Thursday, September 26, 2013

Journey from Panama to Colombia

We were over Panama City and eager to get to Colombia. We decided to take a speedboat from Panama to Colombia which entailed a long day of travel on an uncomfortable boat. We woke up at 5am to catch our ride to the caribbean coast. Once we arrived our driver let us out and took off in a hurry. We met our boat captain who told us that the boat would not be leaving that day. The area we were at was a territory given to the indigenious Kuna community. This was beautiful area which included the San Blas Islands (a popular tourist destination). The only issue was there were no banks and all the accomodations were on the islands and we were stuck on the coast with limited cash. Through our broken spanish and facial expression the captian could tell we upset and he let us know he would pay for our accomodations for the night and take us to some islands for the day. 

A view of the untouched Kuna territory and caribbean coast.

This is the first of 3 islands the captian took us to that day. Normally people explore the San Blas on prearranged sailing tours. Since a tour boat was not in the area we had the island to ourselves. The captain even bought us some beers.


Our accomodations were not on the tourist islands but instead on one of the islands the Kona lived on. We were definitely the only "gringos" staying on the island. It was very basic and very poor but still beautiful.

Here were are sitting on the dock watching the sunset. You can see the basic houses in the background.



It was an amazing sunset that night.


Here are the boats the Kunas took from island to island. They were constantly bailing out water.

Our lovely bed came with three mattresses. We were literally tacoed into the bed.

It was an interesting night sleep with the bed and the other creatures in the "hotel". All night we heard rats crawling and running around. The worst was hearing them run up and down the tarp covering the ceiling amd above our bed. Patrick stayed awake all night scaring the rats away from our stuff. He suceeded except one got to his sandals.
(We classified this night as 3rd hand fun. Aka funny when you look back on it.)

Here were the neighborhood bathrooms. Dumping straight into the ocean with all the trash. Also the spot where the kids swam in the evening. Overall makes you greatful for what you have.

The women still dressed in the traditional clothing. They were beautiful colorful patterns and their arms and legs were wrapped in beads.

After a night of little sleep we took of the next morning for Colombia.  There were only 3 of us on the boat and the ocean was calm. We had read a lot of horror stories about the boat trip so we were happy this part of the journey was uneventful.

After 7 hours we arrived in Capurgana, Colombia. A beautiful costal town located in the middle of the Darian gap. (We had to take another boat to get to the mainland of Colombia.)  Everynight all the local boys would fish on the dock, as you can see in the background.

Here is the airport. It served as a park for dogs and livestock when no planes were coming in.



We made it all the way to mainland Colombia and caught a bus to Medellin! Patrick got a bag of water to celebrate. Drinking it like a local.

Panama City

Our last planned stop in Panama was Panama City. It was the first big city we spent time in because the other capitals in Central America are best avoided. We stayed is Casco Veijo the old colonial part of town. 


Patrick sitting at a park with the sky scrappers in the background. There was a new pedistrian walk way along the water. 

We spotted this bug walking from the old town to the financial district.

Cool street art...


We of course had to visit the Panama Canal. It was pretty cool and the had a great museum there as well. The size of the cargo ships were amazing. 







These were the buses that took you outside the city center. They were hilarious! Decorated to the tee inside and out. If you look closely at the windshield you can see that the decorations had priotiy over visibility.



A nice dinner spot with a good view of downtown. Patrick was very excited because this place served Belguim beer.

Panama City at night.

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Boquete, Panama

Boquete, Panama is a quiet coffee producing town in the northern part of the counrty. Most people only stay two or three days but we were enjoying the slow pace, great coffee and numerous hikes so we stayed for a week.  We stayed at a great hostel that felt more like a homestay. The rooms were in the families house and they were very friendly and had great information about what to do and see around town.

This little guy was sitting next to us on the bus ride from Bocas Del Toro to David.(the town before Boquete) At first I heard something rustling around in side the bag, I thought it may have been an iguana, but a few minutes later he popped his head out and gave us a good laugh. Not too long after that the chicken peed on the guys leg so he threw it on the floor.
This is the main river flowing through town.
Most of the farmers in town have awesome old trucks similar to this one.

This hike is called Sendero Los Quetzales it went from Boquete to Cerro Punta it was around 18k. It is considered one of the most beautiful trails in Panama and it was definetely that.






The hike finished on a farm outside Cerro Punta.

The view from the backyard of the hostel. We could watch the daily showers come in.

Doing a bit of journaling in the backyard.

We found a sports bar in town and were lucky enough to watch the Broncos crush the Ravens the N.F.L season opener!

On our last Day in Boquete we went on a coffe tour from "seed to cup" on the Cafe Ruiz plantation. We had no idea about all the work and time it takes to produce coffee.


Our tour guide was great and we were the only ones on the tour that day so it was a private tour!

Boquete was awesome!

Friday, September 13, 2013

Bocas Del Torro, Panama

After an amazing 2 weeks in Costa Rica  we entered Panama through the northren border and headed to Bocas del Torro. This is a caribbean archipelago with some awesome islands. Here are pics from our week there.



Patrick crosing the border to Panama. 

Since it is the low season we were able to get a room at this hotel for a great deal in Isla Colon. This was our backporch/dock. We spent most of our time here, there was some good snorkeling and coral on the docks  posts.











I know it looks like Patrick is not smiling but he claims its his facial hair covering his smile....

Apparently his facial hair does nót cover his smile when it comes to cookies! This was our first place with an oven and Patrick was so excited to get his cookie fix.




There are lots of old cars and differnt models of cars that have been fun to see. This is a mini cooper  Patricks mom once had.




 After a few nights on Isla Colon we headed over to Isla Bastimentos. This was unlike any place we have ever been. It had one main sidewalk (no roads) that took about 10 minutes to walk and the rest of the island is dirt trails and amazing beaches.  From what we gathered the population is between 1500 and 2000.

Here is the main sidewalk.
Another view of the sidewalk.

Here is a panoramic view of the main town along the ocean. This was the main deveopment on the island. The rest of it was jungle, farms, and beaches. We dont have any pictures of the beaches because there was some kids mugging people on there walk to the beach. So we left our camera at the hostal.  Although we never ran into any trouble.

I liked the creative reuse of trash for plant holders. We have a doritos bag, a coconut shell, a cup, and a box of wine. Unfortunately the trash was a huge issue on the island and you found it everywhere especially in the water in front of the houses. There was also a constant smell of burning plastic. 



Our bedroom.

The view from our hostal. We discovered some fun artsy modes with the camera. So be excited!



                  And of course our pictures of bugs and reptiles!!!!
Patrick caught some cute lizzards.


We were in bed when we heard our nieghbors screaming. We came out to see what was going on and found this guy! The biggest grasshopper ever!!!!

Just a cool purple beatle we saw.