Ciudad de Panama

This is Mike...
We made it to Ciudad de Panama and promptly got lost in the maze of streets and drove right through the heart of the worst section of town. After about an hour and asking several locals we found our condo complex. We are staying just outside the financial district in the yuppy section of town. Here, Organic eateries, juice bars, and day spas reign supreme with the forty somethings trying to look like the twenty somethings.  Yesterday, we had some midday cocktails waiting to check into the condo, I commented on how I have seen more Audi sport cars here than in the whole trip through Central America. After I finished talking about the sport cars, three Audis drove by and we all laughed at the perfect timing. Panama is a world city and as such you can hear every language in the world spoken here. Hopefully tonight we can experience any food in the world too. We are all looking forward to some good curry vegetarian dishes as it is Chase's last night with us. We have an a full day of sight seeing planned to keep our minds busy so we don't keep reminding ourselves that this is Chase's last day. 
  

Bumper to bumper traffic at 1 in the afternoon.

Skyscrapers everywhere in Panama City (I just noticed the Audi in this picture and chuckled)

Cool buildings in the skyline

A misty view from Cerro Ancon (Ancon Hill) above the city

The view of the nighttime skyline from our veranda is stunning.

Playa Gorgona y Playa Coronado

This is Mike...
Playa Gorgona and Playa Coronado are beach communities about a hour outside of Panama City. The greenish blue water is mesmerizing especially against the backdrop of the black sand. The beaches are empty even though high rise condos are near by. This is one of the hotspots in Panama that North Americans are flocking to for retirement. It is easy to see why, good shopping, relatively cheap real estate and super affordable health care. Before you roll you eyes and think, "Oh yeah, affordable health care by third world quack doctors." You may want know the American trained physicians at John's Hopkins Medical Center partnered with the Panamanian hospitals and are performing miracles daily. In fact, Elise met an American woman, while grocery shopping, who flew her very sick son down to Panama for Stem cell therapy not currently offered in the U.S.
The mother will spend about $20,000 total, for travel and medical services. She won't be hounded for months on end about deductibles, co-pays and trying to get pre-approvals from the insurance companies for the treatment, etc. Panama is a major medical travel destination for North Americans. This explains why so many expats are calling this beautiful spot home.       

Walking along a black sand beach and calm waters is very relaxing

A condo complex on the beach at Playa Gorgona

The black sand had shimmering specks in it that twinkled like a sea of tiny diamonds.

Bocas del Toro

This is Mike...

We left Bocas del Toro and headed back to the Pacific side of Panama with our goal of getting to Panama City. Bocas del Toro was on our must see travel list since last year, when we visited Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica which is not too far away. While in Puerto Viejo, we saved an injured adolescent sloth and took it to a rescue center among other really cool things during that trip. It was in Puerto Viejo that we first got turned on to Bocas by fellow travelers who claimed Bocas was a must see. 

   Our stay on Bocas del Toro was not as good as we had hoped. Bocas was run down and dirty, which is surprising considering everything else in Panama has been above par compared with the rest of Central America. Seeing trash filled shanty neighborhoods with unmotivated people doesn't foster positive travel experiences. On Saturday though, a large group of people gathered to clean up a beach park, which was great! Elise, the kids and I, could not help notice that the people cleaning the beach park were the tourists while the healthy, physically fit locals watched on from reclined their positions. In the end, we did get a chance to see sloth on Bocas island, just not the animal. To be fair, once you're out of the more populated areas the island does become charming and quite picturesque. Still, the beauty was not enough for us to extend out stay.

We walked on the road at Playa Bluff during the rain while parrots flew in large boisterous flocks above us.

Zoe likes to check on Daddy to see what the hold up is.

We all enjoyed walking along the beach on this jungle road.

My kids like to walk barefoot in the warm rains.

The waves were too dangerous for swimming but the beach side was perfect.

Starfish Beach

This is Mike...
We went out to Starfish Beach today which was a 25 minute car taxi ride and when the road ended another 5 minute boat taxi ride to Starfish Beach. Starfish Beach is most known for their coconuts. Just kidding, the starfish here are everywhere and in many colors. The waters themselves are different shades of green and placid which is important when trying to snorkel.
    After about 2 hours on the beach we ran into a guy that offered us a boat ride into the far horizon and we took him up on it. The amazing thing about traveling is how much trust you need to have along with a certain amount of skepticism. On prior boating excursions, even professional outfits dropped the ball so we know anything was possible. Thus, in Central America, it is more about recommendations from people than any name recognition. Still, we could not help but think, "What happened if he ran out gas in the middle of the ocean? Does this guy have any boating experience? What if?" Like usual though, nothing happened and everybody was happy. Learning to let go and relax a bit is a blessing in these parts.       

