JeffandErin

Panama City/Sailing – Jeff We packed up our stuff in Boquete and headed to Panama City. Unfortunately, our 10:00 bus from David to Panama City left twenty minutes early. Never in my life would I imagine something in Latin America leaving on time, let alone 20 minutes early. We were, in fact, on time but missed the bus thanks to some misdirection from one of the bus operators. We had our tickets changed free of charge and hopped aboard the double decker bus for the ensuing eight hour bus trip. We arrived at the massive bus terminal in Panama City and immediately felt the fast paced, commercialized vibe of the big city. We checked into a small hostel in Casco Viejo, the “old town” of Panama City - which is currently in the midst of a ... read more

Mom and Dad Kemmerer Visit & Boquete – Erin After an overnight stay in Panama City, my parents finally arrived to Bocas landing strip via Air Panama! We were so excited to see them, and also very excited to get checked in to the house they rented for ten days Old Bank on Isla Bastimentos. We were not disappointed with my mom’s choice of Casa Roca! The property was a 5 minute walk along the ocean’s edge outside of Old Bank, and overlooked the water, private beach area, and rock jetty. The best part of the house was that the large doors lining the kitchen and living room area opened up to the big deck equipped with a hammock and comfy sitting chairs. We all immediately felt very at home J Our first priority was to ... read more

Bocas Del Toro, Panama –Erin After a wonderful visit from Mom and Dad Deren, Jeff and I were on our way to Bocas Del Toro, Panama for a couple weeks until Mom and Dad Kemmerer arrive. As always, the goodbyes in Costa Rica were accompanied by tears. It is always so hard to leave Jeff’s Costa Rican family, and then Pat and Linda returning home was a double doozy for us. It was just such a special time for all! Jeff and I caught the 6 a.m. bus out of San Jose, Costa Rica hoping to arrive in Bocas early that same afternoon. It was an uneventful bus ride to the border minus the steady rain, which made crossing the bridge into Panama rather daunting. The bridge itself was the scariest I have ever had to ... read more

Costa Rica – Jeff After a very comfortable (in comparison to the chicken buses in Nicaragua) eight hour bus ride from Rivas, Nicaragua to San Jose, Costa Rica we had crossed our first border. We immediately went to a familiar hostel in Heredia and reserved a room and headed to Barva to see my host family. We surprised my host parents as they were expecting us the following week-but the welcome the family offered made us feel like we were home. The weekend was full of family birthday parties. My host brother’s wife had a small get together at a local bar with some local live music. The rest of the Tico siblings joined in on the festivities that night as well as some aunts and uncles. Inevitability, Erin and I were asked to dance several ... read more

Ometepe/San Juan del Sur– Jeff Well we managed to get out of the Granada area. While we had a wonderful time, we were definitely ready for some new scenery. After visiting a rainforest treehouse hostel, we headed back into Granada to catch the four hour ferry to Isla Ometepe. The bus back into the city was, as always, completely jammed full of people. Erin and I stood at the very back as they continued to add more and more people to the bus (which always seems impossible, but somehow always successful). The back was a nice change as normally I give Erin the window seat and sacrifice my aisle-side shoulder to be victim of perpetual teabagging as they cramming gets more intense. The “hype man” for the bus (every mode of public transit has one – ... read more

Our last two weeks have been quite different than our time spent at Surfing Turtle. We left there with great memories, suntans, lots of bug bites, and advertising flyers in hand, to distribute for the owner as we continue south back to Leon, and then to Granada. We have definitely had a lot more activity traveling on our own! After making it back to our same Hostel we stayed at the week before in Leon, we decided to partake in one of the more popular “tours” the next day...volcano boarding! Our tour guide picked us up promptly at 8 a.m. in an old white jeep, and we set off to attack the Cerro Negro Volcano. The other couple in the Jeep also happened to be American from Tampa, FL, and they were excited to exchange travel ... read more

January 26th Erin My days so far at Surfing Turtle can be summed up in just one word: relaxed. It definitely has taken some getting used to. Quite different from my life back in KC, and very different from Leon where we spent our first two days. The Spanish speaking only staff has requested someone is up in the mornings by 6:30 a.m. because that is when the night security guard leaves. Thanks to a neighboring local rooster, I don’t even have to use the travel alarm clock we packed! Being the morning person that I am, I have really enjoyed the tranquility and cool temperatures, as well as the hot cup of instant coffee during these mornings! Jeff has also taken to getting up with me since he has been working away on a shed ... read more

1/20/2012 & 1/21/2012 Jeff After narrowly making our connecting flight from Houston to Managua (we had to be taken by airport transportation to our gate and were the last to board the plane) we were finally bound for Nicaragua. We landed and got through immigration without a hitch; we hopped in a cab to take us to the bus station. The look on Erin's face was priceless as we drove through the capital city for about 20 minutes. It was obvious we were not in Kansas anymore. We both smiled and held it together for the cab ride until we arrived at our "bus station" which was nothing more than a back alley garage with a lemonade stand sized ticket counter. We were the only two nonlocal passengers crammed inside a microbus with 15 or 16 ... read more

Erin AGH! It's the day before we leave for the BIG TRIP!! I can't believe we have waited and anctipiated tomorrow for so long, and it is finally here!. We just finished our final goodbyes in KC with some good friends, and are now in Wichita tying up our lose ends. Jeff and I have laughed to ourselves, because we feel like we are just going on a regular ol' vacation. The reality has not set in of what we are really going to be doing when we board the plane at 6:25 in the morning. It is such a surreal feeling!! It is so hard to think that by tomorrow afternoon we will be in Leon. Nicaragua... and in 90 degree weather! Quite the opposite of the 28 degrees we are leaving in Wichita/KC. I ... read more