Privateers and Pirates in Panama

So we pulled into Portobelo under the cover of night; searching for a hostel called Captain Jacks. We are immediately sent up a road towards a hill where we see a beacon of hope in a lit pirate flag. After wandering up some stairs, we are greeted by a rag-tag group of English speakers in this beautiful restaurant/bar/yacht club/hostel. We immediately felt at home and excited for what was promised for the rest of the trip. After dropping our stuff in the dormitory there, we headed back upstairs to grab some food.

As you may have picked up, this isn't really your normal hostel. The menu is absolutely no exception. Jack has found a Vietnamese, French-trained chef that serves up the "best burgers in Central America" (pretty close) and authentic Vietnamese food. I know, right? That night we just sat around talking with the various captains of the sailboats sitting out in the port. The began to fill us in a bit about all of the folklore and history in the town of Portobelo.

Portobelo was once the main port for the Spanish empire in Latin America, and one-third of the world's gold passed through here. along with this you begin to have a whole lot of pirate and privateering action coming through. There were some big names that came through: Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake, Captain Henry Morgan, and many more. There is a storied history of great raids on the town that made it like something straight out of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Metal detectors are actually illegal because there is still so much gold in the ground. Heck, Jack actually had a 25 lb cannon ball just sitting in his bar because they had just found it sitting around. There was literally history everywhere.

In the morning we woke up and finally saw the beautiful sight that is Portobelo. Oh my. We could not stop being excited to head into town because there are Spanish fortifications just sitting around in the middle of the town. It is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and we could see why. There is the house where all the gold passed through, and now it is a museum with plenty of information. Then came the fortifications. They are all there complete with cannons still sitting in place. you just could feel the history there. I found myself looking into the opening of the port and imagining the tall ships pulling in with pirates waiting to attack them for all of their gold coming through. The whole time was spent trying to get in as much of the forts as we could. This place is absolutely amazing. At one point we had followed up this trail to an upper fortification that was used to observe the area (it had a moat!). When we were just running around up there, we could see the rain clouds coming in...not good. It began to rain and we had to navigate our way down this muddy trail to find a covered spot to hide from the rain. After all of our adventuring, it was time to head back to Jack's to hang out.

We returned to a nice shower and a kitchen ready to make us some burgers. We pulled out our computers and began to look at our pictures, listen to the rain, and reminisce about the amazing day and all that had happened here. The whole time Kyle was grinning from ear to ear because his dad had been there when he was younger, and as a consequence Kyle had grown up with bedtime stories of the Pirates and gold in Portobelo. And plus all three of us are history nuts and couldn't stop talking about everything we could think of involving this place. As the day waned, the boat captains began to wander in as well as some backpackers that were more our age. That place was hopping that night, and we had a chance to watch the final game of the World Series with a Giants fan from Australia. Too cool. Oh, and we might have lead a sing-along of "Piano Man" by Billy Joel at some point. That really did happen, and the whole night was just a great one.

The next day, we woke up, drank coffee, and just enjoyed being in Panama. That day we had to leave. Taylor wanted to take the bus back to Panama City, but Kyle and I took a sweet train that follows the canal. It was a great way to finally see the canal and just do something we both love, riding trains. I couldn't stop smiling most of the ride. It was a chance to just pause and think about how crazy the whole entire trip had been. I also could not help but think about how trains find there way in my life from people like my great-grandfather Getz to Walt Disney. I really like trains :). Back in Panama City, we went to a mall to eat in the food court and hang out in an arcade where I watched Taylor tear up the DDR machine as many have you have also seen in an earlier blog as a teaser.

Finally, we were at the terminal to take our 11 pm bus back to San Jose. As a final touch, we were able to pay it forward a bit for somebody who needed help. There was an English speaking woman who needed a translator, and we got to be that for her. It was a great experience to help another traveler that just needed some help. Then it was back to the land of pura vida. So cool.