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 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...

Mar 24, 2011 - Boquete

Wuuuunderschoen. Man kann die Leute verstehen die sich hier niederlassen. Man muss sie deswegen aber nicht moegen. ;) Ich wollte heute mal den beruehmten 'sendero de los Quetzales' wandern, um diesen Vogel der einem seit Guatemala immer wieder zu Gehoer kommt auch mal zu Gesicht zu bekommen.Leider hab ich den 'falschen' Weg genommen und bin eine gute Stunde in die falsche Richtung gegangen. Was fuer ein Glueck! Als ich naemlich bei einer Finca vorbeikam, wo sie also den Kaffee anbauen bzw. weiterverarbeiten, hab ich nach dem Weg gefragt und...

Mar 23, 2011 - Boquete

Boquete hatte ich mir eigentlich als nettes kleines Staedtchen im inneren Panamas vorgestellt, nicht als amerikanische Kleinstadt im inneren Panamas. Es ist ja schon witzig, wie ich nach einem halben Jahr Reisen noch immer ganz falsche Vorstellungen von den Orten hat die ich bereisen will. Fast immer stell ich sie mir einen netten deut kleiner und 'unverbrauchter' vor als sie es dann schlussendlich sind. Ich glaube ich bin einfach 15 Jahre zu spaet dran, beziehungsweise am falschen Ort wenn ich wirklich was urspruengliches suche. Aber jetzt...

Dec 11, 2010 - Boquete Panama

December 11, 2010 Last night I stayed the night in a town called David. It is Panama’s second largest city. 124,000. The downtown core was pleasant but dusty. I left Puerto Viejo around 7am. It’s an hour’s drive to the border and it’s usually an hour and a half at each side. I arrived and cleared Costa Rican immigration and customs in about an hour. Between the two countries is a river which spans a one lane rickety old bridge. There are only two sets of planks for each tyre for vehicles to pass. They are about two feet wide. I knew this...

Nov 22, 2010 - Panama

Well here we are in Panama, currently in a town called Boquete,in Chiriqui province near the Costa Rica border, which we are planning to cross in the next few days, but more of that later! We spent our first few days in Panama City, a fascinating city of many personalities!It has its financial sector, with skyscrapers to give Manhattan a run for its money; the old town, where the crumbling facades of french built properties are slowly being renovated so that a smart new apartment block occupied by wealthy Americans or Panameñans sits...