In an email, Steve McLean wrote that he wished he had a better idea where the different places we have been visiting are on a map. “What a great idea,” I thought and with the help of Skitch I put this little map of our voyages in Panama together.
Panama is a little disorienting at first because the Atlantic is north and the Pacific is south. The western part of the country, bordering Costa Rica, is mountainous. It also has some of the country’s most famous tourist areas. Moving eastward to Panama City, the land becomes flat. Originally thick jungle, this area has been cleared and it now agricultural. The center of the country contains the Canal and Panama City. The majority of the country’s people live in this area. East of Panama City, on the Caribbean, is the land of the Guna Yala, a fiercely independent people who have fought with the Panamanians for independence in the past. South of that is The Darien, perhaps the most untouched rainforest on the planet. It is not only difficult to travel there as the facilities are few and undeveloped, but it is sometimes dangerous as Columbian rebels have used it for their training bases.
Although our hotel is beautiful and really a wonderful vacation could be spent there just by the pool, John and I are inveterate explorers so we signed up for the hotel’s “Discover Tour.” Boca Chica right next to a cluster of islands, some large, some small. Most of the islands have no human inhabitants while others have small settlements on them.
Our tour took us mostly to the small islands just south of Boca Chica. We had a boatman and a guide and a French couple. The French couple spoke absolutely no English, and frankly my brain seems to only be able to handle one foreign language at a time. So even though I studied French for many years, mostly all that would come out of my mouth was Spanish. So I never learned much about them. But they seemed nice enough.
Once again, the first thing we saw on our boat trip was dolphins. But how different this was! There was only one boat, and I suspect we were observing a pod of males.
Our guides kept a respectful distance and cut the engine. The dolphins decided to come and check us out.
They seemed to enjoy swimming with the boat and showing off for us.
Our next stop was a cluster of rocks used by pelicans. The French couple were particularly delighted to see the pelicans. I suppose they are not that common in Europe.
We stopped to snorkel a bit after this. Once again, the coral reef was not that good, though it was in better shape than the one in Bocas. This time I remembered to put some sun block on my back, so I did not end up with the painful sunburn I had the last time I went snorkeling. We went from there to a small beach. When we arrived we were the only ones there.
This little island was thickly forested and John could only make it a few feet into the surrounding jungle.
But the beach itself was not only a beautifully clean stretch of white sand, but it had life of its own. It was covered with hermit crabs.
And there were still bromeliads everywhere.
We swam for a while and ate the sandwiches the hotel had packed for us. The French couple went snorkeling a little more. This area is quite well-known for starfish. Our guide caught a couple for us.
But he also made sure they stayed wet and when we had finished photographing them, he gently tossed them back into the sea.
He also found some conch. I think this went home for supper.
After this we went to another small island with a beach. This one was clearly popular with Panamanians enjoying their summer holidays. I suppose at the equator you still have to pick some months of the year as summer, and since December to March is generally drier, they call this summer. They were having a party on the beach with boom boxes and barbecues. A boat pulled up to sell them live langosta.
Snob that I am, I found all this intrusion on natural beauty vaguely offensive, so I went off to find a more secluded place. I walked down the beach until the rocks turned into small boulders. These became quite slick, and I also became aware than John had wisely decided not to follow me. By the time I figured out that I had been really foolish coming this way, it seemed more dangerous to go back than to keep on trying to go forward. Meanwhile, the rain, which we had seen looming in the distance before, arrived.
Right about this time, I saw an area where the bluffs above the rocks had a break in it, and I figured that I could walk back through the jungle to where our boat was located. This was probably a better idea than walking further on the shore, but as soon as I was in the jungle I became completely disoriented and had no idea which way to go. I remembered Arnold in Silico Creek had described being bit by a copperhead when he was young and I wondered if there were any on this island. Being an English major, I consoled myself by recalling the opening verses of the Divine Comedy.
Midway upon the road of our life I found myself within a dark wood, for the right way had been missed.
Ah! how hard a thing it is to tell what this wild and rough and dense wood was, which in thought renews the fear!
Fortunately, I had the good sense to move beyond poetry to some survival skills, and I heard the pounding beat of the Panamanian music in the distance. I figured if I kept moving towards the music I would soon find the beach and our boat. And it worked! I was saved by a boom box! Unfortunately, when I arrived, the boatman told me that John had become worried and he and the guide had gone off looking for me. Fortunately, they had not gone that far and I saw and called to them. When he reached me, John tried to strangle me! Honestly, I could hardly blame him.
After this, we headed back to the hotel. After being lost in the jungle, I can scarcely tell you how nice it was to see the room!
John wanted to keep on exploring and to get a water taxi to take him to Isla Boca Brava, the island directly across from the hotel. I had frankly explored enough for the day, and I just wanted to nap by the infinity pool. So he set out for Boca Brava by himself on a water taxi.
There is one hotel on Boca Brava, but it the kind of place young German backpackers like. It did have a nice view from its restaurant.
John had come to Boca Brava looking for sloths and monkeys. He did not find any sloths, but he did see a few monkeys.
At the boat dock, while he was waiting for the water taxi, a young kid came and practiced his English with John.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel, I was admiring the sunset.
We had dinner. The service was unbelievably slow, but I brought along the MacBook and edited pictures while I drank some vinegar that was supposed to be Argentine Malbec. But when the scenery is this perfect, really, who cares?
