In search of a legendary bird

Some days ago, still in Chiriqui we walked "El Sendero de los Quetzales", one of the most popular trails through the jungle, in the natural park Volcan Baru. The trail runs 8km between Cerro Punta and Boquete. It was quite muddy and we had to cross a river and had to stumble over some trees that had fallen because of the rain.

Unfortunately we didn’t see any of the legendary "Resplendent Quetzal"s. However, parts of the trail lead us through impressive jungle. Even if at the time it felt like a pain sometimes because of the mud, looking back now we think it was a really nice trek.

Update from Bocas

A day later than promised (yesterday Sunday the Internet cafes were all shut here), we have now finally updated the blog. Note that the three new posts were written already a few days ago, in Boquete. We are now already further north, and in a couple of days are heading for Costa Rica.

We have now also uploaded some photos to Flickr:

• Boston (15-18th August)
  
• Panama Part 1 (19-28th August: Panama City, Panama Canal, El Valle de Anton, Boquete)

When it’s raining, it’s raining

Some lines about the weather… Although in the Northern Hemisphere, the current season (rain season, running from May/June until November/December) is referred to by Panameños as “winter”. The mornings are normally sunny and hot, and around midday the rain suddenly starts. On lucky days, this is quickly followed by sunshine, but sometimes it doesn’t stop raining until dawn.

This rainfall can get very heavy – the other day we got caught up in one of those sudden showers, and before we even realized it (within a matter of minutes or even seconds) we were already totally soaked up to and including the underwear. The good thing about the rain though is that it cools the atmosphere down – in these humid regions, it can be a relief to see the rain drop the temperatures from 30+ to 20 something Celsius.

Coffee and gardens, flowers and waterfalls

We still haven’t found any network fast enough to upload our photos or answer all the mails that we’ve received, so please be patient - we will write you, promise!

We are now in Boquete (Chiriquí province and in Panama’s coffee-growing region), which is one of the preferred places for Americans to retire, taking advantage of the fact that they can buy large areas of land, construct a villa with swimming pool, and live their pensioner’s life for much less than at home.

Nonetheless (for the moment being at least) the area still has some authenticity and remains very enjoyable. We have found a really nice hostel, soooooo beautiful… we have a waterfall with a natural swimming pool, literally right in our garden…pure relax…ping-pong, domino, disc golf (something like a mix between golf and Frisbee- very fun) and in the evening: happy hour and axe-throwing. And what is still better: the kitchen is clean!!!!!! Everything is clean!!!...we love this place. It is a pleasure to live in a shared community here.

Before, we spent some days in El Valle de Anton (Coclé province) where we have walked a lot …the vegetation and the gardens are incredible here in Panama, you can pass hours and hours watching the different flowers, butterflies, and birds. On the other side, the town itself was a little boring, but in any case it was a good idea to go there, the landscape was quite different because it’s in the mountains (it is a little colder too)…We visited another waterfall: El Chorro del Macho, went to relax in nearby thermal baths (facial mud therapy included), and a little natural park called El Nispero - kind of a zoo…the funniest animal: El Perezoso.

In Boquete, we slept two nights in another hostel where we met a guy who is working in social development for the UN in Panama…He showed us the different projects they are developing for the indigenous communities… the amount of things that they are doing here is incredible. It sounds very beautiful but it’s hard work: sometimes they have to walk for 10 hours to reach the isolated villages of communities like the Kuna or the Ngobe-Boglé.

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Last Friday we visited the wonder of engineering that has made this country famous the world over: the canal linking Atlantic to Pacific. In the Miraflores locks, where the visitors’ center and museum is located too, we saw one of those massive container-ships getting lowered the 30 meters difference between sea level and the artificial lake of Gatún.

Some canal facts:
- It is about 80 km long
- 14 000 ships pass through it every year
- It can take up to 24 hours for a vessel to go from Pacific to Atlantic or vice-versa, including waiting time
- It has only been under Panamanian control only since 1999. Before this, the Canal Zone had been managed by the United States of America.
- Ships pay according to their weight. The highest amount paid so far is over 200 000 USD
- The lowest was paid in 1928 by Richard Halliburton, who swam through the canal, taking 10 days to do so: 0.35 USD

Bocas del Toro

Hi, just a very quick one - we arrived in Bocas del Toro today, still in Panama. A proper update should follow tomorrow...

