Panama

Day 7 of 10..more surf and cool weather

2010-05-16T20:44:00.003-04:00

Day 7 started out with me feeling a bit run down...tired for sure...a little sore...old maybe?
The day before was my first surf in many months and although my work requires pretty serious physical activity, it's just not the same as surfing. Never the less we got moving a spot better than the day before and were readily plowing down old Central America 1 headed for Las Lajas for another surf. I spent a bit of time the night before researching the swell direction, the size, and the tides. As explained previously the tides mean everything in Panama when it comes to surfing especially. Low tide was around 8am and while the perfect show would have been between 8:30 and 11:00 we arrived around 9:30 and did not get into the water till just before 10am which as a result only gave us about an hour of the really fun 3-5 foot punchy peaks.

It was nice to finally feel the board under my feet, to not catch a rail on every turn, to sort of feel "right" on the board again. It's the free feeling of surfing and there is nothing like it. Kalum, Cath, JT, and myself took turns tearing apart the fun little peaks the best we could. Again, we were the only people in the water with the exception of a large group of Lifeguards doing some trading. It's one of the things I love about Panama, you can really find solace in what ever form it is for you fairly easily. In between surfs we took turns sitting on the beach front teak couches drinking beer, eating all sorts of great food like shrimp in garlic and butter, rice, beans...and beer..did I say that already?

Mid afternoon we took off and headed northwest to David to stop by a recently owned surf shop that a friend of mine owns. His name is Gary Saavedra and he is 16 time Panamanian surfing champion!! He is a consumate professional, a self marketing genius with sponsers coming from Corona to Nissan and of course Reef and other surf companies in the middle. I picked up some really nice Reef sandals for my wife...ultra basic and her favorite kind. His niece was working in the shop and after a short conversation with her we were off to TGI Fridays for afternoon snack...

Yea TGI fridays...silly as it sounds...they have free WIFI and it was a great break for JT and Cath's kids! Not too mention catching up on Sportscenter was nice. After the snacks we were off up into the Mountains to check out Boquete. I wanted to show the Temple clan what was only 2 hours from the hot steamy paradise where our property was. Everybody needs a break...even in the tropics..lol

Once in the mountains the scenery changed drastically and immeadiately from tropical palms, mango and papaya, cashew tree's, birds of paradise etc. to pine trees.......yes pine trees, and all sorts of tropical plants that survive in the high elevation very wet and cool climate. It' reminds me of being up in the mountains in the Hawaiian islands. The tropical steam turned into sub tropical misting rain and the 90's fell out of the temperature range and in place left very comfortable 70's. We got to the Panamonte Inn and checked our stuff into the quaint bungalows that are part of an old Coffee plantation from the late 1800's owned by the Jansen family. The halls are filled with rustic black and white photos of the family and it's workers on the plantation.

The Temple clan was quite pleased with the change and with that we set a time for dinner. We met for dinner in the main dining room around 7pm and began our evening feast. The restaraunt fare in Boquete is incredible, delicious, and affordable...a combination rarely found in my experience's. We started with cocktails, carpaccio, and shrimp coctail. Then moving on to soups and salads and following up with Angus filet's, brown trout, braised chicken...you name it..awesome! We didn't have room for dessert but trust me the choices there are just as amazing as the rest of the dinner was.

We called it a night shortly after dinner and I went back to my room leaving the window open and enjoying the cool high 50's and steady but light rain throughout my sleep. What a way to get a rest!

Bueno Noche' from Boquete Panama!

Manyana we do fun mountain stuff and then drive to the big city once again!

Day 6 of 10...first surf

2010-05-12T21:51:00.004-04:00

Day 6 started very slowly for most of us. Kevin was sleeping in trying to recover from catching a lot of fish....something he had not done in some time. The Temple's were out cold and not a sound came from there room until well after 9am! I on the other hand was up at 7am and on the computer checking email and itching to get my surf on. I had not surfed since November which is entirely too long for this old man to be out of the water. We had breakfast and finally I got the Temple clan moving. We jumped on the road around 10:30am and made the 45 minute ride to Las Lajas. Due to the surf in our area being boat access only we had chosen to make the drive to Las Lajas. As the crow flies it is only about 10 miles away, but you have to drive inland and around a river to get to it. The road is now paved all the way into Las Lajas which is nice and sped the trip up by 10 minutes or so.

Panama is very tidal and when surfing beachbreaks it requires really being on top of changing conditions. I had origionally wanted to be on site around 9:00am to get the tide push but unfortunately a 11:00am arrival showed light onshore wind and the tide already pushing up pretty fast. This of course was flattening out the swell a bit, although it would really be fine to just get wet again.

The surf as expected was a bit wobbly and slow but this old man enjoyed it none the less. It was nice to have that dried salty feeling on your skin again, just standing on the beach with my feet in the sand soaking up some rays. Only thing that was missing was a nice cold one and luckily that was just feet away right on the beach. I sat back in a teak couch that was right on the sand under a thatched Rancho...perfect! After a cold one I decided to take some pics of the crew getting some little waves and just soaked up the energy of a tropical day at the beach.

Mid afternoon we made our way back to Kevins but stopped in San Felix at the mercado to pick up some snacks and stuff. Apparently during the previous night one of the local perro's (dogs) took off with one of JT's flip flops and also one of Kalum's. We picked them up some turbo new ones for $2.50 a pair...that's right..$2.50 a pair. Got some more sunblock, rum, and beer!

After getting back to Kevin's we packed up the truck and said goodby and headed up to Chad's to spend the night there. I called it an early night as I was exhausted at this point. JT stayed up to watch the Cannuncks in the playoff's and the rest of his clan hit the sack early as well.

Tomorrow is another day and surfing, a famous surfers surf shop, and a trip into the mountains is on the menu!

Day 5 of 10...Pandemonium!!!!!

2010-05-08T18:39:00.006-04:00

Day five was a big day, it was the Temple clans first full day in the area and they were itching to do some exploring. In order to try and appease everybody we chartered a small boat for Kalum, Soleil, and Cath to go surfing, beaching, and exploring. We sent them with Jon, who is an artisan of building with wood. He is a surfer first though and he lives with his wife and son "mongo" right on the beach in the middle of nowhere...it's pretty amazing!

With the wife and kids on the way Josh and I got down to business......FISHING!!!!

It ended up being JT, Kevin, Chad, and myself fishing on one of Paradise Lodges 27 foot Contenders with Captain Chicho...my favorite Captain and his mate Ricardo who when not gaffing all matter of species of fish offshore handles the electrical issues at Chad's!

We all jumped on board around the same time as everybody else at the lodge was getting on their boats and pushed off from the dock shortly after 7am....The feeling never changes...there's nothing like hearing the motors come to life and the wind start rushing by as you race out of the estuary into the Pacific Ocean for what is as always an unforgettable experience no matter how much or what you catch! No traffic signals, no cell phones, it's just your experience and very little to get in the way of what it should be.

About an hour and a half later we were brushing along the North side of Coiba island about a mile or so offshore watching masses of birds diving on what we were hoping was a school of bait with Tuna's on it.....The first stop held tuna's alright...hundreds of them and in short work with 4 guys throwing poppers we put about 10 15lb schoolie YFT in the boat for bait. The big ones were not in that school so we chose to keep moving and searching for the "one"....Every 20 minutes for the next three hours a school of Tuna's would push bait to the surface and start mowing down everything in their way. For anyone who has not witnessed YFT feeding offshore on bait fish it is a truly exhilarating experience.

