January 26

I just got back Wednesday from my Panama trip.  To say the trip was great would be an understatement.  Deb and I arrived in Panama City on New Year's Eve.  Uber from the airport to downtown was only 10 dollars USD.  Uber is definitely. the way to go especially when you are in a Spanish speaking country.  The uber app let's the driver know where to pick you up and where you want to go.  You know what you are paying and there are no surprises.  Back to Near Year's Eve.  The city was still decorated for Christmas.  We walked to the water front to watch the fireworks.  The explosions from the fireworks echoed constantly between the skyscrapers on the water front.  Panama City has hundreds of high-rises.  On New Year's Day, we lounged by the pool and got some last minute supplies before flying to Bocas.  The flight to Bocas on January 2 went smoothly.  Air Panama uses old twin props...so old there were ashtrays on the arm rests.  First stop in Bocas was the grocery store for supplies.  Bocas Town is quite third world.  Not too many fancy places.  There are many grocery stores, all run by Chinese people.  Food was reasonably priced, but buying meat was a challenge.  We only had a tiny fridge.  We bought chicken on the first day.  It rotted quickly even though we had the chicken in the fridge.  Packaged bacon, frozen shrimp, beans, and eggs were our go to proteins.  After getting groceries, the next challenge was finding a taxi.  You have to be aggressive in order to score a taxi.  The taxis are all yellow 4x4 trucks.  Our new best friend, Miguel, finally gave us a ride to our Airbnb 15 minutes up the coast from Bocas.  The cabin we rented was well into the jungle.  A little stream flowed below our balcony.  There were cayman, turtles, and frogs in the stream.  All compost material went into the stream for their dining pleasure.  The cabin had wifi, running water, a gas stove, fridge, dishes/cutlery for two people, a paring knife, a chopping knife, a pot, a pan, frying pan, and two glorious Adirondack chairs.  There were no glass windows, just screens.  The daily routine was to enjoy two cups of coffee/Bailleys, walk down to the surfers beach to watch the surfers.  The Paunch Beach is a popular surfing spot for surfers from the whole world.  During our last week in Bocas, there were record waves so surfers were flying in from the US, Australia, and Europe.  Amazing waves.  Of course, the same waves pounded out the coastal road.  Water was lapping over the road and leaving logs, coral, rocks, and other obstructions on the road, but the taxis rolled on.  After watching the surfers, we would have brunch.  The afternoons were spent going for long walks up and down the coast or going on excursions.  Our first excursion was an all day event.  We went by boat to see dolphins, starfish, and three toed sloths.  One destination was Zapatilla Island 15 km off shore.  Zapatilla is part of a national park...beautiful beaches and decent snorkelling.  We had lunch at a restaurant only accessible by boat way out in the boonies.  Our last stop was to snorkel a coral reef.  The whole day excursion was 35 USD which included the beer.  A highlight for me was hanging with the boat owner's son, Mario.  He taught me a few words of Spanish.  Wonderful kid.  Our second excursion was almost a carbon copy of the first except we went to a beach on the northwest shore of the main island, Isla Colon.  Again, there were seaside restaurants where we could order seafood and beer.  Our third excursion was to Red Frog Beach.  The boat dropped us off on the west side of Bastmiamentos Island, then we hiked to Red Frog Beach on the eastern open water side of the island.  We rented two loungers under a cabana on a beautiful beach.  Red Frog Beach was perfect for swimming, body surfing, and boogie boarding.  And yes, we saw the famed red frogs!  On one of our first days in Bocas, we went up to Bluff Beach for boogie boarding.  The waves were incredibly high and the drop off was steep.  I was pounded back to shore.  On two occasions, I did lip stands because I was too far forward on the board.  On a few occasions, we treated ourselves to dinner at some of the ocean side restaurants.  Paki Point, Skully's, and The View.  We met some wonderful people on our travels.  The people were friendly and fun loving.  I think Deb and I were among the oldest tourists in Bocas.  Most were younger people who stayed in low rents and hostels.  The beer was great, in my opinion.  Not just because it was cheap...local beer was 2$ on average.  Bottled water was 3$.  My favourite brand was Panama.  Balboa beer was also popular.  Panama uses USD.  When you get change, you get Balboas.  One Balboa equals 1 USD. We actually left Bocas two days early because there was 100% chance of rain in Bocas whereas the forecast for Panama City was sunny and 33 degrees Celsius.  We stayed at a hotel beside the Panama Canal.  It was nice having dry clothes and bedding for a change.  Bocas had rain everyday; however, rains would never last all day.  Even when rains did come, the temperature was still warm.  Bocas temperature ranges from 25-30 everyday.  The cabin always cooled off nicely for sleeping, but there was always dampness.  After two days in Panama City, we flew to Atlanta on January 20.  The next day, we were supposed to have a stress free flight to Regina via Toronto.  As it turned out, the plane had an issue with a cargo door so we sat on the runway in Atlanta for 2 hours.  When we landed in Toronto, we beat all the odds and sprinted from the international side to the domestic side in about 25 minutes through customs, screening, moving sidewalks, escalators, stairs, and miles of corridors.  We boarded the plane to Regina with about 7.5 seconds to spare.  Thankfully, Deb's son came to pick us up in the wee morning hours.  On Wednesday morning, I drove back to Saskatoon.  Seeing my Luv Bug was tops on my agenda.  As always, it was great to see my girls and their hubbies.  I had a great holiday, but I love home too.