Adventure Continues

As fun as the weekend with Tia Loca was (and it certainly qualified as that), the remainder of our time in the capitol city threatened to fully peg the fun meter. It was certainly the most fun I’ve had in that locale since the 1980s, the word transcendent leaps to mind. Full and all due blame for the intense enjoyable time lay with our fabulous hosts who opened their magnificent home and squired us around for full three days. While they were acquaintances from the condo before this trip, I now consider them true friends. They proved to be generous with their home, time, and patience hosting the four of us. I say four because we were joined on Sunday by our upstairs neighbors to share the fun with us. This past week marked the first time in several weeks that I wore shoes more than occasionally, sacrifices must be made. I hope you’re prepared for lots of photos and my poor attempt to adequately describe our adventures.

Our Group in the Caribbean Natural Pool

We didn’t know what to expect when we set out to link up with our hosts on Sunday evening. Our nephew drove us to the address they had provided and when we turned the corner to see the Costanera, our collective jaws dropped. This was definitely an extremely high-class establishment. It is testament to their down to earth character that we never guessed. We rode the elevator up to their apartment and learned our upstairs neighbors had arrived ten minutes earlier. In short order after greetings from our hosts as well as the trio of ankle biters (literally) we rode the elevator up to the very top of the building to hang out in the social area which we had completely to ourselves.

Our Host's Home

Night time Views

As one of the highest buildings in the city we had amazing views of the vast expanse of Panama City in all its glory. It was fantastic and confirmed my estimations of how much larger the city was than our 1980s residence. We set up in a seating area for a lively social hour while overlooking these amazing views. We spotted a huge grass fire miles away, across the canal. When we finished there, our hosts showed us some of the other amenities the building offered, which included a huge rooftop pool, a weight room, and wait for it, a cinema!! Yeah, I could live in a place like this.

Our Social Hour Atop the Costanera

The Social Area

Monday saw an early morning as we were headed to Guna Ayala. That’s the native name for the place I knew as San Blas or the Pearl Islands from earlier times. It’s evolved since the 80’s into what is a semi-autonomous indigenous province where you actually have to cross borders to enter. First, we had to get there, which was no easy task. We drove south along the InterAmerican Highway and I once again noted how much Panama City had expanded. The urban sprawl now extended a full 40 kilometers beyond the center of the city, which is semi amazing, even if over forty years. Our destination was Chepo where we were to hang a left and head over the continental divide towards the Caribbean side.

The Left Turn

Scenes from the Road

Our hosts warned us ahead of time that the road once we made that turn was “challenging” at best. We stopped at a gas station before starting up the road and a concerned driver saw me wandering around and wanted to make sure I knew the road was in bad shape. Our host scoffed at that message and off we went. The road is in the running for the most pot holes per kilometer, which combined with dips and climbs of getting over the central cordillera made for a tooth rattling trip. I’ve always loved traveling places I’ve never been before though and I found myself smiling as we were constantly jarred making our way over the mountains.

Backup at the Border

Birder Entry Notice

Border Crossing

After an hour we ran into a traffic jam, the first cars we’d seen in a long time. This was the backup from the border post where we left Panama and entered Guna Ayala. Our hosts had done a lot of legwork in preparation for the trip and once we reached the guard post they provided the name of guide we had hired and we were sent on our way, after paying our entry fee. The ride from there on was mostly downhill but no less challenging. There was a lot of road work going on as we approached the coast. After the serious bone rattling we’d had it was almost strange to drive on a smooth road.

Scenes from the Road Down to the Caribbean

We pulled up to the simple port and our guide rushed over to assume ownership. Most of Guna Ayala consists of the hundreds of small islands that dot the southern Panamanian Caribbean coast. A couple of those islands were our destination. We donned the required life vests and were in short order bouncing over waves enroute to the islands. It was our day to get jounced around a lot. We passed a number of islands, some packed with huts while others had only one or two dwellings. The sea was amazingly clear. Our first destination was Isla Perro Grande which means Big Dog Island. It wasn’t very big but starkly beautiful. Our guide ushered us to a shady spot where we set up for a couple hours until our scheduled departure for the next stop. The other people on the island were mostly tourists who had arrived in the same type boat we had.

