Colibri Lodging Boquete

Greetings everyone!! Time has slipped by yet again...but I've been extra distracted the past few days- busy doing things with my MOM! Yes, that's right folks...Libby is in PANAMA! She arrived in David early in the evening this past Friday, safe and sound. Rebecca and I were there to get her from the airport and off we went in a cab to Boquete.

Let me back up a little though...the beginning of last week was fairly mellow. Classes were cancelled ...

... later! But that's the beauty of backpackers and backpacking!

Yesterday morning we met Bob and Pat again and went down to Triskar, but this time we had 5 more volunteers with us. Christy and Shea, two of the volunteers, brought along a huge bag full of different types of crafts and games for the kids, which made our time yesterday extra fun! They were so stimulated by all of the activities and it was evident that they loved all the attention from the ...

... When we returned to the dock, we got word that a local news station wanted to interview us in regards to the poached turtle we found. They showed up, did their interview (which aired that night!) and we were finally on our way back to Boquete. Carter was feeling better when we returned, thankfully!

That night we were invited to Jill and Terry's, friends of Robb's from when he first arrived in Boquete about 2 years ago. They're from Florida and live just ...

... the inevitable rain was edging nearer and we made it back to town just in time to take shelter from the downpour. Another meal at our favorite canteen and then it was early to bed to do the Quetzal Trail the following morning.

Or so we thought...

The Quetzal Trail is named after Central America's famous bird, the uh, Quetzal. It is recognisable by its long split tail and bright colours. The trail is famed for being able to see loads of these babies ...

... with no Jazz, for drinks.

The next day we headed off on our rafting adventure. Kim has been a bit accident prone on the trip and this was no different. In the middle of a pretty serious class 4 rapid we hit a hole and everyone, including the guide went flying out of the raft. Kim fell out and smacked her face on the paddle of the guy in front of her. I managed to get back into the raft quickly and when I saw Kim, she had a big ...

... finishes, one has to walk 13 Kilometer in the road till Boquete...but a car came and brought us there, lucky guys we were : )

Once in Boquete we looked for a hostel, of course the cheapest one, which I founded disgusting in the beginning but it was not. The men there were very nice, they allowed us to use their kitchen for free, and got up to offered us their sits for eating. We cooked a very good pasta a went to sleep early as babies, the following day was ...

... group was way too big (14 people). We got to see sloths, white-faced capuchins, squirrel moneys, howler monkeys, JC lizards, iguanas and posionous crabs. The tour ended off at a beach where the boys sawm and the girls watched (we forgot our bathing suits and it was SO HOT!). Afterwards, we hiked around the peninsula before heading back into town for lunch. Prices were super expensive around town but we eventually found something reasonable (or we just got too hungry). Then it was ...

... out. Since my return to the hotel (and a kitchen THANK YOU JESUS) I am amidst a cooking extravaganza. I spent 5 weeks on a raw food cleanse and dropped 15 "rice and beans" pounds quickly. Gawd, that feels good. I am also enjoying the abundance of amazing fresh fruits and vegetables available. Boquete is in Chiriqui Province, the bread basket of Panama, and I am LOVIN' the prominity of amazing cooking ingredients. I have found a few local organic farmers and am rapidly expanding ...

... and ofcouse the wonderful food and fresh seafood they have to offer here for less than in the US. We drove up the mountain and down, saw a water fall, some roads are not feasible with regular car, 4x4 is needed due to the condition of the road, so we had to turn around a couple of times during our drive. They had a catastrophy here in November 2008 where they receive heavy rain for days and the river that runs through town was overflowing, taking out several locals ...

... Los Quetzales I had to hike back up to the ranger station and then 3KM (a couple miles) back down to the bus stop. Altogether I must have hiked 6-7 miles up and down the hills of Volcan Baru, and didn´t get back to town till 5:00 pm. Tomorrow I return to sit in class for 4 hours, but every muscle in my body will remember the weekend: my back and shoulders from braking on the zip line and my legs from all the up and downhill hiking today. Ouch! Got a few pictures uploaded at last.