Our friends Lyn and Ty Gilbert are always in favor of going on an adventure and we rarely refuse an opportunity to explore with them. The four of us have the greatest time heading into the unknown. You may recall our adventures previously that took us to the end of the road. A little over a week ago they asked if we would like to go to Shelter Bay to explore the area.
Shelter Bay is at the north end of the Panama Canal. Previously the only access to the bay and its magnificent marina was by boat or a ferry ride across the north end of the Panama Canal. Recently the Atlantic Bridge across the canal was completed which made access to this area a little easier. When we reached the bridge it was a great surprise to find almost no one using it. At first glace I thought that this must be the bridge to nowhere. It basically starts and ends in dense jungle. When we reached the west side of the bridge the roads leading away were all narrow and rough. Ty says eventually a nice road will take people from the bridge to the new copper mine where he works. Otherwise there is a long stretch of undeveloped ocean front from there to Bocas del Toro. The Caribbean coast is very pretty but not as accessible as the Pacific The dense jungle has a little bit to do with how populated this area is.
The new bridge across the Panama Canal
Our first stop after crossing the bridge was the gate at Fort Sherman. Fort Sherman was a U.S. army base tasked with protecting the north end of the canal. The gate is protected by a Panamanian Aero-Naval company. We told them that we were going to Shelter Bay and they let us pass. Once inside the base we were amazed to see how the Panamanians had allowed the unused base to fall apart and deteriorate after the American military was pulled out. Panama uses some of the former U.S. Military buildings in the canal zone, but has little use for a lot of it. By the way, since President Carter returned the Panama Canal to the people of Panama it has done very well and even expanded under the management of The Panama Canal Authority. The Panamanian Government does not technically run the canal. It is owned by all the people and decisions for its operations are made by directors who are elected to their positions.
The barracks at Fort Sherman Army base are deserted.
Shelter Bay lies on the west side of the north end of the canal. It is on the Caribbean and like all of Panama is virtually exempt from hurricane activity. Many people from North America sail south to safety here during hurricane season. We found the marina which is on the former Fort Sherman Army base to be very busy and almost at capacity. The marina has a restaurant, pool, stores and just about anything people will need who typically live aboard their boat. They even have scheduled bus trips to Colon and Panama City for shopping and entertainment. We were there to pick up some paint for Ty and Lyn’s boat.
Marina at Shelter Bay
Marina at Shelter Bay
Marina at Shelter Bay
After we picked up Ty’s paint, we headed south through the jungle. After driving a couple of Kilometers we reached a ranger station for Parque National. The park is part of the extensive National Park system of Panama, however I could not find a name for it. Several of these guys came to meet us as we entered the park. They are called Coate’, and they are a little bit like a racoon. We found them very friendly and nearly as welcoming as a dog. They probably thought we would feed them.
Coate’
Coate’
Several kilometers of driving through the jungle in the park we found ourselves once again at the end of the road. The road ended where the Chagres River meets the Caribbean on a point where the early Panamanians protected the trade route. This place was called Fort San Lorenzo Castle. It is a protected historical site and it is a great place to explore. In the late 1400’s early settlers would take their wares by land from the Pacific to a place in the mountains near what is now Gamboa. From there they would travel down the Chagres River to the Caribbean. This trade route had to be protected from the pirates. The Chagres river is now the source of much of the water used for the operation of the Panama Canal.
We found Fort San Lorenzo very fascinating. As we traveled through the jungle we were doubtful that we would find other people at the end of the road. We did, however, find many people there exploring. The price of admission was $3.00. The fort lies on a point where the Chagres river meets the Caribbean Sea. We learned that the original fort was built in 1595. After the fort was built it was first attacked in 1596 by English pirate Sir Francis Drake. The fort was continuously attacked until the original wood fort was destroyed by Sir Henry Morgan in 1671. Morgan then went over land to attack Panama City. These pirates were very interested in this area because early settlers brought gold from South and Central America across land into the jungle high in the mountains near what is now Gamboa. There they took it in boats down the Chagres River to the Caribbean where it went by ship to America. This trade route had to be protected from these pirates. Fort San Lorenzo Palace was part of the triangle of protection which ran from Gamboa to here to the ruins near Portobelo called Fuerte San Jeronimo. We explored the ruins near Portobelo a few months back. Clicking on the Fuerte San Jeronimo link will take you back to that post. Fort San Lorenzo was rebuilt of stone in 1680, which lasted until an attack in 1740. In 1768 it was once again rebuilt and in 1779 it was fortified. It is the remains of this fort that we explored on our visit. In 1980 UNESCO declared this and Fuerte San Jeronimo both World Heritage Sites. As I stood on the point looking over to the Chagres River and out into the Caribbean it was easy to imagine how the soldiers protected this area from the pirates. We were able to explore the moat, barracks, ammunition’s storage, and even get up close and personal with the cannons. Enjoy a few pictures from our adventure. A picture paints a thousand words, but there is no way to visually or verbally describe this place, and do justice. This is a must see if you are ever fortunate enough to visit this area.
