American Baseball in Panama

The Yankees came to town and played the Marlins this weekend, and we were able to go with a big group of people.  Tickets were $17, $65, or $130.  Of course, we opted for the $17.  The point of the game was to celebrate Panamanian Yankee Mariano Rivera, as he retires from the MLB.  They honored him before the game started, and he threw the first pitch.

 

Dollar beer stands inside the stadium

 

There were tons of people there.  The stadium is about 15 minutes away from our house, but we decided to take a cab because we figured traffic and parking would be chaos, and it was.  We had the cab drop us off about a mile away and we just walked the rest of the way.  There were cars parked all over the place, and not in any organized fashion.  Half of our group took a different cab and we lost them by the time we got to the stadium.  As we approached the entrance, it took us a while to figure out which door we were allowed to go into.  They told us there was an entrance on the right and one on the left.  We went to the left.  Little did we know, once you go left, you’re stuck on that side of the stadium and can’t walk to the other side without having to leave and go back in. 

We got some $1 beers and headed up to our general admission seats, which were just long concrete slab with bird poop all over.  We attempted to find the second half of our group.  They said they were in section 224.  Oh perfect, we are too.  We looked around and looked around.  We couldn’t find them anywhere.  And, really, it shouldn’t be that hard to find another big group of white people.  Are you sure you’re in 224?  Yes, in 224.  They finally told us they were in the nose-bleeds in right field.  Well shit, we’re in the nose-bleeds in left field.  What stadium makes two sections with the same number?  And now we can’t even get to them without going out of the stadium, and then probably wouldn’t be able to get back in.  So, the two groups stayed separated the whole game.  Oh well. 

 

This little baggie was helpful!

I was pretty hungry so Alex went a got me a hot dog right away, during the 1^st inning.  It was pretty American tasting, for the most part.  Some others left at the end of the 3^rd inning to get a dog as well, and the stadium was sold out.  Sold out of hot dogs??  By the 4^th inning?  I guess they didn’t anticipate the crowd…

The game wasn’t that exciting.  The Marlins ended up winning 5-0 and pitched a no-hitter.  Too bad for Rivera.  Panamanians don’t know about the 7^th inning stretch.  We were the only ones standing and singing “Take me out to the ballgame” and they all stared at us.  Then everyone stood up between the 7^th and 8^th inning.  Hmm….  They were pretty enthusiastic about doing The Wave, though. 

Toilet paper being handed out in the bathrooms

The beer stands on the way out

The streets were packed with people as we left and walked the mile back to the shopping center to catch a cab.  We crammed 6 of us in a tiny cab to get back to the city.

Overall, successful American experience in Panama!

Wood Visit

The whole Wood Clan made it down to Panama!  Bill, Koi, Matt, Daniel, and Roxc!  As mentioned in the earlier post, Bill and Koi arrived a couple days earlier than the rest.  MD&R were scheduled to fly in late Saturday night, but due to the crazy east coast weather, they didn’t make it here until Monday morning.  That was a bummer.  I think it sucked more for them, though, considering that they packed for a hot, tropical destination and they spent 36 hours in freezing snow and ice.  Brrrr…

Once they finally got to some warm weather, we spent the day relaxing at our pool with some beverages, catching up on everything we’ve missed over the past few months.  It was great to have everyone back together!  We toured around the city and just enjoyed everyone’s company.

We headed out to the Gatun Locks the next day, located on the Caribbean side near Colon. There’s a section with a draw bridge which allows you to drive across the canal, right in front of the lock holding all the water.  Very cool!  We watched some ships pass through and, even though Bill could have stayed there and watched for days, the rest of us were ready for the beach.  We drove about 30 more minutes to the local Caribbean beach we like, Playa La Angosta.  Since it was a weekday, the beach was empty and quiet, making it a very relaxing experience.  The Woods got a taste of some true Panamanian food when we stopped for lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall place in the town of Portobelo.  Pretty much the only option was fried fish and rice, so at least it was easy to order. 

We were also able to spend a day at a Pacific side beach as well, Playa Santa Clara.  We relaxed in the hammocks, played some card games, and watched some fisherman bring in crates full of the day’s catch! 

