Talari Mountain Lodge Province of Puntarenas

We spent a day recovering in David and booked a flight for Monday to Bocas del Toro, a group of islands on the Caribbean side of Panama. Woke up Monday on time, got packed and off to the airport with no problem. On the 5km ride to the airport I looked at the clock and felt my stomach sink. Our flight was scheduled for 11:15am. According to Mom's watch it was 10am. According to the clock in the taxi it was 11:00am. We forgot there was a one-hour time difference in ...

... the hostel it really was sweet with arty tiles and a courtyard in the middle with chairs and plants, and the rooms were great. Wish we'd stayed longer than a night for their sake but the suburb it was in did not have a heap going for it and we wanted to get to Panama to save some money. I got dinner that night as Shane had certainly paid his dues with the bus ticket fiasco. I like that word. Sounds exciting and fantastic, FIASCO! Ahem. <br><br>So we went to sleep but ...

... too....it is strange once you change your perspective on things, it is easier to see the humor in everything, rather than being angry or sad. I can be a little clumsy at times, yes ; ) and ok, the mango incident would have been funny anywhere, let's be honest. Back to the weekend...on Saturday we took a cab down to Quepos and then a bus up to Manuel Antonio. We parked it on the beach by 11am and stayed their til 5pm. Fletcher, Tanya and ...

... we had a Dutch guide who was very funny and interesting, and he took us around the farm showing us how the bean gets all the way from the berry to the cup¡ At the end we had a cupping session whereby you sniff and drink different coffee types lol. FYI Mark liked the dark roast whereas I preferred the light- apparently it tastes more like strong tea which is probably why¡ The zipline was fantastico as we got to whizz through the top of the cloudforest, although the drive up ...

... that happens a lot here...maybe because there are no pizza delivery??) and they served the pizza on freshly cut banana leaves...which work wonderfully well as paper plates. The guys that owned the place were using words like dude, gnarly and awesome and high fiving people...it was hilarious. Then Shu, Victor and one of the hosts started to play drums....it was so out of this world, yet, I felt completely comfortable. On the way home from the party we ...

... t face a 16 hour bus trip from San Jose to Panama City so I decided to brave it and booked a hostel in David which is about halfway between the two capitols. I caught the noon Tica bus out of San Jose and was scheduled to arrive in David at 8 but the winding Pan American highway was shut down along the way due to a terrible car accident so we sat there for an hour and a half...and the border crossing was ...

... each other. Now, I am in search of a new community. One that will focus on the future, personal and spiritual growth. The place we are going next, Playa Uvita...their motto is "heal yourself, heal the world" And when you add in the intention of working with the land and making the community sustainable, then we are in a different realm than either of the other communities in my life. It is such a wonderful concept.

... off and on for hours on end, we found that creatures had invaded our porch...one green leafy looking thing that moved really slow and a frog that refused to leave. Kelly doesn't do well with creatures, so I went ahead and shooed them away with the broom after several atempts. Shadow, the night watchdog apparently, barked on and off for hours for the second night in a row...and the electricity continued to flicker throughout ...

... I've travelled in about 30 different countries and I have to say, this has been one of my fav. places ever. So good to experience a place for the first time with the kids. I love that they have been able to see some beautiful parts of the world and I hope they continue to be travellers; there is so much to see in this colourful and wonderfull world we live in. We are lucky (and greatful) people.

I think I only came to David so I could use that line! (Actually it's a major transport hub and it's really impossible to avoid). It's the hottest place in Panama and the second biggest city - at least my hostel has a pool. I never thought I'd complain about it being too hot, but cities really shouldn't get like this. Dragged myself away from a cool morning in Santa ...