Walking in the moat
Cannon stronghold
The Fort
Fort San Lonenzo
Chagres River over the Cliff
Don’t shoot
Guard Position
The East Side of the Point
Fort San Lorenzo
The Moat
Storage space
Rooms carved from the rock
Fort San Lorenzo
Fort San Lorenzo
Main Entry Point. The drawbridge would have been on the other side.
In other news, Jen and I bought a dune buggy. It is great for getting around the complex and beach riding. We have been having a blast with it.
We cannot detail our adventure without a brief prologue…Our adventure was to begin on August 19th. We did everything right and had perfect instructions for our journey. Step 1 was to go to the Banco National and pay the exit tax. Due to past corruption in the government here, these taxes are paid directly to the government bank account and you take the receipt to Adunas (Customs). There they process paperwork to allow you to drive your personal vehicle across the border. We paid the .50 cent exit tax a couple of days before and made multiple copies of every document that would be required. We left early and drove just over 6 hours to David where we would go to Aduanas for the document needed to cross into Costa Rica. We waited for an agent to come back from lunch and were told that due to a computer problem we would have to come back in 5 days. With no other option we turned around and went back home. Investigation told us that the only other Adunas office is in Panama City so we made the decision to go there to get the document before driving back to the border. This would delay our trip to the first of September due to other things on our schedule.
Aduanas (Panama Customs)
We are often asked what we do to stay busy during retirement. To be honest, we never have trouble staying busy. We are active in our church, do some volunteer work, relax at the pool, read, and spend time with friends. One of our volunteer opportunities is with the local health and respite (hospice), and they do a lot of other stuff, including sponsoring blood drives. Our misfortune at the border allowed us to donate blood on Tuesday. Panamanian people are afraid to donate blood so the donors are very much appreciated here. We both donated and were in agreement that it was one of the most pleasant donation experiences either of us has ever had.
Doing our part,
blood donors are rare in Panama
On Wednesday we took the bus into the city to straighten out our problem with Adunas. They collected all our documents (copies) and told us to come back on Friday. We have limited communication skills, but we were being told that the new computer system did not migrate all the vehicles registered and ours was not in the system. Everything would be fixed by Friday. On Friday we returned to find that the problem remained. We friended a man in line with a similar problem. Fortunately he was fluent in Spanish and English, and he helped us to get through the process. They had to do a hand search for our vehicle record to authorize us to take it across the border. They asked us to return in two hours. It was a monumental accomplishment when we returned to find they were going to issue the document.
The document to allow our car to leave Panama for 90 days.
On September 1st we took off on our Costa Rica adventure again. We were able to pass through the border, but I must say that it is much harder to travel from country to country here than it is to cross into the United States. Here they want to make sure you will not be staying for more than a visit. It is the legal process. We do not recommend travel like this without good instruction. We had good instruction including multiple copies of numerous documents, and a specific order to do each task. We do not know which was worse, going to Costa Rica or returning to Panama. Both border crossings were stressful, but not impossible. We both agree that it was worth the trouble, and will likely return for another visit in the future.
Border crossing (we’re in Costa Rica)
Costa Rica Immigration
One of the reasons we selected Panama as our retirement home is they use U.S. currency. One thing we recommend when traveling is to get some foreign currency in advance. This was our first mistake. While at the border we were required to purchase Costa Rican car insurance. Using U.S. dollars, we think, caused us to pay a premium for this insurance. On our travel day (Sunday) no banks were open for the exchange of money. We usually pay for most things with a no foreign transaction fee bankcard, and that worked well for us until we were able to obtain Colonies (Costa Rican dollars). With Colonies in hand we were able to enjoy the roadside diners (Soda) we love, as well as make small purchases. At the end of our adventure we returned with just over $100 USD worth of Colonies.