Koi was able to do a time share swap and rented a big room at the Gamboa Resort.  After spending a few nights in the city, we moved to the rainforest.  It is a beautiful resort, surrounded by mountains and rivers.  It has restaurants and pools, everything you can ask for! Koi, Daniel, and Roxc were able to take a hike in the jungle, while Bill, Matt, and Alex went back to the canal to watch more ships.  Meanwhile, I napped by the pool.   

For our last day in Panama, we were able to enjoy watching the Seahawks win the NFC Championship!  Earlier in the day, everyone went to the fish market to get lobsters for dinner, and had a snack of fresh ceviche.  All dressed in our Hawks gear, we all hunkered down on the couch and cheered our team on.  It was super fun for Alex and I to be around fellow Hawk fans again J. 

Sunday morning, Alex, Bill, Koi, and I left early for the airport to head to Costa Rica.  MD&R left later that night on the bus.  Koi was able to use her time share swap again and snagged an awesome townhouse in San Jose for the week.  Alex and I were only able to join them until Wednesday because I had to go back to work L. 

The first day in CR, the four of use rented a car and drove about an hour and a half to a beach town called Jaco.  It was amazing!  So amazing that Alex and I ended up going back a couple more times that week!  It’s a pretty well-developed surfer town, with shops, bars, restaurants, and condo buildings.  It had a long, clean beach and you could look back and see the mountains in the other direction.  We had lunch and swam, and then headed back to SJ. 

Monday was Alex’s birthday!  Big 2-8! The clan had discounted tour packages for the week, but we did not, since we were leaving early.  So Bill and Koi began their tour on Monday, and Alex and I headed back toward Jaco beach.  We wanted to find a waterfall to hike to, but didn’t want to be surrounded by tourists the whole time.  As we entered the beach area, there was a river that was covered with huge crocodiles.  We sat and watched them for a while, amazed by their size and quantity.  We assumed they hung out there all the time because so many people feed them.  Smart little suckers.  We continued driving along the road and there were commercial signs for hikes and adventure tours everywhere.  We then saw a hand-made, chicken scratch sign that just said, “Waterfall. You can swim,” with an arrow directing us to the left.  We decided to follow that sign, and it took us up along this long windy road for a while.  We finally reached it, and although skeptical, we went for it.  It was very well-manicured trail, but physically pretty difficult as well.  We hiked about an hour in and found the waterfall.  Alex thought he was going to stand under it, until he realized how powerful that sucker was.  There were some swimming holes, so we took a dip and had a snack.  We did not see even one person on that trail!  We had it all to ourselves.  Super awesome.  We hiked back out and checked out the town some more, then headed back to SJ to meet up with everyone for a birthday dinner.  DM&R were pretty exhausted from their 17 hour bus ride (ugh! Poor guys!), but they powered through to celebrate with Alex. 

The Clan continued with their tours the next day, so Alex and I went and checked out some volcanos.  We went up to Volcan Poas, which is a huge crater with a lake in it.  You have to go super early in order to beat the late morning clouds that roll in.  Unfortunately, we didn’t make it before that, and man was it cold! And wet!  We hadn’t felt that cold from natural weather since we left Seattle.  It also didn’t help that we showed up with shorts and t-shirts.  Oops.  We walked around a bit, drove around in the mountains, and then bought some fresh strawberries and cheese from a stand on the side of the road.  The Clan wouldn’t be back until late (they had an awesome day exploring Volcan Arenal), so, again, we went back to Jaco.  We love that place!  We swam and then grabbed dinner at an amazing sushi restaurant called Tsunami Sushi.  Sooo delicious!

Our last day with the Clan was spent lounging by the pool at our place.  We enjoyed our visit with the Wood Clan so much!  As always, it was hard to say goodbye.  They continued their adventure the rest of the week exploring tons of volcanos and beaches around San Jose.  I went back to work the next day, and our 4-week adventure was over L.  Koi and Roxc took tons of pictures and Koi created two awesome slideshows that capture each country.  Check them out: Panama Slideshow  Costa Rica Slideshow

Thank you so much, you guys, for coming to see us!

