52 Pickup

Remember 52 pickup . . . throwing all the cards into the air in utter frustration?

Well, that’s a little what life feels like in Boquete! 4 days until I fly away from it all . . . to work on ROYAL PRINCESS for 4 months. I can’t wait to go to “work” on the ship so I can get a vacation!!

In my dreams I fly off into the sunrise with everything I planned to do finished, leaving things all in order, my work for the cruise all done . . . everything scheduled out. Well the cruise part is done, so all of you who are joining me on ROYAL PRINCESS shouldn’t worry . . . but everything in Palmira and Boquete . . . sheer chaos! Unfortunately “shit happens” and it usually all happens just before I leave on a trip.

So, right now, the thought of my own stateroom where I can hide out and put up a “Do Not Disturb” sign, get room service or eat whenever and whatever I want, have someone to clean my clothes and make up my room . . . and sail to exciting destinations . . . well, that sounds like heaven! Unfortunately, as usual, I leave my wife to clean up the mess.

My daughter, Rebecca, will be meeting me in Rome for a few days, and then joining me on the ship for a month. She’ll get to spend Christmas and New Year’s with me on the ship, which is always fun. She gets off in January and my wife joins me in Fort Lauderdale for a month. Then two months, which will go quickly, and I’ll be back home to continue the chaos of retirement. What ever happened to sitting back, sipping wine and reading??

So here’s where we’ll be going over the next month or so, and some of the stuff I’ll be talking about . . .
the actual talk titles are different. I put on my REALTORS hat to create fluffy titles . . . remember “handyman special” [It's ready for demolition], “partial ocean view” [If you climb to the roof, hang onto the chimney and lean out far enough you may catch a glimpse of blue between the buildings], “quaint and charming” [last decorated in 1949 even before shag carpeting]. Anyhow, here’s the itinerary . . .

Itinerary Royal Princess – Tri-Continent [1921A]
1 Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy -8PM Special: “Pizza, Guns & Roses” – Sailaway commentary Depart 6:00PM
2 Naples/Capri, Italy Arrive 7:00AM Depart 6:00PM
3 Palermo, Italy – Taped: Port Talk: “Tunisia” Arrive 8:00AM Depart 5:00PM
4 Tunis (La Goulette), Tunisia Arrive 8:00AM Depart 5:00PM
5 At Sea – Lecture: “Age of Discovery”
6 At Sea – Port Talk: Casablanca”
7 Casablanca (Marrakech), Morocco Arrive 7:00AM Depart 8:00PM
8 At Sea – Lecture:: “Rum & Sugar: The ‘Oil’ of The 17th Century”
9 At Sea – Lecture: “Slavery & The Triangle Trade”
10 At Sea – Port Talk: “Adventure In Dakar”
11 Dakar, Senegal – Sailaway Commentary Arrive 8:00AM Depart 6:00PM
12 At Sea – Port Talk ”Cape Verde”
13 Mindelo, Cape Verde Islands Arrive 8:00AM Depart 5:00PM
14 At Sea – Lecture: “History of Piracy”
15 At Sea – Lecture: “Our Vanishing Rain Forest”
16 At Sea – Lecture: “Amazon River Adventure”
17 At Sea – Port Talk: “ Santarem”
18 At Sea – Port Talk – Manaus”
19 Santarem, Brazil Arrive 9:00AM Depart 6:00PM
20 Boca da Valeria (Amazon River), Brazil –Scenic Cruising Amazon Arrive 7:00AM Depart 2:00PM
21 Manaus, Brazil – Sail in Commentary Arrive 10:00AM
22 Manaus, Brazil
23 Manaus, Brazil – Taped: “Let The Adventure Begin” combined with Port Talk Parintins [Designed for those joining the cruise at this point] Depart 6:00PM
24 Parintins, Brazil – Lecture: “Amazon River Adventure” – Sail In Commentary Arrive 12:00PM
25 Parintins, Brazil Depart 7:00AM
25 Boca da Valeria (Amazon River), Brazil – Port Talk: “Santarem” Arrive 10:30AM Depart 6:00PM
26 Santarem, Brazil Arrive 7:00AM Depart 5:00PM
27 At Sea – Lecture: “Our Vanishing Rainforest”
28 At Sea – Port Talk: “Escape from Devil’s Island” AND Lecture: “Coffee in The Americas”
29 Devil’s Island, French Guiana (Isle Royale) – Sailaway Commentary Arrive 8:00AM Depart 2:00PM
30 At Sea – Port Talk: “France in The Caribbean” AND Port Talk: “England in The Caribbean”
31 Trinidad, Trinidad & Tobago Arrive 8:00AM Depart 4:00PM
32 St. Lucia – Sailaway Commentary Arrive 7:00AM Depart 4:00PM
33 St. Barthelemy –Sailaway Commentary Arrive 8:00AM Depart 4:00PM
34 At Sea – Coffee Chat
35 At Sea –
36 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Arrive 7:00AM

Sound like fun? Come and join me on ROYAL PRINCESS! After Fort Lauderdale we’ll be doing 14 day trips up the Amazon between Fort Lauderdale and Manaus.

