This is an email account of one of Mikes Panamanian adventures. I love getting his reports as he has his own unique slant on life and sarcastic charm. For those new members, Mike cashed out of the rat race a year befor I did, bought a VW camper and was going to slowly make his way dow to Tierra Del Fuego and maby even Antartica on a Argentinian warship. For some reason unknown even to him, he parked himself at the half way point of Maria Chiquita, Colon Province Panama.
Here's his verbage;
Well I had my fishing adventure today. Hektor, Judys son 14yrs old and I went fishing, yet there was the matter of bait, which was no problem as we would just get some camarones , shrimp, a favorite food . So off we set at 9am and walked the beach , was told to wear shoes as in parts it is rocky with Reef , it is a dead reef and very sharp. as we trudged along we turned into the jungle, and I mean jungle, and then into a mangrove swamp , met another local who also catches shrimp for sale to fishermen , He led the way and I mean we marched and walked and sloshed through mud and over mangrove roots , till we arrived at some watery holes , there he searched for Termite nests and cut them apart to put in pails topped off with some grass so the termites would not all swim away.,or float away . Puttimg these4 pails in the water hole and waited a few minutes and lo and behold when retrieving the pails there were actually shrimp in them . Putting them in a jug and then having a good amount we set out for fishing off the reef which incidentally has a deep Hole where fish should be abundent. well by 12 noon we were at the ocean. walked some more for the perfect spot and put the hooks in the water. my first throw the hook got snagged and could not be freed thus losing it , Hektor had more but no weight, no matter because his hook also snagged and thus it was necesary to fix the lines. I thought had enough lets return. Well this trip through thr mangrove swamp was another adventure as it was further than I thought . No walking the beach , the beach was inaccessible for walking by rocks mangrove etc. Let me explain, My feet wrer a mess as my sandals chafed them raw and the mangrove is a tree,plant bush whose peculiarity is that it shoots its roots down into the water ,Salt, and thus in a swamp of mangrove one can actually make ones way by walking on the roots and occasinally hold on for stability to the dangling root from above . This is no cake walk as not everything is laid out for human transport. The mud is not too deep only to the ankles and occasionally to the knees. The trip seemed to go on forever but eventually we actually came out at the same place we entered . Sore scratched and chaved we returned to my house I totally exhausted , but happy for the experience ,my first in a Jungle and mangrove swamp. My dough was waiting for me and I started to bake my German bread and really it turned out quite nicely, the bread is a technique for surval as the white mush bread here and the states is not to my liking. Also Friday I finally got my Panamanian drivers licence ,only 20$ for the licence and 20$ for my contact in the office , the next challenge is to get my licence plates for the car . Hope I was not too boring but thought to share the details with you
Mike , the Panamanian resident