Demers Visit



The Demers (Phil, Karen, and Nicki) visited us for 2 weeks over Christmas and New Years.  They flew in on the 23^rd, and after a loooong day of travel, they caught a couple short Zzzzs and then we were off to the Pearl Islands.  We stayed there for 2 nights and it was our first hot, beachy Christmas ever.  The island is pretty small, but we decided to rent a golf cart (mule) in order to get around quickly and easily.  We found a beach after checking into our hotel and spent the day lounging, resting, and swimming in the ocean. 

On Christmas Day, we paid a guy to take us around on his little fishing boat.  We attempted to fish, but it didn’t work out well.  We stopped and snorkeled a few times and saw lots of fish.  We even saw a shark!  Yikes!  Nicki and I quickly swam back to the boat after that one.  He also took us to an island called Mogo Mogo, which was the island where they filmed Survivor for a couple seasons.  It is a deserted island, but there are still remnants of the show, like benches they built and ropes they used.  The water was clear blue and green and about as warm as bath water.

We made our way back to the city on the 26^th.  Here we are “checking in” and waiting at the “terminal” for the ferry. 

 

The 27^th was Karen’s birthday, so we decided to go to the local fish market for some fresh lobster tails and have a big birthday dinner.  The tails were huge and delicious!

We headed out to the Caribbean side the next day and stayed at Scuba Portobelo for the night.  Typically a low-key area, the place was packed with divers and vacationers.  We checked out the town (see the other Portobelo blogs for info on the town and ruins) and then we decided to grab dinner.  We settled on a place called El Castillo.  There were only 2 other tables of people so we figured it would be quick and easy.  Not so much.  We ended up being there for 3 hours because 3 tables of customers was waaay too overwhelming for them.  At one point, I decided to just grab the pad of paper and take our table’s order.  I took it to the kitchen and told the chef what we wanted.  On the way, I checked in with another table to make sure they had ordered as well.  A few minutes later, we needed more drinks, so, naturally, I went behind the bar, picked out a bottle of wine, added it to our tab, and we had what we needed.  While we waited forever for our food, we met a very nice man from Wyoming named Kevin.  His family had just bought a vacation home about an hour outside of Panama City and was down vacationing for a couple weeks.  We had a nice chat with him, met his family, and talked about exchanging information.  Our food finally arrived and it was worth the wait.  Unfortunately, amidst the scarfing of our food, Kevin and his family left and we were unable to get his contact information.  Bummer. 

From the Caribbean side, we then ventured toward the mountains to El Valle, one of our favorite places.  We stayed at The Golden Frog and it was gorgeous.  Both the town and the hotel (more like B&B villas) were amazing.  We spent 2 nights here, New Year’s Eve and Day.  Since it’s a mountain town, it was slightly cooler and breezier, which was perfect after being in the high heat of the city and beaches.  We explored the town market, hiked up to some waterfalls, and swam in the river.  One of the nights, we took a night hike through the jungle with an experienced guide.  It was creepy to hear all the animals and bugs and not be able to see anything.  We saw lots of huge spiders, some small snakes, many other insects, and only one sloth.  For New Years Eve, we were able to watch all the different fireworks shows in the surrounding towns from the balcony at the hotel.  Have we told you how much Panama loves fireworks??  It was quite the show!  On our last day in El Valle, we stopped to take a dip in the river on our way out.  Nicki, Alex, and I decided to hike a little further up the mountain, so Dad and Karen waited for us below.  When we came back down, they had great news for us.  They coincidentally ran into KEVIN!  What are the odds?!  They exchanged information and Kevin invited us over to check out the house on the way back to the city.  We thought this would be a great opportunity to make a contact, so we went.  Kevin has an amazing house on the beach!  He has a main house, a guest house, and a maid’s house with a 24-7 maid.  He told Alex and me we could use the house anytime we needed a getaway from the city.  Awesome!  Super excited to take him up on that offer!

 

 

As the Demers visit was coming to a close, the Woods were starting to arrive!  Bill and Koi flew in a couple days before Matt, Daniel, and Roxc.  We had a couple day overlap of exploring some city sites and the Canal.  We all went to dinner at the Miraflores Locks, where Alex and I went with the school when we first got to Panama.  As you eat dinner, you can watch big ships move through the locks .  Very cool!

