Mar 21, 2013 - David-Clam Huntin',Fishing, Gulf of Chiriqui, and Tropical Paradise

Como estamos, (How are we)? I’m doing well for the most part, sitting here writing this from my homestay house in David (pronounced Dah-veed). It’s Sunday here and tomorrow we leave for another place in Chiriqui (the province where David is the capital). I’m not sure the name of the place but as I understand it, it is a primate sanctuary where we will have a mammal’s ecology class for 2-3 days. Originally this wasn’t in the itinerary, but the other week a student brought to Ruben’s attention that this sanctuary is new as of a few years ago...

Feb 18, 2013 - Adventure Awaits

Recap from dinner last night...I was invited to sit for dinner with a couple that has adopted me (here comes my girlfriend! he exclaims as I walk in)...they have been married for 63 years. Wow. It was one of the more fun evenings of the trip. An 84 year old Jewish man from New York, who is half deaf and absolutely hilarious. We talked about his time in the military (Army), his schooling at Cornell and 30+ years as a hospital administrator. He yells at the waiter that he is going to have a talk with the owner when they do not have something...

Feb 17, 2013 - Mountain Paradise

Talk about a change in scenery!! The climate in Boquete is a complete 180 from Panama City and Bocas del Toro!! It's so green and lush here...temps were in the high 70's or so all day, with a strong breeze constant. Actually raining right now, which is making for another night of perfect sleeping weather. Unfortunately last night I was awakened at 1am by the people who saw nothing wrong with dragging their multitude of luggage down and up the tile stairs right outside my door. Seriously people? Pick the damn thing up and don't pack so much...

Feb 16, 2013 - A Day of Travel

So today has been a bit of a blur!! Started with a sunny and humid morning...final packing...breakfast...and goodbyes. I was told once that you should always leave a place with a little heaviness in your heart...that way you know you will be back one day! So it was with a heavy heart I bid Adios to Bocas del Toro and began the 5 hour trip to Boquete. About 3.5 hours of that trip is by van, and let me tell you, driving in this region is not for the faint of heart!! But somehow these drivers know what they are doing and we arried around...

Oct 16, 2012 - A day of rest

Hi Everybody Today I decided to do nothing as at 10am i had an appointment with the dentist; as it was too late to go anywhere after that, I stayed in and it was better, as it started raining very hard at 12 and till now 7pm it has not stopped, if it was in Malta we would have casualties, and alright here they have rivers, but in Malta we have the sea, and not to complain but in the streets not even one paddle. Staying in the hotel was ok watching the rain , as I have a balcony facing the country side, and the temp, is still fine so you can...

Oct 15, 2012 - Today a great day even though it rained

Hi Everybody Today i had a great day, after waiting about an hour the minibus, it took off to Caldera which is the nearest town to go, to the hot springs. But from where he drops you, you need to walk 2.5 kilometer in the woods, but it was all worth it, as these hot springs where very natural with water coming out of the ground in a natural pool, two of them and nice temp, about I would say 40*c, the surrounding is all trees and a river passing by on the side. A beautiful monkey made fast friends with me and did not want to let go she even...

Oct 13, 2012 - a dull day......but to a nice place.

Hi Everybody This morning by 7.30am I was already on the bus stop, had already breakfast and was ready to move to a new place. To get there I had 4 buses in all, and a total of 9 hours traveling. First a local bus from El Valle to the main road, There I had an hour wait and I was giving up, so instead of waiting for a direct bus to David, I took the first that goes half way, to Santiago 3 hours away, as soon as the bus got to the station did not even have time to go to the toilet as the other bus to David was leaving so I jumped on it, and...

Apr 20, 2012 - Remote Island, Whitewater Rafting, and Home

Thursday, April 19 This was the day at the beach, except that the beach was on an uninhabited tropical island in the Gulf of Chriqui on the Pacific side of Panama. It was a long drive, and then a long boat ride in a boat similar to the one we were in on the Canal. The place was gorgeous - a real tropical paradise!. They brought a big lunch, set it up on a table, had plenty of soft drinks, as well as chairs, kayaks, and snorkel gear. The water was not very clear that day because of the surf, but the kids were in and out of the water all the...

Apr 17, 2012 - Boquete (West Panama) Zip-Line

Tuesday, April 17 This day began with an very early drive to the domestic airport for a flight to David City where we stopped for breakfast before driving on to our inn in Boquete. What a treat - instead of one shared room, we were given two bedrooms connected by a sitting room entrance, at the Panamonte Inn. The restaurant at this inn was wonderful! In the afternoon, although it poured rain, the boys, Tom and Chris went for a walk around the base of the Baru Volcano for awhile. The old volcanic rock provided good trailside climbing...

Sep 30, 2011 - Boquette ' panama

After a lazy dayby the pool we headed out do a bit of sightseeing. We first went to visit a waterfall and river that locals go to swim in on the way to boquette, we got there at 10:30am and had a little sunbathe however couldn't get right in to it as there was 22 (all local) young guys, in the water or hangin around by the water. We have had quite a bit of shouting and horn beeping at us so they thought of stripping down to our bikinis and going into the water was not appealing lol. We therefore jumped on a chicken bus and headed to the...

Sep 29, 2011 - Daveeeeeeeeeed!!!!

We left San Ramon and got another tica bus to daveed in panama...after arriving in San Jose at 9am the bus didn't leave to go to daveed so we had 3 hours to kill who allowed us some time to see a little of san Jose. It took 8 hours to get there this included an hour at the costa rica panama border...the border crossings are a bit of a joke...you have to get off the bus and got too the countries exit, then go to the next countries entry. After this they make everyone take there bags off the bus and keep you standing outside in the baking...

Aug 24, 2011 - Descent pavements and lots of taxis.

David 24/08/2011 Descent pavements and lots of taxis. From San Jose we took a long distance bus to the first major town in Panama, the town of David, which is Panamas second city. There wasn’t anything special about David, but it was only 9 hours from San Jose, instead of the 15 hours all the way to Panama City. It was a good place to break up the trip for a few nights. There seems to be just as many taxis here as there are private cars. Hundreds of them, all yellow like the New York taxis. Some of them in various states of disrepair and...