Crowne Plaza Hotel Panama Panama City

... of this trip was talking to fellow travelers and exchaing stories. When asked where I was traveling to, or how long I was traveling for, I was proud to respond; I'm doing an around the world trip for 6 months. For once In my life, I was the person in the room with the coolest story, as envious looks from surrounding backpackers poured my way.
After a few days on those idlyllic islands that dreams are made of, I can proudly say, Who needs electricity anyway?

... a minute of pushing and rocking, the car lurched backwards a few feet- a good thing because we were stuck anymore, but a bad thing because now we were pretty much dead center in the river.

Lucini took over driving- THANK GOD- and somehow got us out of the river and onto the other side. So at this point we had won half the battle..now all we had to do was get back across(oh, did I mention that there was no cell service?? minor detail). Anyways ...

... seen that you can be happy with absolutely nothing. Garage sale at our house when I get home! Everything must go!

After working in an industry driven solely by money, its been a real eye opener to come and experience some of the poverty and things I have seen. The whole global economy is controlled by a few big countries, and they dont want these smaller nations to develop, because then they would have no one to exploit for profit and cheap labour. Anyway, this isnt ...

... and that weīre not supposed to eat raw veggies because they could be washed in water that could make us sick, but I didnīt really have much choice.  Also, I saw another American drinking the tap water, so I figured that maybe he knew something I didnīt.  (Maybe not and he got sick later though.)  As I ate, it began thundering and lightninging.  I didnīt really see what else I would be able to do in that mess, so I got a taxi back to the airport. 
Panama City, Panama spsadventures

... with palm trees and is part of the autonomous Kuna Yala province of Panama. The Kuna people are... different. I find them quite mercenary, charging for EVERYTHING and clearly exploiting their "traditional" plastic beads and dress. I wonder how long they have mass-produced these colourful plastic beads.... Anyway we set off at some ridiculous hour for 3 hours in a jeep followed by 2 hellish hours on a sinking boat (an Italian girl was bailing throughout) on which we froze ...

... are slowly being renovated. It is a really nice place to stroll around in the daytime...not a place for gringos at night. As if to reinforce the idea that there are some places in Panama City to be cautious, we passed a tangle of police and news crews on our drive back to our hotel. The focus of their attention was an SUV with three bullet holes in the windshield. We heard from some of the locals that organized crime violence is increasing in ...

... their history and culture. They are so happy all the time and Edwin says that they are always like this, it's not a show for the tourists. He has never seen them argue or get mad. They work very hard to build everything they need to live. All their buildings and boats are made out of natural materials, they live off the land for almost all of their needs. They don't see doctors unless there is a dire emergency and they all look very ...

Jan. 13, 2009 Well, we made it to Panamá and itīs...hot. But not as bad as I expected. Joseph says it is as bad. We got to the airport and I called the hostel where we wanted to stay but they were totally full up. Then we tried to catch the 25 cent bus into town but all of the cops told us it was too dangerous and insisted that we get a taxi. So we got a taxi for $30 for all 4 of us (normally it costs $10 per person to take a colectivo, $25 ...

... and a perfect view of the ship with Panama City behind it. Dinner was fun to hear about what everyone did during the transit. The entertainment tonight was a repeat for us, so we skipped it and headed to the casino. We found a penny machine called the Village People that helped us out on our budget! Mark wanted to see a little bit of football, so we headed to the room to watch it and found a pet towel bird. We spent the night in the holding area, so we could fuel up in the ...

... We stayed at Tio Toms, an amazing guesthouse where the rooms are on the water and where beer and wine flows from about 9:30am. Isla Bastimentos has no roads at all, and everyone speaks a fun dialect that is a mix on Spanish, English and Creole. There was an organic choccy farm up in the hills where we went twice because I miss chocolate so much and it was delicious. Isla Bastimentos also had the most beautiful beach we've seen so far (sorry, Belize) and some amazing ...