Guests

Yes, slowly but certainly the first guests are coming to visit our part of Panama. The two rancho’s are ready, and so is the bath room (apart from a door, but who cares?). Three weeks ago we had three English travelers visiting us and last week Norm, our American friend who lives in Chiriqui came by with a friend. And during the Easter weekend we were actually full. First a night with an unexpected couple who stranded in the region looking for a place to stay. Then, booked in advance, a Panamanian, a Canadian and an American guest. The last one came separately to go bird watching in Cerro Hoya and Santa Fe.

The three English travelers were easy going guests. They wanted breakfast around ten o’clock in the morning, so plenty of time for ourselves to sleep in for a bit. When they left they were especially pleased with the open air shower. Looking at the Milky Way while soaping in your body seems to have a certain attraction.

The shower gets quite some acclaim anyway. Lately we have had quite some people who only want to see what we are actually doing on our land. Mostly other foreigners who are developing something or other in the area. We do not mind at all, none of them are thinking of building a hotel or providing tented accommodation, so we are not worried about people stealing our ideas. And anyway, you ‘ll need some talent and information to be able to paint whales and dolphins on your shower walls.

A lot of this interest is due to Rob van der Merwe, a Dutch student Marketing and Tourism who is doing a practical period of six months with us. During February he traveled western Panama to analyse our target group and he took that opportunity to try and persuade them to come to our place. And that is having some success.

Unfortunately I did not manage to show our bird watcher the Painted Parakeet , the brown-backed dove or the great green macaw. But the next day we did find a Sun Grebe near Ponuga and a Snowcap (a small and rare hummingbird) near Santa Fe. So he was pleased when he left and says he is coming back! And so are the Canadian and Panamian ladies…