Volunteer on Isla San Christobal

14.01.17-21.01.17

Almost three weeks after heading to Bocas del Toro for the volunteer job, I finally get around to writing the blog entry about it. It's definitely taking too long and it takes a lot of self-motivation. I hope I can remember everything from my vacation-mode brain. I'm already in Costa Rica now, looking out at the wild Caribbean Atlantic while I write. But now, let's go back three weeks...

Today we're heading to Bocas del Toro. This province in Panama consists of six larger and many smaller islands. We have the volunteer job on San Christobal. The Lonely Planet describes this island as very non-touristy, original and mostly inhabited by indigenous people. There are no roads and you can only get from A to B by boat.

We leave at 8:00 am with Malin from Boquete in our shuttle bus. The weather is still cool and windy. Of course, we hope it gets better when we're on the Caribbean coast. It will be my first time in the Caribbean and I'm really excited. The drive through the jungle mountains is always beautiful and it's hard to focus on reading. So it's better to look out and soak up nature.

Arriving in Almirante, the weather is still gray and damp, but warm. All the other passengers are taken directly to the boat to Bocas Town. Since we're going to a very non-touristy place, we have to find our meeting point first. Malin, who organized everything, arranged to meet Papito, our host, at the "gas station by the sea". Well, Almirante is small, the coast is just one line, we'll find it and start walking in one direction. Almirante looks a bit shabby, but somehow chill and has a big Chiquita harbor. We find the meeting point without detours around half past twelve. We're supposed to be picked up between one and two. We eat something and have a beer. No one there yet. Another beer? Hm, does it look weird to drink beer at noon when our host picks us up? Doesn't matter, and as it turns out later, an unnecessary concern.

When Papito finally shows up, we were starting to doubt that we were at the right meeting point, he buys us a beer. Papito is a really funny guy. He speaks Spanish and this Caribbean English, which is quite difficult to understand, but I'm getting better at it during the week. He also brings Dirk, Dorien's father, with him. He is currently in Panama from Belgium because Dorien is about to give birth to their second daughter. Since you can't really shop on San Christobal, we go to the supermarket in Almirante, pick up a door, and buy weed from the local dealer. Malin and I are totally amazed and excited about all the new impressions, because it's so remote. And we're already slightly tipsy after about the fourth beer.

At dusk, we finally head to San Christobal. The islands are surrounded by mangroves, the sea is calm because it is protected by the other islands from the open Atlantic, and it almost feels like a big lake. On the way, we briefly stop at the pier of Papito's father's house and then reach ours. Since it has rained a lot in Bocas del Toro lately, the short path lined with hibiscus bushes to the house is very muddy. At the house, we meet Dorien, her daughter 15-month-old Elena, and Papito's son, eight-year-old Toni. Toni only speaks Spanish and seems quite shy. Our home for the next few days is a beautiful three-story wooden house surrounded by a tropical garden with banana palms, papaya, and pineapple plants that Papito built himself. Since Dorien is heavily pregnant and can no longer climb the narrow stairs to the attic, we get their double bed on the second floor.

Malin and I are a bit taken aback by the slightly grimy impression of the house. There is chaos in the kitchen and fruit and vegetable leftovers are lying on the work surface, which delights an uncountable number of fruit flies, disgusts us, but doesn't seem to bother anyone else. Is it always like this or is our presence to help with household chores just long overdue?

But now let's talk about the absolute anti-highlight and the reason why we would have preferred to leave immediately. In the advertisement for the volunteer job, Dorien and Papito point out every negative aspect that could discourage you from doing the job... ALMOST every aspect, as we soon realize. No mention of the toilet situation! The toilet cabin is about 40 meters away from the house. To get there, you have to walk 20 meters through the enclosure of Luigi, a strong dog who becomes overly excited when someone finally comes into his enclosure. When he happily jumps up, he almost throws you into the mud or at least claws into your thighs. Finally reaching the toilet, it's a compost toilet, which means that after using it, something is shoveled onto the pile to compost it, and it stinks terribly. I use it only once for peeing and try not to breathe. Malin and I agree: for the rest of the week, we'll use the jungle toilet.

And now let's get started with our job. The two guests who stay in the treehouse, which, by the way, has a "normal" toilet, have dinner on the beautiful terrace on the first floor of the main house. Papito cooks, we help him, and serve the guests, a very nice couple from Holland. While the guests eat, we eat in the kitchen around a table that is way too small. Everything down here seems rather temporary, although it could be really nice with a few resources. After dinner, we clean up, wash the dishes, and clean the kitchen. Then we are exhausted from the whole day and go to bed.

