We arrived on Bocas shortly before sunset and before we left the boat dock we were again provided assistance by a charming English speaking street urchin who wanted to guide us to our hotel. We discovered with his help we were on the wrong island. Seems “Bocas” is more than just one island, we were on on Isle Colon, the hotel on another. We decided to stay on Colon so we could explore it. We were shown several hotels by our tour guide and finally decided on the Limbo, we went upscale!
The limbo looked good, nice room, king sized bed, WiFI Internet, a shower, clean and a great happy hour. We dropped our bags had a few cold beers and discussed house designs, the favorite topic in Boquete.
As the sun set and hunger moved in we progressed to wandering the streets looking for Carribean food; the end of the road lead us to the Big Bamboo.
An open ramada restaurant that seemed much like a resort in the USA but the menu was what we wanted so we sat down to the sports bar atmosphere and ordered. Our waitress gave up on my pigin Spanish and moved quickly to, do you speak English; I hear that a lot. I ordered ribs and Jennifer shrimp. In violation of our own restaurant review rules I must admit we did a poor job on this review, no pictures. The food however was excellent and we were joined by Dave, sorry no pic either. Dave just arrived in Bocas and adopted The Big Bamboo, he is their cheerleader and spent considerable time explaining Bocas and his experience moving from the States, The Big Bamboo he explained was bought by a San Diego couple and they require all their employees to speak English. Dinner was expensive by Panamanian standards $27 but the ribs were excellent as were the shrimp and the neighborhood dogs enjoyed the bones.
We wandered back to the Limbo and discovered our King sized bed was a mirage, two twins sharing a bed spread. The offered wireless Internet did not work so sleep was on the agenda. Upon waking and trying the shower we had our next shock, no water. A trip down to the front desk uncovered the the harsh reality. NO WATER, someone forgot to tie up a boat docked next to the water pipes and it broke loose braking the pipes or they forgot to pay their water bill along with their ISP bill. I am not sure which is true. We were offered two bottles of water and 10% discount from their $73 rate; I think we will stay out of Limbo in the future. We checked out of Limbo and re-entered Bocas to face the day… looking for a hot shower
Seems Dave was not really Dave and is no long in Panama.
The Associated Press: HARRISBURG — A retired university professor wanted in Pennsylvania and three other states on child molestation charges was arrested in Panama and deported to Miami, where he is now in custody, federal authorities say. Richard W. Gibbs, who taught in Shippensburg University’s journalism and communications department until he retired abruptly in the spring, allegedly fled the United States on July 18. He was apprehended without incident Thursday at a bar in Bocas Del Toro, Panama, where he was working under the name Wesley Alonzo, U.S. Marshal Peter Elliott said in a statement. “His alleged acts were unspeakable and it was critical that we brought him to justice,” said Elliott, who is based in Cleveland. It was not immediately clear yesterday whether Gibbs would be first extradited to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio or California. Gibbs, 65, is charged in Cumberland County with 14 felony counts of sexual abuse of children for pornographic images police said they found on his computers at the central Pennsylvania university. He retired from the school on the same day that his computers were searched.
http://www.yorkdispatch.com/pennsylvania/ci_4505373