Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Wednesday at Aqua Lounge
With the temperature almost pushing 35 degrees, our only refuge was the Hotel Heike treehouse roof to watch the sun go down and treat ourselves to a bunch of cervezas, couple litres of caribbean rum, a litre of vodka and the sounds of Soulwax. Being a Wednesday night, Aqua Lounge was the destination for party girls and party boys, with free drinks for ladies being a drawcard for both sexes.
Well under the influence, we rounded up a handful of pretty ladies to come and dazzle on the DF for a ‘so you think you can dance’ like show down of epic proportions. To cool off from all the twirling and fist pumping action, there was a 2 story driving platform into the water, right in the middle of the bar. Perfect to take that special girl for a middnight swim. The memory is a little sketchy on this night - after we dominated the 'VIP' service with a couple bottles of vodka things once again stepped up. There was a fight club, a few girls, the Santa Cruz incident, Michael Phelps and some kitchen acrobatics. In the end, I’d score our efforts an 8/10 for this night.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Torrential travel
We’ve done well picking the days to travel. As we were busing to David, again the rain was having its way with Panama. Getting into David we stayed the night at The Purple House - recommended by Lonely Planet, but not me. The chick who runs this place is a full on nutter, has a fetish with the colour purple and her shit dog “Cutsie”. Every inch of the place had a sign on it outlining what you can’t do, it felt like I was intruding in a special learning classroom, not a backpackers hostel. I was scared for Taylor - he was wearing a purple hat. I could picture him waking up in the morning in shackles, with this chick throwing a bucket of water on his face. All in all, stay somewhere else.
Rising early we hopped on a 4 hour bus to Almirante, then a water taxi to Bocas for what would be a unique visit to the island...
24 Eggs with the Blonde Bullet
After a night on the town in Myrtle Beach, we returned to The Palace only to discover that the Blonde Bullet had not consumed his recommended dietary intake of eggs for that day. Worried our good friend was not servicing his body properly, we dished up 24 eggs for a scrambled extravaganza.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Santa Catalina Surfpoint
Our whole crew were pretty stoked on this place. An awesome find and a place I’ll definitely stay at when I’m back in Santa Catalina. The surfcamp has only been open for business for a couple of months, but they do have things sorted and big plans for the future. Right on the beach at Estero, 10 min walk from La Punta, 15min walk to Punta Brava, a cool restaurant overlooking the beach, and space to throw up hammoks or a tent if you want to do it cheaply. $13 a night locked you into a room with aircon and breakie, but the thing that set this place apart was the hospitality. The whole family went out of their way to make our stay awesome. From giving us lifts to town, letting us party hard (and joining in) to giving us solid intel on Panama. Big thanks to the crew at Surfpoint and we’ll see you next year.
Check out their Facebook page and go and stay if you head to Panama. Email for reservations: santacatalinasurfpoint@gmail.com
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Aussie rescue
We’d just got back from a surf at La Punta in the morning and it started the bucket down. Eating a few chocolate crepes for breakie, we watched over the beach spotted a brand new Nissan Ute fast approaching the creek on out going tide. Although the creek may seem quite shallow, until dead low tide there is still a heap of water in it. Like a skater attacking a half pipe, the Nissan dropped in on the creek wall, coming to full stop. Everyone eating breakie lost their shit with laughter. Things got worse for the family in the Nissan, as the truck acted at wall in the creek creating a stationary wave which began breaking over it. Aussies to the rescue! Packing a scrum behind Nissan, we pushing as a 4x4 on the beach tried to winch it out. About 10 mins in the truck was finally out, but totally waterlogged. Chips and cans of drink floating around in the cabin.
The next day, the dad turned up to our hostel in a new hire car and 6 cases of beer for our efforts. Right on.
