Cerro Punta

For a short while there, one afternoon actually, we felt like nomads on the move again. We drove, the steering didn’t wobble and the brakes braked. Until they didn’t. Coming down from 5500 feet to sea level in manual gears not trusting your brakes with night falling was a new and not enjoyable take on being a nomad. We VN lived.  

The idea was to go on a test drive with our new bearings and bushings and brakes. The only thing was we hadn’t yet received our new electronic brake modulator to replace the one showing signs of failure in our Promaster. That shortcoming may have overheated our brakes as apparently they weren’t regulating pressure properly. 

We’ll investigate the damage Monday and if necessary start again with the repairs and wait till the electronic module arrives before we go mountain climbing again. Perseverance is the name of the game and that’s what we plan to do and just keep figuring stuff out.

Until it all went wrong Friday was a great day, lunch shared at the mechanics shop was a jovial affair,

…and then we set out to relearn the art of the van road trip. It was a two hour drive up the mountains into the heart of the agricultural area that produces cool weather root vegetables for the rest of the country. 

Layne bought a huge bag of leafy greens and carrots and potatoes for two and a half bucks reveling in how strong and fresh the produce was. 

I loved having the wheel between my hands and the business of exploring the back roads made our short drive feel like a Sunday outing. And yes there were some potholes on the back roads. 

We could see the rain clouds but temperatures dropped to near 70 and we drove with the windows open only half listening for rubbing brakes squeaking bearings. 

The Panama Canal is running out of water to operate the locks they tell us and railways are going to pick up some of the slack. 

To us getting rained on almost every day it seems inconceivable that there is a drought here in the wettest country in the Americas. But what do we know?

We were here 25 years ago when we sailed through Panama…Me enjoying an ice cold leg bath after months on a sailboat in the tropics: 

Some things don’t change, an Ngäbe-Buglé woman in traditional dress in Cerro Punta in 1999, pity whoever had pissed her off. 

Layne bought vegetables back then too. 

Our guides whom we had met on the dock helped us stumble in a rodeo. 

Back to the present: 

Characteristic low clouds, drizzle and generally dank conditions. 

We didn’t stop to buy souvenirs but we enjoyed the drive though the fields and some spots reminded us of the Salina’s Valley in California from earlier in our lives. 

Watch out for the unpredictable tractors…

Familiar plastic greenhouses which you will see all over the US. 

Cheers Bob! Hope you like living up here in the back of beyond…

And then the rain started so we paused in our slow descent and allowed the brakes to cool off even more in the town of Volcán hand way down. It looked like a cold winter day but Rusty loved walking in the rain.  



Night fell slowly as we slid downhill in 3rd gear holding the van with engine braking. 







It got too dark for photos as the rain came back and we trudged along the PanAmerican Highway to David in a long line of red tail lights. Then we turned up the hill to Boquete, no need of brakes here and made our way back to our camp spot by eight o’clock. A disappointing day but a full one, a reminder of the pleasures of life on the road exploring. 

English Please, We’re American

Tuesday is market day in Boquete and I don’t mean a market like the colorful affairs we have enjoyed elsewhere in Latin America; Antigua Guatemala for instance: 

Market day in Boquete is a celebration of what we used to call Farmers’ Markets in the US. I suppose nowadays we might call them community markets where people gather and buy useful foods and less useful dust catchers and trinkets while catching up with friends. You might have visited such places every Saturday during the summer and they have even held them in the Keys, land of no commercial farm products at all.

We first came a few weeks ago and blew our minds over the totally unexpected foodstuffs on display. You can keep the arts and crafts but I’ll take the bagels and eclairs, the fresh yoghurt and hot sweet coffee and I’ll wander at will while Layne seeks out worthy stuff like fruits and vegetables. This guy is American with his own fresh farm products into which Layne dived. 

The best kombucha of course but she also fingered some rather nice wooden serving bowls so I suppose with her birthday next week I have an idea what to get…

For locals it’s an opportunity to gather and chat and as this place is normally a brew pub and barbecue restaurant (Look up Tap Out Boquete to check the menu) there is room to sit. 

I found a guy fondling a paper cup of coffee so I asked for directions and I found a Panamanian lady grilling arepas on a grill and serving coffee at a dollar apiece. Arepas are Colombian corn cakes grilled and crispy with melted white cheese inside. You can get them at street festivals in Key West. I tried to engage with the seller but she wasn’t having any so I wandered off nibbling my red hot breakfast. It made me look forward to driving Colombia next month more than ever. 

The French pastry dude is my favorite seller. He remembered us and enjoys speaking French with me so we get along famously. Not many English speaking travelers speak French so when French people abroad meet me I have an even chance of getting along with them in their native language. Besides this guy makes delicious goat cheese quiches and I got a slice of banoffee (banana-toffee) pie and Layne got herself chocolate mousse in a pot. It’s okay to be envious of us as we’ll be back to Latin American food soon enough…

I took Rusty for a walk before we went to the market and he enjoys this town thanks to the absence of streeet dogs ambushing him. He really likes hanging around at the campground watching backpackers come and go and keeping a sleepy eye on traffic in the street. He wasn’t too excited to have to sit in the van while we went to the market but Layne went on ahead and I had the tack of explaining he would have to wait aboard GANNET2 but he got onto his bed reluctantly. 