About the 4th school to come up we started noticing some bigger models crashing the surface...try to imagine a VW bug or a Toyota Prius hitting the surface of the ocean at 30 mph .....sort of like that..lol

Within a few short minutes on the bigger school we were all hooked up and screaming and laughing. My fish per usual was a 20lb'r and got the quick release, and JT also had a smaller one...Chad however was on a monster and it was doing the merry go round...errr..Chad was doing the merry go round the boat..lol trying to keep up with it. Chicho also nailed a better model and so with 2 good fish on we all just started helping each other out to try and land the bigger ones.

We were fishing with spinning rods (Fin Nor) and reels. Catching 100lb+ Tuna on spinning rods is not for the faint of heart I can assure you...but beat for beat the adrenaline rush with this type of fishing is heart stopping! Imagine 100lbs of tuna hitting your popper on top of the water less than 100' from you and seeing it all happen LIVE!! It is a rush like no other...

About 1/2 hour into the hook up of Chicho's fish Kevin had taken his turn and then passed off to me. I got lucky as the fish came to gaff about 10 minutes into my turn....that was nice!! This fish was a solid one going about 80lbs! SASHIMI!!! that's all I could think of.

Chad meanwhile was still battling his fish and not getting anywhere to fast with it either. We knew this was a 150lb+ fish and it was going to be a long fight on spinning gear. We all took turns..and I mean all 6 of us trying to best the beast and after about 1 and a half hours the line parted...POP....ARRRGGHHHH....a split second of frustrated defeat..followed quickly by a great big smile on every ones face! That's right, a smile..you see we didn't win that battle..the tuna did...and that is what makes the game so exciting...you never know the ending no matter how good it appears to be!

Another 15 minutes and we were on the Tuna again and Kevin and I were throwing poppers at a nice school of fish...I remember thinking...yes I am going to get my first 100lb+ YFT by popper finally...not too be for me as I got blasted on once but it didn't stick! Kevin however, the guy who hasn't fished in like 2 years in Panama got smashed on and the sound we all love...the singing of braided line ripping off the reel at high speed ushered the response we all love to hear...."HOOKUP"..

After about 30 minutes or so Kevin bested the beast and I stuck the gaff into a 90-100lb class YFT! Wahoooooo! I love gaffing fish, especially Tuna more than catching them. We all decided we had two nice big Yellow Fin and with the other boat landing a 160lb'er we did not need anymore. We headed back inshore a bit more to look for some Pargo's (snapper). That didn't take too long either and within an hour we had caught and released a small white tip reef shark, a large 40lb Rooster Fish, and a perfect dinner size 30lb Cubera Snapper!

A fine job by everyone and the cold beers on the way in with light rain squalls and good conversation just summed up what a nearly perfect day would be for any fisherman!

Back on land we all told stories at Chad's for a little while and then went to Kevins to wash up for dinner. We had another great meal prepared by Anna and Delsi. Unfortunately the surf was pretty small that day so Cath and Kalum didn't have quite the fun we did, although they did some great exploring and enjoyed it very much.

The Temple's called it a day around 8pm and Kevin and I went up to Chad's to have cocktails and partake in all sorts of lies about fishing and everything else. A pretty amazing day in Paradise and Kevin and I finished it off with a glass if vino on his porch around 11pm....

Off to bed ....tomorrow we are going surfing and I am determined to find the Temple clan a few waves!

Day 4 of 10

2010-05-08T12:12:00.008-04:00

Day four started perfectly....just me and the million or so species of wildlife making every kind of noise and call you could ever imagine first thing in the morning. It was perfect! I grabbed a bottle of water and drove up the hill to see how the contractors were coming with the soiltac test and it looked a bit "wet" still. They had it barricaded to make sure no one drove on it and decided to let it get some morning sun before applying another coat to seal it.

I drove back down the mountain and had breakfast...thanks' Delsi!!

Then took off to the marina site to just relax and cast a few spoons in hopes of catching something. When I arrived I immediately saw about a dozen small birds diving on a school of bait!!! Yes!! Then every so often there would be a big POP on the surface...not positive the identity of these feeding fish, but they moved very fast and I would have to guess rovalo (snook), or jacks! The only problem was that they were about 150yds away and I could not get a spoon or jig close enough to them to entice a bite! Oh well, maybe next time

After an hour or so I came to the realization that I wasn't going to catch anything I packed up and drove back to Kevin's house to take a shower and clean up. I then drove down the gravel road to Chad's Paradise Lodge to wait for my friends the Temple's to arrive. They had flown from Vancouver island British Columbia! It required them to take a 3 hour drive to a 2 hour ferry to another 1 hour drive just to get to the airport in Vancouver! WOW...Then after staying the night in Vancouver they flew to Los Angeles where..they spent the night again...then the third day they arrived in Panama City and yes...spent the night again.........

Anyway, they made it to Chad's and were happy to be there.

I had not seen Josh Temple in quite some time and was stoked to see an old friend in my little paradise. You see Josh is a Captain of several boats spread all over the place, he makes a living "managing" wealthy clients interests as they pertain to the water! He currently runs a beautiful Custom Carolina Dean Johnson 58' boat names the Maximo! That boat spends most of it's time in Puerto Viarta very near Punta De Mita Mexico where Josh and his family have spent the majority of the last decade. Josh lives in a bit of a paradise regularly and it was nice to bring him to ours!

Josh's wife Catherine and their two kids Kalum (10) and Soliel (12) came along for the trip and things were about to get MOVING!!

After introducing everyone to Chad and showing them around the resort the kids and mom decided to jump in the pool to cool off and JT and I decided to have a cold beer or two and catch up on things...basically lie about the big fish we have caught..lol

Around 4 we decided to take everything to Kevin's where we would be staying for 2 nights so that Josh and his family could check out the land and the area. After a fantastic meal of spaghetti!! thanks again Delsi and Anna!! we were off to bed because the next day was going to be a BOOMER!!

Day 3 of 10

2010-05-05T20:53:00.005-04:00

Thursday morning (day 3)...

I awoke to a much more relaxed....sort of settled in feeling I guess. It was a nice morning and we ran up to the road to see if the workers were ready for the test "soiltec" to be placed. They were not, but getting close for sure. After a short while we headed down for breakfast and helped the water truck owner get ready to add the solution for the soil tec test. Getting the containers that took a LONG ship ride from the states opened took a bit of "backyard" engineering...big 12" diameter caps made of some type of hard plastic or polyurethane that did not want to unscrew..lol

We used a large screwdriver, a hammer, and good old muscle to get it loose and although it was in pieces it did in fact work! After loading the water truck with 1500 gallons of water and 275 gallons of the solution we were ready to head up the hill for the test. After an hour or so of measuring and re-grading to ensure proper thickness on the road the water truck began it's job of spraying 1800 gallons of solution/water mix on the 100 meter test strip of road. All in all it was a success and with that Kevin, and Kevin, and me went down to the river to the cantina for a couple of beers to fight off the steamy mid day temperatures.

The rest of the afternoon I spent over at Chad's place partaking in cubre' libra's and sashimi...meal meant for gods let me tell ya!!

The Internet had been down the night before and my cell phone works at Chad's so I took advantage of that time in order to catch up with my favorite lady and our little one inside her!!