To be honest, Malin and I are a bit disappointed and not quite sure if we want to stay here for so long after the first evening. Malin, in particular, is quite turned off. Based on my Catalina experience, I am more relaxed and give it a chance.

The next morning, Dorien, Malin, and I make breakfast for the guests together. Dorien tries to explain everything to us as much as possible because she will leave for the mainland early in the morning for the birth and we will be on our own. For breakfast, we have pancakes, a fruit bowl with homemade yogurt, coffee, and smoothies. After serving the guests, we also eat pancakes.

After breakfast, we get to know the surroundings of the house. There are two chickens in the garden, only one of which lays eggs. The rest of the chickens were killed by a wild cat. There are three dogs in total. Luigi lives, as mentioned before, in the enclosure, Bobby is on a chain, and Charly is allowed to roam freely. I feel sorry for Bobby. Such a friendly dog, who is only on the chain because he sometimes runs away and may have impregnated a female dog. Within the next week, we manage to get him off the chain and you can see how he blossoms. I don't know if he's back on the chain while I'm writing this.

Then there are four horses. Two of them are near the house, tied to trees with ropes about eight meters long. When we go there, we find that the mare is completely tangled in her rope, can't move anymore, and is standing on three legs. We call Papito, he frees her, but she limps heavily. She still does that the whole week. The stallion is simply skin and bones and we are frustrated with the condition of the animals. I'm considering how much interference makes sense and decide to make small cautious hints from time to time, which I do in the coming week. I don't know if it will have any effect. At least the other two horses, one of which may be pregnant and they are on a beautiful pasture, look really healthy.

In the afternoon, Malin and I chill at the pier, lie in the sun, and swim. Unfortunately, Malin gets stung by a jellyfish, which doesn't hurt her much, but probably causes an allergic reaction. She has a fever and is very exhausted for the next 24 hours. I tell her to lie down and rest. She helps with dinner again but she is really tired.

The next morning, Dorien and Papito are already on their way to the hospital early in the morning and we have our breakfast trial. We pass it with flying colors, the guests are thrilled. Afterward, we start making new yogurt, which turns out really well. The guests leave today and Papito will bring the two new guests from Almirante in the afternoon. A good opportunity to use the nice toilet in the guesthouse. Haha! Malin is still feeling really bad because of the jellyfish, and I make sure to take over most of the tasks.

In the evening, things get fun. The new guests, an American couple, arrive with Papito. It was actually planned for Papito to cook dinner, but he just disappears and leaves us to cook. Hm, okay... Thawing meat or fish is no longer an option, so I have to improvise something vegetarian with what we have. Spontaneous shopping is not possible. I fry pumpkin and potato cubes with a spicy Caribbean spice, and I make a salsa from green peppers, tomatoes, onions, and garlic. The guests and us really enjoy it.

Since Malin is still feeling really bad and has a fever, she goes to bed early. I chat with Papito for a while, we drink Balboa beer from a can, and smoke joints. Papito is such a funny storyteller. Most of the time, I laugh at how he tells stories and not what he says. I still don't really understand his English. He also jumps from one story to another quite quickly, and you don't always keep up, and he also inserts Spanish wisdom at regular intervals. The funny thing is that I really understand his Spanish, it's clear and completely different from his Caribbean Rasta Style English.

The next morning, our guests want to have breakfast at 9:30 am. So it's kind of like sleeping in for us. We're quite experienced in the kitchen by now and it's really fun. I could imagine running a guesthouse like this. Maybe not in Panama on a remote island, but somewhere in Europe.

The rest of the day is relaxed. We cook soup for lunch for the guests and ourselves, go for a walk with Toni and the dogs, check on the horses, chill and swim at the pier. In the evening, we just reheat the dinner that Papito pre-cooked. We have lobster. Denise and Scott ask us if we want to eat on the terrace with them. We have a nice evening and chat for a long time.

Bocas Town Intermezzo

Today, the two of them are leaving again and will be brought to Bocas Town. Since there are no guests for the next few days, and Dorien and baby Nora will only be back tomorrow, I spontaneously suggest that we should spend our day off in Bocas. We ask Dorien, she agrees, and we are there at noon. Oh man, it feels so good to see people, streets, supermarkets, bars, and cars again. Yes, I know it's only been, what, five days?! I'm just a city person.

We check into our hostel and head directly to the neighboring island of Carenero. A 30-second water taxi ride and $1 later, we're there and completely blown away. It's sooo Caribbean here. Shallow turquoise water, palm trees, white sand, wooden houses on stilts. We have a great time at Bibi's, a beach bar with a terrace over the water. We eat burgers, drink cocktails, bask in the sun, and are happy to be here.

