Gran Nacional David

Our visit back in David this time was completly work related this time.<br><br>We drove back up the Pan American Freeway on Friday in order to see his boss. Its was fairly convenient meeting as Devin´s boss had been looking to buying property in Panama for well over a year now ...

... animal. We photographed the remains, intending to submit <br>them to the newspaper upon our return, and sullenly continued. About <br>an hour and a half later we were still walking - the beach seemed to <br>stretch on forever. We came to an estuary too wide to climb across and <br>removed our shoes and rolled up our pants to continue. Once across, <br>the Panamanian men wanted to burn a stretch of beach drift wood that <br>was blocking the tree line. They said is ...

... huffing and puffing, hating those steep hills and steep steps. Even now, 3 weeks into the travels those steep steps are still killing me, hopefully it will get easier as I get nearer to Guatemala and the El Mirador trail. <br><br>The Fortuna Reserve is beautiful. Lush vegetation and a thick forest of trees ensure a nice temperature and not a whole lot of sunlight in certain areas. We were on the lookout for species (toucans, mackaws, jaguars, deer, raccoons, kinkajous ...

Well, I'm just about to begin my group Spanish lessons here at Habla Ya Spanish School in Boquete. This town is really a lovely place, surrounded by green hillsides, a volcano rising above the mist, and flowers decorating the entrance to many homes. I'm much more at peace here than I was in Panama City. More on that later ...

... pizza and bought food in the supermarket for our walk. At 10:30 we took a taxi to the volcan, and at 11:00 we started to climb it with flashlights!!!! : ) Of course, the path was good enough to do it. <br><br>But we got lost at the very beginning, and, even if we realized it on time, we lost 1 hour, a lot of energy, and quite as much patience : ). The climbing was hard, not so steep, but always up. We walked the whole night, just stopping briefly to eat something (once ...

... up and down and said; mi dios eres grande, señora! Which means something like oh ****, you're big (like a tree) All Milli could do is offer up a wearied heat stricken sí and keep walking. We finally arrived back at the purple house (yeah... if you guessed everything is purple, you guessed correctly) and watched the rain bucket down. <br><br>It's really hard to find a bar in David, it's a very bland boring city and everyone looks at us funny. Also road rules are loco ...

What a special treat Isla Boca Brava turned out to be! A small little island in the Golfo do Chiriqui that is inhabited with a few homes, one hostel and a ridiculous number of howler monkeys! To reach the island you need to take a taxi, bus, jeep taxi and boat... it sounds more difficult than it actually is- as long as you have a bit of luck and some helpful bus and taxi drivers! The island has some very easy trails to follow that lead to isolated little beaches ...

... 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 ...

... am working with an awesome physio-thereapist here named Rene Estribi and I am getting stronger every day. So, I have been trying to figure out what next for me. Boquete has captured my attention in ways I never expected and it looks like this is where I will be staying indefinitely. One thing is for sure, it is time for me to stop moving around so much and for me to start thinking about getting settled in somewhere for a bit. While travel is fabulous, I need to have some stability ...

... Hot, humid. Our 50 pound packs feel like they are melting onto our backs. We're greeted by a spanish speaking guy who informs us that there is one room available, numero dos. We take a quick look, and well, what are we going to do? There is no AC, one double size matress, and not much of anything else. Where is Callista going to sleep? We're not really sure at this point. But, our expectations would have been met as long as we got a room, so I guess we ...