Things on the home front were....shall we say ....acceptable.lol

It was very hard for my wife Brenna to miss out on this trip...there's few trips that we take apart..That being said she was as per her usual self in control of everything blasting through nursing classes, eating for two, drinking 10 gallons of water a day, studying all night, and somehow still finding time to miss me....Love ya babe!!!

Later in the evening I joined some of Chad's clients for dinner, a few gentleman from Brazil, one whom I have met before named Mr. Beto. An incredibly accomplished and well spoken individual whom spoke Portuguese..his native tongue, Spanish which he said was easy for them, and English as well. He is a fishing "tour guide" and plans trips all over the world for groups and then goes with them...mmmmm...he's on to something huh!!

They had great fishing and we had baked Snook (rovalo) for dinner! It was outstanding. I spent most of the early evening trading stories with Brazilians learning the different cultures all at one table and drinking all matters of potions..wine, rum, seco (seco is a Panamanian sort of vodka) until we all decided that the evening had peaked and the stories would get no better from here on out...certainly less understandable anyway.

Upon saying our good nights I jumped into the rental SUV and bounced down the old CA-1 towards Kevin's house to call it a night. Kevin had headed into David for business and to take the other Kevin from Soiltac back to the airport to go back to Texas. When I arrived at Kevin's I noticed a lack of uhhh LIGHT...uh oh...yep, the power had gone out..no problem during the day, but third night in country with no A/C is no bueno (no good..lol) I decided to head to the only cold place I knew of .....the cantina....that's right, cold beer cures all and I found out on arrival many of the locals had the same thought!!

I pulled up to the cantina and inside were one of Chad's captains....my favorite one..Chicho, a couple of the mates Arturo and Chico, and most of Chad's construction workers...many of whom had worked on our house last year. I was met with yells of "Yewww" and "Loquero" (crazy). I stayed listening to Panamanian salsa and meringue for an hour or so and washed down the muggy evening with a few cold ones. Then the second good night of the evening took place and off we went. I again bounced down the old CA-1 towards Kevin's...almost groundhog dayish..lol

The best news was pulling up to the house to see the street light working....AC!!!!!!!!

Off to bed after another action packed day in Panama!!

Day 2 of 10

2010-05-05T15:55:00.006-04:00

Believe it or not after being up for 21 hours straight and drinking way to much vino I was still up at 6:30am bright eyed and bushy tailed.......o.k. maybe that last part is a stretch but it points to yet another thing I love about Panama....you rise with the sun and go to bed about an hour after it sets...it's the way people are suppose to be I think.

Day two started with a great breakfast that Kevin's house helper Delsi kindly served up. Juevos, hamon, papaya, and pan'...followed by a large glass of jugo de naranja! (eggs, ham, bread, orange juice).

Then shortly after I joined Kevin and a road coating representative from the states that was testing out an application for the Vida Nueva roads that looks and feels like asphalt for 60% of the cost and best yet doesn't leech into the environment! Up the mountain we went and to the test site. Like anything in Panama if you put a deadline on it you will be a little behind..lol
That being said the roads look great and are very drivable even in the rain. There were 5 dump trucks, 2 graters, 2 excavators, a compactor, a water truck, and about 20 workers running around like there was a deadline...impressive in what many see as the middle of nowhere!

Kevin's road crews also recently finished rough cutting of the road to their marina site. I drove down there several times just to have a beer and listen to the peaceful sounds of birds and all manner of wildlife found in tropical mangroves carrying on the way they must have for a thousand years....it's awesome!!

I then ran up to Chad's to pick up my surfboards and fishing gear that I had left...of course my wife will tell you the most important thing was the shells she has saved from the trips down there...shells that will one day be a part of our home in Panama in one form or another.

The grass on our piece of property was a little more aggressive than I had expected...LOL
Lets say it's about 15 feet high..LOL the house is still in basically the same condition we left it in and shows little weathering which is nice.

The afternoon brought about an hour of hard rain and Kevin and I headed up to Chad's place for dinner which as per usual included a large plate of yellowfin tuna sashimi!!! I love it sooo much!!
After a few drinks and a lot of telling lies as per normal routing we headed back to Kevin's for emails, and then to bed.

day one of 10

2010-05-05T12:49:00.003-04:00

Day one started at the bright and early hour of 4:40am as I raced down the empty highways of Tampa headed to the airport parking area. Car parked, shuttle to the airport, short line which was nice and through security with an hour to spare! Move forward an hour and I am now in Miami waiting on the LONG OVERDUE flight to Panama. I cannot believe it's been 18 months! The best part was the plane was on time and I got moved up to the cabin divider or first row of coach class! We touched down amid scattered thunder storms at the Tocumen International Airport just a tad before noon nearly 10 minutes early!

There's no replacing the feeling of walking up the jet way as the air has now changed from Florida's warmish 70's to Panama's steamy 90's. I love it!!

I actually went through immigration and got my bag and through customs and into my rental car in under 35 minutes total!! That was very nice!!

Now with the tocumen toll road (cuota) in front of me and Panama cities (Manhattan like) structures waiting beyond that I jumped right into defensive, no signal using, Frogger like driving in Panama traffic...It's like a video game and for those who know me...it fits me well..lol

There is a new "bypass" called via ducto that takes you around the stoplights of balboa ave in downtown to the ave de martires and onto the puentas de americas (or point of the americas bridge)...the giant bridge that spans the entrance to the Panama Canal system. It always amazes me when driving over this bridge the marine traffic jam of very large cargo and oil tankers patiently waiting their turn to squeeze through what is truly one of the 7 wonders of the world..the locks of the Panama Canal. It's also a bit crazy to realize that the average tanker pays nearly 245K for passage ONE WAY...

After crossing the puente de America's the scenery drastically changes from bustling city life and traffic to farming and endless kilometers of small towns and rolling hills butted up against towering mountains. There seems to be a river flowing out of the mountains towards the sea about every 10 minutes on the drive...I often ponder what type of fishing could be done in these rivers given the time...trout maybe?

I still had an old Panamanian cell phone, but did not have a charger for it so I stopped in Santiago to buy a new cell phone....lets see...LG cell phone for $15.00 and comes with $5 phone card...Then I purchased another $10 phone card to add to it. I called my wife and spoke with her for about 25 minutes and that only cost me about $2.40...why anyone pays international $2.00 a minute for phone calls in Panama to the states is beyond me.

Fast forward about 4 hours and I am getting really close to the turnoff where everything takes on a new perspective for me.....only thing was the jubia (rain) came down in biblical amounts for about 30 minutes reducing my normal 65mph or so to about 30mph with visibility reduced to mere feet....The power of the tropics and the energy in it is what brings me back over and over again.

Finally at the old CA-1 road heading towards our good friend Kevin's house I noticed that many of the Captains that Chad uses were cleaning up the boats and gearing up for the next day of fishing. I stopped off and was offered a cold Balboa and gladly accepted...Of course!

After 20 minutes of chatter about the days fishing and "where the heck have you been Gringo Loquero'?" I said manana and headed further into Cuebrada De Piedra and up to Paradise Lodge to say hello to Chad and his workers. Paradise Lodge is a world class fishing resort in a world class fishing location..simply put!

The progress Chad has made is incredible in the last 18 months...3 new hotel rooms built, a 1500 meter concrete pier for the boats, a huge new dining and kitchen area, amazing!

