Pura Vida, Panamanian Style

Wednesday, March 22 was our last day in Puerto Morelos...maybe forever considering the state of the Sargassum. Our next stop on our nomadic adventure was Bocas Del Toro, Panama. To get there we must first fly from Cancun to San Jose, Costa Rica and then take a different flight to Panama. To break up a long day of flying, and to accommodate the schedule of the tiny airline we had to take to get to Panama, Nancy booked us a hotel in San Jose for the night.

The hotel we stayed at in San Jose was named Casa Roland. Their website describes it as a “unique boutique hotel in the heart of San Jose.” Nancy picked it because it was close to the small Tobias Bolanos airport where we’d fly out of for Panama.

The outside was nothing compared to the inside of this definitely “unique” hotel. As soon as you walk in you can’t help but notice the artwork. Paintings on every wall surround you as you make your way to the small reservations desk. Words can’t describe the crazy paintings, so let’s just show you a few of them.

This group shows some of the pictures that greet you when you arrive. John thought the first one was Tony Bennett but it turned out to be a painting of a former Costa Rican president. The lady in the center is the hotel's owner...John thought it was Oprah. Our favorite however was Kim Jong-un and his family...why here? No one knows.

The tiny reservation desk is directly across from the seven seat bar with an American Civil War painting directly above the bar.

The reservation desk - A long view of the bar - The Civil War painting above the bar

The picture below is a photo of one of their rooms as shown on their website. The photographer must have missed our room because ours was tiny and dark with two blinds that we thought were windows to the outside when in reality they looked out to a row of air conditioners and the other to a service hallway. But for the price, it was clean and comfortable. The place was worth the small cost because of the paintings, statues, and friendly staff.

Besides all that, the hotel was a labyrinth---you could walk down a corridor and find a 20 x 20 foot lounge where you expected a room to be. Plus there were lounges everywhere, you had to walk through the laundry room to enter one of them. Plus the "artwork" was everywhere. A few more samples are shown below.

John thought the first pic of the two girls (in black and white) were the two scary girls from Kubrick's The Shining. There were lots of naked native women, reminiscent of post-impressionist painter Paul Gauguin. The picture of the woman and the snake also reminded John of Princess Leia in the clutches of Jabba the Hutt.

After we settled in, we had a drink at the bar and the bartender was a real professional! She chilled a martini glass with ice while mixing Nancy’s drink and passed the vermouth bottle close enough near the gin for a very dry martini.

At the bar we met three folks from Florida. A gregarious woman, a slightly deaf heavyset man, and a small bird-like older woman. We couldn’t figure out who was with whom. Even after chatting them up, we were at a loss. They were in San Jose looking at properties they might buy in order to move from the United States. The older gentleman started telling us why they were moving out..."it's because the US is falling apart!" We chose not to ask why he thought that…we never discuss politics or religion, especially at a bar with strangers!

Getting hungry, we asked the person at the desk where we might go for dinner…she said the Chinese place across the street was good, "not like American Chinese food, but better." So we gave it a try. John’s chicken and broccoli in hoisin tasted pretty much like any Chinese take out in Philly. Nancy’s dish had a side of “crispy rice” – which was unusual and good.

During the night we received an email form Costa Rica Green Airways saying our flight left at 11:00 am and that check-in was 10:30 am. What? We’re used to being at the airport hours before an international flight is scheduled to leave, so we thought 10:30 for an 11:00 flight must be a mistake. We asked the hotel's staff and they told us that, yes we didn't need to get to the airport too early. But, taking no chances, we had really nice guy (who has worked at the hotel for thirty years) drive us to the airport at 9:30.

Besides one lone guy, also going to Panama, we were the only passengers there. Nancy decided since we had some time, that she would work on booking our eventual flight back to the good old USA. John, in the mean time got talking to the other passenger, a long haired surfer dude named James. James is from S. Carolina, USA. He works about four jobs in order to travel around the world with his surfboards, surfing different ideal spots. He was on his way to Bocas to surf the east coast where the waves are supposed to be really good this time of year. James got real chatty and told John that he had ditched some marijuana because he’d heard Panamanian immigration officials were very strict and he didn’t want to go to jail.

