Newsletter #42

Fishing Arenosa

Our son Henry III is home from England, and on Tuesday he and a friend, Anthony OMorrison, who came with him, Henry IV (my grandson) John Mercier and I went to Arenosa for a day of fishing. By some miracle we arrived at 7:02 am, only 2 minutes behind our 7:00 schedule and were underway shortly after, our guide being one of the rare ones who was ready to go when we got there. It was a beautiful, sunny day with a brisk wind and we each smeared a liberal application of 70 sun blocker on all exposed skin. I strongly advise any of you who are contemplating a day on the water to take similar precautions. You can get very painfully sunburned in a short time without protection.

We got off to a slow start, catching only a few during the first hour and a half, one of which was a nice Oscar which would have been worth about $60.00 in a US pet store, but which we knew would be very tasty. During the day, we never experienced any frantic feeding frenzies, but did steadily catch fish. Many of them were too small to justify the $.10 cost to clean them, but in keeping with long-standing advice, we did not throw them back. Gatun Lake is very lightly fished, mostly by locals who fish for the day's meal, and is overstocked with Peacock Bass. It shows in the size of the average catch, which is about half what it used to be. Most of our fish were under a pound and none over two pounds. At the end of the day we had 47 that were large enough to eat and about thirty more that we gave to the fish cleaners, and they promptly cleaned them for their own supper. Henry IV caught a good-sized Dogfish, and when shown the teeth that gave it its name, he launched into a rousing chorus of 'Who Let the Dogs Out'.

We left Arenosa happy, tired, and sunburned. Dinner that evening was deep-fat fried, corn-mealed Peacock Bass, patacones, and Panama beer. It was the kind of day that offsets the annoyances I wrote about last week.

Playa Blanca

On Wednesday, Henry III, Dayanara, Henry IV, Anthony, Nora, and I all went to Playa Blanca Resort (http://www.playablancaresort.com/) which most of the locals know as Barcelo, for an overnight stay. Playa Blanca is similar to Decameron Resort, but smaller and with fewer amenities. The all-inclusive resort is advertised as Five Star, but fails to live up to its billing. All-inclusive, in this context, means meals, pool and beach access, towels, drinks, and entertainment. The really fun things, like para-sailing, 4-wheeling up and down the beach, and excursions are not included. While you can indeed drink till you fall down for free, unless you like local beer (which I do), cheap wine (which I don't), and rotgut booze (no comment needed), bring your own bottle, because they don't sell decent liquor here, except by the drink. On the plus side, Playa Blanca does not pass out free cigarettes.

We had a late lunch at the Panama Canal buffet restaurant. Food was plentiful and except for vegetables there was a good assortment, but service was haphazard, and the unsweetened tea I ordered arrived presweetened. and the artificial sweetener I asked for never appeared.

There are two large pools and two jacuzzis, and I was looking forward to spending some quiet time later in the evening with Nora in the jacuzzi just outside our room. Then at 6:00 pm they closed the pool bars, chased everyone out of the pool and shut down the jacuzzis.

We all went to dinner, anticipating ordering from the menu at the Pollera restaurant only to be told that we needed reservations. So, having been less than impressed with the Panama Canal buffet, we walked down to the beach where we found El Velero, advertised as specializing in seafood. To our pleasant surprise, there was a good variety of grilled meats, though the limited vegetable selection was the same as we found earlier at the Panama Canal Buffet. We enjoyed a quiet, breeze cooled dinner with surf sounds in the background and one of the most attentive group of waitresses and waiters we have ever encountered. One of them, a young lady whose name I fail to remember (They say the memory is the first thing to go.) even went to another bar/restaurant to get an order of french fries for Henry IV. She was so nice and pleasant that she turned what might have been an unremarkable meal into a delight.

Our room with an advertised king-sized (but actually a large double) bed was comfortable, but hardly up to five-star standards. The small bathroom had only a shower, no tub, but there was hot water. The rooms do not have internet drops, but you can go to the Internet Cafe and rent one of their five computers for $6.00 per hour. One of the table lamps didn't work, the TV had only a few channels, and the SAP function did not work, leaving me with a choice of CNN and whatever happened to be in English on a couple of other channels. Of course, one could argue that you shouldn't go to a beach resort to watch TV, but you can eat only so much and the restaurants close at 10:00 pm anyway, and with the pools and beach closed at 6:00 pm, there isn't a lot of entertainment left. I suppose I could have gone to a bar and drank some of their bad whiskey, but after spending the day before on the lake and cavorting in the jacuzzi, I was too tuckered out to contemplate sitting at a bar.

I didn't even need to visit the disco, which I could hear from my room, to know it wasn't my cup of tea, and the nightly "show", which featured an emcee who couldn't be understood in six languages, was so loud that after 5 minutes I had a splitting headache and had to leave.

The following morning we had breakfast at the Panama Canal buffet, and aside from a mouthful of eggshell which I found in my scrambled eggs, and some rather strange items (half a grilled hamburger patty with cheese) it was a good enough breakfast. This time there was even Splenda on the table for my coffee.

Before we left, Nora called the front desk to ask what we should do with the beach towels we had got from the Activities Center the day before and they told her we had to return them to the Activities Center. She was a bit put out and told them that a real five star hotel would treat its guests better.

We left a bit disappointed.

Los Camisones

I last wrote about Los Camisones in Newsletter #28. We visited again on Thursday, on the way home from Playa Blanca. This time we were five adults and a 5 1/2 year old, and the bill, with tip, was $82.00. Prices are still rising, and in my opinion have probably reached the point where some customers will look for alternatives. Except for the shrimp ceviche, which was too dry and made from tiny, poorly cleaned shrimp, the food was excellent and the service attentive. We probably won't go back.

The Website

There are some new additions in the Real Estate section, and a couple of price reductions. I'm working on adding maps to the website, so you will have a better idea of where some of the places are. We've just ordered a GPS receiver, so when the Jeep is fixed, and we hit the back roads, we will be able to pinpoint the rural properties we are going to pursue.