Bocas del Tora to Dallas in 48 hours

Bocas to Dallas

Synopsis

I have a huge amount of luggage, many transfer points a small amount of cash, no credit cards or debit cards. This is a really bad trip.

12/21	17:15	Leaveapartment
12/21	18:00	Leave BMT water taxi
12/21	19:00	Leave Almirante
12/22	05:00	Arrive Panama
12/22	06:00	Arrive at Airport
12/22	14:30	Leave for Miami
12/22	17:30	Arrive Miami
12/22	18:20	Finished Getting Sodomized by Custom
12/22	19:30	Get a rescheduled flight
12/22	20:40	Miss Rescheduled Flight
12/22	22:30	New Reschedule
12/23	09:30	Shuttle to airport
12/23	12:20	Depart for Dallas
12/23	14:40	Arrive in Dallas
12/23	15:45	Search for Son and Bags End
12/23	16:30	Arrive at Christies

12/21

17:00

My landlord called a taxi for me and I two duffle bags and two suitcases and put them in the bed of the truck. I dont know why these guys drive 22 MPG trucks, cruise all day and take fares. We hadn't gone 30 feet when he stopped to pick a nady and here teenage daughter.

I asked her if she was coming to Dallas with me and she just gave me a big grin and said “Yeah”. The driver asked if this was a Christmas treat for my son. Hell no, he get plenty by himself.

I showed up at BMT, the water taxi company and the bags were placed on a little boat, that was full. The luggage jammed against legs and he took off like a bat out hell. The pounding my back was getting was only marginally offset by the effects it had on young mother sitting next to me. She had a cushion, I was sitting on a hard wood seat. She kept stealing glance after a particularly bad bounce. I was stealing glances when they were less painful. After half an hour of this. We got to the docks and I hoisted out four 60 pound plus bags. I know this but we'll get to that later. This kid was around 17 and couldn't have weighed more than 140 pound. He picked two bags, another guys threw on a third and the kid took running laughing upp a flight of stairs. I took my back and the remaining rolling suitcase and strolled up the ramp.

17:00

The taxi ride to the bus stop was about 5 minutes. Then I transferred them all to a spot on the sidewalk. The guy loading them on the bus grunted with each bag and handed me four checks. Checkin was a hand printed list of names for whom tickets were sold I pointed to mine, she checked off when I showed her my ticket.

Now for the posturing, I grabbed the second seat scooted over a little toward the aisle, swung my fanny toward the aisle, put my back in front of the aisle seat put back my head and closed my eyes. If the bus wasn't sold out I should be ok. After the bus took I looked around and there were 2 empty seats. There were several really hot woman that it would have been nice to share a seat with.

This whole boarding process could not have taken more than 10 minutes.

Some inscrutable about some guy who turns himself into a robot and flies around played. All spanish dialog with Spanish subtitle. The Panamanian in front was wearing a knit cap and a jacket. I had my air on full.

We stopped around 8 for food every body ran out. I just had an apple and a bottle of water. Then we droned on, mile and mile. Its about 250 miles and its a 10 hour trip. The just jammed into the small of my back. And we droned and people snored. About midnight we stopped at a gas station and the driver performed some mysterious operation to the engine with dishwashing soap. Maybe was checking for leaks. No food or water to be seen. I was beginning to regret not having bought more water. And the bus droned inexorably east.

About 1 in the morning we stopped another chinese cafeteria that caters to buses and stocked.

I read half the jungle to a flashlight I carry in my back. Most everybody was sleeping.

05:00

About 5 in the morning we got to the bus station in Panama City. Within a minute a guy was asking me if I wanted a taxi to the airport. Sure lets go. I was just going take two bags and backpack and let him carry the other two. He insisted we needed a cart. Well it was a long treck. One in the trunk three in the back seat. My backpack on my lap and off we go. Now I'm seeing the landscape from last half hour played backwards. Half the people on the bus were going to the airport. Couldn't they have made a stop on the way in?

Then there was some weirdness, I gave the driver the nominal $20 he said it was $30 and took $10 from the baggage guy. Then he wallked maybe 3O feet and put the bags down my the ticket counter. I gave $3, he said it is a dollar a bag and had 5 bags, then told me I owed him the 10 bucks he loaned me.

