Blogs from Darién, Panama, Central America Caribbean

Manuel motioned to me strongly and blurted out in Spanish "dig, Vicente!". Alfredo gave me his fishing mask and said "dive for it". As I wandered through the remote Panamanian Darien Jungle days from any town in search of gold with a half blind 60 year old and hyperactive 19 year old Embera tribesman, it became clear that I had a story to tell. On a cold Seattle day in February, I was off for one month in Panama. Bags packed, headed for Seatac, heart beating as usual before I travel. This was going to be a very special trip so it was really thumping. As we took off on the first leg to LA, the ground and all my worries seemed to melt away below me. Nice chat on my flight with a Korean woman, ... read more

The San Blas islands are beautiful. There are 378 islands scattered within the 100 square miles of the archipelago – some are barely big enough to swing a hammock while others are home to hundreds of inhabitants who are of the Kuna tribe. The Kuna are an autonomous indigenous group who run San Blas with minimal interference from the Panamanian national government.We'd been looking forward to visiting the San Blas Islands for quite some time. Even though we were leaving Colombia and headed home towards the US, we were excited. There's a few ways that you can visit the San Blas Islands. Tourists in Panama can take a tour from there to the islands which are relatively closeby...some of the islands are less than an hour offshore. Most of us backpackers will do it one of ... read more