November 5, 2011
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| Brittany and me |
I had breakfast looking out over the Caribbean towards the marina, and then walked down to the water taxi stand located towards the end of Calle 1. I stopped in at Starfleet along the way to say hello to Brittany and get a picture since I did not think I would see her before I left. She starts her PADI Instructor Development Course on Wednesday and is doing a few fun dives before getting into her classes.
Ernesto, the water taxi owner, took me to Hospital Point; a spot Brittany had recommended for snorkeling. I asked to be picked up in two hours and had this beautiful little cove all to myself for well over an hour.
When we arrived at Hospital Point my driver pointed out the hand written signs here and there announcing that there are backpack thieves in the area – just great. I had my camera with me and a few other items that I would have hated to lose. After taking a few pictures and casually wandering about the area to scope things out I hid my fin bag under some fallen palm fronds and hoped for the best. I put my water shoes and bottle of water under a big rock. At this point there was really nothing I could do, so I swam out about 10 yards and put on my gear.
Swimming straight out into the cove I came across some very nice coral heads and the reef curved out around the bend to the left. The area would be perfect for first-time snorkelers or kids because it was pretty shallow (less than 20 feet) until you came to a drop off that went beyond the visibility, which was about 50 feet or so. After exploring for a while I went back into the beach and dropped off my snorkel and mask and just swam for a while under the trees that hung out over the water about 30 feet or so. I thought I smelled something fermenting and noticed that there was a huge sapodilla tree filled with fruit. There were a few of the fruit bobbing in the water so they were dropping off and, no doubt, beginning to rot and ferment.
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| Ginger at the cove |
After a while a couple showed up that looked very familiar and I realized that I had run into their taxi driver that morning during breakfast and they were staying at Hotel Olas. This couple did what I should have done and just rented the water taxi for the day. Noam, the manager of Hotel Olas, had suggested that I also check out Red Frog Beach for swimming and to see a sloth. So when Ernesto showed up at the appointed time, I asked him to take me to Red Frog as well. Noam is an interesting guy… he is from Israel and speaks better Spanish than English. I wish I had had more opportunity to talk to him about how he ended up in Bocas running a small inn.
Anyway, Ernesto agreed to drop me off at Red Frog and pick me up another two hours later. This is when I realized I probably should have worked out this whole day in advance with him because I ended up paying $28.00 for the trip, not including the $3.00 for the Red Frog entrance. Oh well, live and learn.
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| A sloth -- very hairy and oddly cute |
Red Frog is not just a beach; it is a resort, marina, restaurants, villas, and hostel all with a very well thought out infrastructure. You could have a truck deliver you to the beach, rent an ATV or walk. I chose to walk because I wanted to check out some of the jungle on the way and take pictures. I had seen a sloth on the way in to the complex, which was pretty cool and I saw some interesting gingers and heliconias on my walk to the beach. I had heard that sloths don’t come down from their perch except for maybe once a week. I don’t know if that is true but I can attest to the fact that they just poop from where they are hanging in the tree. I know this because in one of my short forays into the jungle from the road I experienced the joy of sloth poop on my head! Thank god I had just walked past a shower and toilet facility and quickly walked back, hoping that I would not run into anyone else on the way. Once cleaned up, I continued on to the beach.
I love playing in the waves and Red Frog beach has some great ones. Just off the beach there is a bar and restaurant, and right on the beach there was a guy cooking sausage and chicken on a BBQ along with the obligatory t-shirt shop.
Once I had returned to Olas, cleaned my gear and took a shower it hit me that I had not had lunch. So I took my netbook down to Casa Verde to see what Jess was cooking up, do some writing and, of course have a few beers. I knew that I would be heading to dinner in a few hours so I just ordered from the appetizer menu and had some kick-ass jalapeno poppers along with a couple of Balboas to wash them down. I guess showing up twice at the same place makes you a local because the bartender gave me my beers for $1.00 each.