We were very sad to say goodbye to Dad, Karen, and Nicki!  We had a great 2 weeks exploring LOTS of Panama! 

Here's where we went over the 2 week visit.  Kinda hard to see, but the red circle is the Pearl Islands, Green is the city (where we live), and the black circles are Portobelo and El Valle. 

Next up, The Woods!

We Love Visitors!

We are happy to announce that we have had 2 sets of visitors!  So exciting!  We were lucky to have the Aguilars and Shane visit for Thanksgiving, then we selfishly crashed Bridget & Jarod’s honeymoon and met them in Bocas del Toro.

Anna, Santiago, and Shane arrived and we were able to have a big Thanksgiving dinner along with some other friends from school.  Alex cooked a delicious meal (duh) but, unfortunately, wasn’t able to eat much of it.  He had gotten really sick (the most sick I’ve ever seen him!) earlier in the week and was still recovering on turkey day.  Luckily, there were plenty of leftovers and he definitely had his fill of tgiving goods.   

We headed out to San Blas for a couple days.  The boat ride to the island was really choppy and wet!  We were happy to arrive to the beautiful oasis and relax in the sun for a couple days. 

 

 

 

We decided to explore a little more of Panama so we headed back to the city.  We then ventured out to the Canal at the Gatun locks.  We were able to see the new locks that are being built and got up close and personal with some ships!

 

 

We then continued on to Portobelo and took a short boat taxi to a little secluded island for the rest of the day.  I was too relaxed to take any pictures at this point.  Sorry :).  Thank you Anna, Santiago, and Shane for your visit!!! So fun!

 

Shortly after the Aguilars, we headed off to meet up with the McCormicks!  They had been honeymooning in Nicaragua and Costa Rica so we decided it would only be natural to meet up in Panama. 

Unfortunately, it rained a lot, but that didn't stop us from riding bikes, taking the boat tour of the islands, snorkeling, searching for sloths, beaching it, having a jalapeño-eating contest (that didn't last long), and cheers-ing many umbrella drinks. 

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah, and Alex and Jarod attempted some body surfing. 

 

 

We had an awesome time with the newlyweds, and we thank them for allowing us to finish out their honeymoon with them, aka Friendmoon :).  You guys are the best!

 

Chiriqui

I started this a while ago and never finished it, so it's a little outdated. Oh well! 

We have officially kicked off the holiday (aka vacation) season!  Longest start to a school year ever, but the next 3 months are going to be awesome.  November is a big month for Panama as it celebrates its independence from Colombia and Spain.  We take a day for our 4^th of July, they take a month.  I’m not complaining at all.

For our first four-day weekend, Alex and I decided to head west.  We ventured out farther than we have been yet since arriving in July.  I had bought a deal off the internet (just like a groupon, but the Panamanian way) for 2 nights at a ranch in Chiriqui called La Isleta Guabala. 

The package included breakfast, unlimited kayaking, and horseback riding.  They even adopted the local crocodile as their pet.  His name is Toto :)

The horseback riding was amazing!  I don’t know that I have ever gone before, maybe when I was little, but I was super nervous to get on that thing.  They showed us some keys things to know and threw us up there.  It took a little bit to get used to, but after maneuvering through the creek, we were good to go. 

We walked along the river for a while, next to a small waterfall, up and down hills, and then headed up one big mountain.  The view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking.  We saw their heard of about 40 cattle below and our guide said something along the lines of, “Let’s go, the horses know what comes next.”  I started following our guide and he starting calling to the cows, “Venga! Venga!” over and over again.  He started to speed up, and so did mine.  We were jogging at this point and I was not ok with it.  I tried to slow him down but when I looked up I saw all the cattle were coming to run with us as well.  That got a little scary for sure.  I had never been so close to so many big animals before.  We went through a gate with the horse and then the guide let all the cattle through as well.  The cows were running so fast! 

 

We were out there for about two hours and it was so awesome.  I didn’t want to stop, but our butts were starting to hurt pretty bad J.  Before we got back to the main area, we trotted through a herd of beautiful Longhorns and the rest of the horses. 

