Adventures of Trent & Jane

 Wow, time flies! We should be posting daily but it gets away from us.  We have been quiet for a day, sat around and read and sunned on Thursday. Better weather than my weather app indicates. Even if it rains though, it isn’t uncomfortable, plenty warm! Friday we headed for Gamboa. There’s a nature park and hiking trails, and the sloth sanctuary. Going to see the sloths (we kind of feel for them as what we were doing on Thursday is what they do all the time, move slow, eat and sleep). The road trip itself was longer than we thought, if only because the signage and road system are really confusing. Siri was no help, ‘go west’, doesn’t help when you have just turned a complete circle on a very strange set of traffic circles. We did make it to Gamboa, they want $80 to take a two hour boat ride to monkey island. It is raining intermittently and any monkeys we have seen in the trees are hunkered down to try and stay dry, no activity. We take a pass on monkey island, maybe we’ll go ...

 We did another road trip on the 23rd. ( We are a little behind on our posts, busy few days). We decided to try to go to Punta Chame. We were told that the road was terrible but thought we could try it and turn around if it was too bad. It was slow, the road did have some large potholes(but what road here doesn’t) and some construction but otherwise a pretty easy drive. I could say ‘I could have driven a school bus through there’. Pretty little town, fairly isolated, lots of fishing boats. What else would you do here. A number of resorts with one very large one, Playa Caricol Residences and Beach Club. Really big and very new. Us, being plebeians hung at the Surf Shack for a bit. It’s right beside the resort and much more regular. Cold beer is cold beer! If you look hard you can see some kite surfers in the second pic. Instead of just heading home I decided to see where the road went. Not too long a track but it ended right at the tip of the point. It was completely deserted. You c...

  Had a quiet Christmas in Panama went to Christmas Eve dinner next door and then did Christmas tapas downstairs with great fiddle music.  Christmas gifts helped us fit in with the locals!  Wishing everyone a great holiday season and looking forward to seeing you in 2025.    

  We went to Anton Valley and the town of El valley which is the only town in the world, according to them built inside a crater.   The drive was spectacular as you are driving on the rim seeing the inside on the crater one side and the Pacific Ocean on We attempted hiking the Iguana but the road was being graded and the incline was straight up, made it about 200 yds and then as we were starting down, got a lift in the back of a panamian truck, saved my knees.  Decided we would go to the Waterfalls instead.  At the gate we paid our $4 entrance fee and was told it was a 10 minute walk to the falls, it was more like 20 minutes scrabbling over rocks and leaning into the moss rocks to get to a 5m waterfall!  Not the most spectacular but still a great walk. Stopped in town and was shown a great view of India (I am pointing at her head).  El Valle has Millionarre street with huge homes that the rich from Panama come to to escape the heat as El Valle has spring te...

 We have been told that weekends around here are a little hectic, especially the highways. We stayed home last weekend but we needed to do some wine shopping. We tried to buy wine yesterday but found out, the hard way, that December 20 is a national day of mourning in Panama. It commemorates the 1989 invasion by the americans to oust Noriega. We headed for a wine store we found and discovered the highways are, in fact, very busy. They have police on the road directing traffic and many of the left turn lanes were blocked or controlled. Shopping accomplished we headed home but had to take a roundabout route. We’ll know better for next time. Jane decided we should walk around the point toward the Coronado Beach Club. Seemed like a good idea! Well, it doesn’t rain here but it pours! Not totally uncomfortable because the temperature is good and the rain is warm. Sticky clothes are not my bag. We made it to a beach bar at Bahia Beach Club to wait out the rain. We did make it to Coronado ...

 We did some more exploring today. Also did some shopping. There is a market on Thursday open till 1. Missed last week but made it today. Not too large but busy. Half the vendors are local the other half expats selling things they want from wherever home was. Jane got a 15 minute massage that stretched to 20+. The masseuse may have given her extra because we helped a local author after she got bit/stung by some bug and started to swell up. We gave her an antihistamine from our stash. She recovered ok. The next stop was another resort that we didn’t stay at, Vista Mar. they have a nice looking golf course and a marina. We checked out the course, a lot like Buenaventura, big fat fairways but little shade as there are only palm trees along the fairways. The few greens we could see didn’t look that good either. Buenaventura was nicer but we decided we like Coronado better because of the abundant shade and trees. Off to Bahia, another resort not far from home. Checking out the bar and r...

  Drove down the coast to check out what was west of us.  Took a while to understand Panama runs east west along the Pacific Ocean!   Playa Blanca has an airport that only Airtransat flies into and the town has a few condos but mainly has 5 all inclusive resorts. We walked around town center but all the shops had closed up.  You could take a rose back ride on the beach and vendors had some shops set up, but no hassling of guests.  We found a dive shop that we can hopefully dive from in the new year, the dive master was very nice explaining currently poor visibility due to the high flow of the rivers entering the ocean near them.   Next went went to Buenaventura , the “rich” town and checked out the golf course and faro club.  It was great we had lunch of mixed ceviche, nachos with real cheddar cheese (hard to find here) and then found out we could spend the afternoon swimming and relaxing in a cabana!  Found out latter that many Asians came o...

Unfortunately we failed to take our cameras with us yesterday. It was a golf day. Teed off at 8:10. Much nicer than 9 but we do have a 9 AM time on Friday. That will be hot by the turn but we hydrate well and stay in the shade as much as we can. It’s not too bad, only reaching 30 C in the day but it’s about 80% humidity so it gets uncomfortable when your clothes stick to you. We both played well yesterday so we are looking forward to many more days. Golf Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Exploring on Tuesday and Thursday, and hang near home on weekends. After golf we went to the associated beach club to cool off. Nice spot, chairs and shade on the beach and a really nice bar/lounge with a shady pool. We were just coming up from the ocean when we ran into some people we had met at the Hawaii bar on Saturday night. It was the bass player who noticed the first one but it turned out there were a bunch of them. Baby sea turtles hatch almost right under one of the tables on the beach. It was fas...

 Well, time flies when you’re having fun, so they say. We seem to be so busy doing what seems to be nothing at all. Then we miss a day of posting cause we are either lazy or busy (or busy being lazy). We wander a lot here and have been informed that if we go out to the main highway on Saturday or Sunday we will most likely be stopped and ID checked. Apparently the national police do checks to ensure the expats aren’t driving outside their time limit (three months). We aren’t worried as we are not here that long but the lineup to get to the highway is long. Saturday we hung out then decided to walk to the Hawaii Bar. We are booked to go there for New Years Eve and need to know the route and timing if we want to walk. It took us about 20 minutes at a leisurely pace. We passed a local vet clinic that does spay and neuter on weekends, I think it’s free or very slight charge as there were dozens of people with a variety of animals waiting. We had a drink and as we were leaving a band st...

 Life in Nuevo Gorgona is pretty swell. Sun, sand and golf. We are getting a little rain each afternoon but it doesn’t cool anything down.It will pour for a few minutes then go as quickly as it came. Had to wait 2 minutes before taking the groceries to the car. The apartment is good, not huge but good for us. Great balcony and ocean view. Luckily we are facing mostly west so the mornings are cooler on the balcony. There are entrepreneurs in the area that bring veggies, bread and prepared meals of sorts right to the building. Surprisingly many of the residents done have cars. We are a drive from most everything on some rough roads but for us a car is essential if you want to golf. The golf is really good. The course is tough and longer than home but in really good condition. The trees will make you want to hit straight. Water too, and beware of crocs! Haven’t lost too many balls yet but looking forward to it. We played at 9 on Friday and had to cool off in the AC at the turn. Got ar...