Panama Post Script

On the day of my departure, I found my way easily from the Amador Causeway to Tocumen International Airport, ditched the rental car, got checked in and grabbed a cup of coffee to wait for my flight. All in all, the morning was uneventful.

Miami airport on the other hand never fails to disappoint; I swear I have had to walk outside to get to Concourse D for the last five or six years after clearing immigration and customs. It’s not that it is a great distance, and the weather on that Sunday was very nice, it’s just that I can’t believe how long this construction is taking. As usual the TSA people in Miami were surly (hand-picked, no doubt, to make an extra good impression on tourists).

Since my trip I have had plenty of time to think about Panama as an eventual place to settle. I am definitely going back. There is much more to explore.  Plus I want to get in some diving and at least try surfing (should be good for a laugh).

In fact, I did a cruise with the relatives in February that did the usual 4-6 hours per port, but we spent most of one day in Panama. We started by doing a partial transit of the canal from the North side and many, myself included, did an excursion that eventually dropped us off in Colon, where the ship picked us up before heading on to Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.

What I came away with during that short visit was confirmation of my first impressions.  Almost all of the Panamanians I came in contact with are very proud of their country and enjoy sharing it with visitors. It is a place of great beauty and tremendous economic potential.

On my next trip I would like to go back to Bocas del Toro, check out the region east of Colon (Portobelo and the San Blas area), the stretch of beach towns from Gorgona to Faralon (southwest of Panama City), Chiriqui Province (David, Boquete and Puerto Armuelles) and return to Punta Chame.

Belize is off my retirement radar altogether. While there are areas that are interesting and I wouldn't mind going back to visit, I don't see Belize as a place to retire. The nation's infrastructure is awful. There is little competition in the telecommunications industry, which keeps prices high, choices few and quality low. The import tax on just about everything means that retail shopping options are terrible. I assume that wherever I end up I will rely mostly on local or regional products, but when a basic bottle of wine I can get in the States for $15.00 costs $50.00 in San Pedro, the savings in other areas start to disappear.

I'm not sure where my next trip will be. Columbia, Ecuador, the Tulum area of Mexico and Costa Rica are all options. I also want to check out Malta and Indonesia. Wherever I go, I know it will be an adventure.

Panama Day 10: Canal Transit

Saturday -- Day 10: November 12, 2011

Taken from my hotel balcony --  definitely a room with a view!   

This was my last full day in Panama and the day I chose to do a partial transit of the canal.  I booked the trip through American Airlines and it turned out to be an incredible excursion at a great price.  There were a couple of minor hitches in the plans, but nothing overwhelming or unusual for Panama -- after all, this is a Latin country where “mañana” is not just the word for tomorrow, but a way of life!

The port facilities outside of Panama City.

I called the day before to confirm my tour and this is where I ran into a problem.  The first number I called was a non-working number, which was not a good sign.  The second number I called was answered by someone who spoke only Spanish and finally, after speaking to someone in the background, connected me to another individual who spoke English and was able to confirm my reservation and said that I would be picked up at 7:30.  Having someone (anyone at this point) actually say that my reservation was down in black and white was reassuring and I didn’t give it another thought.

I planned on having the hotel’s free breakfast at 7:00 and have plenty of time to meet the 7:30 pick-up time.  The breakfast was again quite good considering it was free, and I had some fry jacks with mango jam and quiche with a couple cups of coffee.  I was in the lobby by 7:25 and ready to see one of the most amazing engineering accomplishments in the world.

Gantry cranes unloading a Maersk cargo ship.

7:30 came and went.  At 7:45 I tried to calm myself by assuming that they were on Panama time and would be there at any moment.  At 8:00 I had exhausted my patience waiting for a tour scheduled for impatient tourists like myself and had the front desk call the tour operator.  She quickly found out that the boat leaves from just a little further out on the Amador Causeway and that I was the last pick-up stop.  The bus arrived about 40 minutes later for the 10 minute drive to the marina.  The funny thing is, it was the same marina where I had dinner my first night in Panama City.  I remember thinking that many of the boats tied to the docks looked like they were outfitted for giving tours.

After we all got checked in and had our reservations confirmed, we walked a short distance to our boat.  There was a light drizzle that appeared to be lifting quickly, giving the first glimpse of what looked like a beautiful day ahead.  My judgment as a weatherman would be seriously tested later in the day. 

The boat was called the Islamorada.  Having lived in the Keys for six years I thought it was fitting that I would take a tour on a boat that harkened back to one of the best periods of my life.  The boat started out as the Santana 100 years ago and was built for the JP Morgan family.  It later was refitted to serve as a rum-running boat for Al Capone, shipping the illicit nectar of sugar cane from the Dominican Republic and Cuba to warehouses in Islamorada, hence the present day name.  Built of cherry and Panamanian mahogany, I’ll bet it was quite a nice boat in its day.  Before becoming a tour boat, the 94-ton Islamorada was used for fishing charters and was popular with many in the Hollywood crowd including John Wayne, Errol Flynn and Steve McQueen, who all tried their hand at catching black marlin.