Valle Escondido Resort: Callous Stupidity?

I had decided to continue digging in the mud . . . but to move on with blog subjects, until yesterday . . .

One can seriously question why Valle Escondido and it’s developer, Sam Taliaferro, carved lots out of the side of a mountain in a rain forest and sold them to expats who saw only the promised “paradise” and not the prospects of disaster. [Most of the lots in Valle Escondido are fine, but there are a few that are certainly "questionable"] One can question why Boquete town officials approved building on these lots and issued building permits given the fact that the Junta Technica, the “supreme” building and engineering department of the province of Chiriqui, had already expressed disapproval. One can question the wisdom of the folks who bought and built on these lots even after locals had expressed reservations. There can be . . . and probably will be . . . no end to these discussions . . . and probably a lot of business for lawyers and judges.

If Panama’s new President Ricardo Martinelli is serious about attracting foreign investors and enabling expats to invest in Panama with confidence, and creating a transparent government that cannot be bought, he will immediately lauch an investigation. If the Ambassadors of the United States and Taiwan are concerned about the welfare or their citizens who are investing in projects in Panama, they will put pressure on the Panamanian government to investigate.

Most of the properties in Valle Escondido are fine . . . and Valle Escondido continues to be a wonderful place to live, but in order to keep it that way there needs to be an investigation and thorough understanding of what went wrong.

Valle Escondido at one time was a coffee finca owned by Sitton, then it was purchased by Sam Taliaferro. Who is Sam Taliaferro? If you go to one of his Web sites . . . www.valleescondido.biz  . . . you will see that he fancies himself to be a modern John Galt. Galt was the hero of Ayn Rand’s mega-novel ATLAS SHRUGGED.

Hi, my name is John Galt. If you have found this website you are probably not looking for an ordinary residential community, you are seeking something more. If you will spend the next ten minutes reading this first page, it may well be the start of something that will change the course of your life forever. It could be that what you will learn right here on this page will intrigue you to look deeper into my story, and if you do, you may end up taking a path that thousands of other have already taken . . .

Now I can come out of the closet and share my story without sounding like a madman and offer you an opportunity to share in my vision and foresight to create a safe haven in a very stormy sea. Take a look at our special community and see the incredible opportunity of lots, new homes, condominiums and resale properties. Find out why over 130 families have already made the decision to move to Valle Escondido and why you should too. And if you want to come for a few days or a month and just visit we have special rates in our resort to accommodate you. If you want to rent a home or apartment for a time to be sure that this is the right place for you, we have them available too . . . Sam Taliaferro AKA John Galt

Many of the folks who bought from Sam and actually live in Valle Escondido jokingly refer to him as “King Sam” not “John Galt”, which may be because of his château at the end of the Valley with its high Louis  XIV Versailles-type fence. [Fences like that are not permitted in Valle Escondido . . . except for Sam.]

So who is this modern-day “John Galt.” Again, in Sam’s own words . . .

An inventor by profession Sam has developed and patented numerous technologies used by fortune 100 companies throughout the world. He has built a number of manufacturing operations to build these technologies, the last one in Costa Rica in 1995.

In 2000 he had an idea to create Valle Escondido, a residential resort community in the mountain highlands of Panama that would appeal to those looking for an exotic yet first world lifestyle. The small village where the project is located has become known throughout the world as a retirement/tourist hot spot due to his marketing efforts and the success of the development. It was rated the number one foreign retirement destination in the western hemisphere by the AARP in 2002 and one of the top five best lifestyle values in the world by Fortune Magazine in 2005. The success of the project lit the fuse that started the real estate boom (and bust) in Panama.

In 2005 Sam began writing the Panama Investor Blog which focuses on the country from an investors prospective and reaches people interested in Panama from all over the world. Current subscription is about 7000.

Sam and his wife Thalia also operate the Valle Escondido resort Golf & Spa located in the center of the residential project. The resort employs about 80 full time Panamanians and is one of the areas largest employers.

Sam writes an excellent blog which I enjoy and is a superb marketing genius who more than anyone else “put Boquete on the map” and to a large extent put Panama on the map as a retirement destination. There are many developments in various stages of development . . . a lot of which are still developer’s dreams on pretty architectural drawings that may, or may not actually come to fruition. Valle Escondido was the first development of its kind and it is a reality and not a pipe dream, which is one of the reasons to buy in Valle Escondido. And, yes, I still have a beautiful house for sale, in a safe spot, overlooking the Valley and the golf course. I’ve pulled it off the market, temporarily, because it is now being used as a storage place for furniture salvaged from the collapsed home of our friends Brad & Jackie.

So you have two things going on in Valle Escondido . . . or “The Valley”. You have private, custom homes ranging in price from $365,000 to several million dollars. You have two types of “Villas” . . . a fancy name for duplexes, and condominiums. All of these homeowners are part of the homeowner association to which dues are paid (Ours are about $1000 per year) and the homeowner’s provide security, road maintenance, trash removal, and maintenance of common areas.

