Hola Pancho! (Panama)

 

We’re waiting here in Panama City for some suitable weather for our crossing down to the Marquesas. The usual forecast winds seem to have deserted us for now, with the predicted El Niño year disrupting the more normal patterns. Thankfully it’s a less rather than more wind scenario, and it appears that it may be resolved this coming weekend - there’s some favourable blows forecast, but we’ll see.

With time on our hands, and for once being (close to) on top of the boat jobs list, we became tourists for the day.

Took a taxi to the old town ( Casco Viejo) Our drive to this touristy area took us through some decidedly more rundown and gritty parts of town. Considering the amount of money that must come in to the country, it’s sad to see such poor struggling neighbourhoods next to skyscrapers and tourist hotspots.

In Casco Viejo we spent the morning strolling around and taking in the architecture. Followed by an exceptionally good lunch at a very un-Panamanian sushi restaurant.

The old town has a similar feel to Cartagena in Colombia: sun baked town squares with statues of majestic figures on horseback, tall imposing church edifices, wrought iron balconies hanging over the roads. There’s chic pastel painted shops selling molas and Panama hats alongside derelict formerly glorious 3 and 4 storey buildings - some boarded up and crumbing in the dry heat, some under repair to be reborn as boutique hotels and the like.

There’s a large police presence. They’re dressed in a variety of different uniforms. Giving off more of a black ops military vibe than your friendly bobby. However, given the close proximity between what I’d (possibly unjustly) describe as the bad part of town and where we are now happily strolling around, they seem to be having the desired effect.

Back to the boat in the afternoon. We had to unjam the dinghy from the dock where we’d been double and triple parked in. Thankfully, unlike cars, with a little persuasion, other boats can be pushed out of the way.

The lack of wind, and the constant 30+ degrees makes for sweaty days. The temperature rapidly rises after sunrise and doesn’t relent until it oh so slowly drops after sunset - I mention this as we still have some way to go South before we hit the equator. Friends back in the UK are experiencing snow flurries at the moment - amazing the contrast.

Having re-checked the weather, it’s looking good, and we’ve decided that for the second time here in Panama we’re checking out. This was painlessly achieved with the assistance of our agent and two smiling ladies in the immigration office at the duty free centre. There’s a little more shopping to do, and a few (very minor) boat jobs and we’ll be off, possibly a couple of days from now.

Had pizza out with a nice group of fellow cruisers last night, chat was mainly sailing stories and weather, but we did get one interesting uninvited guest. The jolly restaurateur introduced the newcomer as Pancho.. supposedly a regular visitor. Pancho walked around the table surveying the situation, then sat a few feet away and waited. I should point out at this stage that Pancho was a remarkably cute little raccoon. He didn’t need to wait long for a feed, one of our fellow diners gave him a piece of crust, which was very delicately taken from the diners hand before Pancho scurried off to eat it. The Americans and Canadians at the table were much less delighted by Pancho’s presence than the Europeans.

Good pizza, good company and nice to get off the boat for a meal and to stretch the legs and be sociable once in a while. All the diners with the exception of the raccoon will be heading the same way as us shortly, so we’ll likely catch up again somewhere along the way.

I’ve been putting off cleaning the hull - I’d been planning to do this in slightly cleaner waters when we return to the Pearl islands shortly. Having reconsidered, although the water is most definitely cleaner there, the prolific jellyfish back at the Pearl islands would almost guarantee me a sting or two, so this morning I once again donned the wetsuit and spent a surprisingly pleasant morning in the warmish water with no current, gently scraping the hull.

In the afternoon we headed out to a shopping centre for yet more provisions. Our first stop, a hardware store for 4 large Jerry cans to hold extra diesel for the trip. Then heading for the supermarket we were held up by a security guard in an zoo keeper like safari outfit. He initially wouldn’t let us back into the shopping centre with the fuel cans, possibly suspecting us of being some sort of gringo arsonists. After some radio chat he relented and we proceeded to the supermarket to fill 2 trolleys with tinned goods. This will see us through the shopping drought, and the overpriced food that await us in the Pacific islands. From the shopping centre, back to the boat by taxi - the journey there costing $5, the return costing $15 due partially to the heavy commuter traffic, and partially to us being gringos. The driver pointed out a toucan atop a tree from the cab, very distinct, but some way away - nice to see regardless. From the dinghy dock we needed two trips to unload all the goodies as the sun went down. The boat had suffered a little downpour in our absence - we’d left one of the hatches open in the galley - no harm done, soon mopped up.

Today I completed what felt like a very dodgy fuel run. I took our collection of 11 jerry cans to the dinghy dock. A smiling, somewhat scruffy local guy helps me unload them. Through the power of gesticulation he explains that his amigo will fill them for me. A phone call to said amigo ensues - it’s a young man called Carlos. Carlos arrives in a shiny sports coupe with blacked out windows. I ask him how much in my broken Spanish, he says he can translate in the car - I get in, the aircon is on, so if I am to be mugged at least I’ll be cold. He then hands me his phone telling me to speak to his father..

There follows a confused conversation with his dad in a broken version of both our languages about litres vs gallons, and how much it’ll cost etc.. By the time I’ve finished that chat I am none the wiser on cost, and we are slap bang in the middle of the previously mentioned bad part of town. This is evidenced by graffiti and rubbish everywhere, stray dogs prowling, and a man in string vest and underpants pulling parts out of the back of an old washing machine in the middle of the road - oh dear. Despite my growing misgivings, we pull up at a gas station, where some overly cheerful pump attendants begin filling up the cans.

I’d been told by Carlos that it had to be cash only… if I needed more we could go to an ATM (by this time red flags galore are flashing in my mind).

I tell Carlos I only have $160 on me, and can’t and won’t pay any more. This all seems fine, and ten minutes later, I do indeed have almost all the cans full, and hand all my cash to the attendant (which Google translate has as “lord of the pump”) and off we go. I’m thinking: ‘here comes the stinger’. Carlos gets his father back on the phone to tell me how much I owe, they go back and forth in Spanish for a few minutes and abruptly end the call. Carlos turns to me and says - almost in an apologetic voice.. “Papa says $14” - blimey… that’s good!

We stop off at the ATM back in the Marina, where I withdraw some more cash, give Carlos $15, and return to the dinghy where the guy who’d originally helped me is still waiting - Carlos had advised that he would also need a ‘regalo’ (gift/tip). All my misgivings were wrong - the people I dealt with were, in hindsight, all really helpful, honest and nice , in fact, a delight to deal with. It was purely my perception of them which had my guard up. I probably need to learn a lesson from today to be slightly more trusting until proved wrong in the future.

I won’t bore you with another shopping trip - the only note worthy item was the long hot walk from the fruit market to the Super 99 supermarket marked on the map. Arriving there only to discover the Super 99 is now a recently burnt out shell with tape around it and policeman stationed outside. More hot walking followed.

….and the next morning we’re off!