SPONTANEITY AT ITS BEST!

For whatever reason, when I woke up in our hotel room on Saturday (I think) and while waiting for Ray to shower, I started "googling" things to do in Bocas and that research led me to VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) which then led me to a really nice house on a pretty beach somewhere on another island.  It would cost $450 for two nights for the four of us.  Not exactly $38/night which is what our hotel room would now cost us with it being a weekend.  So I quickly put that thought away.  At breakfast, while eating carrot cake (the Funfetti cake came the next day), after Ray and Greg had paid for our next night's stay and dropped laundry off to be washed while we were wandering the town, Greg made some comment about VRBO homes.  Great minds think alike!  Okay, I don't really remember how it all happened, but the next thing Thea and Ray know is that Greg and I are now looking at our phones researching places we might want to stay for another two nights.  We decided to hang out at the hotel for the day and night, but we wanted to see if we could island hop and find an inexpensive house rental.  We left many phone and email messages.  But first, three of us needed to find bathing suits.  Ray was good to go!

We had to remember though that we are in Panama and shopping for a shirt is difficult let alone a bathing suit, and we were on an island!  From what I remember of the morning (I tried to block it out!), Thea and I tried on our first swimsuits in the back of a small store (she was in the dressing room, and I was just dropping my shorts in the back of the store). She had found a tiny two piece (she is accustomed to wearing two pieces) with bananas on it, and the colors were lovely.  The size wasn't quite right, but she was giving it a go.  I, in the meantime, had no inclination of wearing a tiny two piece, and I had commented at the beginning of my retirement that I was fine wearing tankinis.  Plus, my belly hasn't seen sun in the fifteen years, since I last wore a two piece!  But here I was trying on a THREE piece tropical orange suit.  The top was a normal bandeau style, and it fit.  The top part is never the problem.  The bottom piece was just about a thong (a little more fabric than a thong, but very narrow fabric), and there was a cute little skirt to go with it.  The skirt, however, had a huge slit on the side baring lots of skin.  Thea had suggested turning the skirt, but fortunately, both she and Greg were unhappy with their finds, so I was going to keep looking as well.  By now the sun was intense, so we started looking at bike rentals.  Good exercise, and we will be able to see more of the town with a breeze blowing along the way.  Then we found electric bikes.  Who needs exercise?  Four bikes would cost $80.  While Thea and I were wandering the streets aimlessly, Ray and Greg spotted golf carts for rent.  $65 for the day!  SOLD!  What ground we could cover with this thing.  Driver Mar-Veen was back in business!  We had a plan, but we were still looking for those bathing suits.

We probably went into two or three more little stores (and we bumped into the Shermans and the Smiths along the way) before being told about Todo (not to be confused with Todo A Dollar).  Off the main street and around the corner there was a two story Walmart "wannabe".  On the first floor, this store had food, ice, drinks, electronics, small appliances, aerosol hairspray (!!!), suntan lotion, and trail mix (!!!), and on the second floor (remember heat rises), we spotted clothing and toys.  And bathing suits.  Ocean Pacific bathing suits.  Most were made for ten year olds.  Without my reading glasses on, I had no idea what size anything way, so I grabbed five or six suits, and I grumpily tried on one after the other.  It was hot up there.  They were one pieces and tankinis though!  However, one was too short (think Borat on the beach!), one was too tight, but one was looking promising to me.  The bottom piece was attached for security purposes to the top piece.  The salesgirl told Ray I couldn't try it on.  She wouldn't take the piece off for me.  Sweating and more grumpy now, I stuck my feet into the bottom piece making sure it fit.  It will do.  Sold!  Greg had found one as well.  Thea was still stuck looking at one size too small bathing suits.  Back to the first store to buy the banana suit after visiting a few more stores having no idea where we would be wearing these things.