You also have the Valle Escondido Resort  which includes a small hotel, and Quebrada Grande Country Club which includes a 9-hole executive golf course, swimming pool, gym and spa, and both of these operations are owned by the Taliaferros.

. . . Just so you get the total picture . . . Now we cut to the devastation at Brad & Jackie’s home . . .  built on one of these Valle Escondido lots carved out of the mountainside in a tropical rain forest.

As you might imagine retros, or backhoes have been at a premium with all the mud slides in Valle Escondido and elsewhere.  Jackie finally found a contractor who had sufficient trucks available to begin digging out and hauling away mud and debris and arranged for the backhoe to start work yesterday morning at 7AM.

By 7:45AM there was still no backhoe . . . and Jackie got a call from the backhoe which was outside the gate at Valle Escondido where the guards were refusing to let it in.

The homeowners have a permanent right to pass through the Valle Escondido Resort and the road access and guard service is jointly maintained by the homeowner’s and Valle Escondido Resort, with another of Sam’s many companies providing the guard service.

Jackie when down to the gate to unscramble the mess . . . here we are sitting with tons of debris to be removed and the guards won’t let the backhoe through! . . . and he is told that the backhoe cannot come in until 9AM because it would disturb guests at the hotel!  Here we are in a disaster area, and the backhoe cannot get in because it will disturb guests at the hotel . . . and there are no guests at the hotel!! 

Frankly, whether there were guests in the hotel or not, is hardly the point!  Surely if there were guests they would understand that Valle Escondido was a disaster area since all they had to do was look outside their door.

So, after getting nowhere with the guards [and these folks all live in fear of being fired if they deviate one iota from what "Sam says"] Jackie went at 8AM to one of the Valle Escondido Resort managers, Analia, and patiently explained that he had lost his entire house, and this was a disaster area, and if there were no guests in the hotel, and it was all of 4 minutes to drive a backhoe past the hotel to the other end of the Valley, why couldn’t he bring in a retro at 8AM.  Analia promised to check with Thalia.

Bottom line . . . no go . . . the retro sat there and wait at the gate for two hours!  In my humble opinion this was both incredibly stupid and callous .  Am I wrong?  For all his marketing genius, Sam sometimes shoots himself in the foot when it comes to public relations.  So memorable it has now become a Valley legend is the time the Valle Escondido Resort insisted on charging mourners $2 a head to attend a funeral service being held in the little chapel at Valle Escondido. [It has never been clarified if the corpse was charged $2 to enter.]  These kinds of things are quickly blamed on the guards for not using their heads, but . . . then again, the guards know they could be fired for thinking something is incredibly stupid and callous, thinking for themselves, realizing the Valley is a disaster zone, and making an exception.

Update as of 8:10AM November 14th . . .

Since the retro was left on the property . . . where in the back yard the mud is still 4 feet deep! . . . it can fire up, but they aren’t letting the trucks in until 9AM lest the non-existent “hotel guests” be disturbed!  And they’ve had 24-hours to get a clue!  Nice neighbors!  And what really pisses me off about this is that when Sam and Thalia were building their hotel, rushing to get it finished before the holidays, in the Valley right beneath my bedroom window, they had workers yelling, backhoes, screaming tile saws, cement mixers and trucks working 7 days a week starting at 7AM!  Of course that was Sam’s project.

Let The Sun Shine

We’re now well into Panama’s rainy season with November being one of the “worst” months with the most rain. And we’re moving into the peak of the coffee harvest season. We pick, rain or shine, and the Gnobe Bugle workers are used to working in the rain, wrapped up in black plastic bags.

Our gourmet Boquete coffee, which would sell in the States for $14-16 a pound, brings us in as growers about 35 cents a pound, gross. By the time you take out wages and fertilizer, not only are we . . . like other small growers in Boquete . . . not making anything, we’re losing money. Which is while several Panamanians we know are just letting their coffee farms go, because it doesn’t pay to pick the coffee. There are folks, like us, who would like to see the coffee culture in Boquete survive, but it is increasingly difficult for the little guy. So this year we are trying to process at least some of our harvest. And it is, as they say, “a learning experience.”

For the moment we’ve decided not to try and put a motor on our little depulping machine that removes the outer red husk of the coffee cherry, but to run the machine by hand. That’s working, but once the beans are removed from the cherry they still need to be washed, again we’re doing it by hand, and then dried. Without the big commercial dryers the big boys use, we have to revert to the traditional method of drying the beans in the sun, which actually produces better tasting coffee.

So just when the rain is heaviest, the sun is most important to us.

Even in the rainiest season, mornings in Boquete are usually glorious, then right now, about noon it starts to rain.  Morning is my favorite time of day in Palmira . . .  Palmira being the tiny town where we live, 1000 feet up the mountain above “downtown” Boquete.  There is something about the quality of light in the morning in Boquete that is magical.

Today promises to be a glorious, sunny day . . . at least until noon!

November is when the pointsettia plants that line our long driveway are the prettiest!

Blue tarps in the driveway are excellent for drying coffee when the weather is nice.    The blue absorbs some heat, but not too much heat, which is what black plastic would do.

Coffee drying in wire racks . . .

