Jose and Cafe Ole

After another awesome breakfast cooked by our host Janet yesterday, we drove down to Volcan to meet Jose for our complimentary tour. We arrived on time at 9 am and knowing that North Americans run off of a different clock than Panamanians, Jose was only a half-hour late in consideration of us! We piled into our little Nissan and began our tour of Volcan and the surrounding area. He drove us to the new airstrip which is on the outskirts of town. It is just a nicely paved long strip out by the cow pastures and it also doubles as a road for cars most of the time. Jose told us that not many planes fly in and out anymore, but the old airstrip was right in the middle of town and caused problems with traffic so some fellow built this new one a few years back.

After leaving the airstrip and getting familiar with the lay of the land, the different hills and valleys, we drove up to his brother's cattle ranch and coffee farm, Cafe Ole. We wound our way up and up and pretty soon we had a gorgeous view of the whole valley. We stopped in at the house to meet his family, but his brother was out working somewhere on the property. His brother's wife, Irene, graciously invited us in even though we were unannounced and served us fresh coffee from their farm and pastries. Jose said if guests are not offered coffee that it's a sign of poor manners and word will get around!

When Irene noticed how much we were enjoying the coffee she promptly sent the maid off to make another pot despite our protests. We had a lovely morning with Jose's commentary on everything social, political, ecological and historical. He told us that it was his birthday and he wanted some distraction so it turned out to be good for him, too. This estate is so beautiful; there is a little pool built into the patio with water flowing down over the terrace. Most homes here are open to the elements and this beautiful house is no exception.

There are several living areas and all the doors are wide open to the veranda. The main living and entertaining area is outside under a roof but there are no walls, just plants and trees. They are even building a hangar near the house to park the brother's helicopter in. After a nice visit we said goodbye and thank you to Irene and drove back to Volcan to return Jose to his wife, Isabella.

Nothing else we could do would compare with our morning, so we came back to the B&B and lazed around reading books on the patio and hot-tubbing; processing this wonderful interaction we were so lucky to experience. Last night we went back to Hotel Cerro Punta for dinner and to say goodbye to another new friend, Gisela, our server. She and I both had a tear in our eyes when we left after dinner; even though we could not communicate much with words we were able to share our friendship with each other.

Today, Friday, we decided to drive up to Rio Sereno, the closest border crossing with Costa Rica. We both agreed that in the end we didn't have a huge desire to cross over to Costa Rica and deal with immigration both ways so we just enjoyed the drive which wound around and around and up and down valleys and really steep hills.


Rio Sereno is much larger than I had expected (I envisioned a few houses and a guardhouse) but there isn't anything at all for a couple of gringos to do there. It is pretty remote and was the first time I really felt uncomfortable on our trip; I think what I was feeling just came from my own fear of the unknown because the people we passed on the road waved and smiled even more heartily than in other areas we've been and when we stopped at the town hall to ask a question the lady I spoke with was very helpful and polite. Overall it was a pretty drive through new territory and I'm glad we took the time to do it.


Michael, you would love some of the houses I saw perched on top of mountain tops!

Tomorrow morning we leave Cerro Punta and its beautiful mountains and cool, crisp air and head to the islands of Bocas del Toro. We will return our rental car in David (what stories it could tell!) and meet Daniel Higgins who will be our personal driver and tour guide across the mountains and down to the Caribbean. He will take us to Almirante where we will hop on a ferry or water taxi out to this islands of Bocas. I do not know the availability of telephones or internet as we'll be staying on an island away from the main town. We'll be in touch when we can take a break from the snorkeling and the hammocks!

Cheers!
Jenn & Herm