Panama: Garden of Eden

Christmas Day- Zeus and treats

Transportation: Mind you we missed the ferry so we had to make this an exceptionally long travel day. We would have split up the trip and stayed a night in David but had to push on to make our deadline at our first workaway. 5 am we took a ferry to Golfito, then a shared taxi to the border, a bus to David, a bus from David to the port, a boat to Bocas town and finally a boat to Garden of Eden. All in all taking about 13 hours.

Fallen water apple blossoms

Garden of Eden- There is a great variety of people in Bocas town and the architecture looks like the South. Sooo many islands yet most of them are just mangroves but it is great fun to kayak around.
We are here on our first work trade. We help clean up, serve drinks and food, and do miscellaneous projects around the island. Molly has become an excellent baker. She has made bomb banana bread, rum cake, chocolate cupcakes, cookies and cheese cake. We eat like queens here...filet mignon, tuna, shrimp pasta, grouper are just some examples. I spend the evening practicing Spanish with Meliza (the helper here) and Elvin (the cook). Elvin and I play pool and I teach him swear words (not intentionally but because I'm not a skilled pool player) and Meliza tells me phrases of how to fend off boys.




It is slow moving here, especially when it rains but I appreciate the slowness because life usually moves so fast. And the guests come from so many walks of life and always have interesting stories whether they are stories of a science teacher in South Carolina, safari trips in Africa and the Amazon, scuba trips in Panama, creating the McDonalds 100 Dalmatians commercial in L.A., multi-million dollar swimming pool contracts, or talking insurance with a dentist. A common conversation was often about traveling, ecolodging and environmental consciousness. I've really enjoyed getting so many points of view.

 Red Frog Beach- A five minute water taxi ride from Garden of Eden ($5), Red Frog Beach is a string of white sand with the forest butting right against it. Specifically Red Frog is filled with gringo tourists, a snack shack with mediocre hot dogs, and a beach volleyball court. It is nice but I’m sure I’ve seen the same place in Southern California….maybe just not in December.
There are numerous other smaller beaches as you walk north, which are far less populated and one, named polo beach, even has some snorkeling. We took a walk along a small path in dense trees with hanging vines to the snorkeling spot. The drift wood that had been swept up over time was my favorite part. Huge pieces the size small houses had twisting branches that almost made it impassable, but as long as you treated it as a jungle gym it was great.
We got to polo beach and the snorkeling was ok. Nothing to write home about (but apparently enough to write in a blog about).

The real treat was the boat ride back. I spotted a dolphin a short distance ahead. The boat driver, also curious or hoping for a tip, slowed his motor and scooted closer. The dolphin and now two of his buddies started swimming with the boat and eyeing us with each breath. Molly and I were very excited as they came closer and closer. Then all of a sudden two of them flipped RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR BOAT. It was honesty better then something you would see at Sea World. Any closer and they would have flopped right on the deck. It was quite the treat, and yes, we tipped the driver.

Isla Solarte-  I took a solo kayak trip around Isla Solarte yesterday (12/27).
It was about a 7 mile loop through mangrove islands and small bays. Originally I wanted to kayak to the point called Hospital Point (which used to be an old leprosy colony back when the banana plantation was booming) to do some snorkeling but decided to make a day of it and kayak the longer back side to get there.

I started about 8 a.m. and the first hour it was just me passing locals in their kayucos headed to work, each passing with a wave and an ‘hola, que tal?’ I took my time hanging with the fishes and the pelicans until I got around the front of the island. It wasn’t protected and I was working against the wind and tide yet, I inched around the point into the protected bay by hospital point where I tied up to a buoy and had my lunch of leftover Christmas dinner. A boat of scuba divers tied up with me and I got talking with the owner of the dive company, John from Oklahoma, who convinced me to go scuba diving one day in town. He gave me a recommendation where to snorkel and watched my boat while I was out. I recommend Hospital Point over Polo Beach any day. The paddle on the way back was effortless and I cruised all the way home.