Back home

Well after barely being able to sleep due to the heat, we arrived home to snow on the ground! What a change! Anyways the trip went flawlessly, here are some pictures to check out. A rainbow on the way down from Volcan Baru

Atop the highest point in Panama, Volcan Baru!

Lounging atop a strangler fig that grew at a horizontal angle.

Mike Willi lounging in a hammock with a view of Volcan Baru in the distance.

Three toed sloth moving very slowly though the trees.

View of Panama City from our hostel in Casco Viejo, or the old town.

Beautiful view in the San Blas archipeligo in Kuna Yala.

One of the palm trees on the acre large island I stayed on.

Kuna woman on the boat out to sea.

First picture taken on the trip.

About to walk through a large tree in the cloud-forest.

Mike and I at the Panama Canal with a Panamax sized vessel moving through.

Doing a backflip off a log on a private beach in Bocas del Toro.

Riding on the beach after a long ride to get there!

Enjoying a Panama lager while watching waves crash on Red Frog Beach.

All good things must come to an end

So I am barely sure how this happened but I am flying back home tomorrow morning. Talk about a TIME LAPSE!!! The past few days have been pure joy, the best way to wrap up a beautiful experience. We woke up in Boquete Saturday morning and had fantastic coffee, bagels, and eggs at a local cafe. There we met up with a few British fellows we met during the death slog up Volcan Baru. During our first meeting, they were on their way down being miserable, and we were on our way up also being miserable in pretty steady cold rain. Seeing them in the coffee shop was much more pleasant and we realized we were planning to go to the same area later that day. We took a bus together to David, and packed 5 into a truck taxi bound for Boca Chica. Our cabbie was AWESOME and bought the whole cab beers to drink on the voyage, and we got a pretty fair deal out of it as well. We arrived to Boca Chica, which means ¨mouth of the girl¨and took a water taxi over to Isla Boca Brava and arrived at one of the coolest places I have ever stayed. Imagine an open air hotel with terraced platforms overlooking the mighty Pacific with multiple islands strewn about.

We relaxed the first day, ate great food and had drinks with out British friends Roger, Ben, and Steve well into the night. The next morning the five of us chartered a boat for some deep'sea fishing. After a one hour ride we dropped our lines and within minutes Alex caught a 4 foot needlefish. Throughout the day all but Roger caught something as he was seasick and or hungover. Mike caught a sweet grouper that was about 2 feet, and I caught a 1.5 foot AmberJack that was very tasty. We ate all of the fish, and found out that the needlefish has blue bones!!

To take a break from fishing we hopped aboard a desolate white sand beach in which we were the only visitors. We went snorkeling for a while and were able to find some great colorful fish. At the end of the night the local crazies showed up and we mainly laughed at them as they ranted about meeningless topics, and bought us drinks. Normally I never mind anyone buying me a drink but I was very happy when this crew rolled out with their drunken captain from Bermuda.

Today was a lackluster day in which we said goodbye to our friends and spent most of the day sitting on buses. We are back in Panama City, and are boarding a flight tomorrow around 830 in the morning. I should be home in the evening so give me a ring, I will hopefully post some great photos tomorrow as well!

So much!

So Boquete is really an incredible place. It has gorgeous views, terrific weather, nice places to eat, and coffee is grown all over the valley so it is some of the best in the world. Every little shop has coffee that will blow your mind. All of that being said many of the nice restraunts exist because of the large number of expatriots from the U.S. and Europe. They are all over this town and so are their SUV's. Can you blame them really? More hospitible weather than Florida, no traffic, and a quarter of the cost make this an easy place to relocate to.

The first night in town we found a sweet pool hall where the local Panamanians hang out and spent some time brushing up on our skills, or lack of them. It is $2 for an hour to play and beers here are $.60. Quite a deal and a great way to interact with some locals. The next day we were still super tired from hiking and just had a lazy day around town. We eventually went to La Explorador which is by far one of the strangest places I have ever been. Imagine Alice in Wonderland inspired orchid gardens, designed by someone who I am convinced was on HEAVY DRUGS. There were so many strange decorations, a maze of an organzational pattern, and painted rocks, and scarecrow sprinklers to keep everything pretty.

After a strange night we played dominos and cards with some friends we met, and went to the other local pool hall. This was some serious competition and we only played one game. For some reason for 8 beers, 3 shots of tequila, 1 coke, and a game of pool we were only charged $5? We are still trying to figure that one out.

