Enjoying The Canal Before We Leave

Friday, August 23
After the radio show we went to the Miraflores locks on the Panama canal where we ate lunch at a restaurant that overlooked the Canal. It was an awesome experience because we enjoyed an unbelievable buffet as we witnessed international commerce utilizing one of the wonders of the modern world.

View of the Canal from our table

Here comes the first ship

Two at once

Gates of the locks opening to let ship through

It's a tight fit as big as these ships are

Trying to give you a perspective of how massive the ships are

These guys are the orange dots in the previous picture

We leave in the morning on a 9:55 am flight back to Houston. Hope to be back soon to such a spectacular country.

On Air in Panama

Friday, August 23

Today is our last day in Panama and we are spending it in Panama city touring some of the historic sites, specifically the canal, and enjoying our last chance to experience such a wonderful country.  Before we do a little tourism, I joined Julio, Luis, and Fabio (a producer we visited on the trip) on a half hour agriculture radio program broadcast throughout the country.  Luis picked me up from the hotel at 4:50 and we headed to the studio to prepare for the broadcast which would air live 5:30.  I must say the traffic in the city at this hour is much more tolerable from someone used to driving in the metropolis of Pampa, Texas.  We arrived at a building downtown and proceeded to the top floor where the studio of Radio Panama was located.  We arrived before any of the other hosts and waited outside for them to unlock the studio and us to begin the broadcast.  As we waited it got closer and closer to 5:30 and nobody showed up to let us in.  I didn’t know if we were going to get to do the broadcast after all, however, in the no problems fashion that so many people of Latin America exhibit, the broadcast engineer arrived, let us in at 5:28 where we sat down in just enough time to go on air live.  I had a great time doing the radio program where I thanked our hosts in Panama for being so hospitable and making the trip so incredible.  I also expressed my thoughts about the potential for the producers in Panama being so limitless.  The climate (growing season year round), the cattle (incredible health and genetic base), and the geographic importance of the country position the industry for incredible success in the near future.

Waiting outside the Radio Panama studio

Spreading the word

A view of the city from the studio-sorry for the glare

  

Back To The Big City

Thursday, August 22

Today we left Bocas Del Toro on a flight at 7:45, at least it was supposed to be, but ended up being about 8:30, and flew to back to Panama City.  After about a 45 minute flight we landed in Panama city where Julio picked us up.  We spent the morning at the ANAGAN office discussing our trip with Julio and Luis, and discussed the plan for the Institute of Ranch Management moving forward in Panama.  It was a very productive meeting and I think the future is very bright for the relationship between IRM and the producers of Panama.

After our meeting at the ANAGAN office we went to eat lunch at a restaurant where the entrance/exit (depending on which way you are going) of the Panama Canal and the Pacific Ocean meet.  We enjoyed a great meal and continued to talk about how great the trip had been.  After lunch Julio took us on a quick sightseeing tour where we saw one of the ports along the canal as well as the infrastructure (small city within a city) it takes to run the canal known as the Canal District. The canal district is all the old military base and support facilities the U.S. military used when they controlled the canal before giving control over to the Panamanians.

A the view of downtown Panama City from our lunch spot

A little closer

A statue in the Canal District

The administration building of the Canal Authority

Bocas Del Toro-Our Last Province

Tuesday, August 20

We left our hotel early this morning at 6:00 am because we had a long and windy drive through the mountains to Bocas Del Toro.  Before we left David we picked up one of Luis’ friends to drive us since he did not have his license and we did not want to run into anymore problems with checkpoints. Bocas Del Toro is on the far East side of the country and borders Costa Rica so there is more border security in the area.  Since we knew the drive through the mountains and extremely windy Jessica took another Dramamine and was out.  The drive was beautiful as we went up an over the mountains.  There were many indigenous indians living in the area and there houses resembled nothing more than tree houses children construct and play in in the U.S.  Seeing this first hand makes you realize how fortunate we are and to not take for granted what you have at home. 

