{"id":9,"date":"2005-04-27T22:24:26","date_gmt":"2005-04-28T02:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/2005\/04\/27\/vacation\/"},"modified":"2012-05-04T10:16:28","modified_gmt":"2012-05-04T14:16:28","slug":"vacation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/2005\/04\/27\/vacation\/","title":{"rendered":"Vacation!"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

    In the middle of March, my parents and
\nfriends of ours, Steve and Shelley Fein, came to visit me in Panama. 
\nIt was my first real vacation since being in Panama,
\nand I really wanted to use it to get outside the Canal Zone,
\nand see some of the rest of the country.  I convinced everyone that the
\nbest plan would be to rent a car, and drive up the Inter-Americana,
\nstopping  at various places along the way.  And so, I dragged my
\nparents from one end of Panama to the other (well, not quite, as we didn’t make
\nit to the Darien)–I think they’ve forgiven me, now that all their chigger
\nbites have healed and they’ve found and removed the last of the ticks.  <\/p>\n

Our trip started with my parent missing a connection and arriving a day
\nlate.  This gave me a day in Panama City
\nto show Steve and Shelley around.  We went to Casco Viejo–the old part of
\nthe city–in the morning.  Casco Viejo is a strange mix upscale, renovated
\nold buildings next to shells of old mansions that no longer have roofs, windows
\nor floors.  It is the location of the president’s residence as well as a
\nlarge number of the city’s squatters.  It also has spectacular views of Panama
\n City.<\/p>\n

I’d been telling everyone, via email, how amazing the passion fruit 
\nice-cream was at the restaurant called Crepes and Waffles.  We tried to go
\nthere for lunch, but it was closed.  I didn’t hear the end of this for the
\nentire trip–although I did manage to get everyone addicted to passion fruit
\njuice!<\/p>\n

We went out to BCI  that night, and mom and dad joined us the next morning. 
\nThe timing couldn’t have been better because the guayacan had started flowering
\nthe day before.  Tabebuia guayacans flower synchronously  following
\nthe first rain of the rainy season.  They dotted both sides of the canal,
\nand were absolutely beautiful.  (but I don’t have any photos cause my dad
\nwas supposed to send me his, and hasn’t yet).  <\/p>\n

We stayed on BCI for two days mostly just walking around.  My monkeys
\ncooperated and put in an appearance.  They were pretty funny, crashing
\naround right over our heads.  Bert Leigh, my STRI advisor, invited us all
\nto dinner at his house in Gamboa, which was fun, and I think a good
\nillustration of an important aspect of  my life on BCI.  <\/p>\n

We picked up our rental car in down town Panama City
\n(first time for all of us driving a SUV), and headed over the Bridge of the Americas
\nand up the Inter-Americana.<\/p>\n

Our first stop was the Omar Torilljos National Park near El Cope, about a
\n2 hour drive from the City. After turning off the Interamericana, you drive
\nthrough some foothills.  In El Cope, the paving stops, and the mountains
\nahead of you become visible.  The road slowly degenerates, until you get
\nto the town of Barrigon, right
\noutside the park.  The visitors center for the park is in beautiful cloud
\nforest, and volunteers have recently put a lot of effort into upgrading the
\ntrails (which are really more walks than hikes).  If you have 4WD (and you
\nactually need 4WD for this!), you can drive past the visitors center to the
\npeak of one of the mountains where, on a clear day, you can see both the
\nPacific and the Caribbean simultaneously.  It
\nwasn’t a clear day for us, but there were these raptors that were feeding in a
\nfruit tree whose crown was at eyelevel with us.  They would swoop in, grab
\na fruit with their feet without stopping and fly off.  With about 6 of
\nthem taking turns dive bombing the tree, it was pretty impressive! <\/p>\n

We stayed the night in Barrigon with the Navas family, who took us to their
\nfarm in one of the towns inside the park the next morning.  I think this
\nwas the first place my parents started to question the wisdom of putting
\nthemselves in my hands for this vacation.  The Navas’ house was perfectly
\ncomfortable, they were very nice, and the food was good, but it quickly became
\nclear thta several of the kids had been kicked out of their rooms to accommodate
\nus.<\/p>\n

The next morning, we headed back into the park, past hills full of wild growing
\npink and white impatients (called novios, or boyfriends, in spanish), up the
\nincredibly steep hill to the look out point.  The day before, we had
\nassumed the road ended there, but instead of stopping, the truck we were in
\ncontinued over the peak, and down the most washed-out dirt road I’d ever
\nseen.  I think my mother was convinced she was going to die–and we hadn’t
\neven really started the adventure!<\/p>\n

After 15 minutes more, the truck stopped and we got out and met our
\nhorses.  I think Santos Navas had looked at us all and decided that we
\nreally weren’t up for the hike into La Ricca, so we got to go on horses! 
\nHe had apparently also decided that we weren’t really competent to be trusted
\nwith our horses, so we were each led (in my case by a 7 year old boy), down the
\nmountains.  It took about 2 hours, winding down the hills to get to La
\nRicca.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We spent two days at Santos’ farm
\nin La Rica, going on hikes, and swimming in beautiful waterfalls.<\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/font><\/p>\n


