Panama Part 2--Connections

The story of Balboa to Isla Grande, aka everything you ever wished in a Caribbean Latin American hotel resort, without any hotel/transportation reservations whatsoever:
Connections—5 people meeting up without phones in the center of Balboa (and with plans made 24 hours earlier)—check (Mario, Anne, Nate, Tania & myself).
Change out of wet clothes (from Embera village visit & waterfall swimming) at fancy mall bathroom—check.
Finding a hotel in Balboa on the first try—check.
Finding the most amazing restaurant and having the most amazing 13 course meal (with Balboa beer & fresh pineapple juice)—check.
Going to the train station at 6:30am on Sunday to catch a train to the Caribbean—X (buzz)—not quite, even though 4 people and a guidebook said it ran every day—making it to the bus station to catch a bus to the Caribbean by 7:30am—check.
Transferring buses at the right stop—check—deciding not to crowd on one of the old converted school buses (known as the “red devils” b/c they are often painted red) with 70 people on it and get a cab for $20 instead—check.
Note on cabs—5 of us and a cab driver = 6 people. Thank you to Mario & Anne for doubling up (up to an hour!!!).
Getting to Portabella, finding out that the boat ride from Portabella to Isla Grande was $50/person—X (buzz).
Having an awesome cab driver who will drive us the additional 25 minutes for 10$--check (ps—this was the bumpiest road in Panama. Boob bumps, although that might have been just my special issue).
Reading the description in our travel book of the possible hotels on Isla Grande on the bumpy road, including the following advice: “take a left at the rooster”—check.Getting to Guiera and finding a boat for $2/person to Isla Grande—check
Rounding the island, & slowing down as we get to the ocean side swells and the 8 year old boy in front starts to pass out life jackets…and as we realize that our driver is actually a 12 year old boy—check
Watch said boys fish from the boat & also land us safely—check.
Get to Bananas Resort and actually get two sweet rooms next to one another—check.

Bananas Resort was beautiful—wonderful pool by the ocean, free snorkeling equipment & reef-protected swimming/snorkeling area, free kayaks, beautiful coconut trees, large air-conditioned rooms with gorgeous views, and private balconies with our own hammock. They had fresh coconut juice on the menu, and on Sunday they said they had ran out & that they’d have some the next day. On Monday I asked again, and 3 guys with machetes headed out to get some fresh ones—well, of course. Definitely a gringo-pampered moment. On Sunday at 3pm, everyone else left b/c it was the end of the weekend, so we had our resort entirely to ourselves. We also decided to call a driver that Anne had met earlier in the week, who came to get us on Sunday—we planned to meet him at 3pm, but we headed over earlier—we literally had just stepped off of our boat when Pedro’s van pulled up to meet us at about 2:15. I had met Pedro’s daughter earlier (she speaks English very well) just hanging out by the ship’s tenders. Pedro’s daughter’s name: Yeremi (pronounced Jeremy). Amazing synchronicity. Garrett calls them omens.
It all worked out beautifully.