Adventure

I am enjoying my third cup of strong coffee and smoking far too many cigarettes as I sit on my deck on a drizzly Sunday morning.  The parrots who generally would have flown in from the west and departed to the east wither I know not have eschewed their usual perches.  Other birds have taken the opportunity for a brief rest in the large tree that rises from the shore and spreads into a large canopy that welcomes a wide array of birds of different types throughout the day.

Sarah, my companion for the last few days remains in bed three hours past dawn.  Early risers sleep late in the quiet and comfort; it is the usual state of affairs.

This evening Sarah departs to Panama City to visit some fellow Germans, then enjoy a few days in the San Blas Islands and will hopefully return to share my last few days in Bocas with me.  In the mean time, I am off to Costa Rica to meet with my son Karl.  Nearly two years after having titanium screws implanted he has made time to "get his grill fixed."   

Having been remiss in my responsibility to exit this country every 180 days I shall have to stop off in Changuinola and pay a fine before I can exit.  The border rules are in a constant state of flux.  Every time I crossed the border to Costa Rica I simply had to buy an $18 bus ticket, never to be used from Changuinola to San Jose, Costa Rica.  Now the border officials in Panama are generally insisting on documentation substantiating an exit flight some times even insisting that the flight destination is in the country that issued the traveler's passport.  This is a strange policy when most of the tourists who enter Bocas del Toro arrive by bus, those arriving from Costa Rica are generally bound to Cartegena, Colombian and often sail out from the San Blas Islands. As my next flight is to San Diego, California,  this strange and counter productive policy will not trouble me this trip.

I doubt I shall have much time to document my trip as I will be spending what may well be my last adventure with Karl.  We intend to SCUBA dive a great deal, do some trekking and if offshore fishing isn't too expensive attempt to get some big game fish.  Now if only I could get my dog Jessica to stop licking my big toe.  I stubbed the hell out of it a couple of days ago and bent the nail backwards to the quick.

One day in San Jose and then it is off to Quepos for some scuba diving and fishing while the teeth are being made, then back to San Jose for the final work.  Karl will return to the states in time for Halloween and I will have a few days to tend to matters before I head off for adventure.  I leave on the sixth of November to Panama City and then to San Diego on the eighth to visit my son Mark, sister Mary and her daughter Cheryl.  

I will do provision a bit, head up to San Francisco for a day or two and head out to Bangkok, the first stop on a long adventure around Southeast Asia.

BCD Boyancy Compensation Device

The house will be watched by a Cuban guy who lives in Bocas.  It wasn't easy to find a trustworthy soul to watch the house.  One has to have his own boat and gas money.  That rules out almost everybody in Bocas that doesn't already own a house. I have sold off a few things and will be leaving the rest.  The house is for sale, but I expect many years will pass before I even get an offer.

I intend to dive a great deal, perhaps become a dive master.   I am trying to decide whether travelling with dive gear is worth the trouble. Fins and a BCD take up far more room than all the clothes I intend to take, will require a separate bag, and are awkward to carry.

The parrots have belatedly arrived after the drizzling stopped.  I took Sarah for a brief walk in the jungle behind my house to see the tiny red frogs.  We were but three feet onto the jungle and they were everywhere.  "These things sell for $400 apiece on the black market, they live nowhere but the islands of Bocas."

Sarah is going to take my Nikon SLR camera with her to Panama City to be dropped off for repair. I tried to get a taxi driver to do this, it ended up costing me $150 dollars and I got the box back unopened.   

I have little to pack.  Wow! just listed and sold my Kayak in five minutes.  C'mon girl, pack, I'll deliver the kayak, we can go to the Oktoberfest and I will drop you off in town.  To be continued.