Here come those crazy Slovenians on Red Frog
Trip Start
Dec 26, 2006
1
25
90
Trip End
Dec 25, 2007
Bocas del Toro,
Panama
Thursday, March 29, 2007
The ride from San Jose to Almirante while it took 8 hours went pretty quick for the first half of the trip I met a Melbourne guy now living in Glasgow with his wife and child who was on his way to decide whether to purchase a $30 million ex-Chiquita banana ship for his boss back home. He had one hour to make an assessment so if that is not pressure I do not know what is. The second half was spent teaching English and practicing my Spanish with a homesick Panamanian girl, Consuelo returning from 2 weeks teaching Spanish to gringos in San Jose, and not liking a minute of it. Having spent time in San Jose and now Panama City I cannot say I blame her one bit as this place has it in spades over SJ. And the final leg saw me share a taxi with a Panamanian mother and daughter to Almirate, who did not let the taxi leave the port until they saw me safely onto the boat that was to take me to Bocas del Toro. And here I was again on a water taxi heading across to Isla Colon, the sun about to set over the Carribean and thinking that this is why I love travelling so much.
Bocas was a great three days, not the least because I got to catch up with Lisa again and her friend jen who had flown in from San Fransisco for 5 days. This time Lisa and the broken leg were both looking a bit worse for wear, given that the Nica crutches were covered in duct tape as well as the bottom of the cast as it had started to crack.
01 - Bocas Del Toro over breakfast
But still she was determined to keep going with a month in Argentina beckoning and the possibility of a new cast to grace her leg. And so it was that the first night over dinner at Om restaurant we found ourselves surrounded by doctors all offering advice including one doctor who had heard all about 'this pharmacist from San Fransisco hobbling around Central America on a broken leg, and here she was live in the flesh'. So then the San Fransican kangaroo and myself did what we had become the ritual in Nica, drink rum and play dominoes, this time only the setting had changed. The next morning after meeting Lisa and Jen for breakfast, Lisa teaching Jen to play dominoes while we waited and the tradition continuing with Jen cleaning us both up, we jumped into a wtaer taxi and headed to Isla Bastimentos and the sanctuary of Red Frog Beach. This was like being on Survivor, just without the camera crews and 16 bitching and conniving contestants. Think white sandy beaches, plam and coconut trees lining the beach and warm turquise Carribean waters to swim in. And so it was that I spent an hour in the warm water bodysurfing on pretty small waves before swimming up the beach to see what the local surfers were doing. Drinking beer, smoking joints and snorting cocaine was the order of the day for the surfers given the lack of waves, which is kinda different from back home where we go grab an iced coffee, nice n' nasty or maggot bag (pie or pasty) and beeschting from the Port Elliott Bakery.
02 - I guess thats why they call it a long boat!
We have to tougen up lads!! And before you could say 'here come those crazy Slovenians' we were on our way back overland to the boat, entertained by three very funny and excitable Slovenians who may have been drinking just a few rum and cokes at the bar beforehand. Then it was a pre-dinner game of dominoes and rums waterside before indulging in Thai food for the first time since I left Adelaide, a green chicken curry described as 'one that makes your eyes explode out of your head' which we refer to as a 'mild' green chicken curry back home.
When you are onto a good thing stick to it, plus it was the easiest place to Lisa to negotiate overland so back to Red Frog we went the next day. Same shit, different day and I am sure you get the picture, only thing different today was two dogs rooting a bit too close to our position on the beach for our liking. And we managed to see the protected Red Frog on the way to the beach, shown to us excitedly by a little local boy. Who asked for money to reward him for his great eyesight in spotting the red frog...only to leave by picking up the Red Frog (we thought it was poisonous...obviously not) and taking it with him to surprise the next group of gringos. Give the boy credit he was a real thinker and entreprenuer and with his proceeds he managed to buy him and his sister a couple of cokes, the drinking kind that is!
Finished the day taking up the Slovenians on their recommendation to eat at Red Rooster on Isla Bastimentos and man what a great decision that was.
03 - Jen and El Criple on Red Frog..we meet again!
More rum, dominoes, carribean sunset on the waterfront setting but this time Lisa and I split a lobster which was awesome, at $10 each. Really simply cooked with garlic butter and a few sides....and a pair of rusty pliers to crack the shell! All served to us by Isla Bastimento's one and only 'Fashion Do', or should that be 'Fashion Don't? Then I headed with Jen to the Wreck Deck Bar, a cool bar over the water that would not get off the ground back home for fear drunk people would fall into the water while looking at the illuminated wreck below. Pity because it was a great setting for a bar...apart from white people trying to dance salsa like a local, like watching a train wreck but you could not avert your eyes all the same. So where am I at now...well it is March 29 (yeah I can now see how that going backwards email was bloody confusing) and I am about to board an Air Panama plane from Bocas Del Toro to Panama City, my home for the past 12 days. My one hope for Bocas is that it does not become overdeveloped and over-run by gringos who cannot afford beach property in the USA and Canada. With development already slated for Red Frog beach and Isla Colon already inundated with gringos, locals getting the princely sum of 90 cents and hour to work in the bars where drinks are not dirt cheap, this place has the potential to go the way of certain beach towns in Costa Rica. With a bit of luck the locals get to keep their piece of paradise.
