Boutique Hotel Cala Mia Chiriqui

... br>when we arrived. The hostel was just a spot of light in the trees. And,<br>it was raining. To make it even more complex, it is not easy to spot<br>even in the day time. The bus drivers know where to let you off...if<br>they remember. Otherwise, you have to keep an eye out for 3 yellow<br>boulders on the side of the road with a sign that says something about<br>Lost Paradise. If you miss it...well, I guess you just go to Bocas del<br>Toro!<br><br><br><br>Like I saide, we got ...

... FINALLY! and it didn't rain!) Wednesday on a trail just outside of town in a national park. It was steep and slippery but it was amazing. At one point we were so high up that we were literally in the clouds! We rewarded ourselves with a home cooked meal and ice cream when we returned to town. And we also took matters into our own hands at the hostel, and hung a much needed hammock by the stream...and damn, it's comfortable!<br><br>Yesterday, surprisingly not sore ...

Bocas saved the best weather for our last day! It was THE perfect beach day- minimal clouds, lots of sun (and sunscreen) and a steady breeze off the ocean. We took a water taxi to Isla Carenaro and snagged a prize spot on the end of the dock....and stayed there for 4 hours! Our last night wasn´t too crazy but it did involve some Flor de Caña, fruit smoothies and an 80s power hour. Don´t worry, the 80s power hour was complete with a Journey sing ...

... broken ahead, everyone is fine, but a tree had collapsed the 9th cable so we needed to stop, clearly.<br><br>So that&#8217;s what we did, we hiked our way back to the lodge. We were obviously bummed because we were having a lot of fun, seriously just loving it and getting into the bigger and the better of the lines and then we had to stop. : (<br><br>We had lunch with the two other couples in town at a local Panamanian favorite. Scott ...

... conscious of waking up early to get the bus that would take us away from this mean (read: expensive) country.<br><br> This meant we woke up sporadically throughout the night to check the time and that our alarms were set. Oigh. So left early and walked to the bus station and finally got on the bus. One of the happiest moments in my life? Probably not but up there in the mildly relieved and somewhat excited moments. <br><br>The bus was quite full but petered off as ...

... was well worth it. Plus, for only $10 at the end you could get a CD with pictures and a short video. Back at the house Mike and Jaime had walked to the Princesa coffee finca, but the company is only open to the public when harvesting is taking place. My parents had to take care of business in town (meet with their lawyer, pay water, trash, etc. for the year) so Mike, Jaime and I went to Mi Jardin es Su Jardin. This is an expansive garden on a private residence ...

Hola! How are you all? I am well, having done much resting and watching films (it´s educational) this week. Facebook users will now be overjoyed, I´m sure, to find photos of my trip. Unfortunately there was some kind of error when I tried to upload them into the blog, with the exception of the first entry. I am working on this and hope to have more photos up soon. Anyway, I´ve spent almost a week here in Boquete in the Chiriqui highlands, a mere stone´s throw away from ...

... it is out of his range? Or he's waiting for an important call and that is roaming territory? I don't know. But he will take us to either David, or Gualaca, $40. Gualaca is on our way, David really isn't, so Gualaca it is. About 15 minutes from Boca Chica, in a dirty little town called Horconcitos, our driver pulls over and yells towards a rundown house, past the young lady in the front yard, "Ay, Eduardo!". Out comes an overweight local ...

... two unlucky gals that arrived at the hotel after we did. We got the last room, they got a mattress "on some roof or something". Its hard to believe that we got lucky with our room, but that was the case. Snorkelling was...I guess you would call it lame. Some hard coral and a few fish. Not really much going on. But we expected that going in, the Pacific side of Panama isn't known for its snorkelling. Then we chilled out on a couple of different white-sand ...

... stuck under water the guides have only 4.5 minutes to get you before you will die. He also said that if you get stuck with you leg in a rock to break your ankle to get out of the situation. There was a 7 year old listening to this that looked as if he saw a ghost. It was totally inappropriate. He also continually used the f-word ...