We still had plenty of daytime left after that, so we decided to go kayaking.  The ranch was located on Rio Santiago so we spent some time touring the mangroves and went up and down the river.  I forgot the camera for this part.  Lo siento.  We met some Panamanian friends that came along with us and they were nice enough to let Alex use one of their fishing poles.  The tide was still out so there was a small sand bar where we could get out and throw in the line.  Alex caught a blow fish!  He pulled it out of the water and it got real mad and puffed up, to the point in which I thought it was going to explode.  Alex threw him back in the water and luckily he was still alive and swam away. 

It was an adventure filled day for sure.  Roberto, the owner, has thousands of acres of land and takes advantage of the great things it has to offer.  We were lucky enough to talk with him a lot while hanging out at the restaurant at nights.  All of the meat that he prepares in his kitchen is from his own cattle, as well as all of the vegetables and fruits.  For breakfast, Roberto makes homemade guava and orange jams for his pastries.  He also has wild hearts of palm that he picks and uses for his salads.  So delicious and amazing!  We were spoiled there for sure.  Oh and, of course, he makes his own hot sauce, duh.  He has been approached by many people who want to sell it by the jar in their stores in the city, but he’s not interested.  He says if he sells it in the stores, then there’s nothing left for his customers.  What a great guy! 

It was sad to leave the ranch, but it was time for some beach action.  We headed up there road about 25 minutes and checked in at Las Lajas Beach Resort.  We only stayed here one night and we wished it was longer.  There were more people here, and it definitely didn’t have the small personal feel like the ranch, but Las Lajas was beautiful!  It had the ultimate, “I’m on vacation” feel.  I even had my first fruity drink since arriving in Panama (a piña colada with an umbrella J).  We lounged, swam, and enjoyed the awesome scenery.  We headed back the next morning after a delicious breakfast and a walk on the beach.  I wish it was closer to the city so we could go there more often!

 

  

Cristo Negro & Scuba Portobelo

Last weekend we headed out to Portobelo again to experience the Cristo Negro festival.  It’s a festival in which people thank the black Jesus for a favor that was received, or they ask for a favor.   It’s super weird.  Some people walk from as far as Panama City to Portobelo (about an hour and a half drive) in order give thanks.  Others even crawl on their hands and knees until they reach the church where the Cristo Negro is housed.  So, naturally, a group of us thought it would be a cultural experience to check it out.  The actual festival was not until the Monday of the weekend we went, so we didn’t get to see it in full effect, but we were still able to enjoy seeing people walking into town.  It is also a time for this town to sell a bunch of food and Cristo Negro mementos.  The streets were packed with people, many dressed in purple robes, which are eventually discarded at midnight on steps of the church.  Luckily, we were not there for this.  The town is small, so we walked around for a bit, took some pictures of people crawling, and headed back to our hostel. 

 

 

 

We stayed at Scuba Portobelo, which is a great hostel about a mile before the town of Portobelo.  We rented 2 little cabins right on the water, each with its own hammock on the front porch.  Not surprisingly, Alex ended up sleeping in one, and our friend Kevin passed out in the other one. 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, we spent some time snorkeling around just in front of the hostel, and then decided to take a boat taxi to an island just across the way.  We were convinced we could just swim to it, but instead, we had to pay $10 each for the round trip.  Bastards.  We were the only people on the small island for a while, which was awesome.  We did some more snorkeling and, unfortunately, got burned a little. 

 

We talked extensively as a group about whether we wanted to go back to the city, or just all call in sick and stay for another night.  Unfortunately, after a few hours out on the island, the responsible ones of the group made the decision to go back L.  We boated it back to the hostel, packed up, and started back on the road to the city, but not before buying some homemade hot sauce from the restaurant first…so delicious!

The problem with living in a tropical vacation-like place, is every Sunday evening is a battle to adjust back to reality.  At home in Seattle, weekends were great, of course, but it wasn’t like you were on vacation.  But here, when we go out of town on the weekends, it definitely feels like we are away on a tropical vacation, because we are!  And that’s awesome.  But it makes it soooo hard to go back to work on Monday.  I know, poor us J.