We returned with about $100 USD (+-60,000 colonies)
Momanes…yum
The other thing we returned with is Momanes. Momanes are a Central American fruit that we are calling “hairy balls” because they have an appearance like, well you know. They really are yummy. When you peal away the skin they look and taste like a big white grape. They have a pit in the center, which you do not eat.
Our first stop in Costa Rica was a wonderful port town called Quepos. We did not want to drive after dark and this was a perfect place to spend the night. We had a great meal and outstanding service at an oceanfront hotel. While we had dinner we enjoyed a spectacular sunset. Our plan for morning was to wait until the bank opened, to exchange cash. This allowed us to wander about on the boardwalk and enjoy a great breakfast. When the bank opened at 9 a.m. we discovered a long line because of 1st of the month payday. Rather than endure the line we elected to continue on our adventure with no Colonies. This was not a problem. We stopped at a wonderful restaurant along the road that accepted our card, and paid a toll with a US Dollar (it was about .35 cents).
Quepos…Our first night in Costa Rica
Sunset in Quepos
The National Cerveza Imperial
We were once again on the road to Surfside. Our good friends own a home there and we will stay with them for a few days to explore the Gold Coast beaches. The journey was another 6 hours on roads that appeared to be carved right out of the jungle rain forest. We spent most of the ride in awe of the beauty of the country. Much of the ride was along the Pacific Coast with small beachfront towns along the way. The roads, even the Pan-American Highway, were primarily two lane and paved. They were also mostly in good repair. We were able to use the Wayz app on our phones, and it worked flawlessly. Forgive us for not taking pictures along the journey. We found that often there were limited space to pull off the road for photo opportunities. The pictures below are from a stop along the coast at a small town called Jaco.
We love these signs
Jako has a championship surf team
We arrived mid afternoon at our friends, John and Barbie’s home. Their home is located in a beachfront community near the town of Potrero. We noticed that there are many expats living and vacationing in these areas. The locals are much better at speaking English than in most of Panama. But, like anywhere in Central America a little Spanish goes a long way. The restaurants, bars, and breakfast sodas were numerous and most seemed to be doing well even in the slow season. Over the next few days we enjoyed exploring the area. John and Barbie took us to an upscale condo project called Las Catalinas, which was like walking into a movie set in Italy. It was very beautiful and quiet. We took about 100 pictures but will only share a few. These homes here were in the million USD range.
Las Catalina looks just like an Italian village
Italian Village
Italian Village
Italian Village
Italian Village
Italian Village
We also explored numerous beaches. Playa Penca was incredibly beautiful and deserted. There was a road adjacent to the beach and we followed it to the end. I promised an end of the road story and this is it. It was somewhat anti-climatic but it was, no doubt, another in what we hope will be a long lasting theme to our end of the road stories.
Playa Penca
The road along the beach at Playa Penca
The end of the road at Playa Penca
Playa Penca
Playa Penca
John and Barbie took us to several great beaches. Some were literally deserted, while others had a lot of people around. The beach at Witches Rock in Tamarindo was a surfers paradise. There were surfers around waiting for high tide, when they would take a lesson or hit the surf. We enjoyed a great lunch on the beach and browsed through some of the great shops.
The beach at Witches Rock is a surfers paradise
Witches Rock
Amazing Beaches
Amazing Beaches
After visiting Tamarindo we went to an amazing pool at Mar Vista for an afternoon of relaxing and swimming. This infinity pool is separated from the ocean by jungle and rain forest, but when you were swimming in it you could enjoy the awesome ocean vista.
Enjoying the pool at Mar Vista
The infinity pool at Mar Vista
The infinity pool at Mar Vista
Along the way we spotted this very colorful and handsome iguana. He was not shy and we got a great picture of him to share.
This handsome guy was so colorful
We could not get over the fabulous restaurants in the area around our friends home. The last night at their home we went to Vaca Loca. Translated Vaca Loca means crazy cow. We came to the conclusion that the proprietor was the crazy one. We were served ribeye steaks, that weighed out at over a pound, with appetizers, one side, and a shot of limoncello to finish for about $12 USD each. It was beyond delicious and perfectly cooked. The truth be known, our friend John is an expert at finding great restaurants that will not break the budget. Most of the restaurants in Costa Rica, with the exception of the sodas, are very expensive. This reality was another strong argument for our decision to retire in Panama. We enjoy eating out and having economical restaurant selections is important to us.