Thanks for your messages !

We have moved: still in Panama city but now in Zuly´s backpackers Hostel in a safe district called El Cangrejo. As you can see, the blog is now up-to-date, and in the coming days we´ll try to add some more pictures. Thanks to everyone for your e-mails and comments! We still aren´t reacheable by mobile phone (our phone doesn´t work due to different GSM frequencies), but we´ll find a solution asap and post our number here.

Irving Saladino and our backpacks are here :-)

After wondering for three days if it would ever happen, we were extremely relieved when we finally got our backpacks this morning !!!!!!!!! Today it hasn’t stopped raining, but we are smiling again… at the same time this is a good opportunity to update our little blog…

Yesterday we walked in the “Parque Natural Metropolitano”, a kind of mini-jungle within city-limits with amazing views of Panama’s impressive skyline, and a vegetation that we’ve never seen before…we must have lost more or less 1kg sweating…that’s what this tropical weather does to you.

The ‘Casco Viejo’ (old town) is very small but pleasant. A lot of the colonial houses are very run-down, but we think that this makes out part of its charm. Although considered the wealthiest city in Central America (it is the economic capital of the region, and most big companies have their seat here), Panama Ciudad isn’t exactly the safest of cities we’ve seen – taxi drivers can go on for hours listing all the areas that we should by no means enter… don’t worry parents: we are sticking to safe areas, easily recognizable by those where the police is present and many people walking around.

A colourful addition to Panama’s capital are the buses they have here – old American school buses painted with beautiful graffiti by Panama’s street artists.
Yesterday evening we also visited an area called the Causeway – a palm-tree lined calzada for Panama’s rich and beautiful, connecting four little islands full with open-air restaurants, a ayacht club, and VIP areas. The views of the little harbour around here are pleasant, but we didn’t like its fake, americanised atmosphere.

Today was a very special day for Panameños: Irving Saladino has arrived!! We forgive you for not knowing him… but if you only spent 5 minutes watching Panamanian TV – any channel – any time – you would know him: he won the first ever Olympic medal for this country: Gold in the Long Jump. He was received today by thousands of flag-waving locals, and local rappers are already hip-hopping songs devoted to him.

History and beer in Boston

After a few days in London with Jordi (and a really good dinner in Vinopolis, thanks brother!), we flew to Boston, where we met Ales & Amelia.

Our first breakfast was in a famous bakery placed in the South End, a nice district, with an architecture that reminded us a lot of Dublin’s, followed by a tour through the Samuel Adams brewery, in Jamaica Plain (JP). Ales was complaining because the free beer quantity was not enough ;-) but he will never forget the Italian pizza (very very thin!) that we got for dinner!

On Sunday we walked the Freedom Trail (a 3-hour walk which leads you past Boston’s most important historical sites) and in the afternoon we visited Harvard.
Summarizing…a beautiful and interesting city with very nice and helpful people.

On Monday it was time to leave, but not before meeting up with Charlie´s uncle Pit and his family, who are passing their vacation in the US.

In Panama with just a toothbrush and passports

We are in Panamá Ciudad :) Our backpacks are not :( They are either in Boston or Fort Lauderdale or Miami or somewhere else. Lesson learned: Only fly with Spirit Airlines if you really can't afford better. In the meanwhile, we bought some fresh underwear, and we´re exploring the noisy and humid, but also colourful and interesting capital of Pamana.

The Internet connection in this hotel is absolutely horrible, so please have a little bit of patience - we will post a proper update and some photos as soon as we can.

Last month in Spain and Luxembourg

Tomorrow morning we're leaving for London. Many thanks to our families and friends for the nice moments you spent with us during July and August.

Here some of the best photos of our time in Spain and Luxembourg.

We will miss you !



Charlie & Tere

Around the World

Some links to prepare a Round the World

Wikitravel - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikitravel
Tickets - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Round-the-world_ticket
Mailing List - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RTWers/
Protections travel insurance - http://www.connections.be/protections/index_fr.htm
Volonteering - http://www.volunteersouthamerica.net/
Forum - http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com