Observant blog watchers will have noticed that this and the following entries of my August travel blog are a little out of date. This is not so much because I gave up writing in Panama, just I ran out of time to post before returning and then found myself smack in the middle of the autumn chocolate show season on my return. So here, belatedly, is the next day’s entry, a mere two months late! (I am cheating on the time stamp though, just to keep things in sync.)
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Kate needed to get some plantation photos shot this morning, so we spent most of the time looking around for the right kind of tree with the right kind of pods – fun to be messing about on a cacao farm though. After lunch, we said goodbye to Orlando and the farm, then we were given a lift with some government agricultural officials, taking us to the coast so we could pick up another boat to take us back to Bocas.
Back in lagoon-side Hotel Angela we were sipping juice and trying to get in a little internet time, when our boat arrived to take us on to La Loma. Packing up fast, we were soon aboard with our luggage – a little too much luggage, I feared, a full three-week trip load and six passengers in one small boat.
A bracing ride later, we safely arrived at the jetty for the Jungle Lodge shortly before dark. A short walk through the mangrove – not lingering after stories from Kate about the dangers of sudden sand fly attacks – and we arrived at the main house, a beautiful site amongst the verdant foliage of the forest. After greetings and a rest, Steve and I ascended to our cabin – the highest of the three and the deepest up the hill into the jungle – to freshen up.
By the time we were ready to make the long climb back down to the main lodge for dinner, torchlight was required and we really knew we were in the rainforest. The combined noise from whining and buzzing insects and the mating calls of frogs was quite something. Later, when it was time to lay in bed with not much more than a mosquito net to keep out the jungle, these noises were joined by the rustle and footsteps of unknown stalking animals, a disturbing if exciting atmosphere in which to sleep.
For now though it was time for the light, company and rum punch of the main lodge, where all the guests had gathered for a communal dinner with our hosts Steve and Karen, filling in for owners Margaret Ann and Henri Escudero, who were currently back in the UK for a break.
Margaret and Henri have done a fantastic job with the lodge and it’s surroundings, which has been built to their design by local craftsman, including our translator, jack of all trades and master of most of them, Chappie. (Almost everywhere we went in the region, we seemed to find something that Chappie had had a hand in building, including his own modest home on the lagoon and a couple of canoes he was hollowing out from trees!)
Now I’ve finally been there myself, I can say with conviction that La Loma is well worth a visit if you want a break with that little something extra. A taste of the real jungle, but with a touch of comfort and great hospitality thrown in. Also the surroundings are quite beautiful, and there are plenty of places to visit for days out accessible by boat across the lagoon.
A real chocolate theme is beginning to develop at the lodge, and already you can wander among the cacao trees in the garden, and later watch beans being roasted and transformed into basic chocolate, made the traditional way. Or you can get to eat cacao pulp from a freshly opened fruit, an experience every chocolate lover should have at least once in their lives. I hope in the near future Seventypercent will be able to help make more chocolate related visits to the lodge possible, with official chocolate tours to the Jungle Lodge and other nearby plantations. For full details about staying at the lodge and how to book, see their website, www.thejunglelodge.com.
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