It was a bit sad to hear that Maggie, Chads faithful Golden Retriever had passed away a few months ago...bummer. However, with each loss of life there seems to be new life as well and that held true as his two Rottweilers had just given birth to 2 beautiful puppies...there second litter in 18 months! Now there are Rottweilers running around all over the place from 4 weeks old to 3 years old...Chad calls the little ones his future security squad and judging by the boy down at his pier they take there job seriously....Chombo is his name and he will eat you for going on that pier without approval...lol

After a nice cubre libra' at Chads I headed down the last 2 miles of dirt/gravel road to Kevin's House. It was nice to see an old friend and to have dinner and drink wine....lots of wine while catching up on the progress of their project. Kevin's project is called Vida Nueva and his 1100 acre project surrounds our land. It's a great thing for us as we have very legitimate, serious, well funded neighbors who will provide an exceptional social clientele that will fit the area perfectly. Our area is not a Waikiki, it's more of a sportsman's paradise...fishing, surfing, kayaking, diving, spearfishing, etc.

Day one finished in grand fashion after being up nearly 21 hours and piling through nearly 4 bottles of excellent Chilean red wine.......Kevin and I have a habit of doing this when we are together...Hey Kevin...it's ALL YOUR FAULT!

2010-05-03T21:51:00.002-04:00

Panama truly is the most amazing place I have ever been to fish! Square miles of breaking Tuna from 10lbs to 200lbs gourging on baitfish. Assisted by porpoise and birds in gathering up the massive schools of bait. With each detonation the school of Tuna's grows more vivacious in their quest for food. It's astonishing to see hundreds of Yellow Fin Tuna smashing the surface in reckless abandon....there's nothing like it...Jurassic Park type stuff

Enjoy the low resolution video below!

Return to Paradise

2010-04-13T12:36:00.000-04:00

Well, after 18 months of "restructuring" I am making a trip back down to Panama next week to check on things and see about what the future will bring. While we have applied the brakes, Panama has continued to shift gears and is moving along quite nicely especially considering the state of the world economy the last 2 years. Check back in a week or so as I will post a few updates along with photos etc soon!

Curtis

2008-07-27T16:15:00.000-04:00

Almost forgot to put up this picture I took of Brenna yesterday on the panga ride. Pretty Pretty as they say in Panama!

2008-07-27T16:06:00.000-04:00

Waterfall action

Look closely our house is the gray blob on the left side of the photo

Commercial fisherman heading out!

More later..!!

2008-07-26T18:37:00.000-04:00

some surf photos

2008-07-21T12:11:00.000-04:00

Here is a photo of Brenna with Paublo (left) who is the "do it all" guy at Chad's place and Juan (right) who is the Chef here. Paublo speaks great English and is a big help in translation duties.

Here is a traditional Brasilian' meal that Ana Paula and Daia cooked for us. It is rice and beans, a salad, and a stew like dish with potatoes and meat. It was very good.

Here is the family and friends of Johnny Hoffmann. Johnny Hoffmann is a fishing guide in Brasil and also the host of his own fishing show called momenta de pesca. Really nice guy and in the photo is also his wife Ana Paula, his son Johnnio, daughter Johanni', there friends as well. Awesome time hangin out with them.

The sunset was quite nice last night and here is a picture of the two Blog stars themselves..LOL

This picture does not due justice....the sunset there and the line of light on the estuary was incredible to say the least....

Well that's it for today..more later

Brenna and Curtis

July 20

2008-07-20T16:30:00.001-04:00

Here is Brenna and me in Boquete' having lunch at Papa Ricco's. It's an italian restaraunt that is very good!

Here is a view looking down the side of the house towards the elevated walkway and the front door entrance.

This is a pic I took of the "driveway" being cleared out.

Here is a great pic of the view again. I took this photo from the upstairs patio!

Here is Brenna making friends with the owner of the Italian restaraunt in Boquete'. Imagine that huh...LOL

Well, lots going on as usual. I think the internet at Chad's may finally be fixed as it has worked for 2 days straight now with no problem....It's amazing how much easier things are when you have that acess. The roof should be done mid-week, the exterior walls are being smoothed out right now, and the rock for the driveway should be going in pretty soon as well. Just in time as the last week has seen a good amount of rain...Funny though it is beautiful today, one of the nicest days in a month. Blue skies and no rain in sight...YET...LOL

More later

Brenna and Curtis

UPDATE! 7/19/2008

2008-07-19T13:36:00.000-04:00

O.K. This is funny....Brenna took this photo and I was like "what are you doing"....then I realized it would be a good sharing tool. She is telling me how to write the blog right now as well...what would I do without her....

Anyway, all of this was $6 from a truck at the bottom of the hill....that's a pound of garlic ..LOL

We were thinking $25 for this in the states, of course they don't spray paint the vegetables here but.....you can't have everything

This is another Brenna photo of a Hibiscus as big as a dinner plate. It was huge! She said it was the biggest Hibiscus she has ever seen. They were everywhere.

If you look closely you can see the rancho "palapa" on top of the hill in the center of the photo. That is the property and the giant pinnacle mountain to the left in the photo is just off our property but is beautiful.

Here is a photo of the framing for the roof going up and being welded on last week.

AHHHHH! TECHO' (roof) ..... I would say that 75% of the roof is on as of today and also about 70% of the interior walls are smoothed out. They have started working on the exterior walls now and I expect the roof and walls will be ready in a few days. I believe we will put the floor in downstairs and start finishing work in a week or two.

That is all for now. Lot's going on and more around the corner!

Brenna and Curtis

its coming!

2008-07-10T21:44:00.001-04:00

You know things are happening when people show up in helicopters!

This is the lovely miss Brenna!...........LOL

another update 7/10

2008-07-10T21:31:00.000-04:00

looking from living room to window and sliding glass door and then the patio...

welding the braces for the roof...

more later!

Brenna and Curtis

fishing and construction!

2008-07-08T13:28:00.001-04:00

Upstairs is the patio and sliding glass door looking into the living room and kitchen. Downstairs are two hotel rooms each with their own bathrooms.

Here is a view from above the house. The roof should start this week!!

Well sunday I was invited to go fishing with Chad and I accepted of course! It was a bit slow for Panama..LOL We did manage one bonito for bait and it was perfect size for dropping down live for big snapper. That's what we did and not 2 minutes down Chad was hooked up to this beast!

Estimated at around 70lbs this Cubera snapper went!!

Yours truly with his first Roosterfish caught on a popper! For those that don't know poppers' are like really big versions of the ones you use for bass fishing on lakes and it takes some technique to do it right. I was really happy about hooking and landing this fish. The Rooster hit the popper about 10' from the side of the island we were fishing...Awesome stuff...SICK!!

Here is a view looking out of the future sliding glass doors onto the upstairs patio!

More later everyone!

Curtis and Brenna

More..SCROLL DOWN FIRST!

2008-07-05T10:11:00.000-04:00

Me getting some fun ones in front of the hotel. Thanks to Brenna (photographer) we can see it!
Here's another cool shot from Brenna!

Anticipation!

Brenna likes this one...she says I am "bringing sexy back" LOL

Here is one of many beautiful flowers (hibiscus) that grow wild everywhere in Panama!

We will try and update again soon everyone!

Ciao'

More..SCROLL DOWN FIRST!

2008-07-05T10:05:00.001-04:00

This picture was the day after Brenna arrived in Panama. We went to a friend Augusto Lopez's bed and breakfast in El Ciruelo. It is near Pedasi about 3 hours from our area.

Here is a cool picture from the patio at "pimply's" place.

