Adventures in Eating – Part 2: El “Hotel”

Horconcitos – Centro de Capacitación – Aguadulce, Panama

When we left off our intrepid heroes were still searching for that perfect Panama dining experience. Try as they might, they were stymied at every turn. First, fry bread. Then surprise corn cakes. Then random grocery store closures. In the end, Diana’s Chino-ness saved the day. 

Our story picks up again at the end of a long day of biking – full of big climbs and descents, but also full of great beauty. With a mountain storm thrown in for good measure . . .

PRELUDE

Our heroes have just completed one last four mile ascent and they are tired and hungry after their hilly 60 mile ride. They are ready to find shelter – and, hopefully, a shower and some good food. 

But this was a voyage full of uncertainty. The mountain landscape they were trying to negotiate was largely uninhabited. They had sent messages with some of the most advance technology of their time – WhatsApp – but the responses they had received were somewhat garbled and confusing. 

The best intelligence of the time – from their friend Google – indicated that there might be a hotel on top of this mountain – a place called the Centro de Capacitación. But when Diana used her WhatsApp device to try a voice communication, she found that the inhabitants of this Centro place did not understand her. 

“No el hotel,” they said. “Pero, quizá . . .”

Diana’s communication droid – Google Translate – who, like its ancestor, C3PO, is conversant in pretty much every known language – indicated that the other party was equivocating . . .

Not having any other options, and seeing an opening in this uncertainty, Diana persisted. Soon, she was writing back and forth, using her WhatsApp device, and these mountain people told her that – for 20 dollars – which was the currency in this land they called Panama – they could accommodate our heroic bikers. When pressed further, they said they could also provide breakfast and dinner.

But with the language barrier it was still unclear what our bikers would find when they arrived. 

“My phone says it’s up here on the left,” Diana said as they pedaled closer. 

At this point the road was a divided highway – so they crossed over to the left side where they could, and pedaled against traffic on the shoulder – looking for the hotel – or at least the road to the hotel. 

“It says its up here . . .” she says as she examines the red dot on her phone.

They are peering into the jungle – seeing nothing. 

“I didn’t see a road either.”

”Well, there was something back there that might have been an old road,” John offered. 

They went back to look. 

There was something. But it clearly had not been a real road in many years. 

They went up to investigate. Definitely rough.

But there was another path off of it – that went vaguely in the direction where the red dot on Google Maps indicated Centro de Capacitación was located. 

They head down this path and it it increasingly rocky – to the point where it is completely unridable. 

Eventually they come across a cluster of buildings. They look somewhat dilapidated – and like they might be eaten by the jungle at any moment. But there are buildings there.

“Hola, Hello,” they call. 

No answer.

They walk cautiously around. The place seems abandoned . . . until they reach the fourth building – where they hear some talking or something.

”Hola, Hello.”

Eventually a woman comes out.

”Is this the Centro de Capacitación?”

”Si.” She seems to know who they are.

She shows them a door in the next building.

Two bare single beds sit in a plain room. Sheets but no blankets. There is a pillow on one of them. There is a big hole in the ceiling -with a bare lightbulb,  but it looks like the roof is still intact. There is a fan mounted to the wall. There are no screens on the window – but there are some curtains anyway. Off the main room is a small bathroom. There’s a shower and a toilet, but no toilet paper or towels.

So ends our Prelude. Our tired explorers have found shelter – of a sort. 

Let’s skip to dinner . . .

Our host – Arete (sp?) – the very nice woman who showed us our room, indicates that our meal is ready.

We walk through and between the various buildings – until we find Arete and her daughters – Kaija, age 16, and Carmen, age 11 – waiting for us. 

On the table are two plates of a traditional Panamian dish: spaghetti with a piece of chicken, and a bunch of rice. 

It was “interesting.” I say that in a very Minnesota sense of the word . . .

But we are, of course, super hungry after a big day of biking. I manage to put down the spaghetti – and I mix in some of the rice just for the additional calories – but the rice is old and dry and a little off tasting so even being this hungry I don’t manage to eat it all. The chicken – mostly bone actually – is very dry.

The night was no picnic either. Diana manages to get a second pillow and toilet paper from Arete – but the room is not exactly comfortable. The fan sounds like a semi-truck roaring by – only it never moves. Just roars along all night. We can turn the fan off, but then it’s even hotter. Without screens Diana is worried about the insects, so she has bug spray on. In the end, not a great combination of factors for a good night’s sleep . . .

