With a title like that you might get the idea nothing much is happening with the GANNET2 expedition to South America but there is some good news with the likelihood of forward progress increasing.
The brakes are okay. That news was a relief when Marco checked and said everything is okay, and I gave him every opportunity to stick me with another bill but he inspected the pads and rotors and sent us on our way in an hour at no charge. On another note I hate phone cameras. The lens on my iPhone mini is constantly smearing like this shot of Rusty walking lover’s lane in Boquete with the Christmas tree that won’t come down. I should have had my little Panasonic GX85 for a clean shot…
So now we wait for the electronic module to arrive from Miami. Fingers crossed we’ll have it installed in a week though I won’t be surprised if there is more drama in the delivery chain. We’re still thanking Wayne for redirecting it to us after an unexpected detour to Key West. Anyway that’s our status but Sunday night we anticipated Layne’s Monday birthday with dinner out.
Layne picked Ngädri from among online reviews and they did a solid job of delivering a pleasant night out.
I had a Guachito (“whaa-heat-oh”) which is a rice dish resembling risotto with seafood. It’s the second time I’ve had it, a national dish designed to deliver fish flavors inexpensively and of course in this upscale version it was very good.
Layne had whole smoked fish of what type I forgot to ask which was done perfectly of course but I really liked sneaking bites of her coconut rice as a palate cleanser.
We walked there and back leaving Rusty at home on his bed and very glad to see us when we got back at dusk.
The flower festival continues unabated but we are learning to sleep through the early evening music. It usually dies down before midnight with no more nights of thumping bass till four am.
After Layne had an exciting birthday morning waiting at the mechanic’s shop to get the good news on the brakes she decided to pop into the supermarket to pick up a few things. I’m generally banned from these trips as I want to add useless things to the cart (Chocolate? Useless?) and she finds them more relaxing on her own so when she came back out in a fury to join Rusty and I we were perplexed.
“I hate Panamanians” was the opening salvo. What happened was the new Rey Supermarket in Boquete had but one cashier and while in line Layne stepped out to add something that caught her eye. As she did that the couple behind her shoved her cart aside and took her place. It’s the sort of snub we are getting used to in this place.
The good news is we pay $12 a day at the campsite and we have a nice shady spot with hot showers and the ability to plug in and charge our batteries while we wait to be released back on the road. Perhaps it’s the wisdom of old age but I am actually coping quite well with the forced delay. I keep reminding myself that we have time and monthly pension checks on our side after a lifetime of our travels being limited by a shortage of both.
I girded my loins and went back to the flower festival to get Layne some of the best falafel we have tasted (apologies to Falafel King on Fitzpatrick Street in Key West) even though the cook is a grumpy sod who reminds me of Seinfeld’s Soup Nazi. I was too scared to ask him for a portrait. Here’s a second picture of the source of the trouble, the stage whence emanates all the nightly noise: look at it and weep for us:
A funny thing happened as I left the festival and it went like this. I saw a very long line of people waiting for tickets at the first booth. This being my second visit I knew they also sold tickets further up the road so I walked up and there was no line so I quickly paid my buck and a quarter for a senior ticket and in I went. After I got my food I asked the ticket takers if there was something special about the tickets at the booth with the immense line. No she said, they just don’t know. Of course when I got to the line still waiting I mentioned to the people at the back that they could get tickets without waiting. They turned their backs to me. So here’s a picture from my discard pile to celebrate my abject failure to communicate. Panamanians really are ill mannered humorless turds.
Then there was the guy who wanted to check out our van as we were doing our chores. Layne had an empty box of baking soda in her hand (we use it as a non toxic toilet chemical) and he offered to throw it away which seemed an odd offer but hard to refuse. Later we found the box thrown on the ground with his crushed cigarette butt inside. Not a criminal offense or anything but weird.
I find Panama a challenge to love. The country faces hard times as they have forced mining operations to shut down, the Panana Canal is failing and and they want to pin their economic hopes on eco-tourism. Personally I don’t see how they can peel tourists away from Costa Rica which has a solid reputation for safety and service, wildlife second to none and a long history of knowing how to treat tourists. This lot have a long way to go to get close and they need to start figuring that out.
And on another cheerful note Ecuador has a state of emergency going on as the government has decided to take on the drug cartels. We plan to spend some time in Colombia first so hopefully everything will have died down by the time we go south but we are thinking about getting visas for Venezuela which is now slowly opening to tourism and talking to the US again, as an alternative route south. 2024 may be as complicated as ever it seems here there and everywhere. Today though it’s back to the community market for bagels and yoghurt.
