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My first visit to the island was just before the hotel opened to the public - they opened December 4th, 2004. At that time the island was not done, but was almost completed. On that first visit I stayed on the island for only a short time: I arrived about 9:00am and stayed to about 2:00pm, not really enough time to relax and see all the island had to offer. I now wanted to go back and spend the night and see the island at dusk, dawn and at night. What I wanted to see more than anything, and I had thought about it during my first visit, was how the light would change on the island as the day grew longer. I knew that was what I had missed on my very short first trip. So we decided to go on Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is one of the most important holidays on the calendar in Panama: everyone goes out for dinner, or takes off to the interior if Mother’s Day falls on the weekend. People that work in the city, but who grew up in the rural countryside head back to see their families, where they throw a big party: there’s usually corn chicha and a dance. People spend time with their families. Mother’s Day is a pilgrimage to people who grew up in the countryside; a large amount of people arrive on Mother’s Day to a countryside that is normally very empty. People I had only ever heard about when I lived in the Panamanian countryside would turn up on Mother’s Day and then disappear again. You need to know that whatever day December 8th falls on that day there is no work. This year Mother’s
Day fell on a Thursday so we decided to visit John Wayne Island as they
were having a special low-rate on the rooms: the price included food and
a small boat trip around the island. We were three – Me, Jim and Gabi –
and we left Panama City in the morning and headed over the Bridge of Americas;
we drove for about one hour on the Pan-American highway in the direction
Chiriqui Province, Panama. At the entrance to the town of Chame, there
is a sign for John Wayne Island. We turned left across the highway and
headed towards Chame and the island. The road to Chame starts out as a
rough macadam road and by the time you reach Chame, the road has turned
to pure gravel. But the ride is wonderful even if you have to go slow.
Take something cold to drink for the slow ride. The views of the little
mountain chain on your right and the Pacific Ocean on your left are excellent,
you can see the uninhabited side of Taboga Island in the far distance;
the uninhabited side of Taboga is famous for the small frogs and pelicans
that live there. You also get a clear view of the peak of Taboga which
is called La Vigia and is inhabited by a large number of tarantulas.
The drive out from the highway to Chame takes about an hour or so; if you have a 4x4 it’s much shorter and there are buses that go to Chame as well. We arrived in Chame at exactly 2:00 in the afternoon, the ride was bumpy and we were glad that it was over, though the ride did give us the feeling that we had come on a long journey which made getting to the island feel much more like a real escape. There was no boat when we arrived and the woman in the little office of Isla Taborcillo in Chame called by cell to the island. The island was visible from the office. We walked around on the beach for a little; the beach in Chame is big and there are lots of fishermen that live right back off the beach. Most of the fishermen fish off the Pacific shelf where there is an abudance of fish. As we walked on the beach, the fishermen were playing with their nets and the nearby beach was sprinkled with their many different, brightly painted dugouts and fishing boats. The boat from the hotel arrived at the beach and we put our stuff onboard and jumped in with one of the staff members from the hotel. As we headed toward the island the winds picked up and water sprayed our faces. On the approach
to the hotel I began looking to see if there were any guests visible; however,
when the hotel came into full view I could only see some people sitting
near the pool, but could see no one else. We jumped out of the boat and
were greeted by the manager of the hotel and his female assistant. They
were dressed in cowboy suits, with real leather hats and red scarves. A
horse with a cowboy on it came running out onto the beach and then ran
off quickly as though the rider just wanted us to see the horse. Very pleasant
arrival, they had drinks for us, strong rum drink with a little fruit juice.
We checked in; they were expecting us. American country music was playing
low on the radio and there were pictures of John Wayne and other cowboys
on the walls. There were books in German on the shelves. They sold copies
of two John Wayne biographies in the souvenir shop. The hotel staff was
very friendly and seemed to enjoy having guests. This was a feeling that
I was getting from most people in Panama. Most people seemed to be happy
to have people visiting the country again. It had been years, really since
the 60s, that Panama was a vacation destination. The military years had
been hard on tourism. And so it was fun for Panamanians to have people
enjoying their beautiful country – and it showed in the quiet friendliness
of the hotel and other places I visited in Panama.
After checking in we were asked to sit under a large grass rancho that had been built the first time I was on the island. The manager and his assistance stood in front of us and talked a little about the island. The assistant talked and the manager added a point every now and then. First point was the menu of the day which consisted of three courses and was limited to two main dishes - the restaurant was excellent, one of the best I’ve been to in Panama – then a little about the rules of the island. The most important rule was to not smoke outside the pool area, your room or the immediate area near the hotel. Don’t walk the trails and smoke as you might burn the whole island down, that’s what they told us. They encouraged us to walk around the island and check out the museum and other buildings in John Wayne City. They also told us that we must conserve energy on the island and not to use too much electricity, like a big radio or hairdryer. Electricity on the island comes from solar panels and a generator. There is no air conditioning on the island, but you have fans and the breezes are good. The water is conserved as the water in the hotel comes from rainwater or a well. The hotel uses bottled water to cook and clean. Everything was very clean from the beds to the restaurant to the rooms. Rooms were simple but comfortable. Guests always have water bottles. The physical limits of the hotel did in no way deter from the good time I had. There was always enough water and electricity. We dropped our stuff off in our room and began to walk around the main building of the hotel which is located on the edge of John Wayne City. Isla Taborcillo had been owned by John Wayne in the 1960s and he came here to relax. He loved Panama. He built a house on the island which I was finally able to see a picture of on this visit. The island is very small and looks and feels like a sandbar, that feeling of being on a sandbar never leaves you. The hotel rooms all have names and if you get a room back in the town part of the island you can have a room with the name of a famous actress, celebrity or supermodel. The names are put on front of the rooms as though the rooms were the fronts of a Hollywood set of a Western town: you had a Post Office, Jail and Bank. We walked around
the little town and went into the museum which has information about John
Wayne and the American West. Some of it is in English, some of it in German.