This is the good stuff folks!

Nikki takes time out from coffee drying to work with Evangelisto, our Indian worker’s son, on his English homework.

We dry coffee wherever we can, including the front porch!

 

So keep the sun shining . . .  and keep your comments coming!  The next post, I promise, I will answer the mail!  In the meantime, I’m going to have a cup of coffee!  The coffee we’re drinking now is from last year’s harvest.  The green beans have aged, and we are having what we held out roasted in small batches.  The coffee we are producing now won’t be available until next year this time and will be sold as top quality “estate coffee” . . . completely processed by hand on our own farm the traditional way.

Grabbing A Tiger By The Tail

I don’t know why I do it, but it seems that I’m always grabbing the tiger by the tail! Big mistake! If I grabbed him by the balls, I’d at least have some control. But when you grab a tiger by the tail you either hang on for the ride, or let go . . . and get mauled.

Latest tiger . . . coffee. OK, we’ve been growing superb coffee now for a couple of years. My wife, Nikki, invests a lot of time, effort . . . and money . . . into growing an excellent product. We spend a lot of money on chicken shit, otherwise known as fertilizer . . . and it shows. Now comes time to harvest and sell our beautiful coffee cherries. Take it to a big beneficio, stand in line with everyone else, some of whom have nice coffee, some of whom haven’t spent a dime on fertilizer and just have shitty little cherries . . . and we all get the same price per lata. Boquete, Panama is known for specialty coffee . . . not just any coffee, but the stuff, if you can find it, that a coffee buff will gladly buy in the States for $14-16 a pound . . . and we, really small time growers [Forget all that Fair Trade stuff, it's for big consortiums of independent growers, not really the small, little guys you assume] . . . we the little growers, and our little grower neighbors are getting, if we’re lucky, about 35 cents of that $14-16 a pound.

So we’re not breaking even, nor are our neighbors, gringos and Panamanians, who are struggling to keep the coffee culture alive in Boquete. Frankly the big guys have it wrapped up. But that’s pretty much the way business is done in Panama in general. It’s cost prohibitive to attempt to export the stuff directly . . . and unless you have some niche market in Panama, you’re stuck.

Well, I think I’ve found a market. So we’ve decided to attempt to process some of our coffee, hold it out and roast it and test this market. Last year some of the big guys were still willing to process small batches of coffee for tiny growers like us. This year they are still willing, but have tripled their prices . . . a nice way I guess of saying, “No.” So, with the help of a lot of Panamanian friends, we found a hand operated machine that removes the cherry pulp from the bean, and we’re trying to motorize it. And the first few picking have gone better than we expected. After the beans are pulped they need to be washed, and then . . . here comes the stickler! . . . dried. The traditional method is to lay the beans out in the sun and let them dry. All well and good, except . . .

The dreaded October rainy season has come upon us in earnest!

We are picking in the rain. Nothing unusual about that. Our Gnobe Bugle Indian neighbors arrived wrapped snuggly in black garbage bags and work in the rain.

But you can’t dry coffee when there is no sun and it’s constantly raining!

So we’re on to plan ZZ48 . . . in Panama you always need a plan B, plan C . . . plan Z . . . plan ZA, etc.

The big guys have giant rotating dryers, something like giant clothes dryers and use a combination of propane gas and dead and fallen trees for heat. It takes around 8-10 hours in one of these giant dryers to dry coffee. In the sun, if you have sun, and depending how long the sun is out and how hot it is, it may take 3 to 8 days to dry your coffee.

So that’s where we’re at . . . and I’m almost ready to start using the clothes dryer, which, unfortunately won’t do it. I’ve heard of rain dances, and praying for rain . . . has anyone heard of sun dances and praying for sun?

So whether it’s 66 lectures for a world cruise in two months . . . believe me it takes more time than you think! . . . or processing our own coffee . . . I’m very good at grabbing the tiger by the tail. Have been all my life. I guess I’m just a slow learner.

Sometimes things do happen on schedule!

Even in Panama!  Not often, but sometimes they do!

It’s raining in Boquete . . . all day . . .

But that’s pretty much according to schedule.  This is the rainy season, and October is usually the “worst” month.  Well, October and November, and sometimes December, but hey, the rain makes things green and makes the coffee grow.  And usually it doesn’t rain all the time . . . but sometimes . . . it’s been raining for two days.  But at least that’s on schedule . . .

And we’re picking coffee . . .

And that’s on schedule . . . well, maybe a little early . . . and we’ve been experimenting with removing the cherries ourselves, now that we have finally adjusted the machine that’s to help us.  I’ve found a motor, so that’s the next step.  Now, if we could only have some sun to get this stuff dry!   Fortunately I have good neighbors in Palmira who are willing to help out with this stuff.

The coffee cherries get dumped in the hopper and then pressed against the copper screen which pops out the coffee seeds or beans.  Then then need to be washed by hand to remove the sticky “honey” and then dried . . . hopefully in the sun.  In the commercial beneficios they are put in big revolving drums like a huge clothes dryer for about eight hours.  These are usually fired with dead wood or gas.