Ready for our Boat Ride

Wife with our Hosts

Wife and I

Scenes from the Boat Ride

I jumped into the water at first opportunity and was rewarded by a gorgeous coral reef to peruse. One of our upstairs neighbors remarked that it was like swimming in an aquarium. Hundreds of small fish flitted in and out of the rocks and coral. The scenery was almost too beautiful to imagine and I’m not talking about the soccer game on the beach by thong wearing female European tourists either. Only. My Favorite Panamanian took an intense interest in how much of a soccer fan I was quickly becoming. We walked completely around the circumference of the island, it took five minutes.

Approaching Isla Perro Grande

Wife and I on the Big Dog

Wife and Upstairs Neighbor, Our Boat in Background

Big Dog Hang Out Spot

Scenes from Big Dog Island

Our next stop was the Natural Pool. This was a really neat open space in the middle of the ocean between the islands. It was obviously a small island that sunk at some point leaving a sandy bottom about four feet below the crystal clear surface. We spent twenty minutes swimming in this natural feature surrounded on all sides by the much deeper water of the ocean. Our next stop was Island Perra Chico which means, you guessed it, Small Dog Island. Small Dog wasn’t huge but was definitely bigger than Big Dog Island. I’m not sure who was in charge of naming but they got it wrong.  

Wife with our Hosts at Natural Pool

Upstairs Neighbor Floating By

Scenes from Natural Pool

Sailing to the Little Dog

Our guide escorted us into a communal dining area where we were served lunch along with the several other boatloads that arrived with us. After lunch we set up residency at a nearby picnic table and spent the next couple hours swimming. Interestingly there was a sunken, fairly large shipwreck close to shore that we dove under and through. There was a pretty strong current flowing over it so it was good exercise and a unique experience. There was a nearby super yacht anchored. Our upstairs neighbor got on his phone and identified it as the property of a Russian oligarch, probably hiding out from sanctions in the islands.

The Clear Waters

Approaching Little Dog

On Isla Perro Chico

Lunch!

Little Dog Beach

Our Hosts

The Shipwreck

Hosts Diving the Wreck

The Super Yacht

One of the rules of Guna Ayala meant we had to leave the islands by 3PM. It was difficult to depart after being surrounded all day by all the beauty that permeates the islands. Our hosts had done a fantastic job of arranging the guide and it meant a truly special day I’ll remember for the rest of my life. The ride back to the coast was a little calmer but my right side was still soaked by the time we reached shore. Since all the tourist boats left at the same time there was a veritable caravan of cars heading back up the road towards Panama. This made for an interesting drive as the more cautious drivers were passed on what most people would consider an impassable road. We reached the InterAmerican Highway and once again experienced the strangeness of a smooth road. We were greeted by a splendid sunset as we entered Panama City which had me a little homesick for Las Lajas. After a quick cleanup we walked to a nearby Italian restaurant where our upstairs neighbors and I conspired to pay the bill for our redoubtable hosts.

Little Dog Scenes

Sunset Over Panama City

Our plan on Tuesday was to catch a ferry out to nearby Taboga Island which I hadn’t visited since before meeting my Favorite Panamanian. She had never visited so she was excited at the prospect. Unfortunately there were no seats available when we drove onto the causeway launching point. We shifted gears and decided it would be a good day to climb Cerro Ancon. This a large hill that overlooks all of Panama City and was a rallying cry during Canal Zone days for Panamanians because it was in the zone and an American flag flew on top of the hill, visible from the entire city. On of the first codicils of the treaty was the replacement of the flag with a Panamanian banner.