There were 30 people in line ahead of me and the ticket clerks weren't there yet. Finally they showed and the line started to move really slow. There is a $50 overweight for bags that weight over fifty pounds. They put the bag on the scale, be informed of this and then start rearranging their luggage.

Too much stuff

So much to do. My pool table, jet skis and ATVs, that 18' 5000 pound rated dual axle trailer the DR mower,brush hog.

Southlake

Southlake will be so glad to be rid of me. How many parties had the cops and the fire department? Oh yeah the ambulance. That's when I was there. When the boys had the run of the place? Guess I'll never know but I've heard reports of 15 visits a week.

Nearly stranded

Bought the last seat on tomorrow's bus to Panama. Adios Bocas. How long can I stay in San Blas after I get back? No internet, no electricity no animals, no plumbing. It's Gilligan's Island without Mary Anne. Then the south to the Pacific. Wish Pat would teach me the ropes.

I thought it was locked up.

Gotta pack where are the binocs? Oh shit I left them in the Casa Verde office. It's closed locked where are my lock picks? Two deadbolts and locking handset 42 seconds.

Wrong guy

he: Can I tell you something interesting about the bible?
me: Patrick, you chose the wrong guy I know it better than you ever will and I know it is bullshit,
Patrick: How do know my name?
me: I'm the son of Satan. No, really you are the only son of that woman standing across the street and you are Irish.
Patrick: How do you know that?
me: I am Satan. I lied but the devil does shit like that. You are kidding, right? It's obvious she dotes on you her eyes don't waver, should I believe this god fearing woman left a sibling to fend for himself? She is a kind and gentle person. Her stature says that. And look at you. Could you be more Irish? Where are you from Wisconsin or Minnesota? You got here yesterday right? BMT or Taxi 25?

By this time the kid was freaked. Just observations and deductions.

I could tell by the clothes they did not fly in and there are only two water taxis to the main land so, how could I be wrong?

May I Slap Your Mamma?

Your ass is perfect
Your breasts sublime
But yo mama, she one loud bitch.

They came in through the kitchen window

I woke up, took a shower and decided that I'd go out for a cuppa joe. After a month of living in Panama I feel no need to change my attire daily. I wear the same pair of underwear every day. Wicking polyester with spandex; compression shorts. I wash them in the bathroom sink and wring them out in a towel and they are good to go in the morning.

A quick pat on my now not so firm right ass cheek. AaaahShit, where is the wallet? Sometimes I pull it out at night to look up a hint for a web site password or to buy things on-line. After dinner at Kun Ha's, with Walter and Stephen I surfed the web a little, replied to some emails and I went to bed, that was what, maybe 11?

Not on the desk, not on the kitchen counter. Where is my notebook computer? I was using it right here on the kitchen table last night. Yup here is the cat5 cable. Oh shit. The camera, the other notebook. Fuck somebody took my wallet out of my pants that were on the foot of the bed while I slept there. Front door is locked, worthless barrel bolt in place.

The window in the kitchen is not latched. The moulding is missing. Mutha Fuka stripped the mullion and popped the latch, then stole me computers and camera. Left lots of valuable stuff, but came into the room in which I was sleeping and took my wallet. Ballsy bastard

He came in through the kitchen window.

I woke, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head.

Need coffee. I patted my right cheek. WTF? Maybe I left it next to the computer; where's the computer... where's my camera? Oh shit.

I was robbed a burglar pried the moulding off the kitchen window, sprung the latch stole the electronics from the kitchen counter top and then came in my bedroom and took the wallet out of my pants lying on the chair at the foot of my bed while I slept there.

Long day, filing complaint with police, inquiring with the nefarious characters in town.

Smithsonian Institute

Smithsonian Institute

I headed out with my newly repaired camera with the intent of checking it out at the Smithsonian Institution. It had been raining on and off all the previous night and all morning, so I packed a big zip lock bag for my camera. I started my trek around 2:40 and it quickly became apparent that I wasn't going to get there by 3:00 so I hailed a cab and arrived at 2:55. It was hot and muggy as I waited for the tour to begin. At 3:05 I asked the guard if I was to go in the building my self, where was this tour? He made a phone call and I waited.