Here is a shot of the waves breaking in front of the hotel we are staying at right now.

A cool shot of a nice lefthander reeling off unridden.

Brenna took this photo of me surfing in the afternoon in front of the hotel. I have only seen one other surfer in three days of staying here.....LOL

More..SCROLL DOWN FIRST!

2008-07-05T09:49:00.001-04:00

This is a "squirrel monkey" I think. There are not many around and a kid in town tried to sell it to me for $115. I passed and then Chad sent Chicho (boat captain) to the guy and bought it for $30! LOL He loves the camera flash and is very intrigued by it. Anyway it's the new addition to Chads "zoo" of three dogs, a cat, and a monkey!

Here is Negro and me working out some layout questions. on the 2nd floor.

This is the view from the Rancho (palapa) we just had built. It is amazing view....on top of the world feel and the breeze is great too. With binoculars I check the surf at rio tabasara, punta entrada, isla silva adentro, isla silve afuera, and las lajas!

This is looking into the garage and then in the back the bedrooms, bathrooms, living room (sala), kitchen (cocina), and patio (terazza).

Here is a cool view from the upper part of the property looking down towards the hill with the rancho on it. The view is ridiculous from there.

More..SCROLL DOWN FIRST!

2008-07-05T09:34:00.000-04:00

This is looking from inside the garage to the driveway.

Here we are measuring out the bathrooms for upstairs.

This is Sergio's furniture making place. All hand made from plank. Really cool stuff.

This is looking into the entrance to the 2 "hotel" rooms downstairs. Each will have it's own bathroom as well.

This is the view looking through the future sliding glass door to the upstairs patio!

more photos!

2008-07-05T09:22:00.001-04:00

This is a 2 day old Brahma calf! Antonio's farm has approximately FORTY FIVE! new calfs a month! Really cool stuff.

Here are the machine pumps for milking the cows (baca's).

Here is the container for the milk. It is then pumped into a large vat.

Here is the vat which keeps the milk at 36 degrees for 24 hours to make sure any bacteria is killed before consumption.

He has lots of horses too. Antonio is in love with Texas! He went to college at Texas A&M as did the current president of Panama! Antonio goes to Houston a couple of times a year to buy cows and bulls at auctions. He has them from Texas, Europe, and Brasil.

Happy 4th of July

2008-07-05T09:09:00.000-04:00

We went to look at a piece of land for a friend and had to take a boat to it down a river and across an estuary. Really beautiful piece of land with it's own river, and estuary, and 1 mile of beachfront! He only wanted 8 million for it...LOL

Brenna with a horn beetle. She told me later it made her feel closer to Tatum!

Brenna and Sonya, and Ericka (our lawyer)(abagado). They came with us to look at the land.

This is on Ericka and her husband Antonio's farm (finca) near David. These are the workers on the farms kids. Here they produce milk. It is "hands free" operation meaning the milk is never touched by human hands.

Yours truly trying to get things done on Skype. Anyone who does not have Skype should get it now! We can talk to the states for about 2 cents a minute on average clear as a bell.

More coming in a moment..LOL

Well, no fireworks for us, but the sunset was nice and so was the hotel we are staying in at the beach.

Here's an update

2008-06-28T18:08:00.000-04:00

We are a lot further than this, more photos coming in the next week.

My boy Marco with the bottom floor hotel rooms getting there....

Here's another crappy shot of the view...LOL

More soon..

Scroll Down to the first 6-18 post

2008-06-18T18:06:00.001-04:00

This is the steel for the second floor and the garage floor which arrived yesterday.

Here is the Franklin Jurado truck ON our property..Stoked for sure..

So that will do it for now...The past week has been amazing to say the least...From starting the excavation last week on wednesday to almost finished with the walls on the bottom floor today! WOW...good stuff

We hope to have the first floor roof/second floor Floor..haha in tommorow by the end of the day.

We had to make some minor changes as the house just isn't big enough..hahaha

More later and I will try to write some stories of the happenings as well soon.

Ciao'

Curtis

SCROLL down to the first 6-18 post and read up

2008-06-18T17:57:00.002-04:00

Now I know why a good used truck is hard to find...LOL The Toyota gets her work here for sure...

Here is Sergio's truck with a now good drive shaft and trailer brakes..LOL A big load of cinder block for the project (projecta) ...easy one..LOL

This was on the bottom of the block on the big truck trailer...ewww...a 6 inch long baby viper...no longer with us..LOL

With a 30 minute drive to get gas I bought an 8 gallon tank to help out with the frequency of the trips...mountain top gas station....

This was a REALLY BIG THING!!! We got Franklin Jurado (the materials company) to take the truck up the mountain to the property....This..($40) to the driver saved us probably 6 trips in our trucks from the bottom of the hill plus man hours....NICE!!

more.....

scroll down to the bottom and first 6-18-08 dated post first

2008-06-18T17:46:00.000-04:00

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! HAHAHA This photo I took from the bar behind Chad's pool. The water in the photo is the oasis pool and the land in the background is an island a mile away....

Here is another one of the waterfall at Chad's pool and the estuary behind it....WOW

BLOCK baby!! Yea

The square there is one of the future hotel rooms for guests while the main resort is being built.

Another shot of the walls going into place....

more...

Scroll down to the first post with todays 6 18 date

2008-06-18T17:40:00.001-04:00

I got the chance to go surf finally and we surfed a beachbreak with only the three of us there.....nobody around...SWEET!

Another shot of the waves that were 3-5 feet and really fun!

a beauty coming in unridden when we first arrived

Heading out with anticipation...

A nice left!

more....

SCROLL DOWN FIRST

2008-06-18T17:29:00.001-04:00

The new truck is getting a little dirty now..LOL

The rebar sticking up is where the floor of our upstairs will be..the view is GREAT!!

The material arena and piedra is dropped off at the bottom of the hill and we load our trucks with the excavator or (machino Pala..) Pala is shovel

Here is a view from our property in the early morning after a rain...the mist in the valley is beautiful.

This is Jason with his first Roosterfish ever. A solid 40lb fish caught on a popper!

more...

2008-06-18T17:21:00.001-04:00

This is a photo I took from the property of the waves near a rivermouth last week and it was 10 feet and PERFECT....Aghhhhhh I was working...that hurt a little..LOL

A sunset shot from Chad's place.

Here is a view of the estuary from our property and isla silva adentro (inside) and isla silva afuera (outside)

CONCRETE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's the boys working very hard and really excited to be on the cement phase after the long wait for sand (arena) and rock (piedra)

More coming

More good stuff scroll down first

2008-06-18T17:03:00.000-04:00

digging out the foundation for the columns (colina's)

The excavation done and the final clearing out by manual labor!

The cement mixer that took 62 days from order in Costa Rica to get here after a 31 day hold up at the border. Fit nicely into the toyota though.

more excavator work being done

This is how they bend the rebar to shape it for the columns etc.

more coming

SORRY!

2008-06-18T16:47:00.000-04:00

This is one of the many vultures that fly around all afternoon looking for a snack...there BIG

This is a local kid Eric who surfs pretty darn good. This is a wave called Emily's near the surf camp Morro Negrito! I went there for one night to get a break.

This is Eric's little brother who is TEN! A nice turn for a ten year old..

Here is the beggining of the excavation of the bottom floor of the house where the two small hotel rooms for friends and family and future clients will stay to look at our land.

Here is the view from the house when it is done....LOL NICE!!!

More coming

more work getting done now!!

