A Pause

There has been a pause in our blog recently, but only because life is seemingly on hold until our truck is ready and Brett returns for the voyage north. Plus, the MacBook returns with Brett and posting is must easier with it.

The Ecolodge continues to amaze me, really settled into being relaxed. I’m unsure what I’m going to do when I have to work a real job again….

Export paperwork continues to chug away. More on that later, as its really a tale onto itself.

Pablo, the truck, is also plugging away at the mechanics, because why not just get an entirely new engine for fun. Right? This is also another tale for another post.

Just know that the voyage continues at the end of April, and our small misadventures wrangling together a functional and exportable truck in Panama end are looking up and extremely hilarious in retrospect.

stay tuned!

Panama Appreciation

Although not quite the way I expected to leave Panama City for the first time, I have finally made it out. Brett has also made it out, but only because he is back in Canada for a brief contract. I have begun volunteering at Mamallena’s EcoLodge near El Valle in the mean time.

The setting of the EcoLodge is absolutely magical. There is a breeze (A BREEZE!) and the nights are so chilly I have to put on a sweater. Within my first 2 days I have seen a grasshopper the size of my face, a really grumpy toad living in my cupboard and multiple sneaky praying mantises.

Not to mention the birds which everyone keeps telling me on skype about how beautiful it all sounds. The grounds are huge, and dotted with small trails leading between groves of fruit trees. Most notably the mangos, which I’m betting only about 10% of them manage to be eaten right now. Bonus features, there is a small river to cool off in, and a nearby mountain to climb.

The volunteer program is exactly what I had in mind, because unlike some places that slap “Eco” on to their name, this Ecolodge actually takes the word to heart. They recycle (first place I have seen in all Panama), compost everything, serve only pescatarian meals, use as much of the bounty from their lands as possible, raise chickens, and overall respect the earth.Volunteers are expected to put in 20 hours of work a week in return for a free place to stay and free pancake breakfast. The work is also catered to what you want to do: build, create, cook, garden, etc.

I’ve spent most of my time digging through the dreaded “Vinegar cupboard” which looks like a science experiment gone wrong. However, I understand vinegar creation so its pretty freaking exciting. I’ve also canned a spicy mango salsa, where literally all ingredients were foraged or harvested off the lands by yours truly. Serious this is a dream come true for a nerd like me!

Best of all, there is nothing else around. No highways, cities, stores or pollution. Tranquility! I think everyone must be beginning to see a trend here, I really have a thing for the quiet places. The rest of my time has been full of inner reflections, and maybe a game or two of Cards Against Humanity. Of course I’ve still be plugging away on export paperwork, and re-budgeting based on a blown head gasket….but now it seems so much less pressing. We will make it work, whatever the outcome.

Oh, and the other evening we climbed a hill. It was surreal.   And these are just the photos from my phone, just wait for the good stuff from the Sony A7!

Muy Bueno: Part I

March 24 – April 10
Panama City (still)

This is the week that our entire trip is hinging on – finding, buying, and outfitting a vehicle. This vehicle must be big enough to be comfy, mechanically sound enough to get us home, and angry enough to conquer the mud and dust and roads we will throw at it. I think we can safely say we have found it; the story continues… in Part II.

It took us much longer than we expected to find something suitable but it wasn’t for lack of trying. We expected to have issues with paperwork, not with even just finding a vehicle. We have discovered that Panama has a culture of inadequate car maintenance. The motto here is, “If it’s broke, don’t fix it”, just slap a shiny paint job on it and sell it.

We wandered all over the used car lots, spending many sweaty, sweaty days talking to used car salesmen trying to sell us cars with the handles falling off and the wires loose (we didn’t even look under their hoods). Brett spent entire days online, picking through the ads, and organizing meet ups with the few that responded. For an entire week or more we had no real success stories, or even the scent of success. This was a sobering experience.

This past week was crunch time. We either sort out which vehicle we want, or we completely change  plans and skateboard home. (Brett will tell you I forced him into it, I will say we made the most excellent choice out of our options).

So which one did we choose???

We want to introduce you to “Suetre”(or lucky in Spanish) our little white Asian dream. Although not exactly what we wanted, we are sure she can conquer the roads. The money we saved on it we can reinvest in the things that need fixing like the windshield and transmission. She has a giant back for us to build a bed, she has room for a roof top tent, and although we haven’t ever heard of the brand – we are told she is a good one. Only 300,000km, on a 3 cylinder, 3 speed diesel engine. VROOOM. We are so excited to the experience her. What do you think?

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Did you think the story really ended there? Obviously we didn’t buy that hunk of junk!

We bought the most excellent truck, from the most excellent people! We are now the proud owners of Pablo, named for you guessed it Pablo Escobar. He is big, he is bad, he is one tricky son of a bitch and %$*! was he hard to find.

