Shalea
Shalea Joined: June 11th 2007
Logged in: February 4th 2012
Logged in: February 4th 2012
Off to see new things.
Travel Blog Posts
Going up the path
July 11 –July 13 Well, let’s just get it out of the way in the beginning and say that Santorini was our least favorite island--by far. Now, don’t get me wrong, it is really and truly beautiful. Full of great unique scenery and fantastic views, it’s just like in all the incredible pictures you’ve seen. If you’re in the area you have to go. That’s just the way it is and it was totally worth it. But just for that reason, because everyone goes, it was less fun than the other places we visited. We got in in the afternoon and were picked up at the port and taken to our hotel. We had booked a private room in a hostel in the beach town of Perissa which really meant that while we checked in at ... read more
On Naxos
July 8-10 We thoroughly enjoyed our 3 days on the island of Naxos. It was our first island stop in Greece and it was just what we were looking for. Our ferry left the port at 7:15 am and thankful it was pretty large so I didn't get seasick and was actually able to sleep for the first 3 hours or so. Then we made a stop to let people off in Paros and I woke up and we went upstairs and outside to be able to watch until we arrived in Naxos. There were some pretty great views and some that were very typically Greek with the white building and blue roofs, just what we were hoping for. We had forgotten to notify the hotel of our arrival time, but when we called from the ... read more
Greek Parliament with protests
July 3-July 7 After leaving my parents and brother at the train station in Florence (they were headed to Siena for the Palio) I set off on the train for Rome. I arrived mid-day and took a taxi out to my hotel, which was pretty much in the middle of nowhere because I had wanted to be near the airport. There was nothing to do. I really did leave the hotel looking to entertain myself, but ended up watching "30 Rock" in Italian until dinner time. I got up at 3:30 am and headed to the airport. After a ridiculously long line to check my baggage I made it to my flight to Athens just in time. Luckily my day got much less stressful when I arrived in Athens to the two-kiss greeting of my childhood ... read more
Panama City
(June 26- July 2, 2010) Once we were back to Panama City there was only a day and a half before Jeff had to leave. So we only had one real day to do a couple of the major things that we had planned. We headed out early Saturday to take a ferry ride over to Tobaga Island. There are two ferries out each morning and two back in the afternoon. But according to everyone there’s not much on the island so it wasn’t really an option to stay there all day with the boys. We wanted to take the first morning ferry out and then right back again. Miguel was sure they would laugh at me when I bought tickets to go out and then straight back. They didn’t laugh, but I did definitely get ... read more
At the pool
Well, actually it was technically a townhouse, but the same idea really. Monday morning we got up and I actually got to eat a decent amount of breakfast. It was delicious! Then we packed our things, and headed to the market in El Valle to pick up fresh fruits and veggies to take along with us. Miguel had headed off to work early that morning so we only had the van to get us to the beach and we had one person too many. Kendra and Aunt Trudi decided to take the bus down most of the way and then Uncle Don would pick them up at the main highway. We filled Aunt Trudi’s empty seat up with the produce and headed off. We were staying at the Decamaron in Farallon (Play Blanca), just as we ... read more
Funky looking cricket
Thursday morning we packed all our stuff into shared suitcases and then let Uncle Don figure out how to magically fit it all into the van. Then we headed out for lunch with Aleyda at her uncle’s restaurant. The food was very yummy. The vegetarians had beans, rice, and fried banana. Everyone else had sancocho a chicken soup made from, as I understand it, old, tough chickens. They all concur that it was delicious. Then we headed out on the couple hour trip to El Valle. Allie and I hitched a ride with Kendi and Miguel so the trip was more comfortable for everyone involved. The bed and breakfast we stayed at, La Rana Dorada (or Golden Frog Inn) was beautiful. It had lots of incredible flowers and trees, a little kitchen for us to use ... read more
Hanging out with Issac in the water
Okay, so we didn’t really go island hopping, but we did go to two very different islands the next two days in a row and I think that should count for something… On Tuesday, we again woke up fairly early and piled in cars to head to the small town of Portobelo on the coast about an hour north of Panama City. It is on the Caribbean Coast. Kendi and Miguel took a dive master with them from the city and when we got there we met up with their three remaining friends from Michigan. Kendi, Miguel and Jeff were scuba diving so they got what they needed while the rest of us rented snorkel gear. Just as we were finally getting ready to head off it started to rain. We had become accustomed to the ... read more
Tower
Sunday morning we were doing surprisingly well considering the night before. We did, however, take it very easy and get off to a slow and mellow start. At some point we decided to head to the old part of Panama City and check it out. Between the rental van and Miguel’s car we managed to get all of the family and the friends from Michigan to a museum. It then took us a ridiculous amount of time to decide what to do from there. This is where we decided that from then on we would only leave the house with one plan. Trying to make decisions with this many people is not easy and doing it while standing outside in the sticky heat is just makes people crabby! Some people stayed to check out the museum. ... read more
With the canal behind me
So my dad is always telling me that I must never write about partying on my travel blog because I know that my family reads it. Well, here we go, I'm going to write most of an entry about how hard I partied on my very first day in Panama! Allie and I flew out Friday night. Our first flight out of SF was delayed, but it didn't put us behind for the other flights so the trip was fairly uneventful. We both slept a decent amount which was nice and would serve us well for our first crazy day here. Kendi, Aunt Trudi and Uncle Don picked us up at the airport and took us back to the apartment that the family had rented for our time in Panama City. It was very nice. Downstairs ... read more
Again, I don´t have time to put pictures here right now, you can see them all at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/91387210@N00/sets/72157621908366740/ I am giving you fair warning that this entry is pretty much about food and being lazy. It´s not entirely my fault as I am traveling in a country where they pride themselves on spending their time at one huge and delicious meal talking about, planning and, let´s face it, fantasizing about future meals. If you are feeling ill, hungry, overly full, or over worked you might want to read this at another time. On Thursday afternoon (over a week ago Thursday that is!) after Arantxa went to meet her cousin for lunch and I had spent the morning at the Centro de Arte Reina Sofía we packed up the car (and it was packed!) and headed out ... read more
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