Italian Dining After a Day on the Islands

Host Ankle Biters

Canal Commission Building from our Parking Spot

View from the Building

I accompanied our host back down the hill after we dropped everyone else off at the halfway mark which was as high as we were allowed to drive. The nearest parking spot we could find was all the way down the hill below the iconic Panama Canal Commission building. That provided us with some stair steps (120) to start our climb to link up with the rest of our group. It was nostalgia time again as we made our way up. We entered what used to be the Quarry Heights military base and although everything has been extensively remodeled I could still pick out some remembered landmarks. That included the entry into the bunker that housed Southern Command headquarters dug into the hill. It was appropriately fenced off and guarded only by four nearby tree sloths.

Scenes from the Climb

Cero Ancon is now a nature preserve and while the 4 mile walk in Panamanian heat was a little daunting, you couldn’t doubt the spectacular views offered. We reached the top near the proudly waving banner and saw a couple modest monuments to Panamanian control of the hill. On our way down the hill, we stopped off at another vantage point where we could see the Canal Commission building which was built in the shape of the letter “E” in tribute to the engineers who built the canal. The now sweaty group enjoyed the car AC as we made our way into the center of Panama City to have lunch at the Mercado San Felipe Neri. It was a huge building housing a famers market as well as numerous food booths where we scored lunch.

The Canal

Quarry Heights Bunker

This lunch became a memorable facet to our trip as I woke the next morning with a bout of what is generously described as the revenge mechanism of the last Aztec emperor. But I digress. We spent the rest of Tuesday afternoon back at our host’s place where I took advantage of the cinema offering, seeing Cocaine Bear (see below). Our dinner destination was memorable. Sabroso Panamá is literally across the street on the Amador Causeway from where I spent many idyllic Sundays as a single lieutenant with my Army buddies and, if we were truly fortunate, some of the Panamanian ladies we had met earlier in the weekend. There I go again, out on a tangent, but it was the scene of so many memories.

Scenes from the Mercado

Drive Through Casco Viejo

Site of the Ancon Inn

None of the enormous expanse of restaurants and tourist attractions, including a very active go cart track, were there at the time so nostalgia only went so far. That is, until we walked into the restaurant which featured a wide assortment of Panamanian memorabilia, including the front end of what we used to call a Chiva Chiva bus, a true menace on the roadways which are happily extinct. Our hosts christened our upstairs neighbors and I as “Chiri-Gringos” since we love the province of Chiriquí (where Las Lajas is located) so much. Meto. The dinner was great and was followed by an exhibition of Panamanian folklorico dancing. We caught the end of the World Baseball Classic at a nearby bar as we left.

Mi Pueblita, An Open Air Museum of Panamanian History that we Stopped By

Scenes from Sabroso Panamá, The Chiva Bus

What a Fun Bunch

Wednesday was departure day so we kept close to the city for the most part. We went to lunch at Sorrento’s which was nostalgia on overdrive. While my wife and I were courting we would have lunch at Sorrento’s many times. It had moved a couple blocks over since then but still boasted the same menu which my Favorite Panamanian luxuriated in. Our hostess escorted my Favorite Panamanian for a hair appointment while the rest of us walked through a nearby park, named Parque Omar, after Omar Torrijos converted it from a golf course in the late 70s. There was luckily an isolated rest room where the revenge factor asserted itself. All those Kegel exercises I’ve been doing since prostate surgery came in really handy. Our next stop was Albrook Airport for our trip back to Chiriquí. I’ve done a poor job of capturing the true level of fun that permeated our time with our beyond superb hosts but having to assuage the sadness of parting at Las Lajas doesn’t present a formidable challenge.

Scenes from Parque Omar

Until Next Time, PC

Cocaine Bear is every bit as crazy as you would expect. A drugged-out dope dealer spreads a huge load of cocaine bags over a stretch of the north Georgia woods before accidently killing himself in a parachute jump.  A bunch of locals and the dealer’s boss are also headed to the forest to recover the cocaine. A very large black bear had already located the drop and become a big fan of the substance which transforms her into a super killing machine. The action is predictably gruesome but in a very dark comedic fashion. I got the distinct impression that the actors had a lot of fun making this movie with their tongues planted firmly in their cheeks at the inanity of the whole plot. A lot of harmless fun.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                     

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course