Taking a brief reprieve; a friend suggested that I save my Facebook posts before they disappear. So, here I am in Boquete, a little town in the highlands (mountains) of Panama, not terribly far from Costa Rica actually), having just had dinner and dessert in an Argentinian restaurant, hanging out because it has wireless access and the home I'm staying in does not. It's rainy and cool up here, but pleasant. It's really a great little town--I have a good feeling about being here.
So, here's some posts from Facebook, for those of you who are not on there:
Dec. 24th, 7pm, just before I left for airport in Portland:
Off to airport in one hour. Still packing. Raincoat, polarfleece, sunscreen, bathing suit, 3 books and a credit card. What more do I need? Merry Christmas to all.
Dec. 25th, 7:20am:
Shivering in Houston airport. Soon, sun and warmth. Right now I just want to sleep, though.
Dec. 26th, 3am:
3am in Panama City, Sunday morning. Landed early on Xmas Day, 1:30pm. Driver waiting, took me right to the guest house I'd arranged to stay at, Casa Las Americas. Very nice neighborhood, very nice people, very nice room, very nice view of the city. Most everything closed on Xmas, so had to eat at a Lebanese restaurant which was very good.
And to go along with the photos I posted:
The weather was overcast and a bit humid when we landed. I assess the level of humidity by the degree to which my hair is 'puffy,' to quote my granddaughter. It was low-moderate.
Dec. 27th, 1am:
I should really keep a blog. But that's just one more thing that I'd have to set up. So writing here and then adding on under 'comments' will have to suffice. Today was a warm and sometimes rainy day. Started off with a wonderful breakfast of French Toast, fresh fruit (papaya and banana) with yogurt, and a guava pineapple juice.
After visiting the canal for two hours, I went back to where I am staying, and took a two and half hour nap. I'd been exhausted. My driver, Mario, likes to drive and talk at the same time, and I was being lulled to sleep because of his habit of taking his foot of the gas pedal every three to five seconds, so we'd speed up and slow down, over and over and over, hence the nap.
Later I went on down to the Cause Way, where I could see ships coming in getting ready to line up as I ate my delicious grilled in garlic prawns with some rather bland fried green plantains and fried yucca. I'd run into a young couple I'd met early this morning; they are from Calgary, Canada, so we had dinner together.
I'm pretty tired and am ready to crash. I'm leaving my little home of two days at 6am and heading to the bus station, where I'm taking a bus for what is supposedly a seven hour drive through some nice scenery, heading west to David. Then it's another forty kilometers to Horconcitos and a short ride to Boca Chica where I'll catch a water taxi to Boca Brava, my new home for three nights. I hope the rain dissipates. The forecast is calling for sporadic thunderstorms.
But it's all an adventure of sorts, and it's just what memories are made of. And really, I just have to be thankful that I am not in New England where I could be waking up to shoveling snow....or hiring someone to shovel snow for me.
Life is good.
Judi
Dec. 27th, 6:30pm:
I am in heaven connected to Facebook via my Blackbery. I love Panama.
Dec. 27th, 7pm:
One truth I've learned through all my travels is that the language of chocolate is spoken everywhere, including on a Panamanian bus.
Dec. 27th, 7:30pm
Too funny...the guy who owns this little 'hotel,' grew up in Holliston (Mass), attended the Rivers School, which was Rivers Country Day School when we grew up there, in Weston, and went to school at Adams State in Colorado. We followed extremely similar paths but he ended up in Panama via California and Mexico, and I'm still landed in Oregon....but definitely heading to warmer digs in the not so distant future.
Dec. 28th, 9:30am:
The world is even smaller. Keep in mind I am on a little island 7 or 8 hrs west of Panama City, 25 guests maybe. I came up on (funky) balcony to eat breakfast (fruit crepes) with the howler monkeys (which sound like Java, my older cat), and a woman my age says to me, I know you — where are you from? She looked familiar. Turns out she lived in Eugene and used to come to Corvallis a lot — we have mutual friends.
Dec. 28th, 6:30pm:
More small world before getting on with travel stories: Corvallis friends, any of you remember the attorney Bill Nokes who had an office near downtown? He moved away maybe ten or so years ago to Brookings, and sails every winter. His boat is anchored here and we chatted together over lunch. Small world indeed.
Dec. 29th, 6am:
The power has gone out a lot here, which makes it easy to go to sleep by 10 pm. It came on at 4am so I started uploading photos, not knowing when it'll go down again. Later on I'll work on that blog Angie set up (Thanks, Angie!). Have met lots of interesting folks, gone on a short hike, have continued reading two books, and played some cards with my new friends. When the day breaks, going to some of the other islands.
Dec. 30th, 10:30am:
Thursday, 10:30am, freshly squeezed watermelon juice, typing on the blog, and gazing out across the water to the other islands. Bliss, sweet bliss. Have to leave here in 90 minutes for whatever comes next. Going to be hard to leave this tranquility behind.
Dec. 30th, 7pm:
In Boquete, en las montanas. Tomorrow horseback riding. Already have new friend, Angelo, who has offered to hike with me. My Spanish is improving by the half-day, still speaking in present tense but with expanding vocab. At least I'm not telling anyone to shut up or eat a car. New Year's Eve masquerade party — I'm going as an Oregonian in my Marmot rain parka, masks provided. They'll never guess what or who I am.
So, here's some posts from Facebook, for those of you who are not on there:
Dec. 24th, 7pm, just before I left for airport in Portland:
Off to airport in one hour. Still packing. Raincoat, polarfleece, sunscreen, bathing suit, 3 books and a credit card. What more do I need? Merry Christmas to all.
Dec. 25th, 7:20am:
Shivering in Houston airport. Soon, sun and warmth. Right now I just want to sleep, though.