And I’m getting my lectures  . . . well, not “done”, but making progress . . .

I’ve been in India for a few days!  What a fascinating country!  I can’t wait to get there.  Not only do the cruises give me an excuse to travel, but they give me a reason to get caught up on all the stuff I missed learning about!  I consider myself an “educated man” [AB, MDiv, MBA, PhD] but there is so, so much I know nothing about.  Sometimes I think the older I get the less I know, and it’s not that I’m forgetting, it’s just that there’s so much to know.  When I was younger I used to think I knew all the answers, now I’m just struggling to figure out some of the questions!

With theology . . . I would have been a fantastic “boy preacher” with all the answers!  Now I struggle with the questions.  In life . . . I’m reminded of what a Facebook friend posted . . . “I like the characters in my life, I just wish I knew the plot.” 

I’ve given myself until November 10th to work on the world cruise on DAWN PRINCESS, then all that goes on hold, and I just focus on reviewing all the lectures I’ve already done that I’ll be using on the next series of voyages on the ROYAL PRINCESS, the Tri-Continent (Europe, Africa, South America) and the Amazon.  Then I start packing . . . you’ve worried about what to take on a two-week cruise, try four months!  Actually, you take a LOT less and just wear the same stuff over and over and over.  Formal wear is good . . . and easy . . . and doesn’t take any imagination, and nobody cares if it’s the same every night!  And with a couple of suits, where the slacks and jackets mix and match, and a bunch of different ties, and a few shirts . . . and free dry cleaning and laundry (that helps!) . . . you’ve got it made.

Also predictable . . . though not always on schedule . . .

A quake last night. We were sitting in front of the fire watching DVDs of “Gray’s Anatomy”, where doctors occassionally treat patients between episodes of sleeping with one another or sleeping with anyone who comes within 6″ of another, preferably breathing, human being. Anyhow, sitting there enjoying the wine and the fire, and the chair starts feeling like a massage chair, which it isn’t. 6.1 About 180 km South of David, where three tectonic plates come together. No big deal. The dogs stuck their heads up and looked around, the cactus plant waved around, but we didn’t want to miss a single moment of who-is-sleeping-with-whom, which is a little like having dinner in the crew staff “fishbowl” on the ZUIDERDAM.

This may not be a static image, but we will give it a try . . .

This one will give you an idea of the seismic activity off in the Pacific Ocean south of David . . .

The coffee harvest has begun!

Yesterday we started picking! 

This is an exciting time in Palmira when the coffee harvest starts.  Hundreds of Gnobe Bugle Indians come in from the “comarca” .  A comarca something like a reservation in the US only in Panama the comarca exists because the Indians said, “This is our land.  We were here first.  We want sovereignty.”  And the Gnobe Bugle comarca is larger than most Panama provinces.  The Indians come to Boquete like migrant workers in the US to pick on the larger farms.  Because we are a tiny farm, and have wonderful Gnobe Bugle neighbors, our neighbors who live here year round do our picking.  The gal who started picking today is married to a guy who works on the city garbage trucks.  They are a nice family, and were actually living on our finca when we bought it, and we had to move them.  But we did it nicely, and gave them money to cover their expenses, and they became friends and have helped us pick year after year.

It’s fun!  The local Indians come, with their kids (no day care in Palmira) and dogs, and sometimes even babies hanging in a tree.  Their dogs get along with our dogs, the kids play in the coffee trees, and it’s a fun, family affair.  They make some extra money, and our coffee gets picked.

Usually we hold out some of the coffee and process it the traditional way and use it for ourselves.  Once the coffee beans are processed – green beans – they need to rest 6 to 9 months, or longer, and just last week we had the first batch of the coffee we picked last year roasted.  Mmmmm . . . good.  Like nothing you buy in the stores in the States!

Most of our crop gets sold to Sitton, one of the big coffee producers in Panama, but this year we are going to try to process some more ourselves and hold out more.  Our coffee, which would sell for $13 to $16 a pound in the States, brings us only about 39 cents a pound when we sell the cherries to Sitton.  The money in coffee is not at the grower end.   So if we can process it ourselves . . . and find a market . . . we just might break even!

So we’re experimenting, and part of our experiment was to find an old, tiny despulpadora machine, a machine that removes the husks from the coffee cherry leaving only the bean, which then gets dried in the sun, rests, then has the parchment removed, and finally is roasted.  We looked all over and the best we could find was an old hand-driven machine originally from Mexico.  We picked it up today in Concepcion, another agricultural town near the Costa Rican border.  Tomorrow I’ve got to take it apart, and see if I can get it working . . . and then, maybe, we’ll hook it up to a motor.  Stay tuned!  The adventures never stop!!

Price Smart (?) . . .

