Fame and fortune, here I come. 

Two days ago, Ras and I went to the northern part of the island, Bocas del Drago, and checked out the beach there.  There were starfish near the shore and I tried to dive and get a closer look at one.  My failed attempts at diving were pretty funny… not my finest moment, but still funny.

Pictures of the drive to Bocas del Toro, can be seen HERE.  The drive was long, but the scenery was nice, even if we DID get stuck in the mud for over an hour.

Pictures of Bocas del Toro can be seen HERE.

Read Ras’ email below:

on the way to panama, i had visions of tropical lushness – ala se asia. what a surprise to arrive here and find that i was dry. damn dry. i figured that i?d see palms to the left a right, monkey serving drinks in the bar, and other such madness. as it turns out (on the pacific coast at least), it?s not so green, not so lush. it?s a dry, windswept place (the severity varies from locale to locale), covered with tinges of green, though mostly decorated in shades of brown. even when we went to isla contadora, it was a dry place, only interspersed with the green palms of my dreams.

in el valle, the wind blew, at times shrieked like a banshee on speed, at all times. locals said it started at 5am, but i knew better. throughout the night, i would be woken up by what sounded like a WWE match being staged by thunderclouds over head – but no, it was just the never ending winds, smashing with such force on our tin roof that i jumped up in bed from a dead sleep at 2am.

the bus ride to pedasi showed the same vegetation, same landscape. usually rolling hills, brushed with dry, broken grass, laced with white, anorexic cattle and spotted with the occasional palm. not unpretty in it?s own right, just still not the "damn, i can?t believe i?m hanging out in the middle of a jungle" feeling that i longed for.

the best part about pedasi, certainly, was going to isla iguana. we took a 25 minute boat ride from a pier in the river (subsequently, the paved road and concrete pier – both very nice – were recently built by the japanese government. apparently panama had made an agreement that the japanese could run whaling ships from there. as soon as the road and pier were finished, the panamanian government rescinded the offer. tough luck for the whale meat lovers of japan). we arrived on a beautiful, soft, white sand beach, covered with hermit crabs who would freeze when your shadow crossed them. we spent 4 lazy hours reading, lounging and snorkeling – there was nobody else on the island the whole time we were there. about 7m out into the water, a carpet of coral began, and stretched as far as the eye could see. i saw needle fish, doctor fish, numerous fluorescent fish, swam with a turtle, saw white, red and purple coral….the list goes on. thing is, we never saw any iguanas……

after 2 days in pedasi we jumped back on the bus(es). from pedasi to las tablas to divisa to david to boquete (where we are now). yesterday was a long, long day of being stuck in moving vehicles.

the good thing was, finally the trees started to change. we were climbing into the mountains (right now we?re next to volcan baru, the highest mountain in panama) and green appeared. different hues, shades and sizes – what a relief. the closer we get to costa rica (be there withing a week), the more tropical it will be.

today we?re gonna take a walk around the valley, head to a coffee plantation (which turned out to be a really GOOD tour), just have a day in the cool mountain air. tomorrow, it?s off to bocas del toro, on the carribean side of the country. a couple days there, and it?s into the rich coast with nothing but beaches, jungles, ziplines, and national parks for the next month or so. it looks like i?m going to buy a marine pack for my sony dsc-p100 as soon as i can find one, as well as a mask and snorkel for the rest of the trip (it beats renting, and it?ll pay itself off in a few outtings) – if anyone has a recommendation as to what snorkel stuff to buy, let me know. again, to those who can (ler, snake, andre, coby, ian, ringer, rose und bill….) get a week or two off, and meet me somewhere for a warm beach and a cold beer. until we meet again, ciao

ras

About 90km southeast of Panama City, this archipelago – of 2003 Survivor Pearl Island fame – consists of over 200 islands, about 10 of which are inhabited.  Most visitors to the islands go to Isla Contadora, the only public island with tourist facilities that aren’t strictly for the super-rich.  The history of the islands is chock-full of pirates and pearls, including the gigantic 31-carat "Peregrina" pearl, currently owned by Elizabeth Taylor, discovered in 1515 and once presented to the Spanish Queen.

The 3 days we spent there were nice, since we were finally out of the city and able to lounge around on a beach.  I was particularly looking forward to seeing Playa Ejecutiva, quoted in Let’s Go as "the island’s ultimate beach, if not the Pacific’s."  I think that quote was just a little too much.  Sure, it was nice, with soft white sand, but it wasn’t that wonderful.  It turned out to be our favorite place to stay, since we never saw more than 5 other people on the beach. 

The place we stayed was Cabanas de Contadora, the cheapest place on the island for $33 a night (we were paying $17 in Panama City with a swimming pool on the top of our hotel).  The next cheapest place was $55 at a new inn owned by a Croatian millionaire that was also building some kind of "castle" on the island.  The biggest resort was Hotel Contadora, an all inclusive resort costing a minimum of $60 a person.  This was where the staff and crew of Survivor stayed.  If I was Jeff Probst, I would have been a little disappointed with the facilities.  It was an OK resort, but was trying so hard to be what it wasn’t – cheesy decorations, gaudy colors, and rusty basketball courts and equipment.  Who in their right mind would pay $65 an hour to rent jet skis?