The beautiful boat ride to Starfish Beach

The center of attraction, the starfish.

Zoe wanted to see if it was a girl or boy starfish.

Chase took great care of the starfish as not to hurt it.

I love how the locals still use hand-carved canoes as a mode of transport.

Zooming along in a boat at high speed is always fun

Sierra mixed it up with a soft starfish that she dove 10 feet under the water to get.

This is me hanging on the side of the boat prior to boarding. Since we had a private boat hire we went where ever we wanted, as such, we liked this mid ocean dive stop in shallow emerald waters.

The star attractions - pun intended

What is that smell?

This is Mike...
When was the last time you went to the grocery store and said, "What's that smell?" gagging while you ask the question. Well that happened to us tonight while we were trying to buy watermelon, bread and coconut juice. The girls were so obvious about the odor when they walked into the store that I had to take a picture. We were trying to figure out what the odor could be so here are our responses:
1. Mike - "I thought it smelled like a pet store and we were in the chinchilla section."
2. Chase - "I thought it smelled like dog pee."
3. Zoe - "I think it smells like dog food. Not cat food because that smells like Smores."
4. Sierra - "I thought it smelled like rabbit pebbles, lots of rabbit pebbles"
5. Elise - "I think it smelled like a combination of rotten fish and rotten meat."
Either way you slice it, it wasn't good.
 

These shoppers made it known how they felt about the odor.

Shook down by two cop impersonators

This is Mike...
It finally happened. After 4.5 months of traveling on the road through 8 Central American countries, we finally got shaken down for money. It happened on a jungle road on the way to Almirante, Panama when we were flagged down to stop at a speed trap. Two official looking cops were there and explained I was speeding but I said I wasn't so he showed me the radar gun which showed the bogus speed. He asked me to step out of the car and took my license to speak with his partner a bit. He came back and said the speeding ticket was $150 and I had to pay there. I opened my wallet and showed him an empty billfold (I had previously given Elise the money). He said I could pay the bill at an office but he would take my license and ship it to one of two cities, each at opposite sides of the country and wasn't sure where it would end up. He indicated that I could go to the bank and come back, again, all the while holding my ID. I finally negotiated the payment down to $100 and asked Elise if she had any money. She did have the cash, we paid the jerks and were on our way.
   We had no way out as they had official looking uniforms, vehicle and even a radar gun. You simply could not tell if they were not legit until we were into the throws of the shake down. I have an expired driver's license in the truck just in case and will put that in my wallet so the next time this happens I will give him the "Expired ID" and go the the "Bank" and never come back :) 
   Oddly enough we actually like Panama a lot so far, despite the BS that occurred today. The wilderness and mountains are amazing and the people are by and large worldly yet laid back.
   We made it to Bocas Del Toro island today, leaving our SUV on the mainland in the backyard of somebody who knows someone who has a hook-up. You know how it goes in the Caribbean. No worry be happy. We'll see how that goes. Our ferry taxi took a half hour to get to Bocas island and if by divine intervention dolphins started jumping in the water half way to the island.

   Side note - When I stopped the truck to unload the stuff for the island three guys speaking a Spanish Creole all came up to us and started to load our stuff on the taxi boat. Elise was trying to stay on the guys but was overwhelmed trying to keep an eye on the girls. Chase and I were trying to unload in a hurry as the ferry taxi was fully loaded with other paying passengers. I then parked the 4 Runner behind a shack at our "Hook-up" Champoo's friend's house. Yes, that is correct, our hook-up's name is, Champoo! I trusted all of our belongings to a guy named Champoo, who has a friend who has a hook up. I kinda felt like I was in college again, back in the day, breaking all the rules. Elise confided with me while on the boat that she had no idea where our stuff was and said she had an anxiety attack. All the negatives were wiped away though, once we arrived to Bocas. Sweet laid back place, keeping it tranquil baby, keeping it tranquil. We do feel bad for many of the islanders though, as it appears that many of them have glaucoma and need natural therapies.   
   P.S. Elise is laughing at me for typing all this.                  

Got Ukus ?

This is Mike...
All my Hawaiian buddies know this phrase. Got Ukus? Yeah we did, we got lice! All of us, except for Chase, were infected. Sierra had complained for sometime about an itchy scalp but we could not find anything. Well, yesterday Elise found the goods, and in all of our hair too! Even after the treatment my scalp itches every time I think of those little buggers. We washed everything and even took the truck in for a full detail, in and out, for $7. Elise even did the walk of shame to the local pharmacy to buy the 5 lice treatment packages. Luckily, we had a large rental house with washer and dryer to accommodate the rush of washing.

The infamous lice comb, look closely and you can see a nit and some eggs. GROSS!