Boquete Dog Show

The Boquete Dog Show was a nice little Sunday treat and was well attended by Panamanians and Expats alike with canine friends in tow. Dogs of all shapes and sizes were present including a tiny Chihuahua trying to live up to his given name - Thor - by snarling and yipping at any dog daring to encroach upon his personal space.
The crowd was entertained as puppies showed their recently learned (forgotten) obedience skills and adolescent dogs
dazzled the crowd,


rocketing through the air over five, and eventually six, people with ease.

One of the old timers confined to the sidelines was obviously NOT enjoying having to endure a young lad mounting him and desperately flashed a classic "Get this brat off of me!" face.

The Panama Canal

From the Miraflores Locks, we watched as gigantic ships entered from the Pacific and made their way through the first leg of the Panama Canal on their way to the Atlantic. The canal cuts across the lowest point in the Continental Divide and through one of the narrowest points between the two oceans. There are 12 sets of locks. Each may be filled or emptied in less than 10 minutes, and each pair of lock gates takes two minutes to open. Electric towing locomotives, called "mules", pull ships by cable through the locks. The mules are the only locomotives of their kind in the world, designed specifically for the Canal. You can see two different ships passing through at different levels in the photo at left and the little mules as well.

The Panama Canal expansion project broke ground on September 3rd. The expansion will cost $5.25 billion (WOW!) and is scheduled for completion in 2014. When finished, the Canal will have a new lane for ship traffic and a whole new set of locks, which will double capacity and allow more traffic and longer, wider ships. It is amazing to see the Canal and realize that it was completed in 1914 and has been running efficiently, 24/7 with no reworking in almost one hundred years. Impressive indeed.

The Arrival - Panama City

We made a spur of the moment decision to go East instead of heading back West towards Boquete. Since we already had a rental car and were only an hour and a half outside of the big city we motored on to conquer Panama Ciudad and witness the marvel that is the Panama Canal. Upon our arrival, we realized that our entry was a bit ill timed as it was Friday rush hour. To be sure, the road rules aren't as obvious as they are in the States and we had no idea of where we were OR where we were going.

After bumbling through different areas of the city for an hour and a half, thankfully avoiding any accidents (good job Captain Randy), we were both nail bitten and frazzled. We decided to find ANY hotel, just to be off the streets. One of the first places we cased turned out to be a "by the hour" joint. We gathered this after observing the young, rotund chica pawing at the much older muchacho at her side, all the while flaunting her "goods" under the blue bra not even remotely covered by her cheetah dress. As the muchacho's hands fumbled for the money to pay the desk clerk, it was obvious he was in a hurry to get going on the "big game" he'd found on his afternoon's safari. Needless to say, we passed on that particular venue.

We found lodging at the Executive Hotel and ordered up a tasty Pizza Hut pizza-aren't we adventurous?-and watched from our balcony as a mystical sunset brought on the night.

We Do Decameron

Decameron catered to all tastes with 11 restaurants, 11 bars and six large pools with gardens surrounding them all on a hill overlooking the Pacific ocean. We ate at a different locale for each meal and the food wasn't bad, certainly acceptable. What's not to like about gigantic buffets? There were ala carte options in some of the restaurants too.
The weather cooperated perfectly and we took lengthy walks on the 2 mile long playa both days of our stay. As usual, Rand planned and provided an exquisite birthday for me as he seems to be able to do not just on special occasions, but daily. I'm spoiled and LOVING IT!

The Get Away

Apologies for the SEVERELY delinquent blog entry. We've been quite involved with the land scene lately. Randy wisely advises me not to count any chickens before they hatch but if all goes according to plan, we will soon be land owners in Boquete (and it's a seriously sweet piece of land, so fingers crossed!) All the time spent with builders, engineers, surveyors and architects was weighing on us and becoming pretty consuming so we were ready for a hiatus!

Randy made reservations for my 33rd birthday at the all-inclusive Decameron Resort. The price was right but we weren't sure how it would turn out because all-inclusives are a toss up. We were optimistic though, hoping for the best. The resort was a 6 hour drive from Boquete and we saw some exotic road kill along the way.

We arrived at Decameron and went to check in but found no reception desk. Instead, we were given a number and told to sit and wait in a huge room for them to call us up. When our number was called, we proceeded to one of the five tables at the front and were given oh so classy neck lanyards with our room keys on them and fashioned with hot pink wrist bands on our left arms. Not looking good so far, we thought. Fortunately though, our room was charming and large with a nice view. We changed into our beach gear and set off to explore the premesis.