The pilot boat approaching the Islamorada.

A light breakfast was being served below deck as we boarded but I was more interested in finding a perfect place to situate myself in order to get the most of the adventure.  On the bow there were chairs set out that no one was using, mainly because they had little puddles of water in them.  I chose instead a perch directly in front of the main salon that was slightly covered by an overhang from the pilot house, joining some folks from California that seemed quite nice. 

We began pulling into the main channel and were met by the harbor pilot.  There are three requirements for transiting the Panama Canal. First, payment must be made 48 hours in advance in cash or by wire transfer. There are stories of bygone days when suitcases of cash and even gold ingots were proffered as payment. Second, any vessel must be seaworthy and be able to do the transit under its own power. Even sailboats must have some means of propelling them through the water. Third, there must be a Canal Authority approved pilot aboard the vessel who has total control until the ship is through the canal.

Construction of the new canal.

The narrator of our trip was quite proud that, in his estimation, the canal is being run in a much more business-like way than when the Americans ran it.  An example he pointed to was how the fee structure changed once the Panamanians took control.  The Yanks managed the canal to cover their costs and provide a service to the world for maintaining world commerce.  Under the Americans, ships were charged for the tonnage in the hold.  It didn’t take long for shipping lines to develop the now ubiquitous Panamax ship with shipping containers stacked six high on the deck.  When the Panamanians took over, everything changed.  Now the ship must pay for what the ship was capable of carrying and not just simply tonnage.  The Americans covered their costs while the Panamanians make money.

Islamorada bow with the Bridge of the Americas in the background.

It turns out that the highest toll ever paid was just a few years ago when Carnival Cruise lines paid a whopping $441,000 to transit the canal. The least amount paid was by Richard Halliburton from Texas who paid just $ 0.36 to swim the canal. Of course he had to meet the requirements of all “vessels” transiting the canal; he had to pay in advance, prove he could make it through under his own power (requiring a doctor’s exam) and had to have a pilot. The pilot rode the distance in a row boat along with a Marine sharpshooter who was employed to keep away alligators and caimans that roam the lakes and rivers of Panama.

The tanker we followed on our journey through the locks.

As we made our way to the first set of locks, we went under the Bridge of the Americas that connects Panama City with western Panama and carries the continuation of the Pan American Highway.  We went past port facilities that were feverishly unloading ships so they could get underway to pick up their next cargo.  Our narrator filled in the gaps between places with stories of canal history and interesting tidbits like the fact that the ongoing dredging of the canal has pulled up four times the amount of earth as was originally excavated to build it.  Between the silt coming down the Chagres and other rivers and near constant mud slides, the canal needs continual work to keep it free and fulfill its intended purpose.  As he was relating this information we passed the huge dredging vessel, the D'Artagnan.  A few months later I saw a show on the D’Artagnan on the History Channel.

Tanker with a "mule" on each side.

One of many amazing stories is that the Chagres originally emptied into the Atlantic, but was re-routed to flow out of the Pacific instead.  The lakes are integral to the canal’s functioning and it took 11 years to fill Lake Gatun.  Now the water from the various lakes and rivers provide almost all of the power to make the canal work since there are no pumps anywhere in the system.  Gravity makes the system work as I soon found out when going through our first set of locks, the Miraflores Locks system.

It began to drizzle as we followed a tanker into the lock and watched the mules as they kept the ship in place and from bouncing off the sides as the lock filled.  The largest ships to go through the canal are Iowa class U.S. naval ships that have a whopping 20” to spare from end-to-end.  All pilots must be experienced seaman beforehand and start by taking sailboats and other small vessels through as they work their way up to being able to handle the giant Panamax container ships that are purpose built to fit just inside the canal locks.  There is even special training for piloting military submarines through the canal.  Every countries navy pays to use the canal with the exception of Costa Rica and Columbia – not a bad idea to be nice to your neighbors.

A better view of the mules.

For anyone interested in the history of the Panama Canal, The Path Between the Seas is must reading.  Columbus made three visits to Panama and the nearby waters were frequented by buccaneers like Henry Morgan and other famous navigators like Sir Francis Drake.

The Miraflores locks rise 33 feet in a mere 8 minutes.  One of the truly amazing things about all the locks is that the lock doors use only a 25 horsepower motor to open and close.  The key is that the doors don’t push any water and because they are hollow, they essentially float on the water.  A giant culvert delivers the water from underneath, giving the impression that you are in a giant caldron of boiling water.  From the locks we motored out onto Mira Flores Lake.  It was at this point that the breeze picked up and it started to rain in earnest.

The lock doors closing.

Determined not to miss out on the experience, I remained outside huddled under the overhang with the rain coming from the east.  It didn’t take long for my right side to become totally soaked from the waist down.  I should have grabbed one of the $4.00 ponchos they had for sale as soon as it started raining; instead I ended up wet through and through.  Even my shoes got so wet that I could see the water squeegeed out as I walked.  I quickly became concerned that the clothes I would have to travel in the following day would not be dry before I had to go.  I put those thoughts aside for the time being and concentrated on the present.