2008-06-05T12:23:00.001-04:00

Good morning from Panama!

This is our night watchman Maximillo!

The footing going in for the material shed. No cement used because it is not permenant

The walls going up!

A nice little tool shed almost complete

Even the tool shed has a nice view...LOL

Of course when you move dirt and jungle around you come across the locals..LOL A small Boa!

Will try and write more later...

Busy Busy...

The block and rebar will be ordered tommorow as well as the cement and should be delivered sat or monday. Also we have a small load of rock coming for the inside of the shed and a small walkway to the future house to help with storing materials.

Ciao'

some new pictures and some work getting done!

2008-06-03T19:42:00.000-04:00

A bunch of kids jumped in for this picture of the kid with the baby howler monkey!
When I showed them their picture on my camera they ran around screaming and laughing.

The monkey with a monkey...LOL

This is a Tarantula....eeewww

The view is still very nice....

My boy Chad going to town on the excavator!

Moving the road down another 200 yds.

more work..wahoooo!

A close up of my good friend Willard Thompson! LOL

another of the kid with the monkey!

more later all!

Electric!

2008-06-02T13:33:00.000-04:00

WHOA!!

Now most of you know I love lightning storms, rough weather in general has always peaked my interest. Well last night it was drizzling and making things very comfortable for a good night sleep with my old beat up fan spinning away. Around 2am things got interesting as a solid rumble complete with vibration crawled past the house causing me to stir a bit. Ahh, the rain started to pelt the tin roof and the distant rumbling of thunder is a perfect potion for sleeping for me. Sometime shortly after the distant rumble became more of a not so distant cracking...LOL
I was still half asleep but enjoying the sounds and the energy from the storm when a giant clap of thunder hit so nearby that the light on the patio shattered from the vibration! WOW...That one actually made me flinch for just a second. Sort of a cool experience with a little I hope it doesn't get any worse thrown in for good measure. The good news is that the power stayed on. My old fan kept things even cooler with the help of the heavy rain and the occasional firefly would momentarily light up the room.

More later...

Curtis

Finally!

2008-06-02T13:16:00.000-04:00

There was a school parade for the "elementary" age kids on saturday.

Here goes the parade past our mechanical parade...LOL

The truck finally coming to the bottom of the hill near our property to drop more rock.

Gotta love it...one more load and we will bring the materials like iron, concrete, etc up the hill.

FINALLY! Well after only 31 days of waiting the concrete mixers arrived today!

No forklift needed, just unload it on top of a load of gravel..LOL

They may not look like much, but they will keep three times as much cement going than the ones made in Panama. They are from San Jose Costa Rica and spent 14 days stuck in hold at the border for taxes etc.

Here is the diesel truck with the dropped drive shaft next to it. They got it fixed and it made it the other mile or so to our drop off area. Then on it's way out almost in the same place it broke again..WOW...They are back today to fix it.

Another picture of the diesel on the side of the road.

2008-05-31T13:04:00.000-04:00

The pool at Chad's place.
More of Chad's pool..
One more...

2008-05-30T16:12:00.000-04:00

Well the very first layer is on 80% of our road. We are expecting two more truckloads tommorow. Yes I know what tommorow can mean but no rain in sight and things are looking up.

That's right, for all those who know me you would be running for the hills..lol

Me again on the excavator. My first time operating on of these but no problems and I did not kill anyone or break any trucks in half!!

WORKING

2008-05-30T16:00:00.000-04:00

This backhoe is putting in a connection with public water lines to the bottom of the mountain and eventually up the mountain...This will be really good for us. The new owners of the land around us are really on top of things already.

The PVC seen here is the tiny water lines from one of the springs on the mountain. They will be installing much larger lines.

Well the pretty new truck is DIRTY already..LOL

The new truck is a beast for a 4cyl truck. I took up 6 loads of 3 bucket fulls each from the excavator of rock for our road. It's about a mile up the mountain and steep in two places. 4x4 the whole way up, but she did it in 4 wheel high with little issue and never even got hot! Stoked!!

This is Negra's truck going up the mountain in front of me.

update

2008-05-27T16:15:00.000-04:00

This is Fernando from Spain with a nice African Pompano!

Fernando again with a nice 50lb YFT caught on a popper!

Another one of Fernando with a BIG 60lb Roosterfish caught on a live Bonito!

This is the small port in Pedregal near David with the Time out and the Atlantis which are privately owned by panamanian boats...nice ones at that!

The guys from Spain cooked this up one night...pretty darn good it was.

Well it was a quick trip to Panama City as I left on sunday mid day and then ended up meeting with Gary Saavedra my good friend and pro surfer from Panama on monday morning. He took me all over the city and we talked to friends of his who own used car lots. The 4 door hilux trucks are impossible to get a good deal on because the new ones are made in Argentina and not Japan anymore..OUCH!! Also many people come from Costa Rica to buy them because the import tax in Costa Rica is 100% from the U.S. and even overpriced the trucks here are a way better deal. So after a few hours of tireless 14K trucks that are worth 8K searching we finally settled on a 1995 Toyota Tacoma 4cyl 4x4 regular cab which odly enough came from Pennsylvania..hahah

Anyway the truck is in 9 out of 10 condition and all the effort paid off. Another obstacle down and many more to deal with daily. We did get some of the rock up the road but alas it is raining pretty hard today...so as most of you are learning now as well "tommorow".

Here are some pictures from the last few days....Enjoy

2008-05-22T13:15:00.000-04:00

This butterfly was as big around as a dinner plate...absolutely beautiful!

Not a bad way to head out for a day of fishing for the lucky ones this morning!

This is Senoir Blas who reminds me of someone from the old ways of the US. He works very hard and is a man of great character.

This truck just got done dropping off 3000 sq. mtrs. of sand for our build this morning!!

This is a commercial Panamanian fishing boat. There will be two or three guys on here for a full week straight sometimes...crazy..

On the homefront we had a LOT of rain last night, non stop for about 5 hours. The local fauna will be loving it, but the rainy season is a little early. Hopefully it will take a break in a week or two and let us get some work done..hahaha...yea right.

We got our sand this morning delivered to the bottom of the hill, but they cannot get the rock from the river in remedios because the river level is too high now. They say later today...hahaha

I am guessing sometime tommorow if the rain is not bad tonight. We had to have our property re-surveyed because when they built the main road they used the wrong pins to place our property. Worked out good for us though because we gained 2.237 Hectares' which is about 5.3 acres of land! It's in small pieces of course but we will take it.

The hope right now is to move the excavator and bobcat to the property in the next 4-5 days and begin bringing the rock up the mountain to our road so we can get it in place and then start bringing in the cement mixer, cement, rebar, etc for the foundation.

three days work has taken 9 so far. The good part is that once we get the road ready and material delivered I will have a good crew of guys and then we can play catch up a bit.

More later

the 20th?

2008-05-21T14:28:00.000-04:00

One of the things the kids learn in school is how to make a basic fishing boat!

