I am feeling frustrated. All systems are go, more or less but here we are. I’d like nothing better than to drive to Colombia tomorrow and return to travel, exploration and nomadic life. Yet here we are, helpless and awaiting the various stages of loading and shipping as required by the Darien Gap.
We had planned a short drive to a river pool we visited previously and got warned off as the place has become the target of sneak thieves breaking into cars parked in the unguarded lot. Bummer.
I guess the good news is I’m getting a lot of reading done as we wait for things to get going. And I’m also walking Rusty a fair bit!
Rusty and I walk in the park where he gets to do some people watching. I started to try to explain religion to him as the folks in white got into a prayer circle. I felt like I was talking to myself.
Mind you I’ve been doing a lot of that lately, talking to myself. Layne remarked today she is feeling lonely, which caused me to realize I felt the same way as we haven’t seen any travelers for weeks. There was one French family parked here for three days but I think their English wasn’t up to much conversation so after I made the introductions in French they remained friendly but distant. Then their Volkswagen van was gone after some brief goodbyes and we are alone again.
Tuesday is market day when we get bagels and yoghurt and kombucha and those weird foodstuffs you take for granted in the US when you stroll your farmer’s market if a Saturday morning. I walked Rusty around while Layne went inside and I got to listen to some mariachis outside a religious gathering…I listened to the music skipping the Bible class so I have no idea how the two were connected. The corrida music made me nostalgic for Mexico.
Tuesday night is two for one at Boquete Brewing Company, and indeed we have been here in town long enough to find that out. I had a twelve dollar Bourbon Burger with bacon and Layne got a free spicy burger of some sort. The wind was howling and it was freezing cold despite our jackets.
Then we strolled back down through the town, the wind finally at our backs so I suggested deploying a spinnaker which proposal my formerly sailing wife enthusiastically seconded but we drifted instead without a drifter but took pictures instead.
Next time we need something shipped from Amazon I’m going to enquire at a shipping company. This doesn’t look like it would have helped with our spare part but you never know what you might need or want from home. If you decide to live here this would be really helpful. Panama unlike Costa Rica has no import duties which makes shipping easy and bureaucracy free.
The six week general strike against the copper mine is long over but the anti-mining sentiment is still strong:
Oh and this is a bookstore with English books available! Hmm…
And so back to home, our Promaster van rocking in the breeze and Rusty who got a taste of burger ready for dinner.
He loves sitting out here even into the darkness. He goes outside before dawn if we let him out and he sits in the breeze and watches the street and the early morning foot traffic. He used to be afraid of wind, and the rain tapping in the roof of GANNET2 but nowadays he is fearless even seeing off street dogs if they approach. And in Boquete there aren’t any so he is lots of his domain. He for one won’t be ready to leave this place.