I went out front and took a picture of the plaque, the english text of which follows:

Plaque content

The Smithsonian Institute was founded in Washington, DC in 1846 after a british scientist, James Smithson, left an inheritance "...to the United States of America to found at Washington, an establishment for increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." Since then the museum has grow to include 19 museums, 9 research centers and the National Zoological Park located in Washington. D.C.

A part of the Smithsonian Institute, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute was born when Barro Colorado Island in the Panama Canal became a research site in 1923. Since then it has grown to include 9 sites in Panama. They provide leading researchers access to tropical forests, reefs, mangroves and island ecosystems.

The Bocas del Toro Research Station was founded in 1998, an ideal platform for both marine and terrestrial research. The station hosts yearly scientists and students from over 34 countries, as well as local students who take part in the school outreach program.

Size of site: 6 hectares
Laboratory building inaugurated in 2003.
The build in environmentally friendly with solar panel roof, rainwater collector and natural lighting.

More time was killed by walking around the front area taking pictures.

At 3:10 my guide showed up and we proceeded to walk down the path where he pointed out mimosa pudica a
plant that folds up its leaves when disturbed. It happens amazingly quickly considering that it is a plant, less than a second. I'm guessing a grazing animal disturbing it would cause it to "shrivel up" and appear much less lush.

Panama has three types of sloths, the two toed, the three toed and the pygmy three towed.
There are eight known three toed and two two toed sloths in the park. As it is fenced off and there are no trees near the fences that reach adjacent property, the prospects for the two toed seem a bit dicey and the pygmy is not likely to materialize.

Interesting information on sloths.

We observed a few birds, notably ...

Then we went inside the research facility, took several glasses of chilled water and I was pointed to the "donations jar". It said that $5 would bring a class full of kids to the center. I got the hint and deposited a $5 into the jar, tripling the value of its contents.

Out the back door were endless shelves that last year held 250 terrariums for a research project on the oophaga pumilio frog. This frog is known by a great many names based on the color and location. The research was an attempt to figure out why there were so many color variations.

At this point I was told several things that contradict information I have read elsewhere including:

Poisonous specimens come in the following colors:

• Red, with blue feet and a spot on the back
  
• Green with yellow belly and spots on the back
  
• Blue with black spots on the back.
  

and that others are far less poisonous. I've been told that the effect handling the frogs and touching the lips is a temporary numbness. It is my understanding the original source of the frogs poison is the alkoloids from plants; the frogs feed on insects which feed on these plants. The frogs of different colors are in different locales, but I don't know that the plant diversity is that great on neighboring islands. I was told that

• Green with black spots from Bocas Island (Isla Colon)
  
• Red comes from Isla Solarte
  
• Bastimentos has a huge variety of colors including
  pink, yellow, white, purple, yellow with white
  

Bastimentos is famous for its red frogs and one of the most popular destinations in Bocas is Red Frog beach. One of the curators came to tell us that he had spotted a 3 toed sloth with an infant so we went off to photograph it. I'd never seen an infant sloth before. As we returned to continue our path 4 Northern Jacana crossed the path, two adults and two juveniles. The guide told me that the smaller adult was the male and that the male protected the young. Sure enough as we continued down the trail pappa and the two juveniles skittered one way and mamma went off on her own, but still watching them with interest. We wandered the trails looking for sloths and monkeys; there is a small troop of howler monkeys in the confines, but didn't see anything. A small snake scurried across the path and was identified as a "road snake". I've never heard of such a thing and can't find any reference on the web. A small enclosure marked "Bat Home" sat empty in the jungle. The enclosure had been completed for months before and was to be used by a group from the University of Wisconsin in the forthcoming months. Hmmm, it's snowing in Wisconsin now. How did this timing come about? A quick walk to the dock followed a discussion on identification of the various types of Mangrove, all of which were growing within 4 meters of the sign describing their characteristics. Mangroves are the filters of the tropics, but people don't like them as the block the water view from shore and they harbor chitras, tiny biting fleas. That concluded the trip. I was told by the guide that he had 4 other tours of the facility, I'm not sure how this is possible.

Motorcycling in Panama

I was thinking of buying a motorcycle and touring Panama, but I don't think I'll shoot to cross the Darien Gap.

http://www.motivation-tools.com/adventures/darien_gap.htm