Vaca Loca
Our awesome hosts John and Barbie at Vaca Loca
Great meal
The following morning we embarked on our journey to the mountain town of Tilaran. On our journey we made a special stop at Walmart. Walmart in Costa Rica is a high end department store and we found the prices to be high compared to the States. We did pick up a few snacks and soft drinks for the road. We also got a few things that have been difficult to find in Panama.
The Ciudad of Tilaran
Can you believe it?
Walmart in Cost Rica
From there we traveled on to Lake Arenal and the pinnacle of our trip, a visit to Lake Arenal and the Arenal Volcano. We stayed in a great casita with a full kitchen and an awesome view of Lake Arenal for $50 USD per night. Our friends John and Barbie stayed with a friend down the road a bit. The lake is about 26 miles long and we were on the west end of it. The volcano and the small town of Arenal were about an hour drive away on the east end of the lake. Our plan was to go to the volcano, hot springs and explore on Saturday. We will head back to Panama on Sunday. The pictures below are near where we stayed. The weather was perfect when we reached our temporary home on Lake Arenal.
West end of Lake Arenal The Arenal Volcano Behind us
Lake Arenal
On Saturday morning we woke up to torrential rain. It is rainy season and we were deep in the mountains and rain forest. Determined not to let the weather affect our plans, we took off bright and early prepared for whatever mother nature dealt us. We drove to the volcano and the small town of Arenal. To make a long story short we did not get to explore because the rain did not stop. We, also opted against the hot springs as it would not be great in the rain. We shopped around the town a bit and took a few pictures before returning to our temporary home at the other end of the lake.
Mannequin zip lining in Arenal
Rain ruined our volcano exploration
Terrible day to explore the volcano
Clouds and rain over Arenal Lake
For the rest of the day we enjoyed meeting some of John and Barbie’s friends and a couple of other great restaurants. Our farewell dinner was at Moyas and it was another awesome experience.
Moyas had interesting décor and great food
Lunch with a view of Arenal Lake
Sunday morning we got up for our journey home to Panama. On the way out of the mountains we stopped for what turned out to be an awesome photo opportunity. We took a picture of the Arnal Volcano with a cloud over the top resembling a hat. The rest of our journey was more beautiful countryside and we thoroughly enjoyed the drive.
The Arenal Volcano put on a hat for our departure
The last town before the border with Panama
We both agree that the experience of driving through Costa Rica was memorable and we will likely make another trip to fully enjoy the mountain experience. The beaches were great, but we have great beaches right here at home.
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Tuesday was the pinnacle of our time here in Panama. We woke early and met 20 other people at Nueva Gorgona for a tour to the Embera Village deep in the jungle northeast of Panama City. Our group was led by a volunteer from the church where we have been visiting. She makes the arrangements and all the money collected goes directly to the Embera. The Embera are the most welcoming and gracious people that you can imagine. They live completely off the grid, surviving by living off the land, fishing and selling a few crafts to their visitors. By the way, their crafts are incredible.
The band welcomed us.
Arriving at the village
Great sights along the way.
We journeyed by caravan in 4 cars to the dock where we were met by a few men from the Embera Village. They took us in 3 dugout canoes (motorized) on the 1 hour trip up the river into the jungle to their village. We were met by a welcoming committee who were playing small instruments made by the tribe. We gathered for an informal question and answer presentation to educate us on the life and customs of the tribe. The tribe has their own indigenous language and only a couple of the members have learned Spanish so that they can communicate with their visitors and government. The government here respects the tribe, however they do require the children to attend school. The Village has a schoolhouse and two teachers who come from the city on Monday returning on Friday. They spend the week there in their own huts with one teaching the younger children and one teaching the older children. The children are required to wear uniforms to school, as are all children in Panama. We learned a bunch of great information about the culture. We had at least 2 people in our group who spoke fluent Spanish so getting answers to our questions was really easy.
