I made it to Bocas after 24 hours of traveling from San Diego to Bocas. Whew. I will be going to Isla Popa manana. First I am going to eat at the Buena Vista and go to sleep! Julie- I ran into your people from Cristobal. It never fails that I see Santos and Miguel!... read more

I just got off the bus from the border with Panama. It is around 930 and a horrible time and place to get a taxi is the Terminal Caribe. The taxi driver claimed he could not use the meter and took me to a bus stop for San Carlos not Hotel Don Carlos. They the guard said it was okay to give him 1,000 colones! That is not a good deal it should have been half that price! Hence the title Brava! ... read more

I spent Friday and Saturday nights in the Meri Ngabe cabina on Isla Popa. It only cost 15$ which is a very good bargain. The cabina has running water and a flush toliet! Things have really improved in my little community! So the bueno there is now a collegio on isla popa, at least there are 2 professors who teach collegio. Collegio is like junior high and high school in the US. This means the kids boys and girls can go to school instead of having to stop once they get to 6th grade. I can´t tell you how excited I was to hear that. One of my favorite kids Porfilo is 17 and finished the ¨7th grade this past year. Who knows if he will be able to continue to 12th grade but he has ... read more

Nantore! This is hello in Ngabe. I spent 8 days hiking and talking for 8 hours straight in the Conte Burica Reserva in Punta Burica Costa Rica. This is a pennisula that is divided in half, part in Panama and part in Costa Rica. To get there you must wait for low tide, walk 1.5 on the beach, then an 1.5 straight up a mountain. It was lots of fun with my backpack! I was helping translate for a girl named Katie who is trying to organize a mono arana conservation project in the park. Many people seemed interested and I learned a lot about Ngabe life in this area. Pictures and more will come latter, I think the Bocas water may be getting to my stomach finally. ... read more

I'm wrapping up my visit to Queensland and will fly out to Sydney today. I stayed last night and the Thursday before at Gilligan's Backpackers. It is really nice and both the dorm rooms and the single rooms are clean and the nicest I've stayed in. Cairns is the capital city and has a busy downtown. There are a ton of Japanese visitors and all the shops have japanese signs and descriptions. I went to a "zoo" on top of a Casino yesterday. Some of the keepers were at the conference. It's pretty small and located in a dome on top of the casino. They had Koalas, wallabies, bats and many birds. My times almost up at the internet. I'll write more later. ... read more