We went to Concepcion to pick up the machine, and on the way back stopped at our local Price Smart.  The folks who originated the “big box” warehouse store concept were the Price family from San Diego.  We shopped their “Price Club” stores in Oxnard.  They merged with Costco and the operation became Costco.  But the original Price Club folks had a similar – emphasis similar – concept going in the Caribbean and Latin America called “Price Smart.”  The look and feel is similar to the old Price Clubs, but the concept is a whole lot different.  You may end up paying more – a whole lot more – buying an article at Price Smart than you would buying it elsewhere.  Today my wife bought a Shop Vac at Franklin Gerardo, one of the local construction stores, for $99.  A smaller, knock-off version at Price Smart cost $30 more!   In Panama buying the larger size at Price Smart often costs more than multiple smaller sizes!  And if something is popular and sells out quickly, instead of buying more, Price Smart discontinues it.  The object at Price Smart is to keep the shelves looking full, and if you stock a popular item and people buy it you defeat the purpose.  Make sense?  I thought so . . . welcome to Panama!

Anyhow, I digress . . . we stopped at Price Smart for a quick pizza lunch and to pick up a few things.  While I was eating my pizza I noticed how many gringos were standing around.  I guess because Price Smart feels a lot like Price Club/Costco and it’s a familiar way of shopping, gringos use it . . . most likely without actually comparing prices or worrying about paying more.  Obviously a lot of Panamanians can’t figure out why you would pay for a membership in order to pay more for something. 

Those of you back in the States will appreciate the traditional Halloween-type pumpkins, imported from the US, selling for $15!

Speaking of stuff from home . . .

I’m munching on zucchini bread, something I never thought I would miss!

I told you about the Boquete Community Players and the Event Center they’ve created from a dilapidated old bar.  It is turning into quite the Event Center so far hosting everything from karate classes and art shows to funerals.  My wife, Nikki, is the volunteer manager of the Event Center and they have started doing a Boquete-version of Pikes Market on Tuesday mornings accompanying the “Tuesday Morning Meeting” mostly for gringos new to Boquete.  Anyway this is turning out to be quite the hit!  Tonight we had Ahi grade tuna, freshly caught ($3.50 a pound) lightly seared with soy sauce and sesame seeds, along with an organic salad, zucchini bread, and a Mexican chocolate truffle . . . all purchased at the Tuesday Morning Marketplace at the BCP Event Center!  There are English books for sale, crafts, coffee, art work, plants, pastries, food specialties like some delicious homemade pesto, flowers, and fish.

If you live in Boquete you should check it out!

The world, coveniently at your gangway!

I went on my first cruise ship back when I was a student in seminary, hungry to get to Europe any way I could manage.  I worked as cruise staff on a ship leased by the Dutch student travel bureau [NBBS] to earn my passage over, then spent four months tooling around Europe on a Eurailpass [First Class in those days when travel in Europe was cheap!] managing it all for $4 a day.  Yes, I slept in private homes, missions, hostels, and sometimes on the train, but it was fantastic.  I worked my way back to the Statess that fall on the same ship.  I learned to drink at the Hoffbrau House in Munich.  Sailing back I woke up in my cabin one morning wearing the first officers coat and hat: I think we were drinking  Dutch genever gin the night before.  The ship was leased from Holland America [NASM] and that was the beginning  . . .

When I graduated from seminary my first church was in the Bronx, NY, and Holland America offices were then located at Pier 42 . . . and I started spending my vacations sailing as a Protestant Chaplain on Holland America, first on the old ROTTERDAM.  All this cruising eventually ended up in our owning some of the first cruise-only travel agencies for 15 years, during which we were a top producer for Carnival, Holland America, Princess and Sitmar.  When Sitmar and Princess merged, Princess accounted for 70% of our business.  After my stint in the dot com business with 24 Hour Fitness, I went back to sometimes going on Holland America as chaplain.  It was on one of those cruises that I attended a lecture by an expert on the Soviet Union.  The man had incredible credentials, but 5 minutes into his lecture you could hear the whole room snoring!  I said to myself, “I can do better than that!”, and started lecturing, first on Celebrity, then on Holland America, and now on Princess as well. 

It’s fun, interesting, and a whole lot of work.  On Holland America as Travel Guide I was part of the entertainment team so I had a lot of other responsibilities as well as lecturing.  Much of the work is before I ever walk up the gangway.  Researching lectures, port talks, and bridge commentary and putting together interesting Powerpoint presentations takes a lot of time . . . a lot of time!  For the Tri-Continent and Amazon series on ROYAL PRINCESS that I’m doing starting in November there are almost sixty pieces!

And now . . . the world!

I’ve always wanted to travel round the world . . . when I was in school we always dreamed of getting a round the world air ticket.  You could buy them in those days I think for about $2,000, and you could make as many stops en route as you liked, as long as you never back-tracked . . . you had to keep moving either in an eastern or western direction around the world.  We were so hooked on flying that some people just did it for the fun of flying.  Today most people would rather spend a few months as guests of the Devil himself (or like God, is that sexist and should it be herself?  himself?  whatever . . .) than fly . . . anywhere, let alone around the world.

If you are an avid cruiser a world cruise is something you dream about.

So, as I mentioned the other day in my Good News! blog . . .  next year I am doing the world cruise on the DAWN PRINCESS . . . 105 days round the world from Sydney!

Here are the ports . . .