Embera women prepare our lunch
Embera women prepare our lunch
Fish and Patacone. Check out the plate made from banana leafs
Following our discussion we were invited to a wonderful lunch of fish and patacones. Patacones are slices of fried banana. Lunch was delicious. We were about the only visitors from outside on that day so we were welcome to move about and observe the daily life in the village. Shortly after lunch we were invited to see and take part in indigenous dance.
The Dance
Once the dance presentation ended we were invited by the father of the chief to take a walk through the jungle where he showed us native plants and explained their medicinal uses. The Embera maintain their personal health naturally and have a similar lifespan to the rest of the world. What he shared with us could put big pharma out of business. Our journey through the jungle ended at the school.
We visited the classrooms and interacted with the children. We had a family in our group with children 2 and 4 years old. The children were blue eyed with blond hair and the Embera children were in awe of them. We suspect that not many groups to the village have young children in them. We learned that the USO was there 6 years ago and installed a solar panel to provide lights in the classrooms. The chief told us that the lights stopped working a few days ago. A couple of the guys in our group did a diagnosis and believe that the batteries may have come to the end of their useful life. Some people from our group are raising funds to replace the batteries. This is the only electricity in the village.
We walked from there back to where we had started. We had the opportunity to look at and purchase their craft items, swim in the river with the Embera children, and have tattoos made from the natural dye in an indigenous plant. We boarded our boats for the journey back to the dock in late afternoon. The journey back was down stream so it took only 45 minutes.
Embera Children swimming in the river
Jen is getting an Embera tattoo
We hope that you will all have an experience like this some day. We have not put a lot of written detail here in the post; but we are allowing the pictures to tell the story. We want to have the opportunity to return to the Embera Village soon to purchase some of the wonderful crafts to decorate our Panama home.
Steps leading to an Embera Hut. If the steps are turned backward do not bother them.
We will be leaving soon to return to the States. It is and has been crazy busy the last few days here. We appreciate that you all have continued to follow along. We are dedicated to keeping the information flowing as we prepare to move and settle in Panama. Our next post will be a recap once we get back to Michigan.
We departed Coronado early on Sunday morning for our 402 Km drive to Boquete’. Our navigation system said it would take right at 5 hours with no stops. At Santiago we found that the brand new InterAmericana Highway was complete and the drive from that point was nice. There were very few places to stop. It was almost like an interstate highway in the States. Somewhere between Santiago and David we did find a truck stop where we had a nice lunch for $6.
Two can dine for $6.
I doubt we will ever find Dona Gladys again
After lunch, we continued to David, the second largest city in Panama, and it is where our journey turned north into the mountains. David has an international airport and a hospital with world class healthcare. This area was one of our of possible relocation considerations. There are beach homes and resorts on the ocean about 20 minutes south. We wanted to see some places which we heard about so our plan is to stop on our return journey. About 40 minutes to the north we reached our destination. Boquete’ is half way between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, high in the mountains, about 60 Km from the border of Costa Rica. There are a lot of expats there and we had no trouble finding people who spoke English. Our plan was to find a coffee farm and take a tour before finding a hotel.
Boquete welcome center
The welcoming committee was a pack of Coate’. These animals are similar to racoons and very friendly.
Chiriqui River runs through the middle of town
Our navigation system took us to a coffee farm. We found the gate locked and nobody around. We would later learn that the tours of coffee plantations are only arranged by a tour guide. We had a nice drive through the mountains on roads not meant for safe passing, before returning to the downtown area to find a hotel.
Gardens surround our room
Our room at the Inn At Palo alto
Gardens surround our room.
We settled on a lovely place just out of town called the Inn at Palo Alto. We were surprised to find many places were already full. Boquete is a tourist destination, and the streets were packed with people visiting from all over the world. The Inn Keeper was able to sign us up for tours on Monday afternoon and suggest a hike for the morning. She also suggested a nice casual dinner place in town. We enjoyed dinner and went back to the hotel to rest for our day of adventure. The climate is cool and we were actually pleased to find a fire on the patio of the hotel bar where we enjoyed a drink.