A quick shot of a home of an indigenous indian 

Vegetable industry in Bocas

The drive took about 3 hours but we finally arrived in the small town of Changuinola, Bocas Del Toro.  We met Fernando, a ranch manager for an absentee owner, at a McDonalds before he took us to the ranch we would visit for the day.  The ranch was both a cow calf operation as well as a finisher and used cross breeding of Brahman, Simental, and Senepol.  We drove through the ranch and saw the operation where they finished the steer calves as well as bought additional cattle to finish on grass and were not supplemented at all.  After looking at the growing division, we drove to another part of the ranch and saw the cow herd.  The calves that we saw had great genetics and even saw some Brahman/Senepol crosses.  These were probably the best calves we have seen so far and you see why people think this may be the breed of the future for the country.  The calves were extremely stout and had great muscling, Fernando also explained they were great mothers and produced great milk. 

Steers (actually bulls-they do not castrate anything) Fernando was growing out

A couple Senepol cross calves-pretty fancy

Gunna definitely be a cow one day

After looking at the ranch, Fernando took us on a quick tour of the area.  The agriculture area was spectacular and there were banana plantations everywhere which were all Chiquita Banana farms.  As we continued to drive, we went through a very impoverished area where there were many indigenous indians who lived in this area. We really had a glimpse of what life was like in the 3rd world areas of Latin America and it was difficult to look at some of the conditions the people were living under.  Fernando told us to pull over in a remote area and we walked through a dense forest where we came out on the Sixaola River, the border between Panama and Costa Rica.  We took a few pictures and then he took us to the actual border crossing where there was tons of people going back and forth across a bridge between Panama and Costa Rica.  He asked us if we wanted to go to Costa Rica, and after a little convincing of Jess, we decided to make the trip.  You only live once and how many other times where we going to be presented an opportunity to experience and opportunity like this right?  We walked up to the bridge where none of the border police asked to see our passports (didn’t even get a stamp for proof) and walked across the bridge to Costa Rica. We bought a couple bottles of water from a local Costa Rican market (have to support the local economy) and returned to Panama.

Chiquita Banana Plantaion

A local bus in Boca (no joke)-"Nothing Runs Like A Deer"

The house of an indigenous indian

This little fella got him a pig on a leash

Sixaola River-The other side is Costa Rica

Wild Bananas

Headed To Costa Rica

Sixaola River-The border between Panama and Costa Rica

We Made it

A local vegetable stand in Costa Rica

This guy said the Banana market was better in Panama and was headed to capitalizing on international marking

Headed back across

Indians doing Laundry in the Sixoala River

Home sweet home

Am I Still In Panama?

Monday, August 19

We left the Castillo’s house about 7:00 am after a breakfast of huevos rancheros and more amazing Panamanian coffee.  The coffee was much needed as I did not get much sleep after my computer was giving me problems uploading pictures to the blog and I was determined to get it done last night, which I didn’t.  Manuel was so hospitable and gave us his card and told us that if we need anything in Panama to call him and he would take care of it.  His son is considering attending TCU Ranch Management and Manuel really wants him to go.

After we left we had a two hour drive to the Province of Chiriqui where we would make our first stop.  The road was once again rough as a corn cob but Jess got some dramamine from a grocery in Santiago and was out. She did however wake up when things got interesting at a police checkpoint.  The police stop all cars and ask for ID’s which has been no problem up to this point.  We didn’t think anything of it until Luis could not find his license to show the authorities.  Luis had forgotten his license at a gas station we stopped at where he gave the attendant his ID but never got it back.  They pulled us out of the car and brought a drug sniffing dog to search the car.  After the Panamanian drug dog, really a puppy, had jumped in the car and smelled our bags and everything checked out ok, obviously, we thought we would be fine.  Luis explained our situation but the authorities were giving us the run around and he was having to talk to a lot different "hefes" that didn’t really have any answers.  They told Luis he could not continue to drive so we didn’t know what to do and thought we were going to have to sit and wait for someone to come get us untill Jess suggested I drive.  We walked back to the building and asked if it was ok if the Texan with the big sombrero drove.  After they ran my passport and ID and had to talk to even more "hefes" they finally approved our plan and we were on our way.  Im not going to lie, the situation was a little tense for a few moments and yes I got a bit nervous, but it will give us another great memory and something to laugh about when we look back.  I think Jess was pretty happy about getting someone else behind the wheel, no offense to Luis but the drivers here are petal to the medal and then get to the brakes hard and fast.  