The island is owned by an Austrian publisher. We walked through the town
to the beach beyond. This was the backside of the island and from here
you could see in the distance the island of Taboga and Panama City. There
was an old rusted small barge on the beach with an anchor tied to it and
another anchor above the barge which had a large bull rope tied to it.
From the beach you could see ships heading for the Canal and the green
beauty of the mainland. Tea was at four and so we left the beach on the
backside of the island and went to the restaurant to have a cup of tea
and some fruit. The open restaurant was on the second floor and looked
out over the water. The splashes of sun on the water were beautiful. After
tea, we decided to walk on the paths that criss-cross the island. The paths
are small and almost feel like tunnels. The trails lead you through and
under brush and along fields and to the ocean and beach as well as near
some of the few houses that have been built on the island. There are plenty
of birds, cactus and iguanas to be seen on the trails.
The day was getting late when we started our walk and the nice light of dusk was turning the yellow grass golden and the green of the trees into shadows. Iguanas ran through the brush and birds could be seen in the grasses as they settled in for the night. We walked in brush that covered our heads and surrounded us but never touched our bodies. The trails were very well cut and the shadows from the leaves of trees and brush fell on the floor of the island in front of us. We talked little and just enjoyed the natural beauty of the place. When daylight was all but gone lights lit up a small section of the path. The lights led to the hotel. We passed the new salt-pool, ping pong table, pool tables and outside stand up chess set, and bowling lane on our way back. One note of caution when walking the trails: do watch your step as there are survey markers for different plots of land on and near the trails. Our other guests who numbered five were from Colombia and visiting the island on the suggestion of their nephew who was studying in Panama. They were from Barranquilla and in Panama visiting before going to Miami and New York City. The wife of one of the men told us her husband was an oil well – he knew how to make money - and Jim told them that he had grown up in New York City. They talked in very clear Spanish as Colombians almost always do. To me only Ecuadorians speak better Spanish than Colombians. Anyway, the Colombians were spending a couple of days on the island and were happy that there weren’t many people staying in the hotel. They liked that you could really relax and enjoy yourself. What they were saying was true. The island is a place for people who just want to relax and disconnect from the world. It wasn’t a resort; it was more of getaway and disappear sort of place and its location and theme made it perfect for that purpose. We ate dinner and walked around some more and went to sleep. The fan was enough to keep us cool and the screen on the balcony door kept any bugs and mosquitoes out of the room. Morning we
sat at the pool and swam around in the clear salt pool, the cleanest pool
I’ve ever been in and I like to swim. Hundreds of small birds flocked to
the beach and flew around over the water: they looked like a large silver
ribbon as they passed very low over the water. About 10:15am we took a
short boat ride around the island and saw iguanas on the beach and fish
jump out of the water. The Colombians came on the boat ride as well and
we talked more to them. They were having fun. We left the island at 2:00pm
and said our goodbyes on the way out to the staff; we arrived back to Chame
at 2:20pm. The town of Chame has a large orchid plantation in it that I
saw as we were leaving town and heading back to Panama City. The main road
in Chame was strange. Strange especially considering the bad road out:
main street was two roads with green islands down the middle and large
streetlights. The road was not in good shape but the street looked as though
it was meant for something much bigger. It was as though the town had gone
through some sort of boom in the past and during that boom they had planned
a main street. The mangrove outside of town was impressive and the
road went right through the middle of it. There was a shrimp farm that
I saw on the way out as well. The drive took us through the small hamlets
we had passed by so impatiently on the way out. Now they seemed to pass
us by much quicker, though the ride was still long. We hit the highway
and stopped at a Chinese corner store in the town of Capira and were back
in the city by 4:40pm, it was Friday.
Notes If you want to make reservations for the sland you can check out their web site by Clicking here If you want to make reservations for the island while you are in Panama, the offices of John Wayne Island are located near the Hotel Panama. In front of the Hotel Panama you will see a McDonalds restaurant; across the street from the McDonalds is a clothing shop called Sprago: above Sprago on the second floor in office #4 are the offices for the island. You might ask how long should I stay on the island? If you are touring Panama then a night or two on the island is enough. If you want a place to stay and just relax and enjoy yourself, then you should stay longer. But do venture off to other spots in Panama. One other thing to remember is the different ways you can get to the island: right now you have to drive; while we were on the island the manager of the hotel mentioned to me that they were thinking of getting a boat you could catch in Panama City that would take you straight to the island: the trip would take just 40 minutes. So you might want to ask when you make your resevation whether or not that service is available. Enjoy the island we had a great time. Other articles by the author:
Relaxing And Reading On The Pier
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Lost
Valley Of Panama ~ 
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