According to our narrator, the biggest income makers for Panama, in order of magnitude, are tourism, banking, the free trade zone in Colon and the canal.  The new canal being built to the west of the existing one, is being built totally without bond underwriting.  Amazingly, the current income stream generated by the old canal is sufficient to pay for construction of the new canal.  On the day the new canal opens, there will be no debt expense so only present operating costs and ongoing repairs will have to be covered.  I’m sure that the new income stream will be a huge boost to a Panamanian economy that is already thriving.  The new canal is scheduled to be completed in 2014 and the contracts with the various companies doing the work are heavily incentive laden.

There's nothing quite like a stylish plastic poncho!

The second canal will enable 24-hour a day transit in both directions instead of the 12-hour shifts currently in use (North to South from midnight to noon and South to North from noon to midnight).  It will no longer be necessary to port ships in Mira Flores or Gatun Lake.

I ran into a young guy from Alberta who, like me, had a background in the construction business and shared my fascination with the engineering that went into the building of the canal.  He was an interesting person who had spent two years living in China and Southeast Asia.  He highly recommended the experience and we talked a bit about the extent of censorship in China.  One of the first things he noticed in China was the inability to access news channels of any sort because the government blocked them to keep their people fed on the pabulum of communist propaganda.  There is nothing like going out and experiencing the real world to help shape and form your opinions of what life is actually like.

Terracing the hillside to make way for the second canal.

We continued on through the Culebra Cut, renamed the Gaillard Cut after Army Corps of Engineers Colonel David du Bose Gaillard, whose Eastern side was nearly vertical and is covered with heavy wire mesh to hold the hillside in place.  The cut was critical to both completion of the canal and the ultimate design.  When the French began building the canal it was with the intent of making a sea level canal by removing a section of the continental divide.  The Culebra summit stood at 210 feet when the effort began and by the time the French gave up in defeat, they had reduced the summit to 194 feet and a very narrow width.  When the Americans took over in 1904, they changed the design to a lock-dependent canal system and ultimately increased the width of the cut to nearly a third of a mile.  When the excavation was completed in 1913, the summit had been reduced to only 40 feet above sea level.  The Americans had literally moved a mountain.

The tour ended in Gamboa and we took very comfortable buses back to Panama City.  Somewhat embarrassed, I squished my way through the lobby and jumped into a hot shower to warm up from being soaked to the skin for the last several hours.  I wrung out my clothes in towels to remove as much moisture that I could before hanging them up to dry.  I still had to go out to fill the car with gas, so I put my tennis shoes on the bathroom counter and inserted the hair dryer in one of them and set it on low.  By the time I got back from Avenida Balboa, my left shoe was practically dry.  Since that worked so well, I did the same for my right shoe and it was dry by the time I went to dinner.  While at dinner, I left the hair dryer in my jeans and dried one leg by the time I returned.  I continued that process so that at least my jeans and shoes were dry.  The final few items could go home in a plastic bag.

Ship on Mira Flores Lake being handled by tugs.

I highly recommend a tour of the canal.  My particular tour had an excellent narrator who interspersed construction information and pertinent canal history with local jokes and generally entertained the crowd for the duration of the tour.  The lunch was good and it was fun to interact with the other passengers.  If you go to Panama, you have to see the canal and doing a partial transit allows you to see the locks up close and learn the history and significance of the canal at the same time.

Panama Day 9: Visiting an Embera Community

November 11, 2011

On this morning I met my guide, Christian, for a visit to one of the several Embera settlements on the Chagres River.

The heavily silted Chagres River following the storm

The Embera peoples originated and, for the most part, still live in the Darien province, which borders Columbia.  In the middle of the last century a number of them settled along the Chagres, living in communities of 50 to 100 individuals.  They established their settlements much like they had lived in the Darien; based on their traditional subsistence farming using a slash-and-burn model along with fishing and raising chickens. 

The jungle receives so much rain that the nutrients are literally washed out of the soil.  Slash and burn farming is an age old method of clearing a parcel of land by burning much of the trees and vegetation, which has the effect of adding nutrients to the soil, and then moving on to a new parcel of land in a year or two when the soil becomes depleted and will no longer support growing crops.  The land quickly returns to jungle and the cycle is repeated.  This is not that dissimilar to crop rotation farming employed by more modern farmers around the world and has been practiced by tropical tribes for eons. 

Our ride finally arrives

Unfortunately for the Embera, that all came to an end when the Panamanian government chose to create a large nature preserve where the native population had taken up residence and their slash and burn crop rotation scheme was banned.  The only alternative for these people was to become a tourist attraction while making a valiant attempt to retain their culture, traditions and dignity.  By charging tour groups to visit them, putting on a demonstration of how they live and selling native crafts, they now eke out a living.  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I was picked up at 8:00 a.m. and it took about an hour for our drive to the Chagres National Park where we would be met by community members who would take us upstream by dug-out canoe for a tour of the settlement, a demonstration of their craftsmanship, dancing and a typical meal.  When I booked the tour, I was given the price for a 1:1 guided tour with the assurance that if others joined the tour, the price would drop commensurate with the numbers in the group.  As it turned out, I remained the only one booked for that day and that suited me fine; the chance to ask as many questions as I wanted and get that individual attention was good.