Thursday we went to an animal rescue shelter where animals that were in bad situations in captivity, or injured are brought to rehabilitate before being able to be reintroduced into a wild setting. We saw heaps of beautiful parrots, macaws, coccatus, monkeys, tamarins, and even a margay. Margays look very much like ocelots and have quite the PURR. Imagine an ordinary housecat mad at a dog and growling, and that is similar to the margay's purr. What I am trying to say is I think my life would be made better by owning a cat that could easily end my life. After the rescue center we took a taxi to the small town of Caldera and sat in natural hot springs for two hours. Super relaxing and in a pristine setting. Life doesn't get much better!

We called it an early night and started hiking today at 7AM for the highest point in all of Panama, Volcan Baru. The hike was 30 kilometers total in which we climbed nearly 8000 feet to the summit at 11,398 feet. It is the hardest hike I have ever done with almost all of it being super steep with sand and rocks that move with each step. Your movements become so innefficient, and eventually it was dumping rain! The rain stopped and we eventually we reached the summit after some mentally devastating lows. It was about 40 degrees F, with strong winds, misty rain, and no visibility. They say on a clear day Baru is the only point you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific from the same viewpoint, but I guess we will have to wait till next time. Overall it was just under 9 hours of hiking so we are exhausted. Tomorrow we leave Boquete for an undetermined destination! Only 4 more days left it is hard to believe how fast the trip has gone.

PANAMAX!

Where to begin?

Well we left Bocas and headed into the mountains staying at a place called the lost and found ecolodge. On the drive we saw toucans and some other incredible looking birds. It took a bit of random directions to find the place. We had to make the bus pull over by three yellow rocks in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. From there it is a 15 minute hike straight up a STEEP climb to the lodge. Most of the lodge is open air and the views are breathtaking. It was a nice change to go from sweating sitting still, to 60's and 70's.

So I could easily write for years on end about the place but for the sake of time I will give a moderately brief rundown. The first night we relaxed and talked to people as kinkajous, olingos, and cacomistles came down from the forest and ate bananas that were left on a platform. So not very common anywhere the three species are similar. Think raccoon colorings, monkey agility, ability to hang by their tails, utter fearlessness, and kitten cuteness. I will try to google image an image of a kinkachu and post it.

The hostel has their own kinkajou that was a rescue named Rocky. This was awesome because you got to hold him and realize just how amazing these creatures are. Though he weighed about 5 pounds he was stronger than many larger dogs I have experienced. He was able to lift himself up using solely his tail.

While we were there we did about 8 hours worth of hiking in the rainforest and saw many amazing wildlife. Two toed sloths, many frogs and birds, and Mike even saw a wild Boar. There were tatantulas and interesting varieties of snakes there as well. The area is just teeming with wildlife, and we were informed that biologists have discovered more than 3 new species just in the past month alone. We got to eat with a local with his family, tour an organic coffee farm, try different fruits, peppers, and fruit wine, drink amazing coffee, hike through a beautiful river, and even play in a fusball tournament for beers! Not to mention seeing a 140 ft waterfall back in a canyon no wider than a car!

Truly amazing and no words I know can really portray how incredible it really was. We left today and came to Boquete a nice little town in a valley with 7 to 9 thousand foot peaks on either side. Not sure of the gameplan for tomorrow but there is loads to do here so it should be good. Enjoy the kinkajou picture!

perfect day

So easy!

Today we awoke to torrential rains. We drank coffee on the deck and waited out the storm. Willi and I than rented bicycles for cheap and rode 15k to a essentially private beach. We captured great photos of us flipping off of a log in the ocean.

The ride was really fun and we saw plenty of beautiful birds and frogs. Sadly on the way back Willi's bike broke catastrophically. For whatever reason all the gears would spin but not spin the back tire. We ran into a random local on the side of his property and he beat the crap out of the bike with a hammer. Somehow unknowingly with my vast knowledge of bicycles and their parts this temporarily alleviated the problem. We are pretty sure the man just randomly hitting the bike with a hammer and having it work again was a miracle.

It occurred again and again but we eventually made it back to bocas town. The weather turned back into torrential downpour but we had a fantastic ride home, fun at happy hour, and wonderful dinner. Willi convinced me during happy hour to have a tequila suicide, which is a free shot of tequile accompanied with snorting a line of salt and getting lime squeezed into your eye! Not very pleasant at all but it makes for a great story. We then had dinner on a boat and it was cheap, delicious, and everything that we wanted. It truly was another beautiful day in paradise and it is sad that not everyone could be here for it

Happy Thanksgiving!