No worries, Greg came up with a plan while renting the golf cart.  After some light shopping, we put our swimsuits on at the hotel (my bottom piece was a SMALL, so now think Plumber Al for the next two days, but the top piece was good and long!).  We hopped onto the golf cart, and our driver took us to Playa Bluff.  Before committing to a VRBO house, we wanted to see it first.  We set out for the beach.  We found the house.  We also found a restaurant.  At the Playa Bluff Restaurant, there was a sign and a large swimming pool.  The sign said that if we ate lunch or dinner there, we could use the pool for free (otherwise, it was $5).  We were hungry.  What a deal.  The restaurant owner said she had just bought the place (she was from New York), and they weren't planning on opening that day, but they did have food and could make us certain things.  We opted for a chicken, sausage and vegetable platter with french fries and lots of beer.  By now, we had ruled out the VRBO house, because it didn't make sense to be stuck in a house far from town just for the beach.  We wanted to see the other islands.  Greg had suggested a eight hour boat trip for the next day to island hop.  It would include food and drinks.  While in the swimming pool, Greg concocted more ideas.  Pictures first though:

Playa Bluff beach across from the restaurant

The restaurant

Beautiful beach

The restaurant pool (working his magic hooking us up with a place to go)

The beach along the way to Playa Bluff

More beach

Paki Point art work (televisions thrown in here)

Paki Point Bar and Restaurant

Making our batidos (shakes) for the drive back

Our VW bug we used to drive, on the left

Here is Paki Point's lounging area

Ray and Greg check to see if our cart can go over the mud and boards.

While at the restaurant, we ate, swam in the pool, swam in the ocean, drank beers and came up with a plan to charter a sailboat not for the next day, but for the next two nights.  What have we gotten ourselves into here.  Captain George would meet us at Riptide pier the next morning at ten am, and he would be our Captain and Chef for the next two days.  Always good to have a plan!  On the way back to the main part of town, we stopped at Paki Point which is a Bar and Restaurant where locals hang out.  The beach has dangerous riptides here, and the water was a little more rough.  We only stopped for a batido (pineapple shake) and pictures of the crazy artwork.  Driver Mar-Veen was now in the back of the cart with me, and once in town we searched for a restaurant to have dinner.  We chose an excellent restaurant (thank you TripAdvisor) called The Ultimo Refugio.  First we had Happy Hour on the second deck of our hotel.  We drank boxed wine (Clos brand and actually good!), and we ate crackers and snacks we had bought the night before.  We also ate sausage that Greg and Thea had purchased at the Tuesday market in Boquete.  At dinner, we met the owner, Katherine (went to college in DC area) and the Chef Ben.  We ordered appetizers and entrees to share, and the most amazing Snicker Peanut Butter Pie!  We then went back to The Iguana where it was a much quieter night.  We chatted again with our new friends from the night before, and we made promises to see them back in the interior of Panama soon.  Busy few days ahead of sailing, so we called it an early night (midnight again).

An excellent restaurant in Bocas Town!

This is how many menus in Panama are presented.

Shopping our last day before getting on the boat (lovely lady and beautiful store)

The ferry that brings in supplies (notice the jugs of water on the truck)

Greg and I check out the kitchen.  The headband and no makeup will be a given for the rest of the trip!

 The next morning Thea was knocking on our door to tell us that the laundry that had been "done for us" the night before was not clean.  Her dirty laundry looked dirty still.  Greg had to throw his laundry back in and do the wash himself.  Ray's laundry looked clean.  I hadn't thrown much in the load for fear of everything coming back two sizes too small.  This is when we had the Funfetti cake.  We also shopped for suntan lotion (I had half a bottle with me and a small bottle for our faces).  We found clothing and suntan lotion for $2.50 which isn't really a good thing, and we found little children diving for coins.  We then called a taxi, loaded our luggage up and met George at the pier.  It was now time for Thurston Howell IV, Lovey, Maryann and Gilligan to board the boat!  What a day it was going to be in this thing called retirement!

Our lodging for the next two days.