A heron at the river's edge

I’m a bit skeptical of so-called folkloric tours because too often I think they have turned into little more than a modern circus side-show.  I hoped this would not be the case and was assured on the site of Embera Village Tours that they were sensitive to my concerns and that the woman who ran the company is in fact married to an Embera tribesman.

My guide, Christian, is a trained naturalist and native Panamanian who had married a woman from California.  He has traveled widely throughout Central and South America and has a natural curiosity of places and cultures that matches mine.  We hit it off instantly and had a great day.  Christian shared that his family owns a farm in the southern Azuero Peninsula and he visits often.  The road to the park is pretty bad compared to the roads to which I had now become accustomed.  In fact, in parts it was quite bad.  We went through an area that contained a cement plant and I was struck by the irony of having the materials to make a good road right at hand, yet the area remained underserved with respect to the streets.  Christian told me that this area was filled with squatters and that since they don’t actually own the land or rent it, garbage and utility services in the area are either terrible or non-existent.

Passing another village

We arrived at the park and went to the water’s edge to find our transportation.  Various dug-outs arrived… but not ours.  While waiting for our transport to arrive, we talked about the history of the villages, other tours he conducts and a bit about Panama in general.  Nervous that something had gone awry, Christian made several calls to the office to find out what had happened to our guides.  After waiting for well over an hour, Christian found out from the members of other villages that it had rained very hard the night before and the river rose more than anticipated, causing all of the dugouts from our village to be washed downstream.  When they discovered this in the morning, they naturally had to go out to retrieve them, causing our pick-up to be delayed.  The other villagers were having quite a laugh over the event and our group eventually showed up from down river with three dugouts and towing two others.  During our wait I had my own laugh over the seemingly incongruent picture of men dressed in nothing but a loin cloth pulling a cell phone from their waist packs to check their text messages as soon as they hit the shore.  Stone age meets the modern age. 

Arriving at "our" village

Once under way, it took about 45 minutes to motor upstream, passing other villages on the way.  The trees along the banks of the Chagres held countless birds and the river itself revealed a few crocs and caimans, although for the most part the river was so heavily silted it was hard to see much.  We heard the occasional howler money making their presence known as we passed by.  There were lots of large trees, roots and all, floating down the river towards the canal and the river banks were collapsing in places, a result of the previous night’s deluge.

The assistant Chief gives his presentation

I generally avoid other Americans when I travel because it seems most of them are there to take a couple pictures and buy their cheap souvenirs while not showing a genuine interest in the country and culture they are visiting.  I find myself embarrassed by people like that, whose actions are insulting to the host country.  I prefer to seek out locals or travelers from other countries.  I know, that’s a gross generalization of Americans, but unfortunately my experience has taught me that is closer to the rule rather than the exception.  It is as if they are just collecting stamps in their passports and bragging rights at the next cocktail party instead of really experiencing the country they have travelled to see.

The communal kitchen fire

So with that wariness (not sure that is a real word) always in the back of my mind, I of course ran into a retired ophthalmologist from Houston who wanted to trade Panama City restaurant tips instead of learning about the village and its people.  Although Christian was not their guide, he and his trophy wife were on the same dugout with me.  After brushing him off three times when he tried to strike up a conversation, he finally got the idea that I wasn’t interested in chit chat.

We were greeted upon our arrival by a goodly number of the village -- men, women and children all came out to welcome us.  The village sits on a low bluff overlooking the river and is made up of individual homes on stilts (although basic, I hesitate to call them huts because they are not small and appear to be quite sturdy), a school, a public kitchen used for cooking meals for the tourists and two open air lodges at ground level that are used for cultural demonstrations and lectures for the tourists as well as a place to sell their wares.

Lunch is served

I wandered around the edge of one of the lodges, viewing the positively exquisite woven baskets, plates and masks from palm leaf fibers and other crafts carved from Cocobolo wood and Tagua seeds.  There were also drums made of turtle shells, the typical animal carvings and bowls made of wood.  I was drawn to several of the masks and as I considered which one to buy, was beaten out by the ophthalmologist’s wife who grabbed the nicest mask; an elongated monkey’s face with an exaggerated nose.  I ended up getting the next best one.  She then had the gall to bargain over the price.  I think I was more disappointed over who had beaten me on the purchase than the fact that I had not gotten the one I really wanted.  The more I thought about it, the more disturbed I was about her aggressive discussion over the price.  $5.00 clearly meant nothing to this woman but meant a tremendous amount to the young girl who sold the mask.  No doubt another story to be shared at the club.  For some people, winning is more important than living a principled life.

