Pedegral, Panama

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We continue to explore the surrounding area by bus. We are toying with the idea of renting a car as they are inexpensive but the insurance is costly. So far buses work well and cabs are cheap, driving seems suicidal in this city. We do a lot of walking as well which is a good thing because we sure are eating out a lot.

I have the bus schedule on line so I locate places that are day trips, do a bit of research as to what is there and off we go to the bus terminal. We decided on Pedegral, a small suburb of David past the airport. We intended to go to the airport to check on car rentals as well. We get to the terminal and I ask about a bus to Pedegral and I get this long explanation about where to catch the bus. Did not understand one word of it. The chap found us a bus employee who signalled for us to follow him. Off we went down the street around the corner, we must have gone 4 blocks at which point we were in front of a Hotel. The kind young man signalled that we should wait there and sure enough, several buses came along, one being ours. What a nice gesture, the people are most accommodating even if there are very few tourists here. The buses have the name of their destination nicely displayed on the front windshield yet I still ask when I get on, this way the driver can signal us when we get there. The return trip was $1.20 for both of us.

The attraction to Pedegral was that it was a fishing town near a series of winding rivers that lead to the Pacific. Jerry needed his fix of water and boats. It did not disappoint, we saw some boats, a small Marina and water. They appear to have 8 foot tides. We saw some poor dwellings with water marks two feet up the wall. Some large boats were on the mud as we were there at low tide. There is a tour boat that can take you out on the river but it was high and dry at low tide, we will have to return at high tide. We stopped in a restaurant for lunch, I was hoping to try Ceviche but they were out so we had grilled fish which was very good. Four beers and 2 fish dinners was $20. Dollars. They rhyme off the menu and the only word I can ever pick up is the word for chicken, so I asked the waitress to follow me outside so I could show her the picture of the fish with all it's trimmings. She laughed and went in the kitchen to cook it up. It was a large place and we were the only customers. It was absolutely delicious.

We were stopped by the police while walking to town the other day, they wanted to see our papers. We really stick out since we are tall, white and Jerry has a beard and tattoos. Not a lot of that around here. We had been told by a Canadian couple, who live here at the complex, that we should carry our passports or copies of Because you could be asked for them! they were never asked. Luckily we headed their advicedid. The officer was pointing to our stamped visa and questioning something but we told him we did not understand Spanish and he quickly tired of us. Off we went, they have nothing else to do I guess.

Back to our little Oasis and into the pool for rest and relaxation.

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