Sunday, August 20th
There is someone punching me in the stomach. Ouch! It really hurts, what is it?! It cannot be the morning already! These days I find myself being incredibly regular. That is, as soon as I wake up, I need to head to the restroom. The morning was barely peaking through in the form of sun rays. Where is the restroom? I asked myself. We are anchored of the coast of some uninhabited island. Oops. We have a problem.
I wake Don Armando up and ask him what we should do. He wakes the rest of the captains and we all head over to a close island where there was a small town. Presumably, I would be able to find a BR somewhere in there. I disembark and we are now ready for some early morning fishing! Baby marlin, I hope you are as beautiful as I saw you in my dreams.
We go for some buoys nearby the Panama Canal. We are staying in between large ships transporting all sorts of stuff in colorful containers. Marginal luck brings me a larger fish, perhaps a 2 pound Pargo (English name?). Marco finds another similar fish and we start getting enthusiastic. However, we did not place the anchor well enough and we are drifting so we leave the fishing sweet spot soon and no more fish are caught. After a while of navigating and a small breakfast we have not caught much. Perhaps it is best to go back to the coast as we need to head back for Don Pedro to test drive a new boat for a customer (he is a motor boat technician). We make a stop under the Bridge of the Americas (which connects Central America and South America above the Panama Canal). We are hanging out there when something catches Luis Xavier´s line and mine at the same time. My line was pulling really hard! Surely, my line must have been caught on Luis Xavier´s and this is why we are both trying to push our ways. However, he brings out a good fish. This must only mean that I caught some sort of larger fish. My fingers were struggling for a little while but after the wrestling match, I brought up a beautiful Uriel (English name?). It was the largest catch of the session but not sure how big. Now, if I can only get my hook on a baby marlin!
The fishing patrol came by to tell us that this was no fishing ground. So the party ended and we went behind some structure to fish hidden from the boat police. At this point, Don Gregorio was teaching Alexey how to clean fish. He seemed to be a good apprentice but after he was done there was no good meat left! Just kidding, he was actually covered in fish scales but the fish looked ok. Don Gregorio resumed his cleaning routine while the rest of us tried to fish something. At some point, Don Gregorio was cleaning the Pargo that I had caught earlier this morning and his cleaning table (a wooden paddle from the boat) wabbled a bit sending the fish in the water. He must have felt bad since it would have been really cool to have eaten that fish, that I caught with my own hands.. so in a feline reaction, he jumped in the water to save the fish! After putting the fish back in the boat he realized that his cell phone was in his pocket :( We all felt bad but after a little while we all laughed.
Back on shore Don Gregorio´s car did not start. We needed to get some ice since the fish from last night had started to smell. We spent some time waiting for the boat to be picked up and for our car to start. After jump starting it we were on the road. We returned the boat and went home. Doña Irma had prepared some food for these hungry and stinky fishermen. The shower and the food felt marvellous and immediately, Alexey and I went to bed for a few hours. We were only awakened by Doña Irma calling us to eat the fish that earlier on had been caught with our own hands! They tasted pretty good with Patacones (fried plantain medallions).
Joyce and Jessica (Joyce´s pretty cool friend) took Alexey and I for icecream. We all had Miel de Caña with Coco (Sugar Cane and Coconut) except for Alexey who went for the Tamarind sorbet. We dropped Jessica off and headed back home. This was the end of our fishing experience and really a worthwhile one. There was no baby marlin involved but it certainly made us appreciate the job that all artisan fisherman go through in their everyday lives. This was for us an unforgettable experience!
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