For the past two months we've been enjoying the tropical paradise of Panama, a country about the size of South Carolina but with only about 3 million people. The president, Martin Torrijos Espina, has two degrees from Texas A&M University (Economics and Political Science). Here, a full-time live-in maid who does all the cooking and cleaning six days a week, costs only $200 per month. The minimum wage is about $120 per month. Perhaps for that reason, beer is 50 cents a bottle. There is no military in Panama. The Panama canal was completed in 1914. The duty free zone in Colon is the largest in Colon is the second largest in the world after Hong Kong.
Parker asks, “Any sharks out there?”
Warren holds a dead starfish that floated by Boisterous.
Wills hunts for dinner with his speargun.
Sailing back from Almirante one Sunday, we caught a rare closeup of a seagull trolling for crackers.
Lora and Hosanna Sears take a walk near Drago beach.
Lora with boys and friends at Drago beach.
Our big news is our small kitten, an orphan, whom we named Perkins, after our boat motor. Here he is peeking out of the sail cover.
This crab was speared under our boat, and it was yummy. Perkins was also interested, but he didn’t get any.
Roberto usually comes by once a week selling home grown fruit and roots out of his big dugout canoe.
Roberto built his 30’ cayuca in eight days. He speaks flawless English and Spanish.
These waterfront hotels/restaurants represent typical Bocas architecture.
Another example of the local architecture on Bocas del Toro town on the island of Colon.
Lora doing some last minute Christmas shopping. What? You didn’t get the gift?
We sometimes do internet at Bohmfalks, and one afternoon we had some colorful company from Flash, Mr. Pollo, and little Peep.
This flower thrives at Marina Carenero.
The locals arecreative when it comes to traveling on the water. We’ve seen sails made from bed-sheets, tarps, plastic, and old sacks of rice and bean. It beats paddling.
Boisterous is dwarfed by this 134’ ketch which has five spreaders on the main mast.
Sometimes we’re going bananas, and sometimes the bananas are going.
Every once in a while we flag down a passing fruit vendor. This one was filled to the gunnels with green bananos (as they say here).
This stalk has 205 bananas (Henry counted them) and we paid $2.50 for it. No we didn’t negotiate on the price, and no, they didn’t all ripen at once.
At Darklands, Henry holds a walking stick, whose wings were bright red.
Believe it or not, this Black Palm can actually "walk." If the neighbors take too much of its light, this palm will shoot out a root, and then pull itself over.
To our surprise we ran into this sizeable scorpion on one of our hikes, yikes!
The boys have been doing a lot of fishing. Their catch includes some colorful little creatures.
Parker temporarily hosts the Geico gecko.
Parker and Perkins.
Pauli poses with Jasmine, aboard Tracy and Sharon’s ketch, Landfall.
At Starfish Bay, Pauli counts dozens of, you guessed it, starfish.
Six-year-old Australian Dior, from the catamaran DaMojo, joined the other cruising kids for a day of fun on the water.
Here, Henry generates some horsepower on a surfboard.
Wills demonstrates his wakeboarding technique.
One afternoon we got 11 boat-kids together and towed them around the anchorage on water toys. Pauli waits his turn on a boogie board.
Here, Henry holds the needlefish he caught with his cast-net.
Perkins has been feasting on fresh fish almost daily. Here, he fearlessly goes in for the kill.
We love the buttress roots on this tree. We found a bright green with black spots poison dart frog. They say that the poison from one frog can kill 500 people.
This hotel has about a dozen quaint little cabanas built right over the water. It is often featured in travel magazines.
Because of all the moisture orchids abound in the rainforests of Central America.
These Orchids thrive at Marina Carenero.
Another flower at Marina Carenero.
The dock at Green Acres.
One ofour highlights here was visiting Green Acres owned by Dave and Linda Cerutti. They grow and process pure Criollo cacao chocolate. They have been married 50 years. Americans eat around 12 pounds of chocolate per year. Lora eats considerably less.
This is a cacao pod from which chocolate is made. There are 40 big seeds inside.
At Green Acres the 4000 cacao trees are grown in the shade. The Cerutti’s process about 2000 pounds of chocolate a year, and it’s quite a process: The big yellow pods are opened and the seeds inside are allowed to ferment for a few days. The seeds are then dried in the sun, and then roasted in an old butane tank. Finally the cacao beans are ground up and then poured into molds to cool and harden.
We found this colorful fungus on David and Linda Cerutti’s 30 acre rainforest farm.
Louis lives in a bay called Darklands, not far from Bocas. We spent a couple of days exploring the area.
We nicknamed this the devil tree, and it is commonly found in the area.
This is the devil tree’s long-haired cousin.
This little ad hoc hut is near the Marina Carenero
Bocas marina is one of two marinas nearby. Our boat is anchored just out of the picture. We pay $1 for a shower, and we also exchange paperbacks there.
The contrast in water craft: a typical cayuca with Bruadair, a Hans Christian 33 in the background.
Damon and David on the good ship Bruadair, a Hans Christian 33, invited all seven of us over for a delicious fresh fish dinner. David is a gourmet chef!
Several Queens were crowned.
One aspect of Carnival that we had not experienced before were these devils. Several guys dressed up in a variety of scary costumes. They carried a whip and they chased the children around. Teenagers would run out and taunt the devils, and the devils would whip their ankles and legs. The teenaged boys armed themselves with sticks and pvc pipes to protect themselves, but many of them got some stinging welts!
In contrast to some of the pretty dresses, this boy is dressed in colorful rags.
After heating up, the cool water spray feels great.
These girls are getting ready to dance in one of the many parades.
Another parade participant. 
Yes, these are the little drummer boys. What they lacked in rhythm, they made up with enthusiasm.
The parade will start any minute.
Showtime!
A flying dinghy; where can we get a conversion kit for ours?
My new office, Bohmfalks, where I go to do e-mail.
We especially like number four: "...for see Indians and monkey." 
