Money Money No Infraction ... followed by commentary

                        Money , Money No Infraction

     Time to head to the beaches again.  The highway from the mountain town of Boquete is a new four lane road.  Very nice, very scenic.  In no time we were in David and connected to the Interamerican Highway, headed back towards Panama City.  We were heading to the beaches about two hours this side of Panama City.  We planned for a 4-5 hour ride.  The Interamerican from David is a one lane in each direction concrete washboard.  And it's full of potholes.  Along with the trucks, buses  and cars we played dodge'em for two hours, everyone weaving from the breakdown lane to the oncoming lane to avoid blowing out a tire.  The buses make frequent stops, so that's another dodge'em  scene.  WHEW! 

     Panama doesn't have an army any more so Joe figures that accounts for the large number of police.  Some are uniformed, much like our city cops.  They saunter around the town streets schmoozing with the locals.  Then there are the guys in the green uniforms, boots and flack jackets.  They get to carry AK47's or kind of gun that I imagine an AK 47 looks like.  Some of those guys look like they're about 16 and the guns are too big for them.  There are quite a few motorcycle uniformed police lurking under overpasses with speed guns pointed at passing cars.  Another group of police wear green  flack jackets and carry pistols.

     Needless to say we watched for speed postings along the Interamerican Highway very carefully as it varied from 40km/hr to 100km/hr seemingly rather randomly.  As we got nearer the beaches on the other side of Santiago, the highway got better and became four lanes. We still had to watch for the occasional pothole and buses making frequent stops.  Those bus drivers are extremely aggressive, pulling out from their stops without regard for the following traffic.  I guess the police don't care about that.

     Beyond Santiago the beach areas begin.  There's Playa Blanca, Playa Farallon, Playa Santa Clara, Playa El Palmar and so on to Playa Coronado, the most popular beach  (according to The Lonely Planet Guide). None were well marked but we made our way off the highway and headed towards first beach, Playa Blanca and ran into a gated community and no beach access.  Then we tried Playa Santa Clara, a with the same results.  We decided to head to Playa Coronado but somehow overshot the turnoff and ended at a sign that said "Playa Gorgona".  We tried that and damn, if there was no beach access, in fact we couldn't even find the beach., and certainly no hotels, hostels, no nothing!

     Since Playa Gorgona was the last of the beaches on the map we turned around to find Playa Coronado. We drove a ways, asked,  turned around, drove, asked, turned around, asked, ended way beyond, turned around AGAIN.  Well, that time I picked the wrong place to turn around. Across the highway came running one of those police in the green uniforms, boots, and flack jackets, whistling for me to pull over.  Pad and pen in hand he describes my infraction by drawing it.  He wants my license and the rental car info. Barely looking at them, he ask for my passport.  I comply.  He opened it saying "Money, money, no infraction" waving my passport and the pad he's holding. Again "Money, money , no infraction'"  Huh?  Really?  Joe hands me $20, saying "He wants money and he'll let us go.  Just give it to him."  I do, and he flips his infraction pad closed, hands me back my passport, license, and car papers and starts to walk away.  "Wait, Wait." I yell.  He turned around looking rather surprised.  "Playa Coronado?" I ask.  He points in the direction we were heading, and says "5 kilometers  Reys."  We know Reys.  It's a big chain store with a big red sign.

       By now it's dark. Once again we backtrack, find Reys and head down the unmarked bumpy side street.  At least there were a couple of restaurants so that was hopeful.  We passed through a manned gate.  Continuing down the road we encountered a few people enjoying an evening stroll but there was no sign of a beach town. We stopped at what looked like it could be a high rise condo or a high rise hotel.  There were very few people.  Joe went in and reported back that there was no beach access in Coronado Beach any more. Most of the area had been bought up for condos.  We were to learn that is what has happened in most of these beach communities. Bought up by Columbians, it is whispered.

     Lucky for us this establishment was a newly opened Wyndam Hotel.Joe asked if I wanted to take a look at a room.  No.  Just book it.  We had no options but to take a room for the night, and in fact we stayed the next night as well, for lack of a better plan.  Our room faced the ocean but in front of this hotel were two towering condominium buildings.  At night we counted a total of eleven lighted units..  In either direction were more white high-rise buildings.  The beach access was down the street and between a ten foot wall and  a chain link fence enclosing a narrow trash-strewn path.


I forgot to mention the razor wire.

  The Coronado Beach is a dark sand beach stretching far in both directions.  We took a walk and found no public access points.

       Coronado Beach was lined with fairly new large homes, but we didn't see any other hotel so we have no idea where those fancy hotels are, and clearly there are no longer any average hotels or b&b's described in our guidebooks.  It was VERY hot so we spent quite a lot of time in the ocean that morning.

