Today we had a relaxing day and mainly walked around town, which, where we are is mostly one road between the water and the steep hill on the other side. There is a tourist center not far from us, and the helpful woman there told us that it’s good to book tours in advance. She gave us a better understanding of how to get to various wildlife areas around here, and also said they can arrange tours in as much detail as you wish, complete with picnic lunches if you want.
Tomorrow we plan to take the ferry ride to Puerta Jimenez to see what it is like over there. When we make another trip here, we can plan for some other excursions to interesting areas a bit farther from here. Today though, it was nice to walk around and get more of a feel for the area, and just relax a bit.
Of course we had our cameras. When we walked south we saw a few fish markets, and had a very interesting visit to one which resulted is nice conversation and an excellent dinner.
There’s a hotel down the street that feeds the birds and has some beautiful visitors.
The bird feeder full of fruit, very popular with a lot of different types of birds. The one on top is beautiful, all black until it moves its wings and reveals the bright orange underneath.
An iguana scurried away as fast he could along the fence. It’s surprising how fast they can move when they want to.
A bird, a palm, and a guanabana tree.
These huge traveler palms looked impressive against the backdrop of beautiful afternoon clouds. The piece of land behind them is for sale, so we walked around there too. The workmen trimming the grass warned us to stay away from the tall coconut palms, because if a coconut falls on your head it’s like being hit with a large rock!
Later we spotted this huge iguana in a grassy field.
I’m not sure what these boats were doing alongside each other.
Another fishing boat. I’m curious to know what the flags are for. We’ve seen them on a number of other boats as well.
Many of the trees are covered with an impressive number of other plants.
The ferry to Puerta Jimenez is getting ready to leave.
We spotted these big boats at the end of the bay.
A seagull found something to sit on out in the water.
Pretty reflections
The ferry takes off across the bay at a good clip.
Just a pretty scene
Yes, there are leaf cutter ants here, and they are very busy.
The afternoon clouds are getting quite impressive.
There is a cemetery not far up the road.
On the way back we stopped at a fish market that was apparently just bringing in the catch of the day. This is a pile of sharks, and they said they make ceviche out of them. I bought some and it is very good.
The work room at the fish market (taken through wet glass because they were hosing things down) There is a pile of mahi mahi on the floor, and a large marlin on the far work table.
One of the guys cuts up the marlin, and cuts a couple nice steaks for us. He said they catch their fish with fishing poles and lines, not nets.
On the way back we stopped at the office since it’s on the water and it was a beautiful afternoon for photos.
Just some pretty photos of the bay
Enjoying the scenery with my camera
There is a beautiful sky as the sun starts to get lower
Dinner – the fish steaks, a huge pineapple which was really really good, some garlic and limon for the fish, and we also cooked a chayote and a chubby green striped thing that I thought was a zucchini, but had a slightly different flavor. Everything was excellent, and we are going back to the fish market again tomorrow!
As we come back from the supermarket, there is a bright splash of color in the sky.
Night falls, and the lights start to come on.
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About Kris Cunningham
We live in David, Chiriqui Provence, Republic of Panama! This blog is about some of our experiences in our new country.
The Panama Adventure 
The flags you were curious about are charter boats bragging about how many and which kind of fish they had caught that day. Prospective charter customers can be influenced to do business with them based on how successful they are.
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Ahh, so that’s it. How interesting. Thanks for letting me know.
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Costa Rica .. . there is beautiful 🙂 !!
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Yes it is!
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I love those palm trees. What kind are they?
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In Florida they were called traveler’s palms, I think because a traveler could get water from them. I don’t know what they are called here. I’ve never seen any as tall as those!
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Sorry, Dan, but that’s NOT a sport fishing boat. It’s a long liner. There’s a reel in the front of the pilot house. The fishermen attach short lines with baited hooks to the LONG line which can be a mile long in some cases. The flags, as you can see, are on poles and the are attached to the long line to mark the beggining and end of a line.
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