\nI really liked our time in La Rica because it was such a completely different
\npart of Panama.  Panama seems to
\nbe divided into the Canal Zone, the beach, Kuna Yala,
\nand the center.  I’d never seen “the center” and really enjoyed
\ngetting to see one of the isolated farming towns that isn’t accessible by car
\nand doesn’t have electricity or indoor plumbing.  We all enjoyed eating
\ntraditional Panamanian food and talking to Santos,
\nwho had a lot to say about how Panama
\nwas changing.  We also enjoyed the slow pace of breakfast at 7, hike, eat,
\nswim, siesta, eat dinner at 4, be in bed, asleep by 8.
\n<\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\n<\/font>\n<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n


\n<\/font>\n<\/p>\n


\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Two of Santos’ grandchildren<\/p>\n

After our visit to La Ricca, we headed out to Santa Catalina
\non the Pacific coast.  This is apparently one of the best places to surf
\nin Panama. 
\nIt is also the place you leave from to get out to Isla Coiba.  Coiba is a
\nlarge island which has recently been designated a marine and terrestrial
\nnational park.  It used to be a penal colony where Panama’s
\nworst criminals were incarcerated.  In recent years, the prison has been
\ncompletely shut down, and the ANAM ranger’s station is now the only inhabited
\nplace on the island.  <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Coiba seems to represent Panama
\nin general faces as to how to develop tourism.  The previous president,
\nMireya Moscoso, favored opening it up to development and large hotels. The new
\npresident, Martin Torilljos (son of the former president Omar Torilljos that
\nthe first nation park we visited was named after.  He died when his plane
\ncrashed into Cerro Marta–a mountain in the park), seems to be reconsidering
\nthe fate of Coiba.  He was actually visiting while we were there.  We
\ndidn’t actually see him, but we saw his guards, their guns, and his helicopter
\ncoming and going.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We spent our time in Coiba snorkeling (mom, dad and I) and diving (Steve and
\nShelley).  The Pacific side doesn’t have nice, colorful coral, but it
\ndidn’t matter a bit.  There were huge schools of fish, huge fish, lots of
\nrays and sharks, barracuda, and sea turtles.  I also saw octopus and
\nspinner dolphins for the first time.  <\/p>\n

\"\"    \"\"<\/p>\n

We also experienced the difference between simple but well built, and poorly
\ndesigned.  La Rica, without electricity or plumbing, was well ventilated,
\nwell planned, and entirely comfortable.  The dorms on Coiba were
\ncinderblock with windows that wouldn’t open, and air-conditioning that didn’t
\nwork.  Between the heat and the sand flies, it was nearly impossible to
\nsleep, which meant that we were all awake to see:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After Coiba, we headed to the northern part of the country, to Chiriqui
\nprovince.  It was amazing, turning at Concepcion
\nand heading inland and up, passing from brown pastures with Brahma cattle to
\ngreen, luxurious fields with Holsteins.  The drive
\nto Cerro Punta was incredibly beautiful, in a completely different way than
\nanything we’d seen yet.  It was heavily farmed, flowers grew everywhere,
\nand there were big rushing streams.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

“Cloud Forest”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We stayed in cabin in one of the national parks in the area managed by the
\nhotel Los Quetzales.  It had a wood stove (it actually got cold!!!), hot
\nwater (finally), a kitchen, and an amazing patio with a view:<\/p>\n

“Cloud Forest 2”<\/p>\n

We saw lots of quetzales, which actually are as amazing as people say. 
\nVery hard to get a decent photo, however, so I stopped trying.  Almost as
\nmuch fun as the quetzales were the hummingbirds around the feeder at the
\ncabin.  If you stood with your hands near the feeder, they would perch on
\nyou while they ate.  This is a video of me trying to keep form cracking up
\nlong enough to get a hummingbird to perch on me.<\/p>\n

Humming birds<\/a><\/p>\n

By the time we got to Los Quetzales, we were very happy to be staying in the
\nsame place for a few days.  We hiked and saw some beautiful birds, but
\nalso spent a lot of time reading, cooking good food and talking.  <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I was completely blown away by how beautiful the cloud forest.  It looks
\nso completely different from the forest I work in.  I could have happily
\nstayed for much longer.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Los Quetzales was the end of our 3 week vacation.  We drove
\n8 hours back to Panama City, disguised
\nthe crack in the windshield we’d acquired along the way and finally made it to
\nCrepes and Waffles for dinner and passion fruit ice cream (I think the weeks of
\nthinking about it, craving it, made it so much better when we finally got it!).<\/p>\n

I loved our vacation, and I don’t think I traumatized my parents too
\nbadly.  I’m amazed at how few tourists seems to come to Panama. 
\nPretty much everywhere we went, we were either the only tourists, or there were
\nonly a few others.  The national park system is stunning, but poorly
\nutilized.  I’m really looking forward to visiting some of the other parks
\nthat we didn’t get to on the trip later this summer!<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In the middle of March, my parents and friends of ours, Steve and Shelley Fein, came to visit me in Panama.  It was my first real vacation since being in Panama, and I really wanted to use it to get outside the Canal Zone, and see some of the rest of the country.  I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1163,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1454],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crofootstories"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":88,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions\/88"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/crofoot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}