Blogs from Chiriquí, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 23

(con't from Boca) After picking up a rental car, a small Hyundai SUV, at David airport ($90 day with insurance!) i headed to Boquete and the area around Volcan Baru' (mountain). This area is stunningly beautiful. Boquete sits in a beautiful valley of cloud topped mountains but the road past it towards Volcan Baru through pristine tropical cloud forests past coffee fincas was amazing. Exploring the road system throughout this region made the auto rental expense worth it as you really need a car to explore it. I stayed the night for $32 at a local cabana in lower Boquete and then resumed exploring. The town center of Boquete has a problem with diesel fumes that churn the stomach. However, i roamed around town on foot and found the intersting mix between local and expat businesses. ... read more

We travelled from Panama City to David on the 7:30am bus. It was a slightly old single decker bus but quite comfy. The driver and his helper were friendly as were the other people on the bus. We definitely got more smiles here than in Venezuela. The scenery was fantastic, so lush and green with patches of forest interrupting the paddocks of cattle and the crops. We had two movies during the trip, 'I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry' and 'Evan Almighty'. Both were in English because they were made by filming a movie screen. It was really funny watching the heads bob in front of the movie and to hear the audience laugh. After a pleasant lunch break we arrived in David at 3:30 pm. During the last hour of the trip we had ... read more

Hey guys and gals yet another few days have passed and it has been non stop here. Most of the letters are missing from my keyboard so i apologuise now for my spelling. Well our boat trip took us to an island a lot of people would class as paradise, palm trees, whitish sand, crystal water, reef and small fish great for snorkling. It was brilliant to just chill out, swim and eat cheese and ham sandwiches. What more could you ask for, well some shade at times although the safe tan is coming on. The following day we organinsed another boat trip with the same captain. We went to dolphin lagoon and saw dolphins, brilliant. WE went to coral quay and swam with lots of fish. then we went to red frog beach where we ... read more

We were stuck in the border town of Paso Canoas between Costa Rica and Panama last night in the hotel ducha con raton, which roughly translates as the hotel with rats in your shower. I woke up early at 4:30 and decided to go to the bathroom and as I was doing the business I heard a small scratching and straining coming from the shower drain that was basically a hole knocked in the wall at the bottom of this shower. As I stared at the noise wondering what the heck was that, I saw a nice size very black rat head stick out to see who had turned on the lights so early. Should I tell Midori or not...? She did take a shower in there yesterday afternoon when we got to the dive. We ... read more

I made it to David, not exactly a place you go to stay, but rather one you pass through to get to everywhere else. I had wanted to go to Isla Boca Brava but had decided it was to expensive to go it alone and was going to make my way onto to Bocas Del Toro the next day. However at my hostel, The Purple House, which was run by an entirly too controling New York women, I met 4 others who wanted to do the same. So the next day we headed to the island. It was amazing! We were the only travellers there which made it feel like it was OUR island. I like that feeling. I went hiking immediately, as the island is full of trails. I hiked to a beach where ... read more