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Published: December 29th 2006
I'm in San Francisco now, but am updating the blog for Panama. If you don't normally check out the photos, you don't want to miss these, lots of National Geographic stuff.
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Been doing lots of jungle hikes and having some great cultural adventures. The jungles are so thick that I really needed my own machete (you never know when you need to hack something). Spent time on the boat, on Shepard Island and visiting different islands. The doctor, a 70 year old man originally from Costa Rica who is the caretaker on Shepard Island, would often make us dinner. We just needed to bring some sort of meat and he would cook everything up. It generally takes him about 4 hours, so we have to get him going early. I don't think he can read or write but he listens to "Voice of America" everyday so he loves it when I read out loud from the Economist. He's pretty well informed of what's going on the world....globalization at work. The kitchen is basically like a big tree house, with only a wood burning stove and water collected from the rain. One night we had a huge gale come through which made it quite interesting. Ed’s been sponsoring some work at the local school. We would go over there a few times to check out the progress. It’s pretty darn frustrating doing any construction jobs with the locals. For example, he asked one of the guys to bring over his planer (sp?). This guy boated all the way over to the island and left the planer box with all the attachments, extension cord and everything BUT the planer. You say, what are these guys thinking, but I’ve seen this type of thing over and over again. Bottom line, if you’re going to do any construction projects down here have a lot of patience.
Generally the food in Bocas is great. There are a lot of ethnic restaurants to choose from. Even the food in the store is generally good. For example all the chicken is fresh free range organic, what a difference than most of the stuff you get in the states. The first night that my friend Susanne came out we made the mistake of eating at the Bocas Yacht Club. One of the evening features was Jambalaya which basically was rice, pinto beans and chopped up hot dogs. Those gringos!
We made a habit of swimming at night to see the bioluminescence in the water. It was so beautiful, especially if you swim under the boat where it's extra dark. It was equally as beautiful on the top of the boat on a clear starry filled night. On those nice nights it's great to watch movies on the deck.
We sailed over to a friend’s island to get some fresh squeezed cane juice and coconut water. Cane juice making is quite a process to watch. After they gather some cane they put it into this old fashion press which the guys have to run in circles to get it to squeeze the juice out. We anchored near this island for a night, in dolphin bay...and there were lots of dolphins.
December 8th is Mothers day in Panama and it's a pretty big holiday (well really what's not a big holiday in Latin America). Everything was closed so we decided to sail over to the Cerutti's island to get a tour of their beautiful property and their cocoa production. The walk was great, we spotted lots of poison dart frogs, a praying mantis and we were hunted and attacked multiple times by an ocelot. When all was said and done we got 3 huge bars of 100% pure organic chocolate, along with some scratches from the cat. I made brownies later that day while we watched Chocolat with Johnny Depp on the DVD. They were so good but I crashed hard the next day from all the sugar indulgence.
One early morning Susanne and I kayaked over to the shack on the water where Betty and her family lives. She is the local baker. We put an order in for 25 Johnny cakes (made with Coconut water, flour, yeast and yes, lard....yumm), so we wanted to get their early in the morning to watch her make them. She of course uses a makeshift oven with firewood. Looks like a lot of work, but they were delicious. On the way back we had to stop and do some snorkeling, the water was so beautiful.
Dec 10th Susanne and I left Ed's boat, we needed some freedom and some socializing, so we headed into town via a ride in a cayuco canoe and then hailed a water taxi in the middle of the bay. Susanne left the next day and I got talked into staying in Bocas with my buddy Jeff. We went over to this resort called Punta Caracol Acqua Lodge for a couple of nights. Great little cabanas on the water. The only way to get there is by boat and the snorkeling off our deck was amazing. The fish like to hang out under the structures so it's like swimming in an aquarium. This was all inclusive and the food was truly amazing, lots of fresh fish. Once back in town we did a bike ride on some really crappy bikes to the other side of the island, it was really tough (yes even for me, ms triathlon girl) but it's been a while since I've done any biking. We were rewarded with a great little beach with palm trees. After a fantastic week Jeff had to leave to go back to the real world. I was pretty bummed out and lonely, plus I didn't have any good solid leads on any sailboats that were going anywhere I wanted to go...or any boats that I actually wanted to go on! After 2 miserable nights at the hostel I moved back onto Ed’s boat for a few more days on Ed's boat. It’s pretty darn relaxing but I was ready to move on, so I decided to cash in on some airline points and make it home for Christmas. I'm so glad I did, this is wonderful to be home. I’m working on the next leg of my trip. Australia and New Zealand. I hope to be leaving in the next few weeks.
Thanks for reading and following along. I always appreciate everyone’s comments and messages.
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John G.
non-member comment
Merry Christmas
Hi Kathy. Great pics and Merry Christmas. Glad you were able to get home with the family. I know some folks in Sydney and New Zealand. Let me know if you'd like to meet them. I'm sure they'd be happy to show you around and have a good time. Merry Christmas and have a Happy, Healthy and Safe New Year ! John :o)