29 Diciembre – On the island

Ola –

Had dinner in the charming restaurant at the “resort” — it sits at the highest point on the property — with views of water in nearly all directions. Got the scoop on the staff and owners. The key staff and those who interact with the guests are nearly all European, and very very new. Ownership changed about 6 months ago. The place was built about 8 years ago, and according to the current management (Roger from Rotterdam) it fell into disrepair in the last year. The guy who bought the place a year ago (maybe even less than a year) is also Dutch… a millionaire I gather in that he owns many restaurants in St. Tropez, has many homes around the world (including one a few kilometers from where we are), and has 16 pure-bred Arabian stallions that he breeds. (He flew the Arabians here to Panama and the horses are not happy campers.. different climate, different food! Anyway, the owner is fairly invisible and the European crew seems to handle everything. Roger is married to the French woman who met us at the dock. There’s a younger French woman (who serves as waitress and other fill-in positions) and she’s from Montpelier.

Small world: Roger has lived in many places around the world. His father was in some kind of international construction job. Anyway, he went to high school in Helsinki! So we had a lot to reminisce about.

Apparently the owner of this place and this European crew who have worked for him before are sort of “turnaround” types.. They go into failing or problem businesses (restaurants, hotels, visitor industry kind of places) and they work 24/7 to fix them and bring a new reputation… and then I think they sell, or at least turn over to others to run. So, since they’ve been here (6 months) they’ve renovated, built some new structures (a library — really a little open hut with some shelves and books and couches), trained the kitchen staff so that they can prepare good food, brought good wines and liquors… and in general are building the place up. Apparently it was all solar before, but could not accommodate the needed power, so the pool filter couldn’t work properly, room fans would fail, no air conditioning, etc. Now everything is spanking clean.. and they rely on fossil fuel. And I think they want to attract an international clientele.

Roger has a lot of ideas about marketing the place and coming up with gimmicks that he thinks will attract press and visitors.. like creating a soccer golf course.. where you use a soccer ball but there’s a course.. got it?

It was difficult to figure out who was staying here based on last night’s dinner.. But we know that four of the little huts are occupied by two families (including 5 kids between them).. and then there is us.. and then we think a Swedish or Danish couple, and two young American couples.. We think that’s it. The families with the kids provide the most information (although we haven’t actually met them), because they are a big group.. a bit loud.. and talkative, so it’s hard not to know their story. (Two brothers and their wives and kids; one family from Connecticut, one from California — we are guessing LA.)

Dinner was good — lobster consommé, chicken curry, poached pears with ice cream. Good tropical drinks before, decent wine with dinner.. What more could you want?

Today we both worked — on the patio — computers going strong; signal intermittent. Strolled to and along the beach a bit (but too hot and humid for me); lunch at the little hut down by the beach.. great salads, cold beer, fresh fruit… then back to the little Shangri-La.. I’m taking a short break from working to send this note…and Mike is “napping.” Dinner in a few hours.. and we leave tomorrow — back on the boat (pray for no rain or thunder; it poured briefly today; power went out for a bit, but quickly kicked in again), then an hour drive to David where we drop off our car (which is in the “secure” parking between the church and the little white house in Boca Chica), then one hour flight to Panama City… Mike wants me to check flight safety record.

Take care –
Fern