THE Checkpoint

Vamos

After we were on our way, we headed to Abel Miranda’s ranch.  Abel was a cow calf producers who also finished his cattle on grass and sold them for harvest.  He used a lot of crossbreeding which included Brahman, Simental, Angus, and Beefmasters in which he AI’d his cows to produce both good milking replacements, and good gaining calves.  They were one of the first commercial operations we have visited that was tagging cows and keeping records on them.  Abel did not feed anything besides mineral year round with the exception of a little salt and protein supplement near the end of finishing.  Now it is off to David to the transportation department to try and get Luis an ID.  Wouldn’t be a good trip without a little adventure.

Abel (left) explains his crossbreeding operation

Some of Abel's cattle

From left to right-Abel's son, me, Abel, Luis-our host and tour guide

After meeting with Abel we headed into David, Chiriqui to eat lunch and check into the hotel.  For lunch we went to El Fogon, a favorite spot of Luis, and had probably the best meat we have had so far.  The cut was called Punta de Pallimillo,the point of the sirloin, and is the beef tenderloin of Panama.  After tasting the first bite I realized why it was so loved, the meat reminded me a lot of flank steak but had great flavor and even had a little fat which has not been common on the trip so far.  

After lunch we checked into the hotel and headed to the University of Panama-Chiriqui campus.  The college was a satellite campus and specialized in agriculture, specifically research in all areas of agriculture including fruit production, forage production, beef cattle, dairy cattle, and even pigs and sheep.  We met with Dr. Juan Osorio, who took us on a tour of the research farm and then returned to his office were he explained the agriculture industry and markets in Panama with us.  The stop was very enlightening and it was great to see the research they were conducting and get a glimpse of what they see the future of animal production in Panama consisting of.

Entrance to the University Of Panama-Chiriqui

Beautiful Campus

Dr. Osorio explaining the research 

An embryo transfer calf from Germany-it is a dairy breed of Simental

Dairy Simental and Geer cross calves

Feed mill at the research facility

Dr. Osorio discusses the market structure and obstacles for the industry in Panama

We left the University research center and drove to Valcon, Chiriqui.  As you might expect this is a dormant volcano and is the tallest mountain in Panama standing 11,390 feet tall and located on the far West side of Panama just off the border with Costa Rica.  As we drove up the mountain the ecosystem changed drastically and the temperature fell as we drove into the clouds surrounding the volcano.  It was as if we had been taken out of Panama and placed in Interlaken, Switzerland because it did not even seem like the same country.  It was about 70 degrees (finally relief from the heat) and drizzled rain the entire time.  The climate was a lot more temperate and the cattle were much more English bred dairy cattle. We even passed one purebred Red Angus producer.  Luis took us to a spot where the road was going down hill but when he put the car in neutral we literally began to roll backward uphill.  I know you think I am crazy and I don’t know if it was an optical illusion or some sort of freak anomaly of nature but it happened, I promise.  Luis said it happens every time you go the spot and it is only a short stretch of road a couple hundred feet long.  After witnessing the crazy phenomenon we went back to a small cafeteria where we enjoyed coffee and local cookies on a porch as it rained down.  If you ever get the chance to come to Panama, the mountains in West Chiriqui are magnificent, as if the rest of the country is not,  and an extremely refreshing break from the heat and humidity.

"Welcome To Volcan"

Yes, those are pine trees

Not a bad spot to live

Panamanian heater-Notice the temperature (on top next to the clock) outside is 20 and the a/c in the car is 22

Enjoying another cup of coffee as I watch it rain down wanting to take it home to Texas

No Compaints