Dec. 26th, 3am:
3am in Panama City, Sunday morning. Landed early on Xmas Day, 1:30pm. Driver waiting, took me right to the guest house I'd arranged to stay at, Casa Las Americas. Very nice neighborhood, very nice people, very nice room, very nice view of the city. Most everything closed on Xmas, so had to eat at a Lebanese restaurant which was very good.
And to go along with the photos I posted:
The weather was overcast and a bit humid when we landed. I assess the level of humidity by the degree to which my hair is 'puffy,' to quote my granddaughter. It was low-moderate.
Dec. 27th, 1am:
I should really keep a blog. But that's just one more thing that I'd have to set up. So writing here and then adding on under 'comments' will have to suffice. Today was a warm and sometimes rainy day. Started off with a wonderful breakfast of French Toast, fresh fruit (papaya and banana) with yogurt, and a guava pineapple juice.
Went to the old city of Panama City, and took a tour of the canal museum, which was pretty interesting. Walked around for about an hour and a half, and found myself constantly drawn into the many Catholic churches in this area. The singing, with some guitar playing, really was uplifting in some way. I walked in and stood in the back of El Merced, I think it's called, (most of these churches are open to the sidewalks and streets), and just listened. There was a little baby Jesus up in the front, in his crib; alas he was a doll. I was obviously the only non Panamanian there, and people were very welcoming. From there I went over to the Panama Canal. No matter that we studied this in school or had seen photos of it in books and in the newspaper, it is completely different and awe-inspiring to see this close up and in action. It's simply amazing, this engineering feat. These huge ships squeeze on through this narrow canal. They wait in line, all these ships, for eight to ten hours for their turn, and while I am not sure how long it takes to go through this little narrow part to enter the canal, I do know that it's another eight to ten hours to travel the canal up to Colon. Very awesome. What's really quite lovely is to listen to all the various languages spoken, as people from all around the world are visiting. The cadence of Italian and Spanish, French and Dutch and German, to name a few languages I'd listened to today, is beautiful.
After visiting the canal for two hours, I went back to where I am staying, and took a two and half hour nap. I'd been exhausted. My driver, Mario, likes to drive and talk at the same time, and I was being lulled to sleep because of his habit of taking his foot of the gas pedal every three to five seconds, so we'd speed up and slow down, over and over and over, hence the nap.
Later I went on down to the Cause Way, where I could see ships coming in getting ready to line up as I ate my delicious grilled in garlic prawns with some rather bland fried green plantains and fried yucca. I'd run into a young couple I'd met early this morning; they are from Calgary, Canada, so we had dinner together.
I'm pretty tired and am ready to crash. I'm leaving my little home of two days at 6am and heading to the bus station, where I'm taking a bus for what is supposedly a seven hour drive through some nice scenery, heading west to David. Then it's another forty kilometers to Horconcitos and a short ride to Boca Chica where I'll catch a water taxi to Boca Brava, my new home for three nights. I hope the rain dissipates. The forecast is calling for sporadic thunderstorms.
But it's all an adventure of sorts, and it's just what memories are made of. And really, I just have to be thankful that I am not in New England where I could be waking up to shoveling snow....or hiring someone to shovel snow for me.
Life is good.
Judi
Dec. 27th, 6:30pm:
I am in heaven connected to Facebook via my Blackbery. I love Panama.
Dec. 27th, 7pm:
One truth I've learned through all my travels is that the language of chocolate is spoken everywhere, including on a Panamanian bus.
Dec. 27th, 7:30pm
Too funny...the guy who owns this little 'hotel,' grew up in Holliston (Mass), attended the Rivers School, which was Rivers Country Day School when we grew up there, in Weston, and went to school at Adams State in Colorado. We followed extremely similar paths but he ended up in Panama via California and Mexico, and I'm still landed in Oregon....but definitely heading to warmer digs in the not so distant future.
Dec. 28th, 9:30am:
The world is even smaller. Keep in mind I am on a little island 7 or 8 hrs west of Panama City, 25 guests maybe. I came up on (funky) balcony to eat breakfast (fruit crepes) with the howler monkeys (which sound like Java, my older cat), and a woman my age says to me, I know you — where are you from? She looked familiar. Turns out she lived in Eugene and used to come to Corvallis a lot — we have mutual friends.
Dec. 28th, 6:30pm:
More small world before getting on with travel stories: Corvallis friends, any of you remember the attorney Bill Nokes who had an office near downtown? He moved away maybe ten or so years ago to Brookings, and sails every winter. His boat is anchored here and we chatted together over lunch. Small world indeed.
Dec. 29th, 6am:
The power has gone out a lot here, which makes it easy to go to sleep by 10 pm. It came on at 4am so I started uploading photos, not knowing when it'll go down again. Later on I'll work on that blog Angie set up (Thanks, Angie!). Have met lots of interesting folks, gone on a short hike, have continued reading two books, and played some cards with my new friends. When the day breaks, going to some of the other islands.
Dec. 30th, 10:30am:
Thursday, 10:30am, freshly squeezed watermelon juice, typing on the blog, and gazing out across the water to the other islands. Bliss, sweet bliss. Have to leave here in 90 minutes for whatever comes next. Going to be hard to leave this tranquility behind.
Dec. 30th, 7pm:
In Boquete, en las montanas. Tomorrow horseback riding. Already have new friend, Angelo, who has offered to hike with me. My Spanish is improving by the half-day, still speaking in present tense but with expanding vocab. At least I'm not telling anyone to shut up or eat a car. New Year's Eve masquerade party — I'm going as an Oregonian in my Marmot rain parka, masks provided. They'll never guess what or who I am.
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