Anjin

Back in beautiful Boquete to fulfill one of our trips missions, volunteer work!! After talking to the owner of Spanish by the River in Boquete, while out in Bocas, we decided to head back in this direction to teach English at an after school program called Casa Esperanza, and for Adam to take some Spanish classes. Casa Esperanza is a program that serves the indigenous Ngobe Bugle population of Panama. It is an after school program for children who may otherwise be unable to attend school due to insufficient family funds. It was set up to decrease the level of child labor in Panama, and allow these amazing kids the chance to get an education. The program provides transportation to and from school, home, and Casa Esperanza. They offer classes in health, psychology, government, and ... read more

We are coming to you live from Boquete, Panama. This is one of the worlds up and coming retirement spots for expats. Boquete is about 1hr by bus from Panama's second largest city, David. David, while hot and humid, was a welcome rest spot for a day after 7 hours on a bus from Panama City. We stayed at the Purple House hostel in David. True to its namesake everything is purple!! The beds were comfy, the rooms were clean, and the three of us got a private room for only $8 a piece. David doesn't offer too much as far as tourist attractions go, so lying in a hammock and reading was the high point of the day. Drea attempted to walk around, and to her dismay had to stop in the shade every ... read more

Semana Santa comes with a halt in all bus traffic around the country for four full days. Where better to buckle down and stay for a few days than Playa del Coco courtesy of Brennan (thanks again), and thanks to Curt for getting us in touch. Playa del Coco is on the Nicoya Peninsula on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. We arrived a day earlier than we had mentioned to Brennan, so we opted on a hotel for the first night. As we stepped off of the bus, there was an nice Austrian man recruiting us to stay at Hotel Austria about 1.5 miles from the beach. Private baths, two seperate rooms, and AC. We were living in luxury. Well there was the smoked fish smell, the sewer smell, and the random pictures of ... read more

First stop a very active volcano in Fortuna, We stayed in San Jose just for the night at a the Costa Rica Backpackers hostel that made us happy we weren't staying longer. We had drunken girls coming in and out all night long... then at 4am we had a visit from a fellow guest yelling in our room for one of his friends to wake up. We were all thrilled and almost left on the 6am bus out of town. We opted for the 8am instead and tried to go back to sleep. Then it was off to La Fortuna. We were glad to take the early bus because according to our waiter the 11am bus went down a cliff and injured 20 people, no fatalities. So, La Fortuna was very fortunate for us. We ... read more