didn't think about them, that they also might have been hungry. Especially when we went to Coiba, we didn't bring enough food because we thought it was included. The policemen on the island helped us. The day before I bought just a little stuff for my breakfast and lunch the next day so I don't have to buy anything at a restaurant. I had no idea that they didn't buy anything for themselves. I said that they were right and that I didn't share, that's true. But I told them that I didn't do anything on purpose and it's not that I don't like to share. Arnaud and Maudy sometimes asked if I want a sandwich, or a beer when we go to a restaurant or bakery or something, but I didn't offer them anything. All because the trip was already expensive, I spend a lot more than I thought I was going to spend. Maudy told me I had to look for a motel on Pedasi because she's got no more space at home, but I really didn't get this through the phone, don't know how come. When we went to look for a room at a motel, I found it strange but I didn't say anything. The rooms were US$20 and I said I couldn't pay that, so then she offered me to put a bed in the living room where I slept 3 nights. If I knew I had to stay in a motel I wouldn't have gone to Pedasi because I really couldn't afford it. During the trip to Coiba I noticed that Maudy's attitue towards me was a bit strange, but I didn't say anything because I had no clue what was going on. But anyway, everything is solved now because we sat down for a few minutes and spoke everything among the 4 of us and I gave the US$20 back.

Further..
My new contactlenses are finally ready, I got them last Monday. They are much smaller than the ones I had before and it took a few days to get used to them. It took 5 weeks to get them, and not 10 to 15 days like the doctor said. It pisses me off a little bit, but there is not much you can do about. Before I bought the lenses I had to go several times to the docter so he can try different lenses on my right eye and take measures etc. He was always late. He tells you to be there at 11:00, he arrives at 13:00. So now that my lenses arrived, I always tell the girls that work there to call me as soon as he arrives, then I'll go.

I started to play volleyball now, just "birrias". Birrias are volleyball sessions on certain days of the week, at certain times an places where random people gather and play volleyball. The team who wins remains on the court and they play until 10, sometimes till 15 points then another team plays. Yesterday though, when I jumped to block an attack from the otherside, I landed on the foot of the other player (he crossed the line under the net) and I hurt my ankle badly. It still hurts a little bit and it's swollen but I'm able to walk much better compared to yesterday. Mama Glenda helped me putting a cream on it (balsum) and I also took a medication she had. This thing happens very often in volleyball and they recommended me to start using like a bandage especially designed to put around your ankle when you're going to play. But for these coming two weeks at least I won't play, I'll let the ankle heal completely first. In March I might play in a team in Chiriquí which is great!

I came back to Panama City today and I'm staying at Luis' place. I'll be staying in the city until it's time for carnival in Las Tablas and Chitré. Tomorrow I'll probably go to the Feria de Chorrera with Eybis.


Anyway that's all for now. Feliz fin de semana to all!!

Elton

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Comments

[Bill]

Las Tablas para mi
I hope to see it in person soon.