• Sydney, Australia
• Darwin, Australia
• Bali, Indonesia
• Singapore
• Kuala Lupur, Malaysia
• Langkawi, Malaysia
• Cochin, India
• Mumbai, India
• Muscat, Oman
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Luxor/Karnak, Egypt
• Suez Canal Transit
• Port Said (Cairo/Giza), Egypt
• Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey
• Istanbul, Turkey
• Santorini, Greece
• Athens (Piraeus), Greece
• Venice, Italy
• Dubrovnik, Croatia
• Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy
• Florence/Pisa (Livorno)
• Cannes, France
• Barcelona, Spain
• Gibraltar
• Paris/Normandy (Le Havre), France
• London (Southampton), England
• Dublin, Ireland
• Boston, Massachusetts
• Newport, Rhode Island
• New York, New York
• Antiqua
• Barbados
• Curacao
• Panama Canal Transit- I’ll wave!
• Acapulco, Mexico
• Manzanillo, Mexico
• Los Angeles, California
• Honolulu, Hawaii
• Papeete, Tahiti
• Moorea, Polynesia
• Pago Pago, American Samoa
• Auckland, New Zealand
• Sydney, Australia

Typically world cruises have a much older passenger mix because they usually take around 100 days and the minimum inside cabins start around $18,000 per person, double occupancy. The DAWN PRINCESS is marketed primarily in Australia, and Australians, those lucky blokes, get a whole lot more vacation time than folks in the US. So even younger folks have the time to take a 105-day cruise.

Dawn Princess . . . creates paradise on the high seas. Featuring a wrap-around Promenade Deck, this spectacular ship has more than 400 balcony staterooms to enjoy the ever-changing scenery. Hot spots include the giant Movies Under the Stars poolside screen, the adults-only oasis called The Sanctuary, two show lounges with nightly entertainment, and plenty of elegant and casual dining options from gourmet pizza to grilled steaks. Large ship with small-ship intimacy, allowing for great passenger freedom.

DAWN PRINCESS was built in 1997, is 77,000 tons and carries 1,950 guests, so is the same size as the ZUIDERDAM. The ship features Princess’ huge outdoor movie screen known as “Movies Under The Stars” . . . or “MUTS”. When I first started following the Princess board on Cruise Critic I saw all these people talking about “MUTS” on Princess and I couldn’t figure out the acronym . . . at first thinking maybe Princess was allowing pets on board and that I could bring along my dogs!

The Week That Was

I promised you to tell you about last week . . . once I had time to decompress a bit . . . what a week!

We’re rushing to complete the renovation of what was our Indian farm worker’s living quarters to a nice little casita for my brother Ed. It’s a 7-day-a-week job for me. I have one crew working Monday through Saturday, and another on Sundays. Not only are we renovating the casita, but we now have to add a new rest room facility for workers, and new storage, but things are moving along.

The week started when my guys reached into the wall to work on the plumbing and out popped this guy who they tell me is very “venemosa” . . .

Fortunately no one was bitten.

Then there is the tree. We have this huge tree on my neighbor’s side of the fence that almost totally hangs over my property. We grow shade grown high altitude Arabica coffee, but shade grown doesn’t necessarily mean growing under the canopy of other trees. To get the best coffee you need to control the amount of shade, and this was way too much. Since the neighbor is someone we’ve never met from Panama City, we had to go to the local Corregidor to get permission to cut down off the limb hanging over our property. In Panama every tree is protected by ANAM, the government conservation unit. It is far easier to get a gun license in Panama than it is to get a license (yes, a license!) to own a chain saw! So we had to get a permit from ANAM to cut off the limb. It has taken, I kid you not, almost TWO YEARS of paperwork, back and forth to the Corregidor, to ANAM, multiple inspections by a cast of thousands from ANAM, tons of paperwork . . . probably killed 10 trees somewhere just to provide all the paper . . . and scores of rubber stamp imprints . . . to be able to trim off the branch. Now the concept of ANAM and protecting the forests of Panama is a great idea, it’s just that it has become a boondoggle of bureaucracy and “government jobs” that can be handed out as political favors. By focusing on individual trees, and ignoring incursions destroying scores of acres of primal forest in Amistad National Park on Volcan Baru, they tend to focus on the minutia and ignore the big problem, at least IMHO. The challenge here was not only to get the big limb down, but to remove it without damaging the coffee crop underneath waiting to be harvested over the next two months.

Anyway, after two years of running around, and shuffling paper and . . . “Oh, well, we’ve changed forms, so you have to start all over again” . . . we were good to go . . . and we got the job done with no one being killed!

That’s not a monkey in blue, but one of the guys standing on the limb of the tree . . .

Since we are renovating what used to be housing for workers for my brother’s casita, we need to come up with quick, inexpensive new facilities for workers. So we decided to get a truck container to convert into housing for our worker. So we bought the back of an old United moving van. This kind of stuff is being imported into Panama constantly: not inexpensive, but cheaper and quicker than building with block and concrete, and moveable . . . well, more or less moveable.