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| Heliconia on Red Frog Beach |
While at Casa Verde, I struck up a conversation with Beth and Phil who turned out to be from Marathon, Florida. They have made a few trips to Bocas now and we talked about their search for real estate among other things. According to Phil there have been some changes to the pensionado program, including changing the total import duty waiver to $10,000.00 total with vehicles no longer included. I’ll have to research this more. Beth is an RN in Marathon but they are looking to pack it in and move south soon. I mentioned that I was planning on going to the Pickled Parrot for dinner (a bar and restaurant on Isla Carenero that both Doug and Brittany had recommended). Beth and Phil were very familiar with the place and gave it a high recommendation. As an aside, while I was at Casa Verde, I observed the car ferry departing for the mainland around 4:00 PM.
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| Banana flower and fruit |
I took a water taxi to the Pickled Parrot and shared it with three middle-aged Panamanian housewives (I assume) that were going to Bibi, a bar aimed at the younger set offering special happy hour deals. We were dropped off at the Buccaneer Resort and I walked the roughly 100 yards down the beach to the Pickled Parrott. When I arrived, there were two guys playing music; a guitar player and sax player. They were great. George, the owner, said they just showed up and asked if they could play. I introduced myself to George as a friend of Doug’s and it turns out that Doug and Wendy had just left after consuming way too much rum. After a few Balboas I had the ceviche followed by the chicken cooked in a mango and bacon cream sauce. I don't know how someone came up with that combination of ingredients, but it was spectacular! George was behind the bar so we chatted about various things including the fact that he is originally from Topeka and is a forensic diver who has been called in on a couple of jobs to help out the Panamanian police.
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| Yellow ginger |
The Pickled Parrott is a palapa (about 40’ in diameter) on stilts in the water, very clean and with an open, casual atmosphere. The bar is on one side, the kitchen on another and with about half the perimeter facing the open seas. George’s Panamanian wife was taking orders and serving while their young son was drawing and occasionally making himself a strawberry milkshake in the same blender from which the Margaritas are made.
George’s wife (I did not get her name) is an administrator at the hospital in town and knows the various local officials very well, including the police. This came in handy when they had to call the cops because one of the patrons refused to pay her whole bill due to an argument over how dinner was prepared. I thought she was loud and obnoxious throughout the night and George said he would have worked something out but one of her party started smoking dope during dinner! Panama has very strict drug laws and just lighting up in someone’s restaurant and potentially placing their business at risk was an incredibly arrogant and disrespectful thing to do. So George called the police. The woman, who sounded French, decided it was better to pay the bill than argue with the Panamanian gendarmes. The police showed up by boat about two minutes after she left. I think they hire the biggest, meanest guys on the island to be on the police force and these guys don’t fool around. The leader of the trio was only wearing a side arm, but one of his cohorts had an M-5 slung across his chest and looked ready to use it if need be.
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| A sleeping Tamandua - an arboreal toothless anteater |
George’s wife gave a very animated description of the situation in rapid fire Spanish and the appropriate waving of arms while George got them all sodas or water (they declined the cerveza). After sitting for a spell and having their drinks they wrote down a few details, including the fact that the woman was renting a house on the nearby island of Bastimentos, and went on their way.
Following their departure, George and I talked about fishing for square grouper (a euphemism in both Key West and Panama for drug running) along with other things. George said he has noticed that there are a lot of expat Floridians in the area, especially from the Keys. I guess we are still hanging on to the dream of finding that really unique place that stays unique. George also makes his own all-natural insect repellent; a combination of neem oil, citronella, cedar oil and other ingredients. He handles the production and bottling himself and sells it in small spray bottles for $5.00. I bought a bottle and not only does it smell great, it works! I used the stuff I brought from the States with 25% DEET and it works, but not as well as the Pickled Parrot Oil. George said he is hoping to begin marketing it more widely next year, first in Panama and eventually to the states. His product is all natural and has “none of that toxic DEET shit,” to quote George.
I was ready to call it a night so George’s wife called me a water taxi that was there in about 5 minutes. It was raining and despite getting a taxi with a bimini, I quickly got soaked. It was a warm rain and a warm night so It didn’t feel so bad. I asked the taxi driver to take me directly to the Olas dock. After arriving I chatted with Noam a bit before grabbing one more beer and tossing myself on the bed. The whole time in Bocas I never paid more than a $1.50 for a beer and paid only $1.00 my second visit to Casa Verde and at the Book Bar. A side note regarding Bocas -- bring cash! There is at least one bank in town with an ATM, but almost everyone deals in cash. You may recall that I had to wire my deposit for Hotel Olas as they do not take credit or debit cards.
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