Travel Journal:

Panamaniac - Caleb's site: Limon


Caleb's site: Limon 2-16-06
 
The bus ride from Panama City was miserable.  We took a Diablo Rojo (old American school bus) toward Colon, instead of one of the airconditioned express buses that play movies and have cushy seats and cost $1 more.  A full diablo rojo holds 5 adults (or 5 adults plus 8 children on laps) per row, and the driver blares really bad reggae-tone music.  We had to ask the driver to stop at "la entrada de Limon," since Caleb's town (in Colon province), is about a 5 mile drive up into the hills away from the main highway.  We had to dash across the highway and catch a "taxi" (some dude with a car who happened to be sitting there), which took us through Caleb's peaceful little town on the Gatun Lake.  He is living in a house on the edge of town that is just inside the borders of a big national forest.  It is supposed to house people from ANAM, Panama's version of forestry service + environmental protection agency, when they come out, but no one ever comes out so they're letting him live there for free. 

His house is right on the water of Lago Gatun, which is beautiful but full of ... creatures. His kitten (Guevon, "Dumbass" in Spanish) was waiting for us with a gigantic half-killed lizard. As soon as we arrived, his friends from town, his Peace Corps counterparts, showed up at his dock in their motorized canoe and took us to the little island, Isla Playita, in the lake where they are building this awesome cabana which will eventually house ecotourists and profit the whole town. The water was warm and crystal clear, we swam and and then caught a fish (bass) on the way back, which we ate for dinner along with some talapia his friend had given him. Delicious!  We built a bonfire, played dominos, made plans and drank 40-cent beers till late o'clock.
 
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