Isla Kuanidup

Our friend Eynar used to be a travel agent, so he was able to set up a trip for us over this past weekend. We went to the Caribbean side of Panama to San Blas, an area full of hundreds of little islands, most of them still uninhabited. San Blas is an area that is still run by the indigenous tribes, so there is very little development.

We got up at 530 on Saturday morning to catch a 745 plane from Panama City to a small airstrip on the northern coast, only about a 25 minute flight. From the 'airport' we got on a small motor boat that was only big enough for about 15 people (we had 11 in our group) and cruised out into the open Caribbean Sea for about an hour.


We were all soaked from all the splashing waves by the time we reached the island. The Island was just big enough for 10 cabins (8 of which were ours). The cabins were nothing more than wooden huts with beds and a shelf for luggage. The floors were the sand.


We had all weekend to sit on our own island and do nothing. There was pretty decent snorkeling, and we were able to swim around the entire island. The 4 people that lived on the island made all our meals for us, lots of rice and salad, plus whatever they caught that day. There was only electricity from 6-11 at night, so nighttime was spent having drinks, dancing and staring at the hundreds of thousands of stars in the sky. Both nights I slept in hammocks.



The nearest island was within swimming distance, a few of us put on our snorkels and swam about 10-15 minutes to it, it was completely empty of anyone or anything except sand and palm trees. The boat was only there for one night, they totally crowded our space.



On Sunday we had them take us in the boat to another island. I was looking for something to do so I picked up a coconut off the ground and spent some time busting it open on a rock. I drank the milk and ate the meat, then kept the shell to drink rum out of later. I became a man that day.



Everyone except me and Andy had to work today, so we had to leave the island very early in the morning. The boat to take us back to the mainland left at 515. It was still dark out and we were on a small motor boat miles out in the ocean. This was by far one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

I spent alot of time playing with my new camera taking pictures. Heres some of my favorites that arent already above:

Ive also gotten a bunch of pictures from others that were there, so i cant take credit for them but they help sum up the trip:

Paul Blackwell took some videos of the canopy tours, heres the links to the ones Im in:

Coming In

Taking off


We are going this weekend to the San Blas Islands. Im excited because I havent been to the Caribbean side yet. More to come early next week when I am back

Ive enrolled in Spanish classes for a few weeks. Ive been going since Monday and already its all been coming back to me pretty quickly. The school I go to is the same place my brother was taking classes, so they gave me a pretty decent discount. I am in a 4 hour a day class by myself with a teacher that speaks no English, which is great because it forces me to form my own sentences in Spanish. Randomly enough, she also studies a bit of German.
Getting to the school is half the fun, it takes about 40 minutes to get there. I walk about 20 minutes to the bus stop, am on the bus for about 5-10 minutes depending on traffic, then another 10 or so minutes to the school. Finding an actual crosswalk anywhere is like winning the lottery, and they arent really big on the 'pedestrians have the right of way' thing; when i first got here crossing the street was a major source of anxiety, but now its kind of fun, like playing real-life Frogger. Some people actually speed up and lay on the horn when they see someone trying to cross. But its the only way to cross, Ive seen women in skirts & heels and the elderly dodging cars with the best of them.
The bus system here is rad. There is no official system, so all the buses are privately owned. They are actually referred to as Diablo Rojo (the red devil for those of you who dont speaky the spanish). People buy old school buses and deck them out however they want. Some are boring and I try to avoid those. The fun ones are painted with sweet murals or themes, and the insides are all painted and done up too. One had a disco ball hanging above the driver and was blasting salsa music. Another had streamers and glittering stars all over the ceiling. The best thing of all is that a bis ride costs a quarter and it is probably the most reliable bus system Ive ever been on, Ive never waited more than 30 seconds for a bus. Sure beats those $2 crap bus rides in NYC.

Panama...the story so far

My first 2 and a half weeks in Panama Ive had friends visiting, so Im just now starting this blog. Heres a recap of the fun so far.....