Pablo is a 1999 Toyota 4Runner; 260 000km on 4 cylinder, 5 speed diesel. It was the daily commuter and expedition truck for a wonderful Venezuelan named Antonio (or Toquin as everyone calls him, IG: toquin608). Toquin works with Procars Panama (IG: procars_panama) a Venezuelan business operating out of the city.  Toquin put his heart and soul into this truck, and also tons of offroad extras. It was literally the most well maintained vehicle we looked at, but lucky for us also came fully equipped: Bushbar, snorkle, lift, suspension, sexy back bumper, and 16 “tires… the list goes on, and on, and on. Pablo is big and bad.

We added a few things too, in order to spruce it up prior to driving north. We added significant window tinting for the hot and insecure places we are about to drive through (some of which we know we have to peel off due to regulations at the US border), a roof top tent, a hidden safe bolted to the floor, and a custom built bed/storage unit in the back that Brett just happened to throw together.  Thanks to Cruiserheads Panama (another Venezuelan company, IG cruiserheads.com_panama) for hooking us up with the goods and letting us take over their shop for 3 days!

We also spent 2 days meticulously peeling off the Procars advertisement that happened to cover over 50% of the truck….

Paperwork is in process; as of today we will have it (Panama is a bureaucratic nightmare). The exportation paperwork will happen over the next week or so.  By time Brett returns…. we foresee smooth sailing (with expectations the border will prove annoying no matter what paperwork we have)!

Carlos and Rui applying the requisite Procars decal.

We like the entitle this one the “shotgun sale”

Rui, Jessica, Brett, Toquin, and Pablo our new Venezuelan offroad family. We count ourselves extremely lucky to have found these guys, if anyone else is overlanding through Panama city and need a tune up, or a serious fix these are the people to go to. Contact Procars or Cruiserheads Panama for your 4×4 needs!

 

Update: We have a vehicle!

Stay posted for the most exciting news yet.

(sorry we are a little busy with paperwork, building and getting excited to post something more extensive)

 

 

Pending in Panama City

Panama City, Panama
March 24 – Present

Welcome to our first new country on this trip! We landed in Panama City over a week ago, and are on only one mission: Find a truck, Find it now. Update on that progress later.

Flying into Panama City was a bit of a shit show, to be honest. From what we have heard Air Panama is notorious for helping themselves to items in people’s checked baggage…. they even had a warning sign at the Check-in. Also, the Air Panama airport (not the international airport) is more like a building that just happens to contain some parts of an airport. The security and the customs were low in quality but high in entertainment value. Partially because they had us just point to the bags we wanted back, and some guy carried  them over.

For the first few days, as we got our bearings, we stuck to a regime of truck research for half of the day and exploration for the other half. We have discovered that its a mistake to do it in that order, exploration must come before the heat wave. Research and repose must come after.

Panama City is actually quite walk-able. Long, hot, incredibly sweaty walks, but you can do it. Between down town and old town its only about 45 minutes along a seawall but its seriously over 35c everyday (only to get progressively hotter as we reach the rainy season). Its no fun to walk very far, but we do to save money.

We have visited Casco Viejo, the old city, which was absolutely beautiful. Crumbling and reconstructed all at the same time. This is definitely the gringo zone, hostels, upscale hotels, restaurants we can’t afford, cathedrals and ruins all live here.

There is a great artisan and indigenous market along the seawall in this neighbourhood. Tons of Kuna cultural items for sale, and enough Panamanian hats to shade the heads of the world. Can’t comment on the prices though, we are on a strict Ramen noodle  diet right now.

And once again Jessica is getting intimidated by the mannequins.

Another day we walked along the  park by the ocean, filled with snow cones and a substantial fish market at the end. First ceviche of the trip, and it was wiggly and delicious.

Found a fountain in an extremely interesting shape. Not sure who pulled the fast one on the city planners, or if they still have a job.

Possibly the most exciting place we explored was  Parque Natural Metropolitano de Panama. A large natural reserve within city limits, about a 3$ cab ride from the center. Although both of us have seen many tropical parks, it was obsurd how many animals were running around in this city park. We’ve wandered around some of the most famous reserves in Costa Rica and not seen as many creatures as we did here. And – very exciting – our friend Chris from Costeno beach met us in Panama City for a few days.

We got to witness tortugas sunbathing, Jesus lizards running across the water, strange anteater-rodent-creatures trampling through the leaves. The most exhilarating creature was the sloth, who due to the dry season was extremely visible through the foliage. He was also motoring faster then any sloth we have ever seen. Really putting on some mileage.

We’ve also found some really fantastic graffiti here, typical big city angst and art.

Panama City is a big change for us from the places we explored in Colombia. Its all skyscrapers, expats and malls. For a big city its not bad, but its beginning to wear us down as we are in essence trapped here until we find a truck. We want nature, jungle and beaches rather then pavement, pollution and expenses. We vastly under estimated the costs here (nearly %60 of our budget is accommodation and we are staying in the cheapest place in the city). We need to cook all our meals, and stick to the basics. Only free explorations allowed!