Pension Topas Boquete

... bet those kids took 150 pictures of each other and me and
their art projects and everything. It took forever for me to clean up
the memory card. I could go on about that experience, but that warrents
a blog of its own. After volunteering, I considered going with a group
to the beach but opted to go toa private hotsprings with Luchini,my
girls from NC and a couple of other new friends. This one was WAY
better than the place I went to in El Valle. It was probably ...

... we meet Devinīs boss for dinner and drinks. It was great to see him again and we really enjoyed our time together. After dinner we drove back down the moutain and stayed in David for the night so that we could head in to Panama City first thing in the morning.

... from the outside)...thankfully Jill and Terry warned us that this sometimes happens, so I knew not to be alarmed. But that's some first class service, granted the residents pay for it.. Sophia told us last night that a membership to the golf course/country club is $114,000 a year!!!! Insane.

Aside from working out, we also went to the grocery store for our weekly food run- total bill $45 bucks, split between 3 people. Talk about eating cheap ...

... gringos bought into their tourist trap of picture cd's and their restaurant. We had no way to leave, so that was a little bit of a bummer. When we finally went into town we grabbed lunch at a little local spot for 2.50 a person...the food was classic Panamanian and so damn good! Then we stumbled upon a river rafting place, booked a trip withBoquete Outdoor Adventures and headed off on a coffee tour. We went to Kotowa coffee farm and had a ...

... I will speak later about him) but we had to leave right then, or pay 5 euro. Rastrera tacaņa de $$"$%§!!!!

The good thing is that, as we told we wanted to climb the volcano, she introduce us to some people who were just came back from there, and to a guy (Marcus) who wanted to go. They all explained us everything and we made a plan for our trip to the volcano, together with Marcus.

The day after (Tuesday) we should have left the hotel at 5:30 but my ...

... for a night bus to Panama city. The bus was FREEZING and I was sat near the front and could hear the driverīs blaring music all night long. Not much sleep was to be had at all.

I then caught a Diablo Rojo (Panama Cityīs buses are also highly decorated old American school buses driven by maniacs) to the airport where I bumped into the guy from Georgia who I walked the Quetzal Trail with! Itīs such a small world. Lots of people were wearing ...

... back to the wilds of Panama and Team Jodi did not disappoint. Danny and Michal (relocated from Atlanta to Miami about six months ago) have been incredibly welcoming and I feel fortunate to have their friendship. We have eaten and laughed quite a bit (exactly what I needed) and I am enjoying my time with their three fabulous dogs as well. Pets are not a huge part of the Central American experience, and as many of you know, I like me a good dose of dog and cat every now and ...

... 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 ...