|
|
|
|
We started out our Panama vacation by
flying into San Jose, Costa Rica, then taking a shuttle bus to the
Panama border. We started off in Panama taking a boat to Bocas del
Toro, which is a neat island on the Carribean side. |
|
|
|
We took a boat tour around Bocas del Toro
and spotted these dolphins in (no surprise) Dolphin Bay. |
|
|
|
We continued on the boat to Red Frog
Beach, which (no surprise), has red frogs. |
|
|
|
Red Frog Beach was a really cool beach,
and they're building condos on it in case you're interested. The
sand was really hot, though. And Amelie fell over and got her face
covered in sand and they didn't have any fruit or even fresh water,
but the ocean water was really nice. |
|
|
|
From Bocas del Toro, we took a flight from
there to David and rented a car to take to Boquette in the moutains.
Boquette was a great little town and we found this great place
called Isla Verde that had funky cabinas. |
|
|
|
The mountains ringed Boquette and there
were always clouds on them. We had great weather, though, pretty
much throughout the trip. |
|
|
|
At the park in Boquette there were some
native Panamanians and they wore these colorful dresses. The guys
just dressed normal, though. What's up with that! |
|
|
|
We were looking into buying a house or a
plot of land in Boquette, and one of the things the realtor pointed
out to us was a lack of restrictions of what you could build on your
land. He said they have two castles in town, and this is one
of them. I think they did a great job, though. |
|
|
|
We rented horses and took a tour through
the mountains with them, and it was a great experience. It turns out
horses aren't like cars, they can be challenging to steer, make go,
and to stop. I was really happy Amelie didn't have any fear of the
horses and was very excited about getting some time in the saddle. |
|
|
|
From Boquette we drove to Volcan and spent
a night in a cabin in the rain forest there. It was awesome. There
was a tame hummingbird that would come and fly around your head
every time you came onto the patio. A guide came with the cabin so
in the morning we took a two hour hike to a waterfall. And best of
all, the mosquitos didn't bite (I don't know why). We even spotted a
green quetzal, which is a bird and it's good luck to spot one. The
guide said there was a tiger in the rain forest but we didn't see it
and I'm thinking that's also good luck. |
|
|
|
The people in Panama were very welcoming,
and Amelie was held by many locals. Nobody spoke any English, not
even people you'd expect like car rental or hotel rental folks, so
our Spanish got a lot better in the week we were there. |
|
|
|
We drove to the Golfito in Costa Rica and
flew from there to San Jose for the return. Golfito is a small
little fishing town with not much going on except for being a
stopping point along the way to other places. |
|
|
|
Amelie is currently obsessed with climbing
stairs, and unfortunately in Boquette there were stairs in our
cabin, so it meant a lot of hand-holding as she walked up and down
the stairs. With this trip we've now visited every country in
Central America, so we'll see where the road takes us next time. |
|