Getting up early on Monday morning was no problem, because we had a chicken next door that kept us up most of the night. The first income source for this community is agriculture, followed by tourism in a close second. It is interesting to see the two co-exist to create a solid economy. We took it all in stride. By 8 a.m. we were having breakfast so we could get in the hike up the Pipeline Trail before our 1:30 p.m. coffee and cloud forest tour. The drive to the trail-head was a repeat of our drive on Sunday. The roads were narrow and often steep, with very little room to pass. The drive took us more than 30 minutes and we found the trail-head deserted with nobody to point us in the right direction. This hike would take about 3 hours and we were supposed to see monkeys, waterfalls, and rare birds. With no direction and no obvious sign of where to start we opted to forgo the hike. Neither of us wanted to be lost in the jungle, with nobody really knowing where we were. Upon our return to town we found another interesting opportunity for adventure, but I was unable to convince Jen to zip-line. The photos below are from bumming around waiting for our 1:30 p.m. tour.
We ended up at Boquete Tree Trek. Zip-line adventures, hanging bridges, hotel rooms and restaurant. We did not have time to do anything more than eat lunch. During lunch we watched the last 2 legs of the zip-line finishing there near the restaurant. We talked to a guy who had just came from the hanging bridge tour and it sounded great. Jen absolutely would not zip-line, but we nearly decided to do the hanging bridges. It would have to be Tuesday morning prior to the Market. Following lunch we made the drive back to our hotel where we were to meet our tour guide.
Jorge showed up at 1:30 p.m. and off we went to our coffee tour. The coffee farm was roughly 19 acres and employed 6 people. The coffee is all hand picked and processed (dried) to the green bean for shipment to the customer. The wholesale coffee customer will roast the beans to his own specification. The farms that grow coffee are very low tech and this farm was no exception. All of his drying processes were done with equipment made from recycled parts. The farm we visited has a very small roaster for demonstration and roasting beans which he sells on the tour. We found the entire thing very interesting and learned a great deal about the coffee industry in Panama. This coffee grower produces an award winning coffee and we were pleased to buy a couple of pounds at the end of the tour. He also grows the famous Geisha coffee which we opted not to purchase.
The coffee plant. There aren’t a lot of beans as it is the end of the season
The fruit being dried. These are in different stages of drying. There are also different ways in which the coffee is dried.
The coffee is roasted to light , medium or dark. That entire process takes about 40 minutes with the dried beans.
The darker the roast, the lower the caffeine. Here you see our guide taking the dark roast from the roaster.
Light roast is on the left, medium in the center and dark is on the right.
The small coffee roaster for our demonstration.
Once we finished the tour of the Coffee farm we had a very nice tour of the area up into the mountains and saw amazing views of the Baru Volcano. The summit on a clear day is the only place in Panama that you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans from one place. It is, also, the only place in Panama where you may find snow. A hike to the summit is a full day adventure and we probably will never have that experience. For now it was enough for us to see the Volcano from a distance.
Baru Volcano
We spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the sights with our guide by jeep. The pictures below are just a couple from that part of the adventure.
The roads were often difficult to maneuver.
The haunted house of Boquete
Rainbow over the cloud forest.
We always believe that there is a reason for everything in this life. We decided to have dinner at a grill that was a 5 minute walk from our hotel. Georges Grill was the name on the sign and once inside we met George. There were two other couples in the small smoky place (George was cooking on an open fire). One of the couples was from Michigan and the other from Colorado. Both have spent considerable time in Panama over the past several years. We quickly became acquainted and had a great dinner together. The couple from Colorado, as it turns out, are staying at the Rio Mar, just a few minutes from where we are staying near Coronado. They were on an adventure of their own and headed to San Blas, once they left Boquete. We visited for a while and arranged to have dinner with them next week. We are anxious to get better acquainted. We also hope that they will share some of their experiences in Panama here on our blog. They are professional photographers, by trade; and we have already seen some of their amazing pictures on Facebook.
Dinner at Georges Grill
When we woke on Tuesday morning it was raining. This is the only rain we have seen during our nearly 2 months on the ground here in Panama. Given the weather we did not think it wise to do the hanging bridge tour. We will save that adventure for another time. We enjoyed the Tuesday Market. It is entirely under roof, so even if it had not stopped raining, we would have still went to it. The market is a must see for any visit to Boquete. We bought a few things, and met a few people before embarking on our journey. Our return trip to Coronado was uneventful. We made a stop at PriceSmart in David to pick up a few supplies, then continued to the beach to look at a condo. The condo turned out to be horrible so we easily ruled out living there. We wanted to see one other, but we were not able to find it. We got on the highway and made one stop in Santiago for dinner. By the time we got home it was after dark so we kicked back and enjoyed the evening. Since our return to Coronado we have enough material to easily publish another blog post. We have continued to research our impending move and are learning every day how the economy here will benefit us for years to come. This post was long, and we fear that posts of this length will lose some of you. If you read to the end…THANK-YOU. Check back in a couple of days. We will bring this thing up to date.