We met my friend Ali in Miami and were all on the same flight down here to Panama city. My brother is living in a fully furnished 3 bedroom apartment so we each had our own room, which is nice. We spent the first day running errands with my brother to get a feel for the city, then had dinner in an old torture chamber turned fancy restaurant in Casco Viejo, the old part of town. It was nice eating ceviche in a place where a couple hundred years ago people were chained to the walls an tortured to death. Very romantic.



The next day we hopped on a boat and headed to Isla Tabogas, a small island off the coast of Panama city, just large enough for a beach and a small village. The boat drops you off at about 9am and doesnt come back to pick you up til 4:30pm. So you just have to sit on the beach all day. It was tough.




We were there for New Years, so my brother decided to have a party at his place. Thank god Ali was there, otherwise we wouldnt have done the balloons or confetti. We are still finding confetti everywhere. Thanks Ali.



We got up 'early' the next 'morning,' picked up our rental car and drove 4 and a half hours to a small town called Pedasí, where we stayed in a beautiful little hostel/guesthouse. From there we spent a day at a nice beach, then the next day went to Isla Iguana, named as such due to the plethora of large Iguanas that rule the island. Its a good 10 miles or so out there, and there arent any ferries or charter companies. We had to find someone with a boat to take us out there. It was just a small dinghy with a motor and we had to push out from the beach. Problematic due to the large swells coming in. So the owner of the boat, Baby, said it would be better if we drove down the road for about 5-10 minutes to a river, got in there, and cruised out the mouth of the river into the bounding waves. One of the coolest boat rides ive ever taken. Ali almost threw up.





The day Ali left, Natasha arrived. She and I spent a day walking through Parque Natural, basically a forest within city limits. We saw lots of leafcutter ants, a frog, some birds and some little monkeys. I wanted to try to catch a monkey and keep it as a pet on my shoulder but alas they were quick little bastards. And they didnt come down from the trees. It was hot and sweaty in this jungle, worse than New York City in August.




Paul and Julie arrived on Andy's birthday. Natasha and I went to the fish market that day and got a couple pounds of shrimp and 3 red snappers for about $20. Not bad to feed a party of 10 people. The night consisted of general birthday debauchery, we went to a pool hall and drank beer. Lots and lots of cheap delicious Panamanian beer.



The next morning we picked up our rental car and Natasha, Paul, Julie, and I headed to the canal locks before heading out of the city to our beach retreat. Paul and Julie ate some bad meat the night before so they were basically dead to the world the whole day. The canal locks were pretty cool, and are touted as 'the greatest feat of American engineering.' It would have been easier to believe had the power not gone out while we were halfway through the museum, and they didnt get it back up and running til we were on our way out. Thank god the locks dont use electricity, just water pressure, so we didnt have to miss seeing a ship go through.



We stayed the weekend in a little town called Santa Clara at a small hotel on the beach. We did nothing but sit on the beach all weekend.


After the beach we drove to the mountains to a town called El Valle, nestled in the crater of an inactive volcano. Its a small town (I guess they all are), and very beautiful. We went to a crafts market, had a wonderful dinner at one of the most beautiful hotels Ive seen, and went to bed. The next morning we got up early to do a canopy tour. We hiked up a mountain and did some zip lines down, the most amazing one took us right in front of a large waterfall.


El Valle also has some warm mineral springs. Access is $1 and you can rub some mud on your face thats supposed to be really good for your skin



We drove back from El Valle and went to Panama Viejo, where Panama City originally was, but to avoid being raped, pillaged, and plundered by pirates, the inhabitants burned their own city to the ground and moved it to what is now Casco Viejo.



We did one more day at Isla Taboga, then Paul and Julie had to leave the next morning



Andy, Natasha, and I went to the mall and to see a movie. Wednesdays are half price matinee so it was only $2 a person. Halfway through the movie the electricity went out. Twice. Maybe if they charged $3 they could afford to pay their electic bill. Natasha had to leave the next day, so we stayed in, had some seco (panamanian 'vodka' for $4.50/bottle), and ordered pizza.

Thats the short version of a nice long two and a half weeks, ill be adding more every few days or as things happen