On our drive out of Portobelo, we saw a ton of people walking in from the next closest town, Sabanitas, and some probably from Panama City as well.  We hit quite a bit of traffic because the people would take up most of one lane on the two-lane highway.  We had just entered Sabanitas, and were almost home free onto the big freeway, when our car decided to overheat.  At this point, we still had about an hour drive until the city.  I got on the phone and called the supposed English-speaking number for the insurance.  Her English was worse than my Spanish, so I opted for Spanish.  That was frustrating.  Three hours later a tow-truck shows up, but they only towed it just down the street for the night because, as the insurance lady says, “No one wants to tow it to the city tonight.”  Whatever.  So, our car stayed in Sabanitas, and thankfully, our friends stuck around and waited for us, so seven of us crammed in the other car and drove back to the city.  Our car was towed to the city the next day and is still in the shop as we speak.  I think Alex and I have decided we are going to sell the POS and look for something else.  We might just put up with being car-less for a while, which would work since many of our friends have cars now, but it wouldn’t be ideal for the weekends, especially when friends come to town. 

Speaking of friends coming to town, our first visitors, Anna, Santiago, and Shane are coming in 5 weeks! Super excited! The weekend after that we are heading to Bocas del Toro to meet up with Bridget and Jarod! Then we have the Demers coming for Christmas and New Years, and the Wood clan coming in January!! We are VERY excited to see some friendly faces, and of course, have some days off!

Panama Traffic

I would like to take a moment to talk about Panama traffic.  We, fortunately, don’t have to deal with too much traffic due our location.  I have easy access to the highway from our place to get to school, and we typically walk everywhere during rush hour or when we go out at night.  We are lucky, however, to have a great view of traffic, and it is pretty comical at times. 

On the first and fifteenth of every month, all of Panama gets paid.  Panamanians tend to live paycheck to paycheck.  This is really awesome for us on the 27^th/28^th-ish and 12^th/13^th-ish because no one (well, just not as many people) is on the road or in the stores, because everyone has run out of money.  Payday, however, is a whole different situation.  The roads and grocery stores are crazy. 

Notice the cars on the right from bottom to top, and also the upper right hand corner....they are all going toward the grocery store and the bank.

It took our friends over an hour to get to our place the other night when they live less than ten minutes away.  You're thinking, "Why didn't they just walk?" That's another story in itself...

 

 

It's great that we can enjoy the view and not have to sit in the terrible traffic full of crazy drivers. 

 

 

We see and/or hear accidents on a daily basis...

 

 

 

The problem with accidents around here is that people are required to stay in the exact spot, no matter the amount of damage, in which the accident occurred, until the insurance agent is contacted...or comes to the scene...not really sure.  All I know is, this happened right as I was coming home from school (we had to maneuver around it up on the curb...totally normal), and this picture was taken about 2 hours later.  I think traffic would be half as bad if people would just get the f*** out of the way. 

 

If I had to deal with this every day, I would totally get to the point of doing this:

 

 



I mean, why would you wait when there are 4 lanes flowing perfectly next to you?  That median means nothing anyway...

 

We drove to Santa Catalina a couple weekends ago.  It was our first three-day weekend so we left at 6:30am Friday morning.  Luckily, we were driving against rush- hour.  There is a four lane highway, two lanes in each direction, that goes over the Bridge of Americas.  Many people come into the city for work, so they like to switch up the lanes during heavy traffic times.

 

 





 

Just a cone or two separate us from oncoming traffic.  Again, totally normal.  And yes, we totally sport a Panamanian flag.  We feel it will help our cause if/when we get pulled over.  Bound to happen sooner or later. 

 

When we first arrived, we noticed people really like their hazard lights here.  They put their hazards on for all kinds of things, but mostly for no apparent reason at all.  It wasn't until we started to get some real legit rain that we realized the importance of the hazards. The only way to see anyone when it rains here is to look for flashing lights.  Sometimes you come across the crappy taxi cabs that don't have any functional lights at all.  That's another time when you just want them to get the f*** off the road. 

 

 

I don't know that Panama traffic is any worse than Seattle or the Bay Area, but it is definitely crazier.  Everything (well, not everything) you wish you could do in the states when you're at the tip of your patience in traffic is typically done here.  Many people follow the rules, but it only takes a few to open the doors to chaos.