We walked a lot on that island because it was pretty small.  A lot of expats lived there – American, German, French, etc.  The owners of our cabanas were French themselves.  The locals that live there either work at the hotels, take care of rich people’s houses, or do construction for more hotels or rich people’s houses.  The other islands where the Drake and Morgan tribes from Survivor were really near.  The computer I’m at now won’t let me upload pictures, so they’ll be added later.

Carnival lasts 4 days – Saturday through Tuesday night (aka Mardi Gras).  Everything was closed for those four days – banks, laundry mats, many stores, and travel agencies.  There was no way to get out of town, even if we wanted to.  We just had to wait out two more days.  The last day of Carnival turned out to be pretty fun.  We arrived during the day and drank, ate 30 cent meat  on a stick, threw water and confetti on kids, and met people along the street.  A parade came down later that night, with costumes and all!  I was happy.

The next day, we practically ran out of Panama City.  We took the next available flight to Contadora, which is a part of the Pearl Islands.  Yes, the Pearl Islands of Survivor Fame.  We stayed there for 3 nights, and have spent the last 2 nights in El Valle, a town of 6200 that is situated in the 2nd largest crater in the world (a result of an extinct volcano).  More info about Contadora and El Valle later.  We?re leaving El Valle this morning and heading to Pedasi, and go to Iguana Island.

Here?s Ras? mass email of his version of our trip so far…

let?s see, last time i wrote i was still in panama city.

from there, we jumped on a tiny, little, two prop, 21 seat puddle jumper that went from panama city to Isla Contadora – one of the few inhabited islands in the Pearl Island chain. as much as we looked,
searched, and scoured the beaches for any sign of a pearl, there was nothing. the beaches were nice, though in the ?book? (not lonely planet, mind you), one particular beach was described as ?the nicest in the pacific?. not sure how a 40 meter strip of sand can beat out some of the beaches i?ve seen in mexico, let alone the amazing beaches in hawai?i.

as we were walking along one of the main beaches in front of the 167-dollar-a-night-for-a-double-room-resort, we saw a stack of hand made, floating devices laying on the beach. turns out, it was
leftovers from survivor, pearl islands. our little brush with fame.  just across the water from our room, which wasn?t in the super resort, was on of the islands that one of the tribes lived on. apparently, to
make the show, they had rented out the whole resort, as well as all of the area (ocean and airspace) around the islands for a 5 mile radius. the locals, with their boats, had acted as water security guards, not allowing any traffic for the duration of the show. at the time we left, there was a film crew from colombia, doing their version of survivor on the islands.

it was a nice couple of day, relaxing in the sun. it wasn?t a big place, so we were able to walk around the island in a couple of hours. we saw the locals houses (not much to speak of), $300,000
dollar houses, and the front gates to a place owned by Christian D?ior.

our humble room was 33 dollars a night, with a kitchen in it. it was nice to be able to stay away from restaurants for a few nights, cook some food at home, drink beer in a hammock. now, it
wasn?t all wonderful…our view looked straight out onto the landing strip for the island, to see the ocean you had to turn right. planes only came twice a day, so it wasn?t that bothersome, and we were almost always at the beach during those times.

after the island, we flew back to panama city, went to the bus station, and hopped an air conditioned bus to El Valle. it was just over a 2 hour trip from the city to this town located in an old
volcanic crater. we got here in the afternoon, and took a walk to the thermal pools. entry was a grand 1 dollar, and we got to cover ourselves with mud, shower off, then soak in hot springs (heated from the old volcano) – 36 degree water. very, very nice.

the next day (yesterday) we walked, and hiked, and walked, and walked. in the morning we visited the sunday market, where everything from fruit to plants to jewelry to local handicrafts made by
the Kuna indians were being sold. i ended up buying two molas, traditional handmade cloth items that are usually worn on the women?s clothes. from there we went to see the oldest petroglyph in panama. following the trail beyond the carvings was a waterfall we wanted to see, so away we went. on the way up, we met theses two little brothers, 8 and 6 years old, who were on their way home from buying food at the market – their house was nearly on the top of the mountain. i asked them
about the trail to the top of the mountain (supposedly you could see both oceans from the top, and they proceeded to escort us to the top. they got up the mountain faster than most of the adults we saw along the way.

finally we got to the top, but could only see the pacific. not a bad view though, it was well worth the hike. soutthida, the two brothers and i had a quick lunch of chicken, then it was down the mountain again. about a quarter of the way down, we had to say goodbye to the little boys and we were off.

after the walk down, we trudged up another hill to see El Macho, an 85m ?famous

We were there to see two ships pass through, which was actually a pretty slow process.  The locks are filled at a rate of 1 meter a minute, and it was pretty hot standing out there in the Panamanian sun to see ships pass.  For $100-$150, you can actually be on a boat and experience the whole process yourself.  We passed on that, but paid $8 to enter.  (Click on pictures below to enlarge.)

Today, we set the alarm for 10am, but were still so tired from the day before, we didn’t leave the hotel until 2pm.  Today was just a day of resting and doing errands.  Tomorrow we’re going to find a different place to stay and go so the Panama Canal.  I’ve posted some pictures in the photo album, so check them out.

General Information about Panama