My new friend Christian

We were waiting for other tour groups to arrive before the assistant village chief (I'm not sure that is his real title, but it is at least descriptive of his role) would officially welcome us and describe their culture and manner of living.  Christian took me on a quick tour of the communal areas of the village.  One of the most interesting things was the public kitchen.  Here, women and older girls were working on preparing us lunch.  The “kitchen” was an open air affair on stilts with a roaring fire slightly off-set to one side.  The fire is on a raised area created by a square of logs containing a pounded sand hearth.  The sand creates enough insulation to keep the fire from burning through the wooden floor.  The smoke helps to preserve the thatched roof by creating a natural insect repellant against carpenter ants and termites.  Christian said that the individual family lodges also use a fire on a regular basis to control insects.

World Cup here we come!

Once all the tour groups had arrived, the assistant chief gave his presentation in Spanish and it was interpreted by the various excursion leaders.  He spoke about the materials used in their crafts, how the fibers were dyed using natural pigments and methods and a bit about community life.  This was followed by some dancing and time to walk about the village and even receive a tattoo (similar to a Henna tattoo, not permanent but they last a week to ten days).  I enjoyed watching a group of boys (half of them naked) who struck up an impromptu soccer game with a partially-inflated ball.  This was certainly more interesting than watching the other tourists scramble for souvenirs.

Girl with a face tattoo

We enjoyed the dug-out trip back to the park and Christian and I continued to chat about what we had seen.  As we drove back to Panama City, I confided in Christian my apprehension about the drive to the airport on Sunday morning and having to be there by 6:30 a.m.  When we got to the hotel, he did a u-turn back to Avenida  Balboa to show me the way I would take on the way to the airport.  This certainly was not something he needed to do and this took an extra 40 minutes out of his day.  In retrospect, I should not have been surprised since this was a rather typical show of the hospitality I had been afforded by the vast majority of Panamanians.

I spent part of the remaining day light watching the ships navigating out from the Canal and into the Pacific beyond.  The following day I would do a partial transit of the Canal and I was really looking forward to it.  That night I sought out a new restaurant further up the Amador Causeway on Isla Flamenco and had a great dinner of whole, grilled Corvina.

Panama Day 8: Arriving in Panama City

November 10, 2011

I slept like a log but still woke up around 6:00 a.m.  I took a long walk on the beach (about three minutes away) followed by a swim.  The sea was absolutely flat and the beach was incredibly wide because the tide was out.  There were some funky tubes sticking out of the sand that I assume were connected to a clam or other species of bivalve.  They left little excavation piles of sand as they dug through the beach.

After my jaunt to the shore I had a great Southwestern omelet at the restaurant.  My server reminded me of the Polish and Czech staff I had at my guest house because she asked me how to pronounce several English words on the menu – just like my housekeepers, she was dedicated to her guests and wanted to do even better.

Another hotel on Punta Chame beach

George and I talked some more about his marketing efforts and his overall approach to running the hotel.  He is a very savvy guy and his business acumen comes naturally.  He still has a commercial cleaning business back in the States but he is really concentrating on building up his occupancy at the Villas (already at 50% in just two years of operation) and completing the landscaping.  He is thinking of closing in the balconies on a couple of rooms to make them bigger and more easily able to accommodate larger families that need the extra room.  I suggested that he needs to build a presence on Facebook, make sure his website is fully bi-lingual and to consider having a Portuguese translation for the ever-increasing number of Brazilian tourists.  Not surprisingly, I received an invitation to visit his Facebook page a few weeks after returning home.

Boats left stranded by the ebb tide

As I was leaving Punta Chame Villas, George was receiving a fish delivery with tubs of langostino, snapper and the specially ordered grouper for his Canadian guest.  I drove down a few side streets to check out the area since it was raining lightly and almost dark when I drove in the night before.  There are other hotels and resorts and even a water sports park called Nitro.  The houses in the area are nicely kept up and there is a wide variety of architectural styles.  I came across a school and the medical center.  There are also several tropical plant nurseries that, no doubt, sell their stock to home centers and flower shops in the surrounding area and Panama City.

The traffic was light as I headed into PC.  If I haven’t already made it abundantly clear, road signs are all but non-existent in Panama.  And that is the excuse I am sticking with for taking the wrong turn on the Pan-American and ending up going over the Centennial Bridge instead of the Bridge of the Americas.  This cost me an extra hour to get to my hotel located at the beginning of the Amador Causeway (plus a few bucks in tolls).  With trusty map in hand, I pulled over after every other exit to take another look at the map and determine which road I should take in order to loop back around to the Corredor Norte  and eventually past Albrook Mall, past the YMCA and onto the Amador Causeway.  Even the locals told me that street navigation is primarily accomplished by knowing the major landmarks.  Thank God I had spent some time staring at the street maps of PC so some of these things stuck out in my mind as I was driving.