Arete and the girls made us breakfast as well. The main course? Fried plantains – which were good for sure – and some cut up hot dogs- which, I think, was in the same basic sauce as the pasta from the night before.

Oh, and the hot dog pieces were not hot. Oh boy, was that hard to put down. I felt obligated though – because I didn’t want to make Arete feel like we didn’t appreciate her cooking. Again, though, pretty sure this was not a traditional Panamanian dish – more like an Arete Surprise!

On the positive side, Arete had made some coffee. (Later Diana, who is much more of an expert on coffee – informed me that it was “cowboy” coffee.) Now, I’ve never been a coffee drinker, but faced with the prospect of putting down those cold pieces of hot dog for breakfast, I decided that this was no time to stand on principal. My first real cup of coffee. Of course I put a bunch of sugar in there, and, with that, it was very good; the cafe did a very nice job of killing off the hot dog aftertaste in my mouth. 

In truth, I didn’t eat all of the hot dog. There was a cat meowing like crazy at our feet. He may have received a little bit of protein when I thought Arete and the girls weren’t looking . . .

Later, we agreed that Arete seemed to have a lot of good qualities, but we weren’t sure cooking was one of her special talents . . .

Well, this report is entitled Adventures in Eating, and there are a few more adventures to mention . . . 

First, on our way out of the Centro de Capacitación we found some orange trees. We were able to pick our own fruit for like the second or third time on the trip. Very satisfying, even if the oranges weren’t quite ripe.

Second, last night Diana was reading about popular food in Panama. One of them was Shu Mai. Shu Mai are dumplings that are actually of Chinese origin. As we learned the other day there are a lot of Chinese people in Panama – and I guess their dumplings are a big thing these days. 

This morning, after our daily flat (aargh! – can’t wait to get our new tires in a few days here . . .), we stopped at a gas station that felt like it should have been part of a Mad Max set.

Turned out that the place is run by, you guessed it, a Chinese family. And they had Shu Mai. Diana bought me a half dozen, I bought another four, and I was eating them as we rode the rest of the day. 

Best thing I’ve eaten in Panama so far. 

I love stuff like that. Different cultures borrowing things and improving them and just plain enjoying them. That’s the cool thing about culture – it’s always evolving.

Okay, a few more thoughts and observations . . .

We still don’t know what the Centro de Capacitación actually is. When we asked, Arete told us that it is for capacitación – which, according to Google Translate, means training. Maybe. Looking around the place one of the buildings had a big barracks – filled with bunk bed cots. Another building looked like maybe a place to eat – or to have a big group session of some kind – with tables and chairs arranged in a circle. 

When we went to dinner last night I noticed some beekeeping equipment sitting around. When I asked Arete she said that it was for something up the mountain (I think). 

There were a few crude greenhouses on the grounds as well. Maybe it’s some kind of agricultural training center? 

I don’t know. And I still don’t really understand how Diana managed to make these arrangements. They clearly are not putting up transcontinental bikers on any type of regular basis. But, while far from perfect, El Hotel was a lot better than sleeping out in the jungle and eating not-yet-ripe plantains for dinner. And, actually, it was a pretty amazing experience really. You want real Panama? Here was some real Panama, a real Panamian family, and a real Panama facility – planted right in the jungle.

The riding the last few days? We generally love riding in Panama. Not as much chaos on the roads as in other Central American countries. Lots of lush scenery. A variety of terrain. Yesterday was pretty hilly. Today started with a giant – and I mean giant – like 10 kilometers long – descent, and then was pretty flat the rest of the day. The highlight was probably after the rain storm yesterday – pop-up waterfalls and volcanoes-in-the-mist type scenes. Oh, and much cooler after the rain. Who knew that precipitation could transform things so quickly?

And lots of those happy beep-beeps that seem to say: “We’re excited you’re here biking in Panama!”

In case you haven’t noticed, we’ve been making kind of a big push to get to Panama City by Christmas Eve – so that we can purchase goods at the grocery store in time to make a little celebratory feast. (We’ve heard that everything shuts down here for the holidays – we don’t want to be left stranded with nothing to eat on Christmas.) But it’s been a challenge for sure. 

Two more days and we should be there! We’re excited. 

Please send your ideas and suggestions . . .