We Want the Funk

Always keen to take full advantage of the sunny mornings before the now much longer lasting afternoon rains, we hopped a taxi for El Explorador. These gardens are known more for their quirkiness than for their beauty. To say that "the trees have eyes" is quite literally true at El Explorador. It was as if the owners of these gardens purposefully populated them with things one would never think of finding in a garden setting: gutted TV sets, shopping carts, empty plastic containers and old shoes among other strange choices. Instead of items being thrown away after their purpose has been served, they were used to create funky, recycled garden "art".

Although it may not sound like a pleasant aesthetic experience, Rand and I actually found it more charming than our recent visit to the more traditional Mi Jardin Es Su Jardin (see earlier post); both boasted beautiful flora but El Explorador enchanted with an odd but kind of creative and cool style that made a lasting impression on both of us.

You Can't Take It With You

On one of our drives through the surrounding areas of Boquete, we passed an amazing castle that appeared to be either only partly completed or dilapidated, we weren't sure which. It sat in the shade of many tall, majestic eucalyptus trees and just back from the clear, thundering Rio Caldera. It was quite a sight to see and Rand and I wondered if it might be for sale.

We asked Arturo, our friend and realtor about it. He explained that it was not for sale and told us the following story about it: An elderly man bought the land years ago and was bound and determined to build himself a castle. The old fellow had made up his mind that he would do the construction alone and refused help whenever it was offered. Arturo said he would see the man transporting materials from town on his horse, pulling three other horses loaded with supplies behind him. Randy and I weren't the first to admire what we'd seen; many people offered the old man millions for his pristine plot of land but he refused time and again.
Sadly, the old chap died before he could complete his dream project leaving behind his partially finished castle on its amazing piece of land. Sadder still is that his 8 siblings are now engaged in a bitter family feud over the property as the one thing he didn't leave behind was a will.

Mi Jardin Es Su Jardin

Everyone is welcome at Mi Jardin Es Su Jardin, a charming display of Boquete's flora. Private homes within the gardens share the grounds with visitors who meander across the stone paths taking in the surrounding colors and fragrances. Rand and I passed a pleasant morning at the gardens, collecting a slew of botanical photographs (click on our photo gallery to see them) as we toured. There were even some figurines interspersed and as you can see, we amused ourselves posing with them.

A "YES" Could Cost You

A lot of local folks in Boquete don't speak English. This is good for us. It forces to continually improve our Spanish comprehension and conversation.

We were out with our friend and realtor Arturo recently. He is a native Spanish speaker now completely fluent in English. He recounted a story to us about being "lost in translation" that we found quite hilarious.

Arturo went to the States years ago for college and specifically asked to room with four American guys so that he'd be surrounded by English speakers, thus learning faster. One day, none of his roommates were home and the phone rang. He answered it and said "Yes" numerous times to things he didn't understand (I find myself doing this a lot) and gave the person on the other end of the phone his name and address and ended up ordering a $200 set of Encyclopedias! He was on a strict budget so it was a costly mistake for him that he certainly couldn't afford. He said that he was petrified to talk on the phone for months and months afterwards. Poor Arturo! I hope we are lucky enough NOT to lose $200 as we stumble down the road to fluency.

Sticky Ending

We've made friends with an Irish chap named Tom. Tom is a jolly fellow and both Randy and I enjoy his company. He invited us to join him and a buddy of his on a trip to one of his favorite locales - the Caldera Hot Springs, 45 minutes away from Boquete. Rand had been feeling a bit under the weather and Tom claimed that the natural minerals in the springs were just the thing to sharpen him right up. It sounded like fun to us. If we got the added bonus of Rand starting to feel closer to 100% as a result, all the better.

A bumpy, misty ride in Tom's 4x4 Jeep eventually brought us to the end of the road, we'd continue the rest of the way on foot. We disembarked and made our way in the direction of the springs with Tom in the lead. Down a rocky slope we trudged, through a marsh and finally into a flat pasture area shaded by the canopy overhead. Tom paused in front of a log bridge and waited as a young kid shimmied across the log to collect a dollar from each of us-our entrance fee for the springs.

We chose one of the three pools and eased into the agua caliente. My, MY it was wonderfully warm and relaxing! It began to rain and the cool drops were a nice compliment to spring's temperature. When we started to get too hot, we stepped out and walked down to the river. The cold water took our body temperatures back down quickly.

It continued to rain and after another soak in the springs we decided to make our way back to the Jeep so as to traverse the footpath prior to nightfall. Rand remarked that the pouring rain reminded him of "Nam". On the road, we were thankful for the Jeep's 4x4 capacity as the uphill climb was now a mud pit. We arrived home safely and agreed that we'd had a splendid time and also that we'd never been so drenched from a rain storm. The only things negatively impacted by the downpour were the candy suckers tucked in Randy's soggy backpack. They had thoroughly melted coating the inside of the pack with strawberry, grape and cherry goo. The clean up proved a sticky one.