About 10:00 am another couple arrived, so it was the five of us waiting for someone to check us in. About 10:30, a guy shows up and checks our passports and then weighs all our luggage and each of us too. About 10:55 the pilot arrives escorts us to the plane and off we go. After we left, there were only employees at this TINY airport.

The trip in a smaller prop plane over jungle and mountains is exhilarating and beautiful. Little did we know what was in store for us when reaching Panama.

Clock-wise from the top left: Our plane being loaded with luggage, Costa Rica mountains from the air, James showing off his new tattoo "Jackie (his late Mother's name,) and the river that separates Costa Rica from Panama.

Our plane went from San Jose to Bocas del Toro, Panama. If you’ve never heard of Bocas del Toro, Panama, you aren’t alone. If you have friends who are surfers then you may have heard of it. Bocas del Toro, or Bocas Town (to the locals) is a small town located at the southern tip of an island called Isla Colon. Isla Colon is about an hour's plane ride from the Panama Canal. Isla Colon is in the northern part of Panama.

We arrived in the Bocas del Toro airport about 30 minutes after leaving Costa Rica. We deplaned and got our luggage and went into the immigration building. (Yet again, tiny airport and we were the only passengers). They made the five of us put our luggage down on the concrete floor spaced next to each other. Then a uniformed guy came in with a dog on a leash and started sniffing our bags. While this was going on each of us were checking in with officials and having our passports checked and stamped. Then, each of us had to take our luggage into a room where an immigration officer made us open everything while he went through, pulling things out and asking us what each item was. Besides our medications,we had some vitamins and supplements...each of these was questioned. Poor James had to take his two surf boards completely out of their protective case, which they then searched thoroughly. Afterwards, when John talked to James, he said how glad he was that he got rid of the marijuana the night before. John just happen to have some medicinal marijuana cartridges that he purchased legally in Philadelphia, which were mixed in with his “vitamins and supplements.” When John offered to give James some, James readily accepted calling John, “The Man!”

After the experience of having our luggage torn apart, we found a taxi and drove to Saigon Bay. Yes, you heard right, Saigon Bay.

Saigon Bay, Panama is noted for its large Asian population and was where we were to meet our host Poli. Poli and her hired handyman, Ernesto arrived in a small boat to take us to our bungalow over the water. We made a quick grocery stop at Tony’s market, which is a strange name for a grocery store in the Asian section of a Panamanian town, especially when it’s staffed by Panamanians, but having been nomads for close to six months now we expect the unexpected.

After grabbing some food and drink we were off to our bungalow. Poli and her husband Leo have two houses that are about 50 yards out in the bay, one blue and one yellow. We’re staying in the yellow house.

Our house on the right, Our deck where you just jump off into the water, and sunset from our porch.

The house has a glass floor in the living room so you can watch the fish…or watch John as he swam under the house exploring for fish.

The glass floor in the living room, John swimming under the house, and a fish he saw the next day while snorkeling

The house is nice, but has a few idiosyncrasies such as the limited hot water, limited lighting in the kitchen and a few other minor things, but the proximity to the bay (e.g. falling off our front dock into the bay each morning and evening to swim, tube and snorkel) plus the sunsets make up for the minor inconveniences.

We plan to take a day trip up to a beach on the eastern coast to watch James and others surf, but mostly just hang here, snorkel, and read books and be lazy until we fly back to Philly in mid April. We’ll be around the Philly area for a few weeks before we begin our cross-country trek. We’ll do that for two months before heading to Aruba for the summer.

Until next time, as Costa Rican’s say, “Pura Vida,” which means to the “simple life.” Or as we like to say, to the somewhat simple life of the nomad.

Pura Vida,

Nancy and John