We hired a guy to bring the container up from David. Knowing that it would be a tight squeeze on our farm, I arranged to meet the guy who was going to move the container at 8AM in David. Of course I was there . . . 15 minutes early since some habits die hard . . . and, of course, this being Panama, he didn’t show. So I drive 45 minutes back from David, having wasted most of the morning. In the rainy season you want to do this kind of thing early, before the rain. And that afternoon we had some of the hardest rain we’ve had this year. Our volcanic soil sucks up the water and . . . by afternoon is a sea of mud . . . and at 6PM as we’re sitting down to dinner . . . guess what? The guy arrives with the container! So we have this huge truck sinking into a sea of mud, and absolutely no room to maneuver.   Ah, Panama!!

Here I am thinking, “Man, I can’t wait to get back to work on the ship! I need a rest from this ‘vacation’!”

Of course since I wasn’t there to have them load the container so it would be in the right position when it was unloaded, and the guy’s son didn’t bother to pass this message on to his dad, the container came in back-asswards.  Just another Panama challenge!

So I had to find a “retro” or backhoe . . . at $35 an hour!! . . . to try and turn the container around and then lift it into position on the footings we had built.   Another three hours of nerve wracking suspense! 

Again, doing this with absolutely no room to work! Panamanians are inventive folks and somehow they managed without totally demolishing the container or anyone needing to go to the hospital. But . . . mission accomplished!

And you wonder why I drink?

Boquete & The Arts

Volunteers have been working hard to convert the dilapidated and unused bar formerly known as “Snoopy’s” into the new “BCP Theater & Celebrations Center”, a project of Boquete Community Players which is intended to become a center for the arts and activities for all of Boquete.   

The BCP Center is located right next to the river beside the new bridge downtown.  It is easy to get to by foot, taxi, bus or car and has (for Panama) plenty of parking.

Although the actual theater part is still under construction, two sections of the complex are already in use.    The Hexagon Room hosted a fund-raiser Mystery Theater Dinner, providing an intimate dinner theater setting.  Then this past weekend it hosted a three-day art show, showcasing artwork from Chiriqui, Panama, and even a contingent from nearby Costa Rica, as well as student entries into an art contest sponsored by the Lion’s Club. 

Boquete’s unique location, and wonderful light quality, make it a natural for artists.  The intent of the BCP Center is to provide a venue not only for theatrical performances, but also for music, and the visual arts.   My wife, Nikki Steele, is the volunteer Manager for the BCP Center a project which, in addition to running a coffee farm, is keeping her very busy!

I really think that Boquete has the potential to become a Santa Fe type magnet for the arts not only for Panama, but for all of Central America.  And I’d like to issue an open invitation to all of my performer friends from the ships who have their own tape accompaniment to come to Boquete for a vacation!  We’ll put you up and you can do a concert for us!  How’s that?

So here are some pictures of the very successful first art show at the BCP Center last weekend . . .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t Stop The Carnival

I’ve been working on my port lecture for Trinidad, where we will be visiting every other week while I’m on ROYAL PRINCESS this winter. When most folks think of Trinidad, officially Trinidad & Tobabo, they think of calypso, steel drums, limbo and Carnival, which is a good thing, because all of these traditions of Caribbean culture come from Trinidad. Trinidad, like many islands in the Caribbean, bounced around between countries. Poor little Tobago bounced around more the most, changing hands more than 22 times! . . . “It’s Thursday, dear, time to put up the flag, but which flag is it today?”

Folks who expect every island to be a moviesque tropical paradise are always surprised at Trinidad. Yes, there are spectacular places like Maracas Beach.  And, for those of you on a cruise . . . just 45 minutes, and a $90US cab ride from the ship!

But Port-of-Spain is a bustling, capital city, a regional financial and business center. Trinidad has one of fastest growing economies in Caribbean with one of the highest growth rates and per capita incomes in Latin America. And it’s reflected in all the new high rise buildings and some spectacular architecture.

 The new National Academy for The Performing Arts will compete with the Sydney Opera House for stunning design and will contain a main performing venue seating 1,500.

Trinidad has a wonderful mix of peoples and cultures. About 40% of the population are Afro-Trinidadians, descendants from slaves on the English sugar plantations. When slavery was abolished, Trinidad brought in indentured servants, sometimes called “the new slavery” from India, and another 40% of the population are descendants from those Indians who worked the sugar plantations. The remaining 20% is a mix of English and other Europeans. So you have this great mix, Eastern religious traditions and curry from India, Carnival and African-based music, and crisp accents, cricket and a tradition-laden parliament from England.

One of the interesting surprises of Trinidadian architecture are “The Magnificent Seven” . . . seven, stunning “castles” build in Trinidad in 1904 by locals anxious to demonstrate that they had “arrived” and wanted to flaunt their wealth and prestige. All seven of these remain today in various states of preservation all standing on the same road where they have competed for attention for over 100 years.

The Archbishop of Trinidad decided that he, too, needed a place to lay his head, a place that reflected his own perception of his importance and prestige, so he built himself a palace with church funds. A few years later the Anglicans of the island decided that if the Catholic Archbishop had a mansion, that the Anglican Bishop deserved one too. All of which, of course, was essential to the mission of the church to the poor and needy and to win the world for Christ.