      At this point we had canceled our plans on the Azuero Peninsula after finding that not to our liking.  We had canceled our plans to go to Bocas Del Toro because we had heard how buggy it could be, so we still had a week left.  That much time in Coronado Beach was unappealing so we decided enough is enough.  Time to go home.  I was on "hold" with American Airlines for nearly half an hour because of the impeding snowstorm in the Northeast, but my perseverance paid off.  By using Advantage miles for this trip we were able to make a no hassle, no cost switch.  The next day we were on our way home.

                                      Commentary:  I Can't Resist

     Joe and I are pretty adept travelers.  We've driven and toured through Belize, Costa Rica, and Ecuador.  In all those places we got lost, had car issues, and got frustrated at times.  But we always found lovely beaches, reasonably inexpensive but nice lodging, and lots of interesting sights, interesting people, and interesting animal life.  In Panama we marveled at the Panama Canal, archeology, coffee plantations, and scenery.  But the foreign influence has created an in-your-face double economy. The minimum wage is $1.50 an hour so who can afford the $10 hamburgers? Much land is scraped clear of vegetation to build gated communities for ex-pats.  Time and again Joe and I saw acres of barren red soil with signs saying COMING SOON. The wildlife has all been chased away, and much of it is eaten by the indigenous people on reservations. (So we were told.)  If a traveler goes way out into the wilderness near the Columbian border he can find wildlife, and much more.  We were told that area is very unsafe more reasons other than wildlife.

      High priced hotels are replacing friendly, inexpensive hostels and bed-and-breakfast lodging. The tall space-age looking buildings of Panama City, mostly unoccupied, are referred to as the Cocaine Towers.  There is a pensionado program for foreign pensioners that provides for discounts on home owner taxes, travel, restaurants, taxies, and buses, theaters and the like.  There's a very favorable health coverage plan.  In fact there is a very complete heath care package for the first thirty days for foreign travelers.  We met foreigners who were there just for good, inexpensive health care.  All this is good except the government doesn't reimburse the locals for that loss of revenue when they honor the discounts.  Why should the foreign residents get the breaks when the locals are the ones with less money?  Hmmm  Think about that.

     What we found while traveling throughout Panama was the foreign influence has made travel in Panama  expensive. The US dollar is the national currency.  Most restaurants have US pricing, the hotels have US pricing and tours often have US pricing. While we found some interesting things to see and do, we found these to be far more expensive than equivalent activities, meals and hotels in any of our other travels to Central and South American countries.

Boquete Part II Finding Quetzales

              Finding the Elusive Magnificent Quetzals

      There are several trails leading into the rain forest from Boquete.  On our first day here we hiked the Pipeline Trail to the waterfall. We had hoped to see the magnificient quetzals.  They are extremely difficult to spot and we had no luck in doing so.  We had been told this is mating season and it's the best time ever to spot one so I wanted to try again, this time with an experienced guide.  Joe decided not to go.  He's not much into hiking.  But had he come he would have seen not one, not two, but five male quetzals.

 

I've tried to enlargen the pictures I took from my little camera.  In the pictures you can see the quetzales' long blue plume of a tail.  The first one I saw flew overhead trailing this plume.  He really is magnificient.  He has the coloring of a parrot but he's bigger than the average parrot. 

Riding in Caldera

                               Ms Mare and Mr. Stallion

     We  had to try horseback riding while we're in Boquete.  Actually we went to Caldera, a town about a half an hour from here for some equestrian excitement.  After we mounted up, our guide led us across pasture land, up hills and down the ravines.  It's a good thing we had done some very hilly riding in Costa Rica.  The terrain was very steep in places, and in a couple of places the horses could barely fit through the hilly ravine, let alone us with our legs and stirrups around the horses' tummies.  We had the opportunity to canter and gallop up the hills but it's been a while since I've ridden at that level.  No nose to tail ride was this.

We cantered up a hillside to be confronted by a herd of cows, a mare and her foal, and a stallion.  The stallion took one look at the mare I was riding and let out a loud whinny.  The mare's ears went right up.  I knew love was in the air.  She responded with a loud whinny of her own.  Clearly he was interested and she was willing.  I suspected a potential problem and luckily so did our guide.  He told me to stay close to him, as he shooed the stallion away.  The stallion wasn't going to be deterred.  More whinnying ensued.  I checked the mare's reins, and held on with my knees, nudging her uphill and away.  She was a reluctant steed.

      It wasn't long before Mr. Stallion was calling again, and again the guide chased him away.  Down the other side of the hill we went.  More whinnying.  I looked to my right and galloping over the hill was Mr. Stallion.  I kept going and the guide once again shooed him away.  This time for good.  But I think I heard Ms Mare whinny she'd be back.