Where do I start?

I will start by saying happy thanksgiving!

I will transcribe events as they happened in order beginning with last night. Last night we went to a bar on the water, essentially a large dock. It was pretty fun with very cheap drinks and beautiful views. The most notable thing is there was a roof you could jump off into the water. It was heaps of fun, and we did backflips into the water.

We woke up early this morning, had free pancakes and coffee, then boarded a boat for a $20 tour. The tour started by taking us to an area frequently frequented by dolphins that like to eat the jellyfish in the water there. We saw about 10 dolphins including 2 that loved the boats wake when the boat drove in circles. They kept leaping out of the water, playing like little kids on the wave.

After the dolphins we went snorkeling for about an hour and saw a lot of great sealife. There were many colorful fish, urchins, fantastic soft corral, starfish, and even some seaslugs. After diving and haphazardly deciding that I am going to become a marine biologist when I return to the states, we had an excellent seafood lunch. I had a giant portion of calamari and loved every bite.

We departed the island and pulled up on a seemingly obscure shore. So many of the small islands are so thick with mangroves it is not possible to do anything. They are a jail of twisted roots and branches with nobody entering or exiting. The shore we pulled up to had an interesting inlet with a variety of large trees. There we saw nearly 7 three-toed sloths chilling in the branches. One the boat pulled up close to, and the sloth moved away very slooooooowly. Sloths are sooo unique, and can not survive a life on the ground. The muscles they have are only fit for moving about the jungle canopy or swimming. If they find themselves on the ground they are too weak to support themselves. Fascinating!

After seeing the sloths we went to a pristine carribean beach with large waves crashing on shore. About an hour was spent body-surfing, with another hour devoted to checking out things around the island. We saw waves crashing on rocks, loads of cutter-ants transporting leaves, many lizards, and two poison-dart frogs, all in their natural environment.

Poison dart frogs! I could barely believe it, the two we saw were red and about the size of a nickel. If any of you knew me when I was a kid you would know I have a collection of frog things including books, shirts, and about 100+ plastic frogs. Literally obsessed with them, and i still remember some of the scientific names of the frogs. Phylobates terribilis for instance is the msot poisonous in the world. Needless to keep going on, but worth saying I was SO PUMPED.

After leaving the island we went snorkeling again at a different place and saw a lot of great fish. Every time I find myself looking at underwater life I see new things, it is truly the last great frontier.

We ended the night with an excellent Thanksgiving dinner prepared by the collaboration of two hostels. The very cheap meal included everything you would find on a plate in the states and truly was a taste of home. It was an incredible experience to share it in Panama with so many others.

Bocas del Toro

In the off chance that anybody actually reads this blog here is an update!

We just arrived at Bocas del Toro and checked into our hostel which is pretty sweet mind you. The overnight to Bocas filled up so we took a quasi-overnight to David instead which is due south of Bocas by a few hours. Like bus terminals in other countries I have traveled to the Albrook station was like a small airport. In keeping with a tradition I have done twice in my life now I bought Dunkin Donuts before our ride. We stayed in a purple hostel in David that literally was everything purple. Cups, sheets, walls, floors, and attire here were all the infamous color. WE then took a bus to the coastal region, and a 30 minute water taxi to the town of Bocas on Isla Colon. Strangely enough the town is called Bocas, the region referred to as Bocas, and most people seem to also refer to this island as Bocas.

The ride to David was pretty nice and the bus was the nicest I have been on for an overnight to date. For some strange reason there was a rule that you could not eat while on the bus. This rule we did not follow. Also I was told after drinking a beer that I could not drink a beer on the bus. I felt this was unjust as I had proved already that it was entirely possible. Speaking of beers there are four main Panama brews that I will briefly comment on.

Panama: Crisp and refreshing, rolling-rock-esque. Not so fantastic when it gets warm which occurs in less than three minutes around these parts.

Atlas: Best of Panama and Balboa are sold out, but still refreshing in the Panamanian heat.

Soberana: I try to avoid this beer if possible. Imagine avoiding a beer, it just occurred to me that this is a weird concept. Soberana will leave you Sober because you are left halfway through with a desire to not drink anymore.

Balboa: Hands down the best Panamanian beer. Great taste, refreshing, and it even has a cool looking logo.

We are staying at the hostel heike tonight which has a super chill atmosphere, great drink specials, hammocks galore, and super great weather. Time to find some food and some tropical water.