Driving across the Centennial Bridge

I checked into the Country Inn and Suites, which is very easy to find.  My room was quite nice; not luxurious but clean, comfortable and designed to US standards.  The real attraction, though, was the view.  I had a porch overlooking the southern opening of the canal and the Bridge of the Americas.  Wow.  I opened the drapes just in time to see a huge cruise ship exiting the canal right in front of me.  The hotel is undergoing a major renovation.  In addition to completely updating the rooms and laying new floors in the hallways, there is an addition being built for, I would guess, about 50 more rooms.  There are people from all over the world staying here and the tour buses were backed up the next morning taking people on excursions to the canal, jungles, the nearby aboriginal tribes and of the city itself.

Bridge of the Americas from my hotel room balcony

The hotel does not have much in the way of on-site amenities other than the TGI Friday’s restaurant and a nice pool.  There is also a free buffet style breakfast that has simple, but decently prepared fare and includes something for everyone.  After getting settled I went to the front desk to get directions to a store and maybe an ATM.  The lady at the desk was not particularly helpful as she kept directing me back to Albrook Mall.  For those that don’t know, Albrook Mall is the Panamanian equivalent of the Mall of the America in Minneapolis.  There are probably more tour buses in the parking lot than cars.  This is not where I wanted to go to pick up a few snacks and a six-pack.  As I left the hotel, instead of heading into the city I chose instead to drive the opposite direction if for no other reason than to prove the front desk person wrong – that there is more to Panama City than a shopping mall.

The Amador Causeway is just a road connecting several islands (Isla Naos, Isla Perico and Isla Flamenco) and the mainland.  There are a number of hotels, shops, marinas, boat repair shops and chandleries.  I found an HSBC ATM and a small shop to buy what I needed, plus I picked up some Panamanian coffee to bring back for the crew at the office.  I continued a bit further and noticed tourists, families and couples walking, biking and jogging along the broad sidewalks up and down the causeway.  It was an overcast but beautiful Thursday afternoon and everyone was out to enjoy it.  The boats were sliding through the blue Pacific waters and it was a glorious day.

The PC skyline from the Amador Causeway (note
the jumbotron in the center of the picture)

After a shower and some time on the balcony watching the ships, I drove back over the causeway to an area with several restaurants.  I chose a modest establishment with a good crowd, figuring that the food would be decent and reasonably priced.  I assume the menu was good but I’ll never know because I left the hotel without my glasses.  Idiot.  Even if the light had been better I wouldn’t have been able to read that menu.  I ended up communicating to the mechanic boyfriend of the waitress to just surprise me.  Although his English wasn’t good, it was a far sight better than my Spanish and he got quite a laugh out of the situation.  I really need to start the Rosetta Stone Spanish course I bought.  I ended up having a very nice plate of langostino in a buttery tomato sauce with rice and vegetables.  Dinner and a couple of beers came to about $11.00.

What the restaurant lacked in ambience inside was more than compensated for by the bobbing of the boats on the water and the starry skies.  From my table I was able to watch folks walking by on the boulevard enjoying the evening as much as I was.  I joined the strollers for a while before heading back to the hotel and watching the boats and ships still plying the waters in front of my balcony.

A retirement research sidebar -- International Living Retirement Index

The January 2012 edition of International Living is out and includes the annual Retirement Index.  Once again, Panama is towards the top of the list; in fact it is number two.  And, once again, let me say that while the index is interesting and contains useful comparisons between countries in a variety of categories, each of the category summaries need to be taken with a grain of salt.

Don’t get me wrong… the article is worth reading.  As always there are comparisons on real estate prices, cost of living, health care, climate and a total score.  My problem is this: how you come up with a single number that summarizes a whole country?  As an example, I keep reading about how wonderful the upland areas of Columbia are; year-round temperate weather, no need for heat or A/C and the coastal areas are outside the hurricane belt.  So why does Columbia get a score of 75 while France gets a 90?  The last I heard, there is plenty of snow and cold weather in France.

Read the main article; just use your best judgment when evaluating the data.  Separate links are available for each aspect of the index.  You need to be a subscriber to access the full article.  While I won’t reproduce copyrighted material, if you leave me a message I would be happy to provide a summary.  If you like what you see and you are interested in retiring overseas, I recommend getting your own subscription to International Living – it’s money well spent.

Panama Day 7: Playa el Ulverito and Punta Chame

Devin and I were meeting at 10:00 a.m. at his place, Café  Limon, about a five minute drive south of Pedasi.  So I used the earlier part of the morning to fill the car with gas and check out some of the area northwest of Pedasi.  The first stop I made was at the gas station on the north end of town, but they had no gas; maybe they ran out because of the busy weekend.

Playa el Arenal

As long as I was headed in the right direction, I took the dog-leg right turn off the main highway and drove down to Playa el Arenal.  This is a fairly wide stretch of beach where you can hire a boat for the twenty minute ride to Isla Iguana; a small wildlife refuge that is said to have good reefs and two nice sandy beaches.  There are dozens of boats on the beach so negotiating a trip shouldn’t be hard.  One young man came up to me and offered an opening price of $50.00 round trip to the island.  I suspect you could negotiate a lower price.  Isla Iguana is home to (you guessed it) the Black Iguana in addition to a large nesting area for Frigate birds.  From June through October, Humpback whales migrate through the area.

