Blogs from David, Chiriquí, Panama, Central America Caribbean

The day starts about like this: 6am Roosters and dogs start a competition “Who is louder” 6:15am Wake up and get dressed 6:17am Go for a run (if and only if there weren’t too many fun people in the hostel and I didn’t have to run a bar) 7am Come back to the hostel after a neighborhood run and talk to our 37 y.o. cleaning lady Ara. 7:15 am Take a shower, make a big pot of coffee for everyone, a huge pan cake with honey for myself, and check computers for any reservations. Then the morning passes by talking and saying goodbyes to travelers who are taking off either to Bouquete, Bocas del Toro or Panama City; getting their e-mails and facebook info to be friends forever and ever… 12pm Lunch time. There are a ... read more

Well, today is Steve's Birthday. We have to take the bus to David, pick up a rental car, then drive on to Boquete. It is going to be a long travel day again. First, we had to have Jose take us by boat to Isla Colon to Bocas Town. Steve wasn't feeling well, so he didn't eat any breakfast. Then we waited to another water taxi to take us to Almirante on the mainland. As soon as the water taxi pulled into Almirante, there were brown faces yelling in the boat at people the names of the various places one could go: "David!", "Changuinola!", "Bus Station!". I looked at one and said "bus station to David", and immediately, hands reached down into the boat and grabbed my suitcase. At the same time, the same thing was ... read more

Well, coming to the end of my brief stint in David. Everything worked out just as planned and I blew it. I met two Aussie fellas on a 4 month mission and 2 Norweigan gals doing a similar trip. Makes my two weeker look like child's play. Apparently they met a few weeks ago and have been traveling together ever since. The Aussies are starting up a band, and the lead singer had a very decent voice and he was quite the guitar player. We sat on the back porch as they jammed until 1am with the hostel manager. Pretty fun. They are off to Bocas next and I probably should have skipped Boquette and headed out to Bocas with them. Of course there is a good chance I'll run into them there as well. Marian's ... read more

I had heard many times before of the famous waterfall called Salto Dorado, hidden deep in the jungle outside of Cerro Esperanza, inside of the Palo Seco national park in the Indian reservation called the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé. But hardly anyone I knew had actually seen it. Only one friend of mine had been there, a former Peace Corps volunteer who served in Cerro Esperanza and has since gone back to the States. She called it the “Angel Falls of Bocas del Toro.” So when my friend Andrew from the Lost and Found Hostel asked me to join him on a mission to find this legendary waterfall, I jumped at the opportunity. Five of us piled into the car – Andrew, myself, and three of the guests at the Lost and Found, located inside the Fortuna Forest ... read more

Today was the day to begin the long journey home and my plan of attack was simple. I would drive to David and take a room there so that I could get up early the next day and make a run at the Costa Rican border. It was a longish drive but I should have had plenty of time to do it before nightfall because the Pan-American Highway (aka Interamericana) in Panama is mostly 4 lanes and in very good shape. I was making good time until I reached the two-lane section where I passed by some protesters who were blocking one lane of a bridge. I waved and honked my horn as I drove by thinking nothing of this obstruction which was merely a nuisance compared to so many other driving challenges that I have ... read more

This morning we had our last Tesoro Club & espresso for breakfast (addicted!). Matty got up early to make it for us. Thanks Matty! Our cab arrived, we said our goodbyes & he left us with these parting words, we'll have great travels because we're Carebears! He he he! Love it. We headed into town & straight to the dive shop. A different dive shop than the one we went with the other day. They weren't super impressive so we'll give someone else a shot. We figured we'd dive our way out of town. May as well make the most out of a travel day. We did two dives. It poured down rain in between dive 1 & 2 & it made us so cold. By the time we finished our second dive it had cleared ... read more

So we were on our way to the airport. We arrived there at Hente time, so we were really early...We went to the bagage drop off and dropped our stuff there. We allready had checked in through the internet so that was easy. We thought.... The lady at the desk wanted to see our onward ticket from Panama. We do not have one because we go to Costa Rica over land. So a nice discussion starts and in the end we still have to buy an onward ticket. Really nice those American Allianced airlines. So we went with the lady from Copa Airlines to another office and they called again for us to make sure we really had to have an onward ticket. She even asked if we would really need it as Dutch travellers. But ... read more