On the walk to the market I met an American called Chris, about my age living temporarily in Boquete. He is a traveler too and spends time in countries following his whims, latterly Argentina and now for a few months Boquete. I asked him his opinion about Panamanians and he allowed as they are not that friendly to outsiders adding that he thinks it’s because they are fundamentally Colombians, which struck me as odd as we’ve heard nothing but pleasant stuff about Colombia.

Well we shall have time to find out for ourselves in the fullness of time. Our van needs an Anti Locking Brake Module as the factory original has set off a warning light a couple of times and even though it looks fine right now we want to change it while we are in a good spot to do that. We found a replacement through Jerry Ulm the Ram dealer in Tampa where we have had service previously and they heroically shipped it to us at vast expense ($1500). Except instead of using the freight forwarders’ Miami address I carefully supplied they automatically shipped it to me at Cudjoe Key, where we lived the last time we were in for service. 

And this is where  our heroic friend Wayne appears and takes charge of recovering the package from our former home and getting it shipped immediately to the Miami freight office that will send it on to our shipping agent in Panama.  

What we would have done without Wayne’s on-the-spot help I don’t know.  Minutes after UPS uploaded proof of delivery Wayne had the package without the current occupant of the house knowing it was there. 

I had texted the occupant and he was unaccountably really angry with me as he still receives junk mail in my name two years after we left. We had our mail forwarded by the post office on our departure for the statutory 18 months but I guess circulars we know nothing about still show up and he blames me. He texted me an angry reply to my initial request to keep an eye out for the package. Considering I’d never met the man or talked with him previously  I thought his first words to me were  rather peculiar. You be the judge.

I have to say it doesn’t sound as if life on Cudjoe Key is the paradise he might have been expecting when he paid three quarters of a million according to Zillow for the lovely house in need of repairs we used to rent for $1800 a month. I’m glad I’m out of there. And even gladder Wayne got the part whisked away unnoticed and unmolested. Thanks also to Dan and Gary who offered their services. Oh and what I used to do with former tenants junk mail and begging letters was to trash them. It was a short step from the mail box to the recycle bin and no cause for ill tempered rants on my part.  

In the meantime we’ve been invited to lunch by our mechanic, a lovely offer, and a ten day flower festival has begun in Boquete with loud music that miraculously fails to keep me awake at night but that is such a local institution the festival has us curious to visit. Meanwhile some Canadian friends traveling by van in Costa Rica want to discuss sharing a flat rack container with us which would  reduce our shipping cost to Colombia. This will all take time so we are making plans to do some Panama touring soon before we have the last part installed in GANNET2. Trouble is, cool sunny days and insect free cold nights make this a difficult anchorage to give up. That and the bakeries. 

Actual proper bagels are not easy  to find in Central America and even if you don’t like Marmite you might be able to appreciate an authentic bagel as a reason to stay put a while longer…in this unusually American town in the highlands of Panama. English has its benefits. 

Strange Days In Panama

We had to go down the mountain on Monday and pay our respects to the Customs office in the city of Davíd. Panana inexplicably gives visiting people 90 days to enjoy the country but visiting vehicles get only 30 days which is absurd. Fortunately you can get two thirty extensions to prevent your vehicle being shifted before you have to leave. However you are required to dress up to get your vehicle permit extension, long pants and long sleeves are mandatory I was told. My wooden bow tie purchased in Czechia years ago I added to give the proceedings a touch of the absurd they so richly deserved. Panana loves its bureaucracy and I don’t. 

I had to go through a ridiculous rigmarole to pay 25 cents to a cashier because they needed to keep a photocopy of my vehicle insurance  but the process cost months money and took an otherwise painless 15 minutes. Then we went to Copa Airlines at the airport nearby to cancel Fridays reservation but airline employees at the airport are not allowed to do that. So we drive to the Copa office in town where the security guard told us to come back after lunch even as he allowed some other supplicants, Panamanians into the office. Layne about lost her shit but I steered her away so she could fulminate in private. 

Lunch was horrible, testing a Chinese place where it turned out the food tasted like defrosted cardboard heated up in rancid oil in a burnt wok. I have never previously seen ketchup on a table in a Chinese restaurant and hope never to again. Our first hint of trouble was that there were no Chinese diners and then I saw the ketchup. We should have left but it was air conditioned while outside it was 102 degrees. Rusty was sleeping in the air conditioned van, lucky dog. 

The clerk at Copa airlines was very helpful but she was alone and the line was enormous. Knowing there was no parking we left Rusty in charge of GANNET2 in a public parking lot with the rooftop air conditioning to keep him cool and we took a three dollar cab to the airline office. Our tickets are on hold and now we wait for our last replacement part to arrive from Florida. 