My white mare's ears pricked forward when she saw that handsome stallion giving her the whinnies.  He's the brown guy on the left standing next to the lounging cow.

Boquete Part I

                        From the Pacific to the Mountains

     A five hour drive from the coast to Boquete brought us into much cooler, drier weather.  We drove up the of slopes of  Volcan Baru then down into a bowl-shaped valley where the town has developed along a river.  The water supply for the town comes from the many streams that flow down the mountain sides and into the river.  It's purified and very fine to drink.

     During the first two weeks of January the town hosted a huge Flower Festival. It is extremely popular drawing thousands to this small city. In a few weeks Boquete is hosting a Jazz festival and the hotels are booked as again they are expecting thousands.  As a result of the festival the park where the main events were held is still in bloom.  It's an event much like our Garden Shows held in the spring.

Geologic formation due to volcanic activity eons ago

     Around Boquete there are several hikes ranging from easy to difficult. There are hikes to the various waterfalls and hikes to the top of the volcano.  All of them are superb birding trails and everywhere there are people with binoculars, all looking up. The prize to find is the male splendid quetzale, It's a rather large parrot-looking bird but he has a three foot long plume of a tail. This is mating season so the birds have been spotted frequently, but they blend in so well they're hard to spot.

     The first day we were here Joe and I took the Waterfall Trail, a relatively easy and not too long trail.  We could hear all kinds of birds chipping along the path but they were very hard to spot. We did see two female quetzals feeding on some very colorful flowers high in the trees.  I spotted yet another snake, a black racer this time.  Howler monkeys were making quite a racket for a while, but we never saw them.  They are scary sounding, sort of like roaring lions.

Breakfast for the birds at the Boquete Garden Inn

Boquete Garden Inn

     We met a rather gregarious man who winters here with his wife.  The rest of the year he runs his garden flower business in Calgary.  He had lots of suggestions of things to do around here.  He had climbed the volcano the day before, but that one's not on our list.  He did suggest the Gringo Market held Tuesday mornings.  The ex-pats bring their organic garden goods and crafty things to sell.  There were a few natives selling baskets and jewelry.  There was an interesting mix of people and it was interesting to see such a large "snowbird" population. 
     Some guests at the Boquete Garden Inn where we were staying had raved about  an archeological dig and tour given by the landowner about an hour and half drive from Boquete so we decided to give that a look.  The drive around the volcano was spectacular and we were not disappointed by the tour.  It seems that the woman's grandfather had come from Texas in 1929 and farmed the land.  In the course of her living there she dug up several pottery pieces and contacted people who knew about these things.  There have been several professional teams from Germany and the US exploring her grounds and have found thousands of artifacts, some dating back as long as 3000 years ago.  She keeps a bunch in her little rustic museum, and many are in museums elsewhere.  It's believed the ancient dwellers were forced to leave due to volcanic activity.

The artifacts can't be removed from the soil because they would crumble so they've been left as they were found.



     Panama is the first Central American or South American country we've toured that has really good coffee.  We signed up for a four hour coffee tour of the Ruiz Coffee plantation and found out why that is.  Panama's coffee plantations are privately owned and they sell their coffee inside the country as well as to foreign countries.  Coffee producers in the other countries are required to sell to their governments who export the good stuff and keep only the not-so-good stuff inside the country.

Walking through Ruiz Coffee Plantation

During our tour we walked the plantation watching the red ripe beans being picked.  Unlike orchards at home the coffee trees aren't necessarily planted in rows,

Juan Valdez doesn't really pick the coffee beans

The red beans are the ripe ones.  There are several pickings on one plant.  As the beans ripen the pickers will return, usually three times.  The last picking takes all, ripe of not.  This final picking goes into making instant coffee.

Volcan Baru.  Spectacular scenery everywhere.

Scattered among the coffee trees are different kinds of trees; orange trees, palm trees, and deciduous  trees.  They provide shade, insect attraction, and homes for birds who prey on the insects. This plantation sells oranges as well as coffee bean.  We saw the beans drying in the sun, saw them being washed, peeled, redried, and bagged. They have to be aged for four months then they're sorted by size and density and rebagged for shipment. Some of this plantation's coffee sells in la-de-da stores around the world for more than $800 a pound.  We ended the tour with an explanation of roasting of the beans then a tasting session.  The dark roast has the least amount of caffeine and the light roast has the most.  Espresso also has the least amount of caffeine.   Instant coffee is made from the beans that don't pass muster for ground coffee, and it often has tiny twigs and bits of stone ground in it.  I've never like instant coffee anyway.

Evening scene from our window.