When it rains you just use the excavator as a tow truck..hahaha

My good friend and amazing captain Chicho....He is crazy

When the rainy season begins the termites lose there minds...its crazy

This little kid had a pet bird attached to his wrist. It was cool

Tuesday the 20th of May……I think
12 days in the city of Cuebrada De Piedra, in the Province of Chiriqui, in the country of Panama. It feels as though it has been 2 months already. The experiences, the people, the ups and the downs are already so numerous it’s hard to keep up. The frustrations of dealing with people in a foreign (to me) country are vast and never ending. Thus lays the challenge my wife and I have set forth on, and a challenge it will be.
The word most used and heard, by me anyway in Panama is “tomorrow”. My good friend who has been here for years and is well versed in how the game is played just smiles at me and says….”just wait”. I believe I will learn the ways as he has and hope to also learn to make value in his mistakes. The truth is I live in a paradise to many including the majority of those who are from this country of Panama. Yes, a paradise that has many challenges and “mountanita’s” to overcome.
I have been fishing only a couple of times and because the water is “green” as most know the fishing is slow. Slow huh...well my good buddy Chicho is quite unhappy with the conditions, yet each day he spearheads the adventure for some lucky “tourista” with hopes of Grande Atun, and Pargo’s the size of a mini cooper. Some days the dreams are fulfilled and other days drag on hour after silent hour in agonizing defeat. Like the sweat that beads down your face in the intense heat, one wipe of a cool cloth is all it will take in hopes of cooling off and letting the blue water return. It’s hard to imagine that it is “winter” here. Winter of course is “rainy season” in these parts and it has begun somewhat vigorously with “jubia” happening more days than not. For me it is refreshing as the evenings are in the high 60’s and low 70’s during and just after the rain. I find it also to be an amazingly beautiful time of year where you can see things that were not quite green the day before blossom into full life in a period of 24 hours as though you were watching time lapse video. The weather, like the fishing is unpredictable and exciting in so many ways. I enjoy every aspect of both here in Panama.
The fishing is dynamic and exciting and one slow day usually offers up at least one unforgettable experience. There are a couple of gentleman from Spain here for a week and although it has been “slow”, they still have managed in three days of fishing to catch 5 40-60lb yellow fin tuna, 4 Cubera snapper, with 2 being nice 30-40lb class fish, several blue trevally’s, a couple of mullet snapper, and some nice sierra mackerel for ceviche’. Not bad for three days of fishing with two guys in my opinion, but what Panama has in store for those who give her the chance is greatness not experienced by many places on this planet. The experience that gives foundation to the meaning of Panama which is “abundance of fish”. I know that the term is used incessantly amongst marketers and magazine articles, but the truth is the truth and I for one am a believer. Will the green water work its way out of Panama’s rich waters soon? Only time will tell, and it will be a good time regardless.
On the building side of things “tomorrow” creeps in at every corner and yet we trudge on with a goal in mind, a giant of a goal that can have only one meaning….”success”. From misplaced “points” from surveyors to roads that are 10’ away from where they were supposed to be, to sub contractors who don’t show up to work for days for various reasons that I am sure to never completely understand is all part of the game. Somehow we have a grated road going down to our house and a belief that the cement mixer we had made in Costa Rica will be here “tomorrow”. Ah, paradise it is in many ways, like the rain hitting the tin roof above my head as though someone was dropping a million little marbles on it. The ‘rhythm of Central America is one I have always had a place for. Panama has been good to me in these first two weeks and the hope for the next to be the same, minus the green water of course.

a few more

2008-05-18T17:12:00.001-04:00

A fruit truck at the bottom of the property. 4 pinneapple's, celery, and carrots for $4
This is Bartolo's son "Rooster". He is a great fisherman

Lightning Storm

Talk to everyone in a couple of days!

some more pics

2008-05-18T16:46:00.000-04:00

This is my crazy friend from Texas "esteban"

The local Cantina!

Pargo Roca

Pinnacle rock in Contreras Islands

Blue Trevally

A busy week

2008-05-18T16:11:00.000-04:00

Well it has been a busy week with the road being grated, buying tools, a little fishing with friends etc. We hope to be putting rock down on the road tommorow and if all goes well be finished by the end of the week. A special Hi to my amazing wife Brenna!!

Till next time from Panama!

Sunset

2008-05-13T11:39:00.000-04:00

Well the sunset was phenomenal last night. We did get some rain but it was lite. The power went off in the middle of the night and finally came back on around 8am. I went swimming this morning with Lucy the rottweiller in Chad's pool. We are busy getting ready for guests coming in today so I will update again in a couple of days.

First couple of days!

2008-05-11T12:49:00.000-04:00

May 8th, 2008- A New Beginning
4am came in a hurry this morning. I felt like I was walking around with a 50lb rock attached to my back as I was preparing to load the truck for the quick ride to the airport. It’s amazing how quickly the last two weeks have come and gone! Once loaded up Brenna parked the truck and joined me in the airport for check in with Copa airlines. I must say that the service I received from Copa was first class even though I was in the “back”…the cattle car so to speak. I had 4 checked bags which consisted of 2 roller boards, one of which being just over 70lbs, an 8’0 surfboard bag with three surfboards in it, and a fishing pole carrier with 10 poles in it. Not a light load to say the least. Let’s not forget the camera case and backpack for carry-on baggage as well. I was greeted with a smile and a “Is all of that yours”….yes I replied and “sorry” with a returned smile. The young lady behind the counter obliged in checking in all of my baggage and charged me $50 for the surfboard bag and $30 for the fishing pole carrier and that’s it! I was amazed to say the least; I have paid far more with less baggage on other airlines and will remember that treatment in the future. Once through checking in Brenna and I went downstairs to the 24 hour coffee shop in baggage claim and got a cup of café’ before my trip through security. Interesting place Washington D.C., the cashier was absolutely rocking out to Tupac at the counter! Ya never know what you might see or hear these days. During our 15 minute conversation over coffee is became clear that things would get a bit teary eyed now and they did. I took a comfortable and common route during these times and tried to stay “strong” in her presence all the while reassuring her that things would work out for us in due time. We walked up to security and said goodbye, although she stayed within eyesight until I boarded the people mover and the doors shut. Once threw security we spoke briefly and said our “goodbyes”. Upon boarding we spoke one last time before the familiar “ding” and the orders to put electronic devices away. I complied and said goodbye one last time. Shortly after we taxied to the runway and the Boeing 737-800 roared to life racing down the runway. After reaching a cruising altitude we were served a cheese omelet and potatoes for “desayuno” or breakfast to most of us. Now roughly 2 hours into the flight we are approaching the Caribbean Sea for our “over water” leg of the trip. El Capitan has informed us we will be flying over Cuba and then skirting Nicaragua and Costa Rica before reaching our destination of Panama’ Cities Tocumen International Airport. Our arrival time is 10:30am which is roughly 4 hours and 20 minutes in the air. The time in Panama currently is the same as central time or 1 hour behind east coast time. I am told I will be picked up by “chino” who is a friend of Chad’s at the airport. We then have to pick up some necessities only found in the gateway to the America’s city before making the 4 and a half hour drive to Tole’ and Chad’s place. Emotions run rampant between the sadness of leaving my wife behind and the excitement of the adventure ahead. I am blessed in many ways and one of them is having the most incredible support group in my parents and mother-in-law, and lest not forget my wife of course! Friends and family are priceless and in times like these it becomes even more apparent. The journey has begun and the anticipation of things to come is the catalyst for why we do what we do.