Isla Iguana in the background

Boats also leave from Playa el Arenal for fishing.  This area of the Pacific coast is known for sport fishing.  Grouper, amberjack, sailfish, dolphin, tuna and wahoo are all caught in these waters. Kite surfing is also popular during winter and early spring.  The sea was very flat when I visited so it would probably be a great beach for swimming or jogging.  The boats in the water had ropes at least a hundred feet long and were tethered to spikes, trees or rocks high up on the beach.

I recalled that there was another gas station on the south end of Pedasi and filled the tank there.  Most gas stations have an attendant that fills the tank for you; I haven’t seen that in a long time in the States.  On the way to Limon I saw the local garbage truck making its rounds.  I saw no garbage cans anywhere in the Azuero peninsula.  Instead, they have a very practical solution to keeping the garbage away from prowling dogs and chickens – they have metal cages elevated about three to four feet off the ground.  These work great since the garbage man can pick the bags out of the cages as they drive by and you don’t have to haul big cans to the curb on garbage day.  Another example of the everyday practicality of life in Panama.

I got to Café Limon and Devin’s wife, Mãme, made me an espresso while I waited for Devin to finish giving his violin lesson.  Driving from Pedasi, I don’t think I could find Playa el Ulverito again without detailed instructions, but it didn’t take long to get there following Devin.  The road in must have been brand new since there was no striping.

View from the second floor looking East

A side observation before getting back to my real estate inspection – like many countries with relatively low wages, labor replaces technology in many cases.  As I traveled many areas where new roads or developments were being built, I noticed the use of portable saw mills.  Since they were taking out trees here and there, they cut them on site for fence posts, stakes for concrete forming, bracing, etc.  Why pay for equipment when you can have it custom made for a specific job?

Anyway, as we drove into the Playa el Ulverito area, we passed Hotel La Luna.  Had I stayed in Las Tablas instead of Pedasi, this is one of the hotels I was considering.  While I did not stop to take a look, I can say that it is convenient to several restaurants and is just a short walk to the beach.  I must also say that had I stayed here, I might never have explored much further because the beach is amazing.

As seen from the beach

Once there, Devin took me down a dirt road to the right that passes between the houses right on the beach and those on the heights, as it were, overlooking the beach.  Since most of the houses on the beach tended to be built down the escarpment to the beach, I think most of the properties above would have excellent views of the beach and the mighty Pacific from the second floor.  This road is the bumpiest, worst road I traveled on in Panama but it only runs a short distance to connect the beach houses to the main road running through town.

In front of Devin’s house was enough space for two, maybe three parking spaces.  The building is two stories and is really nothing more than a shell; the plumbing is run for the kitchen and a full bath has been finished on the first floor, but the electrical lines have not been run and there are no windows.  On the one hand, that is a real drawback since it is not ready to occupy but if you like designing and doing the finish work it is a diamond in the rough.  The building is about 24 feet wide and roughly 36 feet deep on the ground floor.  The covered back porch is about 15 feet deep and would be a good place to put the laundry.  I would guess the back yard is about 30 by 30… not big, but large enough to have nice gardens and a barbecue.  Public water is already run to the property and there is a private septic field.  The construction is concrete block with decorative, vented block in the areas where the windows would go.

The caretaker and Devin in front of the house

There is a nice custom made circular stair case to the second floor, which is a single room about 24 by 16 and a wonderful open verandah that is about 24 by 10 facing the ocean.  The roofing is the typical corrugated fiberglass and concrete extrusion.  If I were to buy it I would lift the roof a couple of feet and add a second room on the back.  The structure is eight years old and there were no signs of cracks in the foundation, so it must have been poured well.  Devin has a caretaker who keeps the weeds cut and generally watches over the place.  A crew of four, made of a project manager and three skilled laborers, can be had for just $100.00 per day.  The cost to renovate would not be that great, but the asking price of $155K is out of my price range.  For someone with a little more cash and an interest in finishing the project, this would be a good buy.

After a walk on the beach I said good-bye to Devin and drove the short distance into the main part of town in search of lunch.  I chose a simple open-air restaurant across the street from the ocean front park.  It wasn’t fancy and had plastic table cloths along with melamine Coca-Cola plates.  I ordered a ¼ fried chicken with papas fritas and a beer – the total came to $3.70.  Time and again I learned that the out of the way, mom and pop restaurants provided good, stick-to-your-ribs food at amazingly low prices.

More beach houses on Playa el Ulverito

There are several more restaurants up and down the beach.  I took a drive going east and found more houses like the ones I passed on the other end of town.  There are also a number of open air beach houses that were clearly nothing more than a party spot for the weekend with a large covered area, bathroom and probably a single room for secure storage of beach chairs, a portable grill, etc.  Many of these places did not even have electricity running to them.

After checking out the beach area, I drove into Las Tablas with the intention of continuing on to the stretch of resorts and condos between Playa Blanca and Coronado.  This was the one night that I did not have a hotel reservation and purposely set aside one day to provide some flexibility in my plans.  I got lost again going through Chitre but this time didn’t waste any time before finding a gas station to get directions out of town.

