Due to an unfortunate series of events we've had to move
three times in the last two week period in Panama. When we first arrived a couple of weeks ago
to our "luxury" rental off of VRBO we found a bare bones efficiency apartment
on the ground floor of a property that only can be described as a borderline
slum. As you exited the apartment into the
surrounding mosquito breeding ground they called a yard, all you could see was garbage littered
everywhere. As an added bonus the stench
of sewage hung heavy and a makeshift work area was right next door with a
variety of broken down trucks where the kids could watch arc welding on a daily
basis. As if this wasn't bad enough, the
place was poorly equipped also. One pot,
one pan a set of four plates and flatware were all that populated the
kitchen. The owner was well aware we
were moving in with our kids so to say that was beyond disappointing is a
complete understatement. The first night
we kept hearing a rattling in our room which turned out to be rodents on the
side of the complex pillaging the garbage at night which was a fenced in cubby
hole a mere 10 feet from the outside of our room. As if this wasn't bad enough, frequent roach
sightings in the first couple of days proved to be the final straw. We decided to tell the landlord on day 2 we
were breaking the 3 month lease promise and would only stay 9 days paying a ridiculous
$155 per day for this total shit hole.
Dinner Table Next to the Shitter - Luv Seat Made of Burlap
and Steel = Luxury!
Roach Motel Beds:
Toasting in the hood with Gunniess will keep you sane:
With high season in full swing here we were lucky to find a
house at the north end of Bocas that sat in the jungle at canopy level that was
open for the four weeks we're planning on staying here. The kitchen was better equipped than our own
at home and the house sat on stilts at canopy level in the jungle. This provided amazing views of parrots,
hawks, massive trees and thickets of bamboo that look like they are straight out
of Jurassic park. The house was also
filled with all kinds of cool knick knacks, but with the boys having glass
vases filled with sea shells and breakable relics laying around isn't the best
thing. As we spent last week at Panama
Fred's, we began to realize how really, really bad the internet connection
was. Since we were low on the hill, the
Claro signal just couldn't get into the property which caused some serious
issues with Melissa and work. The house
also worked on a rain catchment system which is only as good as the amount of
rain you receive. It's been unusually
dry this week and even with all our conservation efforts we used the better
part of one of the massive water drums housed under the house. This also prevented us from using the community
laundry facilities forcing to take our laundry into town to pay to have it
done. When we got it back none of
Slater's clothing was in the bag and we gave them virtually everything he
had. Fortunately, upon returning the
next day they produced a bag with all of his clothes and a few other articles
that didn't make in back the day before.
This we decided again was too much to cope with even though the place
was pretty amazing. We approached Fred
who let us out of the lease with a minor penalty so we could move into what is
the perfect fit for us.
Panama Fred's House and Amazing Deck:
We
moved into a surfer's house down the street we rented from our same property
manager. It is a beautiful house 30 feet
from the water of Sand Fly Bay and set back off the road. Hard wood floors, high end kitchen,
incredibly spacious and has unlimited wifi.
We really scored with this rental which should keep us here for the next
four weeks.
Bluff's House, Living Room & Outdoor Table with a Lake View:
Bocas Del Toro is hands down one of the most expensive stops
on this tour. We've spent triple our
monthly budget having to rent a Jeep at $350 a week in addition to food costs
being off the chart. You can't pick up
an item on the shelf of the grocery store here without a price tag of between
$5-10 dollars. The craziest prices are
reserved for American products with a pack of bacon running $10. It's not like the bulk one you get at Costco
either. It's the straight up regular
size pack.
Bocas Del Toro is staggeringly beautiful. We've already checked out Red Frog beach on
Bastamentos Island along with Drago Beach which is at the north end of the
Island of Colon where we currently are living.
Both offer clear warm water teeming with wild life and lacking crowds of
people. We have a lot to explore in the
next four weeks too. Starfish beach (which
is exactly what you might imagine, a beach with hundreds of starfish floating in
its shallow water) is next on the list this Saturday for Jordan's birthday. The rental of the Jeep also gives us access
to private property where monkey trails, a massive still water bay and jungle
hiking await on the far northeast corner of the island for us.
Red Frog beach is an amazing bay of powder fine sand, clear water and tropical life:
Daddy Day Care on Playa Caranero while mom surfs the left point reef set up:
Surfing in Bocas has definitely been a step up experience
for both Melissa and I. We aren't even
surfing any of the more critical barreling breaks either. The breaks we've mainly surfed are Caranero
Island which is a left point set up that breaks over a series of reefs and
Paunch reef up the road from our house.
Both over 7 feet can have an incredibly steep or even barreling take off
that opens up into a ripable wall of water well suited to work on top turns,
cut backs or racing down the line to make a section when needed. In the coming week, I'll be writing a short
blog on these breaks in more detail. For
now suffice it to say that we've both got some amazing waves these first couple
of weeks along with some of the most brutal beatings on blown waves we've
experienced on this trip.