Gamboa is, perhaps,the first place in Panama that attracted our attention. Without much knowledge of the lay of the land, Gamboa caught our attention as a location where we may settle, due to its tropical, rain forest, and low cost of living. Gamboa is on the east side of the Panama Canal and with only 2 routes across, it may prove prohibitive to move about the country from Gamboa. We have developed a comprehensive list of exploration ideas, and Gamboa has the majority of cool things to explore.
Gamboa is located in a very private, secluded area of the former Panama Canal Zone. It was the site of housing for workers in the early 1900’s when the canal was being dredged. The sleepy little town was established for the workers and their families. It bustled back then, offering schools, and all the services that one would expect for it’s time. Today it is underutilized and many of its structures are unoccupied. Part of the towns seclusion lies in that it is in the lush Gamboa Jungle, on the east shore of Lake Gatun, at a sharp bend in the Chagres River. To access Gamboa you must cross the Chagres on a single lane wood and iron bridge. Nearby, to the south of Gamboa the Chagres River and Lake Gatun meet the Culebra Cut. This is the narrow pass that takes the canal through the Continental Divide. All this being said, it is hard to believe Gamboa is less than 30 minutes from Panama City.
The Culebra Cut is the narrow pass of the Panama Canal that crosses the Continental Divide.
A short distance from Gamboa we will find the Summit Botanical Gardens and Zoo. There we will a variety of monkeys, wild cats, harpy eagles, and giant tapirs. We will also find the former dredging docks that now house light ferry boats to take us to the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute facilities at Barro Colorado Island. Visitors are allowed on Barro Colorado Island; access is, however, regulated. To visit Barro Colorado Island, you must make a reservation and arrange for a tour. Tours generally include transportation to and from the island, a 2–3 hour guided hike, lunch, and a visit to the museum. Hikes through the island offer up the opportunity to spot several creatures, including monkeys, anteaters, birds, and insects.
Since Gamboa lies at the end of the road, so to speak, it is near large tracts of relatively undisturbed rain forest. It is the home of caymens, crocodiles, iguanas, and hundreds of bird species. Pipeline Road is a trail that follows an old pipeline near Gamboa. It is considered one of the best places to bird watch in all of Central America. The Las Cruces Trail also passes nearby. This was the trail used to transport supplies and precious metals between the Pacific and the Atlantic. Some of the trail is now underwater. There are many places in Gamboa where we can access private and public boats for fishing expeditions on Lake Gatun. Lake Gatun is considered ideal for bass fishing.
The penitentiary where Noriega was incarcerated is located not far from Gamboa on the shore of the canal. It is a white collar prison, surrounded by jungle, and it is still in use today. This is a place that we will choose to avoid.
This is where Noriega was incarcerated.
The Gamboa Rainforest Resort is a 5-star hotel located in Gamboa. The hotel attracts visitors interested in birdwatching, an aeriel tram which visits the jungle canopy, and tours to visit the Indian Reservations in the jungle nearby. The Embra and Wounaan Tribes reside on Lake Alajuela which lies on the upper side of the Chagres River. A one hour ride by native canoe (piragua) will deliver us deep in the jungle to visit with the Embra people. We will get the opportunity to see the Indians lifestyle, like hunting, fishing, harvest, and medicine. We will experience the traditional dances, and see how they paint their bodies. We will see how they weave baskets, plates and masks. We will have the chance to walk through the jungle to see the wildlife, birds and waterfalls. The Embra are very welcoming and friendly people. They will serve us lunch before we embark on our one hour return journey by piragua to Gamboa.
Gamboa and its surrounding area will be a great place to make memories of our Panama adventure. It may not, however, be our ideal choice for a retirement home. We will be keeping a open mind. Please, continue to follow, like, share, and comment. Our Spanish lessons are going on behind the scenes we will, however, share the word of the day “extranar”. Extranar means to miss or long for. Yo extranar para eterno el verano. Translated…I long for eternal summer. Buenos Dias.
