Jay & Nicole's Trip to Panama - Nov. 2006 

(click any small picture to get enlargement)
    Panama City & Canal      Southern Beach      Boquete Mtn      Bocas Del Toro     Islands     Trinidad Mtn & Return
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We awoke on Carenero island and upon looking out, found that our room had a great sea view.

There was complete silence, 
as we were the only guests ...

... we had the place to ourselves!
Our building had four rooms and was located just a few feet from the beach.  

The resort consisted of three four-plex buildings like ours and a few gazebo-like single rooms, which rented for much more.


The little canal added a nice visual touch; it also provided the border between the beach (public) and the resort (private).
We were able to relax and spent time reading and swimming; the snorkeling was just so-so.  The restaurant had a great view but was only open for breakfast; we found a wireless signal there! Erosion is a problem and the stones were set up to save the shore from big waves.
The manager told us that he recently became part-owner of the resort, but not by choice.  It seems that a broker in the US got six investors together, including him.  They pooled their money and lent it to the owner of this resort, for refurbishment and expansion.  It seems that the owner neglected the resort and spent the money to build himself a big home on a piece of property next to the resort.

The owner then defaulted on the loan and the investors sued.  The lawyer said that the law in Panama was on the side of indigenous people, so they would never get their money back.  They ended up winning the lawsuit though, but only got the run-down resort property as a result.

He said that the six new owners have been working for over a year to get the place ship-shape.
The guy now spends a few months here each year managing the resort, which wasn't how he envisioned spending his retirement. He said the hardest part is to see the previous Owner's new house and large boat, that they paid for.  Overall the place is nice and should pay off someday.
There was a big island across the channel and we could see a village and some bigger homes. 
There were also little islands scattered all around, with water taxis constantly going back and forth.
The manager didn't tell us much about the island, so we decided to take an exploratory walk.

We discovered beautiful homes on large parcels of land.  They all were beachfront with sea views. 
The only drawback was the lack of privacy, since the beach-front path was open to the public. 

We initially saw just the side of this home and at that point we thought it was quite nice.  
As we continued to the front of the home, we were astounded ... what a grand mansion! 
At first we thought this area may be a cemetery, but these cement structures will become the foundation of their new pier. How thoughtful ... an outdoor bathroom for hikers!
We continued our walk and entered a nature reserve area.  The beach was kept in a natural state, which meant we had to climb over many downed palm trees and debris. 
We saw a nice peninsula ahead and made that as our goal.  The distances weren't far, but it took a long time to go a short ways.
 

The ground got muddy as we came to the mouth of a little river that opened to a cute pond.

To keep from sinking we had to walk on the roots of the fig trees.
The hanging vines and reflections in the pond were all quite interesting ... are any up-side-down?
 

<=== Nicole investigated a
      hollow tree and discovered ...

 

 ... a nest of termites  ==>
 

<=== Then she saw a long, 
          strange light green vine ...


 ... which turned out to be ==>
 a long garden snake        


We finally got to the little peninsula and found the grass to be almost perfectly manicured.  We looked around to ensure we weren't in someone's front yard ... but it was all natural!

We had a picnic lunch and relaxed with a bottle of wine.

 
From the hill-top we could see further up the coast.  There was another nice stretch of beach and then a dense peninsula.

We figured that we were close to going all the way around the island, but we decided to turn back since it looked like rain.

These beaches were very nice and would have been developed if this area wasn't a nature reserve.
Looking backwards, we could see the grand mansion and the path we had already traversed.
We walked along the rocks and played with the critters and crabs in the tidal pools.
We got back to the resort area and enjoyed a sundowner at the water-bar of a neighboring hotel.
In total we spent two relaxing days hopping back & forth between the island and Bocas Town.  
We then packed up & caught a series of water-taxis back to the mainland and our parked rental car.

The next page is the last part of our trip, as we head back towards Panama City ... click to continue.
    
    Panama City & Canal      Southern Beach      Boquete Mtn      Bocas Del Toro     Islands     Trinidad Mtn & Return
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