Country Bus Ride Meets Too Tall Gringo

• Nsayers79's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Santa Fe

Trip Start Aug 19, 2008 Previous
Entry Trip End Oct 23, 2008 Next
Entry

  Santa Fe, Panama
Thursday, September 4, 2008

After Panama City, the original plan was to chill on Isla Tobago, just outside of Panama City, and decide my next move.  What actually happened was on the Friday after I got here, I went to the bus station without having decided between two or three different places.  The choice was to go up into the mountains to a relatively remote and non-touristy town called Santa Fe.  

The first bus ride from Panama City to Santiago was very comfortable aside from the fact that it was pouring rain outside and they still had the air on full blast.  I guess when you advertise having buses with air conditioning, it makes more sense to blast the air regardless of the weather. 

Upon reaching Santiago, I took a small bus, slightly larger than a van, to Santa Fe.  This was a true cultural experience.  The bus seats were big enough for about one and a half people and there was about six or so inches to squeeze between either side of the seats.  Our bus load was full and by that I mean every seat was taken and me, along with four or five Panamanians, had the pleasure of balancing between the seats and falling on the other riders.  Throw in the fact that the ceiling on the bus was too low for me and my head was right by a speaker blasting some horrible song about ¨quiero ir a movie¨ (I want to go to the movies) over and over and I made for a pretty ridiculous spectacle.  I managed to find the humor in the situation and often found myself chuckling.  Additionally, despite the humorous discomfort, the ride itself was quite beautiful, winding throw mountains over almost all unpaved roads, waiting for cows to clear out of our way, and experiencing a bit of the Panamanian countryside.

I got dropped off in the town center which consisted of the intersection of two dirt roads, a small supermarket, and a restaraunt that I never saw anybody eating at.  I followed the small sign for Hostal Ahia and was greeted by the warm Belgian owner, Estephania.  The Hostal was absolutely gorgeous with a stunning garden, views of the clouds passing through the mountains, hammocks all over the place ... it was a very refreshing and relaxing environment to chill and think at.  After checking in, I took a little walk got lost and unlost through the town, chatted up some campensinos (farmers), and had a delicious and well prepared, but expensive ($5) meal at the Hostal.

Saturday, I went off on a hike through the hills with two Israeli girls I had met the night before.  I was supposed to be the ¨guide¨, but it seemed like we were lost most of the time.  Laughing at our meanderings and getting to know a bit about its others cultures helped cover the fact that until we found the waterfall we were hiking for, we had no idea if we were on the right path.  Either way, learning about their dark or black humour (evidently Israeli´s love to make jokes about the Holocoust as I have met a number of them and they all do it) and trekking through some pretty decent jungle with views out over the hillsides and mountains made up for us taking the ¨long way¨.  The waterfall itself was quite nice and I just had to get my feet wet and wade a little. 

That night concluded with another stellar meal and having some drinks with a group of friends up from Panama City.  We had a couple drinks and played a Israeli card game similar to Uno called Kuku Takki (spelling?), which used animals instead of numbers and required you to make the animal´s noise when you played the card.  It was very educational in that people from each country had very different sounds for the different animals, especially dogs and roosters.  It made for a fun drinking game.

I planned on leaving Sunday and just went for a short walk, but ended up meeting up with the group, swimming around in a local river, and going tubing for only $5 with a chill local named William.  The tubing was most excellent with some really good rapids, especially one in particular that knocked one of the Israeli girls right out of her tube.  By the time we finished it was raining, something that happens in Panamanian afternoons, but this time is was a downpour, so I decided to stay another night and let my cloths finish drying.

Monday, we took a walk to a local Orchid Garden and rested awhile by the same river.  While messing around taking pictures on the rocks, I fell.  Just a couple bruises for me, but I absolutely smashed my camera (so no pictures of Santa Fe until I get back home).  I then parted ways with the Israeli´s as they were headed to Santa Catalina and I was on to Boquete. 

Print this entry Share

Previous Entry Next Entry