Last Day In Boquete

After lunch on Sunday we start our drive to Panama City. Monday morning at six, dressed in long pants, I line up to get my police clearance for GANNET2 to leave Panama by container.

Meanwhile we got one last day in town Saturday and went for a walk. Liz and Remy from Alberta, last seen in Guatemala last year have shown up here at Pension Topas in Boquete and Liz is as enamored of the town as is Layne. 

It’s the irritation of travel, having to say goodbye. They show up…you leave. 

So we made the most of it and wandered around one last time checking out what is on offer. 

Rusty of course was perfect. 

Saturday was a rainy day, in the middle of dry season, so we blamed the Canadians for bringing that irritation with them. 

But it was a good day to be indoors and watch Remy slicing delicate chocolate cake with a Neanderthal tool:

The pastry to the left above is a Portuguese “pasteis de nata” which I have read about and never expected to find in Panama. It’s a simple custard pastry which reminded me of the similar things you sometimes find in Chinese restaurants. Chalk that up as another experience even if it was no big deal. 

We ducked in and out of the rain and I took a few pictures of Boquete as we went.

Arizona tagged motorcycles came and went. Boquete appeared to hold no appeal. 

If you enjoy Monty Python comedy you know what I was thinking as I saw golden chocolate frogs: 

When you crest the last rise  on the main road from Davíd this is your view of Boquete, 3500 feet above sea level, 25,000 inhabitants of which 5,000 are foreigners and mostly Americans. English is widely spoken, the climate is cool and comfortable year round though rainy season in the summer months is very wet. If you seek escape, look no further. We, however are travelers not settlers and plan to end up back in the States. 

Rusty loved it here and I was sorry to tear him away. 

Six weeks in one spot was a bit too long! 

Air Conditioning

Without the rooftop air conditioner our Promaster van will fit in a high cube 40 foot container. The “high cube” has a slightly taller door opening than a regular container. So we took the air conditioner off. 

The electro- mechanical genius known to us as Sergio did that Thursday morning and then covered the hole in the roof of the van with a sheet of acrylic seen above. 

It didn’t take long to unclip the electrical cables and unbolt the unit from inside. He thought it was all great fun but I have butterflies in my stomach. 

The only way around the Darien Gap where the PanAmerican Highway stops in Panana is to ship your vehicle to Colombia to resume the journey. If your vehicle is small enough like a sedan or a motorcycle the shippers can send it by plane in one day. We have to prepare to be without our home for two weeks.

For people used to traveling to the tune of their own whims, shipping a campervan is a pain, a stress, an all-consuming worry.  At least our Promaster is now in good working order and once we get to drive away from Cartagena towards the Andes we will know the Promaster is in the best shape it can be. 

Sergio will clean the a/c unit, put new bearings in the fan and deliver it to us in Panama City on Tuesday so we can put it inside the van before we go to our air BnB for the night. The loading process starts before dawn on Wednesday. 

The Overland Embassy, our shipping agents try to make it as easy as possible but there are so many details to wrap up in the end if you are like me you can get overwhelmed.

We are putting the finishing touches to GANNET2 with new rear tires, and a thorough underbody cleaning. 

After we get clearance from the police to export the van we will need to go to a vet to get clearance for Rusty to leave the country. Then we will need to finish cleaning the vehicle so it arrives in South America not carrying agricultural contaminants from the north. 

Then we will empty the fridge turn off the electrical breakers and remove  our water filters from our Berkey. We have new filters to install in Colombia. 

Sunday night at nine we fly Copa Airlines for one hour and fifteen minutes to Cartagena. We have bought a third seat so Rusty will fly in the cabin with us and that fact relieved at least one stress. He has never flown so I am hoping this flight will feel like nothing more than a ride in a car.

We tried to get his papers in David but the vet was out of town and tried to do a conference call because no one else in the office spoke English. In vain we pointed out we spoke Spanish and they kept ignoring us in the office.  

“I speak Spanish” I said, in Spanish! No one introduced themselves or addressed us. They took another customer who just showed up and kept ignoring us. It was like they were sending a message. It took a while but we got the message and left after asking rather loudly  and angrily why they wouldn’t serve us. “We don’t speak English,” the clerk said in Spanish, and I said so what? in Spanish. Then another customer got in my face and she told us to fuck off this is their country. She said that in Spanish. I said what’s that got to do with it. In Spanish and she looked down and waved me away. Then the man child who finally identified himself as a vet told us told us to leave, in Spanish, as this was private property. This as we stood waiting for them to unlock the door which they keep locked all the time (the neighborhood didn’t look that scary). It was just another weird interaction in Panama.

I cannot wait to escape this lunatic asylum.

Tuesday In Boquete

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.