Only 2 more weeks!!!!

I'll bet the winter was long. Eh????

I have already driven through Gualaca on the way to Los Planes. I know the way now.
Why pay $30 each when we have a car. Good thing too. The tourist bus trip there is 3 1/2 hours,you stay there for 4 hrs and come home. The same day!

We now know the easy way, and,there are(by Panamanian standards)good roads all the way.

What an adventure the other way. I am glad we did experience that. Whew!! You saw the pictures.

But, I did forget,or maybe they just got worse in a month, how bad the road was, especially around Fortuna. They must not get any Panamanian tax dollars. It should be perfect there because of all the local and tourist traffic. There is no other way to get to Chiriqui Grande or Almirante.

We finally did make it to the Caribbean ocean.

Almirante,is an interesting town with interesting surroundings. They say you can't judge a book by it's cover,but I might need that cover in some parts of town. It was just $3 a day in a secure,fenced facility. Why you might ask do I need secure surroundings? Good question. You decide for yourself.

Let's talk about the "banos" at the water taxi station. Nice..a hole in the floor right to the gulf. No toilet bowl for me anyway. Aprille did have a bowl. LOL.

So it is raining,most of the time. Our water taxi,we just missed one, has no windshield or side skirts, we get rain soaked, and you know how Aprille and speed do not mix. So...there is no consideration how we are to get back home. 30 minutes as fast as the boat can go,which was pretty fast. The operator had no respect for our request t go slowly. None what so ever. She was a real trooper I have to admit. This picture was taken at Del Drago beach but it exactly the same boat.

Bocas del Toro here are the pictures.

This is the Grand Bahia

There was a lot of history there. Originally,it was home to the American Fruit Co. It was built in 1904 as their offices. The building itself is all wooden construction,so you will here people next door and in the hallway.

La Iguana-restaurante/night club/bar is approx 200 ft away.The music is played very loudly,disco,thumping music from 1000 pm  until 330 am. we are unable to sleep. I actually got dressed,went down to the street, It was impossible to stay in bed.. Then there are the locals at Bocas Barnaq,just below us, as well. So....between the two issues it was VERY,maybe even extremely noisy. The locals were only noisy till about 2 am.

Switch rooms the next morning. Management is apparently,and without success, trying to deal with the problem at the La Iguana.
It helped....a little. I would never stay here again because of that.  Even toilet paper in the ears and covering with a pillow did not help. Drink lots. It may help you sleep.

There were some good things. The staff was wonderful,the breakfast was great and the rooms were very comfortable and clean..but...

We spent a lot of time on the 2nd floor balcony being entertained,just people watching, by the tourists and locals

The food in the local bars and restaurants was just outstanding, we saw quite a few of them, and the town itself is very quaint and touristy.  The Reef restaurante,right across the street from the hotel was just one example.The good(our view and the Reef restaurant) the bad(La Iguana) and the ugly(right next door),to the north.

2 days is enough though.

On Friday, we take the local bus to Del Drago beach.$5 return each, on our way to La Estrella beach the bus ride there was very interesting.   We had scouted the surrounding area thoroughly Thursday night. Good for us.

We arrived at the central park early. That was clever. By the time we left, the bus was nearly full. On the way there,we spoke to a couple on the bus from New Zealand(she was originally from Toronto) and they are making their way through Mexico,central and southern America,they have been in Isla Colon for 4 days and it has done nothing but rain.

Today is just perfect. Lucky us. They have some very strange weather patterns here.

On route,we stopped for three big bags of ice,and many locals loading on plantains, chain saws, mixed gasoline mixed body odors and unwanted contact,and surprisingly.. no..goats. By the time we arrived at Del Drago,there was no..and I mean no...room,to squeeze on anyone or anything else.

Good thing we did not rent bicycles. It was 18 km of,it seemed,all up hill, of, you guessed it,really bad roads. It is an easy,great nature walk to La Estralla . It is a great walking,snorkling, relaxing clean clear water Caribbean beach.

Beautiful.

The canoe here is in day 5 of construction and is made from a single log brought over from Bastimente.

I did not see one star fish. LOL.

The bus trip home was a real treat.We had return tickets,so a local tourist van drove us,he knew what we needed to get home..so..no extra fee and we saved a 20 minute wait and a crowded bus. So what did we get? A vintage  van with hardly any springs in the seat a nice driver and a ride right to the hotel.

In spite of the noisy experiences at the Grand Bahia, we had a wonderful time there.

We had to take the ferry back to Almirante good thing we did not take the tour bus. We would be forced to take the water taxi back too.
The ferry to Almirante was better than expected. For one thing,it was only $1.00 for a 2 1/2 hr crossing. Secondly,there was a section for passengers and there was a(Panamanian lounge. It was not the Cheechamung to Manitoulin Island). It was quite nice.Except maybe for the single bathroom. They are really not big on North American standards. Always carry some toilet paper and hand sanitizer. That's all I can say.

Oh yea, we were supposed to sail at 2pm. The schedule says 3pm but we were told 2pm. We were there at 1230..so the wait was 21/2 hrs and the crossing was 21/2 so what's that? That equals 5 hours of numb bum. We did spend the last hour or so with a local,Diego, who was very interested in speaking English so I got to practice my Spanish too.

The last day we discovered La Buga. A very rustic,wonderful diver shop-restauant by the water that we would have frequented had we discovered it earlier.

Going home(we travelled almost the whole way in the dark) were encounter (almost nothing) but beautiful clear mountain weather. There was a little rain and fog at the top of the mountain before we hit the Fortuna Dam.  It is 180 km one way.Thank you!

Well, I did learn one thing on this trip. There will be no more adventures,especially if the event involves water travel.

We got home around 910pm and it felt great to be home. A glass of wine and a cheese sandwich. Ah.... the comforts of home.
Today I will cut and paste part of this blog and send it to Hotels.com,tripadvisor.com,facebook  and all my friends to warn them of La Iguana.