As I drove East on the Pan-American Highway, I kept looking for signs that would get me to this area full of condos and gated developments along the beach.  I took a chance and drove down a few random roads, but most of them turned into heavily rutted trails that you couldn’t do more than 5 MPH on.  There may have been a few signs but they must have been in Spanish and I did not recognize the turn-offs because while I could see the condos in the distance, I never did get to the beach.

Punta Chame beach

Frustrated, I figured I would just push on to Panama City and spend the following day exploring some of the great historic neighborhoods.  About twenty minutes down the road an American-style green and white road sign for Punta Chame appeared. I had read some about Punta Chame and since this was the first sign I had seen that pointed to a familiar name, I made the split-second decision and made a quick right.  Unlike the last several roads, this one continued to be good.  Fifteen minutes down the road I had passed a few small towns and went through some very pretty countryside made even more beautiful by the light mist that made the trees sparkle in the dimming light.  I soon realized that I was on a very skinny peninsula as I saw lagoons and mangrove swamps along both sides of the road.

Punta Chame Villas swim-up pool bar

As the sun continued to set I began to get nervous that I would reach the end of the road and not find a place to stay and would end up navigating Panama City at night.  As I neared the end of the peninsula houses appeared along with well-marked lanes leading off from both sides of the road.  There were signs with minimal information that at least appeared to be for hotels and/or restaurants.  At the very end I pulled into what turned out to be Hotel Punta Chame Villas.  The sun had set and it was now pitch black as I made my way to the lobby to inquire about a room.  I was offered a room with breakfast at $108.00.  This was much more than I was hoping to pay and was in the process of gently objecting when a young guy with a big grin on his face walked up and apologized that his front desk clerk did not offer the room without breakfast for $55.00.  Now we’re talking.

The young guy turned out to be George, the owner/architect/builder/host/chef.  More about George later.  Punta Chame Villas has just fifteen rooms on three levels and is almost on the point of the peninsula, so it is nearly surrounded by water.  George showed me to my room and I congratulated him for developing such a great property.  I mentioned my past ownership of a B&B and so he proceeded to show me around the place and talk about his vision.  There is a fourth floor that is for his Sky Bar with 360 degree views of the pacific and the mountains to the northwest.  The bar has two large terraces that are sometimes used for private parties. From here you can see Panama City in the distance.  He pointed out a point of light in PC that turned out to be an enormous jumbotron on the side of PC skyscraper – incredible.

Path to the beach with the mountains as a backdrop

George invited me down to the sitting area outside the lobby for drinks and to meet the other guests.  This was when I went from merely impressed to truly amazed by his skills.  After freshening up in the room and slapping on some of my new insect repellant oil I picked up at the Pickled Parrot in Bocas, I went down to join the others.  As I approached, George seemed to appear from nowhere and introduced me by name and where I was from to each and every guest, also by name and city of origin.  I sat down with the six other guests and continued to be amazed as others arrived and George, once again, appeared to make the introductions but this time with a bit of history, our professions or how long we were staying.  He conducted the evening as if it were a fine orchestra.  We all had a fabulous time and who would not want to go back to a place where you really enjoyed yourself?

I alternated time speaking with a divorcee from Toronto (who is staying the week with her sisters from Vancouver, but lives in nearby Anton); a local fisherman; a retired navy chief petty officer from Houston who lives up the road; and another gentleman who lives nearby and is originally from Detroit.  Other guests staying at the Villas arrived and were introduced in turn.  As the evening went on there were a dozen of us chatting away.  One of the two sisters was saying she had heard about the local fishing and would love to have a special dinner the next night for the group she was with.  The fisherman whipped out his cell phone and called a buddy out on the water and laid claim to the best grouper of the night, which George then bought to serve to his guests.

The Sky Bar

I was having a great time and before I knew it, it was 9:00 and I hadn’t had dinner yet.  Mike, the guy originally from Houston, and I went to the restaurant to have dinner.  I had the grilled snapper and a very nice glass of merlot.  Mike said that he began his retirement in Panama living in a condo in PC.  He saw that the real estate market was taking off so he bought five more condos in his building and was netting nearly $1000 per month on each before selling them in 2009 for a tidy profit.  Once he discovered Punta Chame he said it was a no-brainer to move here.  I learned from Mike that the road was just paved a couple of years ago and cut the time driving from the main highway down from 90 minutes to 30.  There is also a 24-hour clinic in the village.  He said he rarely locks his doors because theft is almost unheard of and has no bars on his windows like you see in much of Panama.  Mike loves his neighbors because they are friendly and dependable, yet not intrusive so he can live his life pretty much as he wants.  He also commented that he uses his AC infrequently because the natural cross breezes on the peninsula keep the temperature down.

All in all, it was another great evening in Panama and totally impromptu.  I wandered around the property for a few minutes after dinner and said good night to the other guests before calling it a night.  It felt like home.