Back at the hostel, we meet a few girls after a power nap and freshening up, and then we know where the party is tonight. After a few drinks at the hostel, we continue to the bar at Selina and go to Summer at 1 am. It's an open club right by the sea, again with a terrace over the water and the opportunity to go swimming. The music is great, we dance a lot and barefoot, and eventually we go home. What a contrast to the past few days.

The next morning starts sunny, relaxed, and surprisingly without a hangover. Great! So we can make the most of the day, rent beach cruisers, and ride to Paki Point. Another really chill beach bar with a view of a beach break for watching surfers. We have beef tacos, read, bask in the sun, and are happy to be here.

Back

Bocas immediately appealed to both of us, but today we're going back to Christobal. We meet Papito, Dorien, and baby Nora at the boat gas station in Almirante at around 6 pm to ride back with them. Oh man, fresh babies are so tiny. Of course, Papito offers us a beer first.

It's twilight and almost pitch black when we set off. At first, Malin and I are a little nervous about riding back in the dark because you can hardly see anything. But Papito seems to know the area by heart. The initial apprehension quickly gives way to total joy about the darkness. We speed through black, perfectly calm water, admire the impressive starry sky, and even see a shooting star. Malin squeaks with happiness from time to time, adding to our enthusiasm, and we can barely hear the argument between Dorien and Papito on the back seat because of the loud engine noise.

When we arrive at our pier, we hear a buzzing sound like a vibrating alarm from a cell phone after the engine noise has faded away. Malin and I look at each other in surprise, then at Papito. He explains that it's a fish that makes that buzzing sound. At first, we think we're being tricked and that it's actually a phone, but the buzzing really comes from all directions in the water. We stare into the dark sea. Of course, we can't see the fish, but here and there, plankton sparkles like little blinking stars in the water. Papito sees our fascinated looks, stamps his foot on the pier a few times, and triggers the bioluminescence even more. The water around the pier sparkles and shimmers, and probably our eyes too. It is incredibly beautiful!!! Dorien and Papito, who are not as impressed as we are, go to the house. We stay on the pier a little longer, hop around on it, delight in the fascinating sparkle, and amuse ourselves with the buzzing fish. A truly unique atmosphere. Eventually, we manage to tear ourselves away and start walking. I'm in front, Malin is behind me on the pier. Suddenly, she calls out, "Look at the water!!". We see that every step we take on the pier triggers a little sparkle. We look at each other with wide eyes, apparently having the same thought in our heads, and as if on command, we continue in step, but now we both stomp our feet so hard that it sparkles even more. During our funny march, we have a little laughter fit and make our way to the house. Just unforgettable!

After the morning pancake party, Malin, Toni, and I go together to pick lemons and limes. Toni has become really comfortable with us and cheeky. And somehow, communication works. So, with his help, we search for the trees to pick from and make our way through the jungle. Well, for us, it's jungle, for Toni, Papito, and the others, it's just a garden or whatever. After a sweaty journey through the undergrowth, incredibly lush green, and many palm trees, up a steep hill with a beautiful view of the other side of the island and the sea, we finally find a few trees and, surprisingly, some fruits. Besides the citrus trees, there are also cocoa trees here, and we pick some fruits. Apart from the citrus trees, some cocoa trees also grow here, and we pick fruits. I crack open my first cocoa fruit, and we suck on the slightly sour, slimy flesh of the beans, which we then spit out in high arcs into nature. Toni hangs in the tree like a little monkey and seems proud to show us his island.

In the afternoon, we hang out at the pier for a while. Unfortunately, we haven't been swimming since Malin encountered the jellyfish. It's funny how something like that affects you, even though it can happen anywhere. Toni, on the other hand, is the clown and swims, jumps, and fools around. The three dogs have also become our constant companions. Bobby is no longer on the chain, blossoms really well, and even Luigi is a very relaxed dog when he's not forced to stay in his enclosure, which has become rarer by now.

In the evening, Papito cooks something Panamanian. A kind of banana puree or soup with nutmeg, and mini pancakes fried in oil. The whole thing fluctuates somewhere between sweet and savory, and I would eat it more for breakfast. If I ever eat it again. I tell Dorien at dinner that I want to leave tomorrow. Malin stays for the remaining two days. But since I was just here as an additional volunteer, and no more guests are coming, it's totally okay for me to leave already. Besides, it feels strange to stay here for free and eat without really doing anything for it anymore. Of course, we clean up and tidy up a bit, but without guests, there's not much to do. So the next morning, Papito will take me to Bocas Town, and I'm really looking forward to the new spot. The experience of this volunteer job was great, and I'm glad I decided to do it spontaneously.

Here too, initial skepticism turned into a great time.