Following my earlier post, I thought it might be necessary to address the concerns that the post might have raised. As we travel all around the world I’ve noticed that, more often than not, the planet is a safe place and the people who inhabit it are kind and generous. However, when tragedy strikes, no matter where it is, people automatically wonder if a particular city or country is safe for travelers.

Despite recent news, which includes my own post, Panama in general and Boquete specifically are safe places to travel. Unfortunately, bad things happen everywhere, even in our own backyards, but isolated incidents are not reasons to dismiss a beautiful part of the world outright. If we did that then we’d be closing our minds to the entire planet and view everything and everyone as deadly.

That’s no way to live.

I have traveled all over the world, in places that many would dismiss as too dangerous, and I’m unscathed and I live to tell the stories. I love Boquete and the people that live here and I wholeheartedly encourage you to visit if you have the chance.

Is Boquete safe?

Absolutely. Come see for yourself.

Photo by Ayaita from Wikimedia Commons. 

It happens all over the world. People go missing, sometimes of their own accord and sometimes not, but it happens. Sometimes these people are found or return home when their walkabout is over and they can then give an account of the circumstances that led to their disappearance. Unfortunately, there are too many friends and families of the missing who never receive that kind of closure.     Such is the case of the two young Dutch women who went missing in Boquete, Panama. Kris Kremers and Lisanne Froon, ages 22 and 21 respectively, disappeared on or around April 2, 2013 after indicating that they were going to hike the trail known as El Pianista. They were seen on the road near the trailhead at about 2pm, but never again.   There have been no signs of them since that day.   What happened? Where did they go? Who, if anyone, is responsible for their disappearance? These are the questions that people in two countries are asking, and specialists in law enforcement and search and rescue are desperate for answers.

When It Began

According to sources that included local hoteliers and the girls’ families, the girls had been in Boquete for approximately two weeks. They had stayed at a local hostel, Spanish by the River, and were taking an intensive Spanish course in preparation for local volunteer work. When they left the hostel on the afternoon in question, they took little that would indicate that they were planning anything but a hike.   Search efforts were not launched until approximately forty eight hours later, which has led to some criticism of the Panamanian authorities for not acting quickly enough. Several groups of Boquete locals, including myself, set out to search the hiking trails in the area, but found no sign of the young women. Helicopter searches of the area were performed, and professional climbers canvassed in and around El Pianista trail with no results.

Two Months Later

Nearly two months have passed and the girls’ smiling faces are still visible on the missing posters all over the town of Boquete. Candlelight vigils have been held as Boquete locals have joined with the families of the girls to pray for their safe return. Specially trained search dogs have been flown in from the Netherlands to aid in the efforts.

But they’ve found nothing. There are no traces of these two young and adventurous women.   However, rumors spread like wildfire in this small town, which does little to help an investigation and ultimately hinders it. Tabloid style websites and newspapers have published information that has ranged from the discovery of bodies to the statement from a medium that the girls were underwater. Unfortunately, the spread of misinformation leaves people unable to discern facts from falsehoods, and creates an atmosphere of hysteria that detracts from the task at hand.   So many people want these girls to be found, but as more and more time passes the possibility of that diminishes.

Moving Forward

Many more questions exist, but the most pressing one right now surrounds the search efforts and how they will proceed. The families and friends of Kris and Lisanne have been tirelessly raising money to fund the search. They have hired private investigation teams and offered a substantial reward for information leading to the girls’ whereabouts, but all efforts seem to be in vain.

The Panamanian authorities seem to have hit a wall, as well. While there have been many criticisms of the way that they’ve handled the search, the fact remains that much of the country of Panama is uninhabited and remote, with dense forests and jungles that are often impenetrable. This is not an easy place to search for two lost girls.   Additionally, by traveling overland one can be beyond Panama’s borders in as little as ninety minutes from the Boquete area, so the possibility exists that Costa Rica needs to be the focus of a search as well.   Unfortunately, there are too many questions and not enough answers, even after sixty days have passed since the disappearance.   As a resident of Boquete I’ve been saddened by this case, as most of Boquete has been. It’s been difficult knowing that the girls’ parents are here as well, doing what they can to find their daughters or even the smallest shred of information about them.   However, it’s becoming abundantly clear that time is no longer on their side.   Photos courtesy of Radio Chiriqui unless otherwise indicated. Visit their Facebook page for more information.

After our interesting yet ultimately soul-sucking two years in the deserts of the Middle East the thing I was most looking forward to in Panama was the life. The green plants, the fruits and vegetables that thrive in a year round growing season, the birds, and all of the other creatures that live in the highlands of Boquete were such a draw for me and I was terribly excited.

But then I realized that, while nature is cool and all, this shit can and can and will try to kill me,

I wasn’t prepared for the bugs.

These things are terrifying in their numbers and even more terrifying in their singular mission to invade my house. I am constantly waging war against moths, june bugs, ants, fruit flies, regular flies, wasps, and even a damn slug that I found on the kitchen floor one night. I know that slugs are not bugs but whatever. If you creep me out then you get lumped in with all the other creepies.

Sorry, slug. At least I just swept you out with the broom when I could have gone for the salt. Consider yourself lucky.

There are the leaf cutter ants that march proudly by the light of the moon and stars and systematically tear apart the leaves of my plants. They seem to prefer the flowering plants, so I’ve given up on having anything that blooms in my yard. I’ll sometimes sit on my steps in the evening, armed with the bottle of bleachy kitchen spray and shoot streams of death at them as they saunter by, the petals of my flowers in their evil mouths.

While I’ve never really paid much attention to moths in the past they’re hard to ignore here in Boquete. They’re everywhere and they only want to flap their wings in my face. There seems to be some weird subsect of moth behavior happening here, and those bitches think they’re people. I even had one who repeatedly insisted on landing in my hair. I finally escaped her advances and retreated to the house, only to come back out in the morning to find her laying eggs on our porch stool. I’ve never seen a moth lay eggs before, and I hope it never happens again. I’m all for the propagation of species, but that was too much. I mean, this moth had her lady parts on my head just the night before!

Hordes of little red ants have decided that the electrical outlets on the outside of the house are the perfect nesting sites. I watched a herd of them move their eggs from their underground lair and march across the patio and squeeze under the electrical outlet cover. When I decided to investigate further and lifted the cover I backed away in disgust. There were thousands and thousands of them and they just poured out, eggs in their tiny jaws and the queen scampering away, desperate for cover. I called the landlord, concerned that the ants would somehow destroy the wiring in the house. He was unfazed.

I thought that I’d become desensitized to all of these things, then today happened. I was sitting out on the porch, looking at the tree like I’ve done every day for the four months that we’ve lived here, and I saw this.

What the hell is that! I mean, really, what is that? I’m feeling pretty fragile right now and I’m not sure I can go on. Sometimes I feel like I’m existing in some alternate universe, and the bugs are the overlords and I’ll soon be enslaved. I imagine that this might entail knitting tiny sweaters for them and drinking lots of beer so that they can swarm the empty cans and get drunk on the leavings, and their power.

I’m not really sure how much more I can take.