The final two boxes of parts available in Panama City arrived by delivery service Monday at a charge of $13, very reasonable. By Wednesday evening I hope all wheel bearings brake rotors and pads will be new, GANNET2 will have front wheels aligned with new bushings ahd tie rods and all we will have to do is wait for the anti lock braking box to arrive from Tampa.

On our way home we stopped at a supermarket where Layne went shopping for some stuff and I walked Rusty in the 90 degree air as we were half way up the mountain road to Boquete.

An employee came out and advised me the manager had sent him because she didn’t want dog walking in the parking lot. “We are t in the parking lot!” I protested because indeed we were in the grass by the sidewalk next to the highway, well outside the parking lot fence. She doesn’t want dog waste on the property he said so I showed him my plastic bag attached to my leash. I laughed and walked back to the van. Never been told not to walk a dog in a parking lot I thought to myself. Nice store but never again.

Front wheel brake rotors and rear wheel hubs and bearings arrived by Ferguson delivery and cost me $13 which was surprisingly inexpensive considering they were so heavy I could barely walk them across the street. That thirteen bucks saved me a trip to Panama City so that was an excellent outcome. The parts store shipped them Saturday morning so it was fast service too.

We are both falling for Boquete, the little alpine town with the perfect climate, interesting restaurants and very little stress for us. We are camped for $12 a day with a pool, hot shower, electricity to charge our van batteries and quiet nights cool enough to require a blanket. 

It’s a little weird I grant you speaking English everywhere we go but when Panamanians reply in English to my Spanish I don’t fight it anymore. I guess it’s just force of habit for them: foreigners don’t speak Spanish and that’s an end to it. 

However the prospect of one hundred degree days at sea level is a bit daunting not least because we can’t leave Panama until our anti lock brake module arrives so the feeling right now in camp GANNET2 is why leave such a comfortable berth? We can do some exploring later before we ship to Colombia but for now we are comfortable. I need to make myself another cup of tea, the sun’s going down and the cool night air is wafting in.

Camping In The Wind

I could fill up a whole blog post with photos like this one…

…Rusty likes Topas Hostel more even than do we. Our previous campground in Boquete was very pleasant:

But at night we were kept awake by a serenade of barking from a neighboring house that permitted no sleep. So we decided we had to move and find something else. 

As far as I can gather Topas means “to bump into” and I suppose the idea is that this rather charming hostel is a place where you can bump into friends and strangers. The place was built by the head of a family that has since died and left behind a group of heirs at war over ownership of the hostel. Not that we the guests would know, but Boquete is a small town and everyone’s business is apparently of interest … to everyone! 

The eight rooms are fully booked but we are the only overlanders in the place so we could snag a rather nice shady spot near the road which gives us some privacy. However it also puts us a bit on display to passersby! And they stop to chat and require about our traveling home. Layne is in the business of giving tours ! 

A Colombian dude walking by asked to have a look. He left his home to emigrate to Panama years ago to escape Colombia’s civil war. 

I think YouTube is responsible for increasing interest in travel by camper but none of the curious have had a chance to see a van in real life so…I feel a bit weird acting as ambassador for overlanding but I suppose they have to start somewhere, so they might as well check out our van. 

Jorge thinks he might like to take off with his wife and see Latin America and he paid us back for showing him the van by bringing some rather decent cheese and ham and wine, a charming surprise and we talked at length into the night. 

The campground is close to the heart of Boquete and makes for an easy walk to the shops and restaurants. 

We have invested in two fifty foot electrical cords and around here that’s just as well. The outlet is around the corner in the far distance.

The hostels rooms are in back overlooking the pool which doesn’t get much use in the cool winds that are honking through town.

One other curiosity about this place is the decor. I have no idea who the Tintin fan is but I recognize the characters and the stories they depict. 

If you aren’t a fan of the Hergé comic strip about the adventurous Belgian reporter and his dog Snowy you won’t get it. 

Thompson and Thomson the detectives, Captain Haddock in Tibet…

…and Professor Calculus and Nestor the butler. I wondered why whoever did this left out Castafiore the opera singer but maybe I just haven’t found her yet. What a strange place to find my childhood stories. 

Oh and let’s not forget the BSA motorcycles rotting gently.

I’m sure this place hides a great many more stories than I could uncover but I enjoy sitting in the sun watching the clouds fly overhead, listening to the trees yield to the wind.

And then there’s Karsten who manages the campground for the mysterious lady owner who claims the inheritance if the stranger who told me the story got it right about the family feud. Karsten is in some ways my soul mate (!) as he got tired of Germany and misunderstood by his family finally decided to explore Latin America. He’s spent three years in Boquete but he’s a musician and he has finally had to accept there is no worthwhile music scene in Panama. He’s leaving next month to explore the possibilities in South America. I hope he finds what he’s looking for. 

So what are our plans? I suppose we shall leave Boquete later this week and drive around Panama for some exploration and to pass the time until our van part arrives. Once GANNET2 is checked out and working properly we shall make a new appointment to travel to Colombia. 

Until then, here we are.