Once I arrived in Panama city and deplaned I immediately felt the rush of humidity and the smells that remind you there is no place like Central America….feeling lucky for having been seated near the front of the cattle car I was able to beat the rush for immigration….4 minutes it took to get through. Off to baggage claim where it is not uncommon to wait a really long time for extras like surfboards and fishing poles only to again be surprised to be in the baggage area less than 20 minutes total! I grabbed a push cart and loaded up my 2 roller boards, surfboard bag, fishing pole carrier, camera case, and backpack and headed for customs line. This ought to be quite interesting I thought to myself. One gringo with 6 bags huh… I unloaded everything onto the x-ray machine and sent it through. On the other side the customs agent smiled and said “have fun”….Amazing what a good smile and attitude can do for you. I waited outside for about 30 minutes for Chino to arrive in Chad’s truck and we were off. Chino informed me that we had to make 2 stops before heading to Tole’. No problem I replied having no idea what I had gotten myself into. The first stop was easy enough once we found it about 30 minutes later and on to the second stop which was the import office for some items that Chad had shipped from the U.S. The items were there and ready to go on the palate, only we waited for 3 hours before a lady to come outside and look at the items and sign one piece of paper….O.K. Gracias’ , what?. That’s it. Day one in Panama and the lessons of patience are beginning already. A challenge it will be. Whatever I thought, off we go to Chad’s. The afternoon turned to evening, then came dusk, and eventually darkness fell upon us about 2 ½ hours from Chad’s. It is important to note for those who have not travelled at night in Panama, or most any other Central American country for that matter; there are no street lights and rarely much in the way of reflectors as well. Combine that with 18 wheelers blasting down CA-1 in the pouring rain with lightning strikes in the distance, and well there you have it and adventure in itself. I challenge everyone to think about that the next time they get upset because they are cut off on the road. Try imagining an 18 wheeler in the oncoming lane with another passing him flashing his brights at you so you slow down and he can get back in the proper lane!
We stopped in Santiago to fill up the big Ford diesel at $4.08 a gallon which topped out at $121.00 even! Ouch! On the way we were again and about an hour later we made the left turn onto the broken and forgotten old CA-1 towards the coast and Chad’s. As per the norm we all cracked a cerveza’ upon entering the old highway and gave the cheers’ “Salud Amigo”. 20 minutes down the beaten path and we pass Chicho and Bartolo’s casa. Chicho and Bartolo are brothers and have been fisherman in Panama as long as most can remember. The two are an interesting pair with Bartolo being the elder and Chicho being the bigger specimen. As usual Chicho yelped out a “chucha madre” which is a somewhat harsh phrase, yet comical in its own right with these two. I replied with a nice Gringo Que’ Paso Amigo. Our greeting, over just as quickly as it started left us bouncing down the last km of road before Chad’s. Once up the hill I found that Chad was asleep at 9:00pm. Another lesson in this area is you rise with the sun and fall shortly after it on most days. Many a night will be over at 8pm in the near future. I think it is a healthy prospect and look forward to the change. Chino whisked up a quick Bisteca’ (steak) for us and then I was off to bed.
Day 2-
Day two started around 6:30am when I woke up and was greeted to Chad saying “I thought you were going to sleep all day”. Ah, welcome home! Chad then let me know that he was heading to David and I went with him to try and accomplish a few things. Amongst the 5 hours or so we were in David, I did manage to get a Panama Cell Phone, some stereo speakers for the computer, and a pocket digital camera for photos. Amazing as some things are quite inexpensive here for example a basic pre-paid Nokia cell phone cost $25.00 and the car charger $6.00! What a deal, and the minutes are not bad either. We also checked out some prices on tools that will be needed next week likely. We are also waiting on a cement mixer to arrive from Costa Rica and it should be here “tomorrow”, although my guess is Friday of next week.
On the way home we ran into some fairly strong rain which cooled things off nicely and made the ride more comfortable. Back at the casa’ and off to the computer to inform my business partner of a few of the happenings and to fill him in on the expected timeline for the next week or two. Spoke with “Negra” who is Chad’s main construction guy about the plans for our project and things appear to be behind schedule yet acceptably so. Chad whipped up a nice dinner with fresh broccoli, rice, and a nice piece of hamon’. I had to have a Seco and Lemonade of course. Seco’ is vodka type liquor made in Panama and is fantastic and refreshing when mixed with Lemonade. After dinner it was a nice quiet evening with just me and the computer…hahahaha
Day 3
Well day three started bright and early with me waking up at 5am and could not go back to sleep. Oh well, up and adam and café’ to get the day started. Today we were able to take a couple of workers up to the property and have them machete’ the area where the foundation will go as well as a place for materials. We now expect the cement mixer to arrive Monday or Tuesday and will also buy most of the power tools then as well. Chad’s bobcat is waiting on a hydraulic part so we got some road workers to agree to come up to the property on Thursday with a backhoe and clear a materials area and also cut out for the foundation. They also have access to some rock for our road nearby and are expecting a “roller” in a week or so that will be able to press the rock for our road. All in all a decent day of accomplishments and I took an hour or so this afternoon to take a dip in the pool and have a cerveza. I had company in Maggie who is Chad’s golden retriever and Lucy who is his Rottweiler. They are a blast and love to swim in the pool when it is hot. Around 5pm the Juvia (rain) arrived in full force and shortly after several very close lightning strikes with the last one being within a quarter mile and out went the lights. This is the first time I have been at Chad’s when the power has gone out without a quick reset. It has been out for about 4 hours so far and the rain is steady. The sound on the metal roof is “tranquillo” (relaxing). Tomorrow is Sunday and the workers have a day off leaving Chad and I to go fishing for a couple of hours with poppers for snapper and roosters. I was amazed at the preciseness of the workers with machete’ today and equally impressed with how fast they cleared about 10,000 square feet of 4’ grass. Tomorrow is another day and one I am looking forward to.
Day 4
Well, again this morning I woke up to rooster’s at 4:45am and rolled out of bed around 5:30am. A quick cup of café’ and down to the boat to go fishing for a little while. The popper fishing was slow but Chad managed 2 small cero mackerel and Chicho, Chad, and I put about 20 small snapper in the boat for dinner the next night or two. The surf was BIG, a good 10-12 feet solid and cracking on the reefs out at Silva Adentro and Silva Afuera. I saw an impressive 3 wave set go through in a place I have not seen surf before. I wish I had my board with me to catch a couple this morning as the surf was better than the fishing for sure…hahaha
I will update again in a few days.

Curtis

On Site

2008-05-09T18:34:00.000-04:00

Hello all,

I am on-site and ready to roll. I will update with photos and more information in a couple of days when time allows. got a couple of things taken care of on my first day in Panama, got a cell phone, ordered some tools for the build and was told that the cement mixer coming from Costa Rica that was supposed to leave yesterday will leave tommorow...HAHAHA...the word here is "tommorow". Patience is a virtue and I am about to have a long lesson in it....Well bring it on..Challenge excepted.

We just had a nice thunder storm and some rain to cool things off nicely. the view is terrific as always and I am off to eat dinner under the thatch patio overlooking the gulf of chiriqui.

Curtis

2008-04-30T13:36:00.000-04:00

Hopefully many of these to come!!

Welcome

2008-04-30T12:55:00.000-04:00

Welcome to my Blog.

My name is Curtis Hightower and my wife and I along with our business partner Terry are on a mission to creat vista de' Chiriqui in the Chiriqui province of Panama. We will be offering a small number of building lots as well as a small 6-8 villa resort dedicated to sportfishing, surfing, eco tours, diving, snorkeling, kayak tours, kayak fishing, and all things Panama in general. Follow this blog to see the trials and tribulations we go through as business partners, family, and friends. I am making the big move to Panama on May 8th and will be generating updates as much as possible!

Curtis