Two very different days

We´re on day six of our trip and time has flown, but we´ve experienced so much in such a short time it feels like we´ve been here much longer.

Wednesday and Thursday could not have been more different. I really wanted to make Chris write about Wednesday because I think I´ll have a hard time explaining our experience. But I´ll give it a go...

We got up early Wednesday morning and caught a bus from Panama City in route to David and then on to Boquete. Our buddy Andrew was with us, which was great. He speaks fluent spanish and has really helped us get around. Because of his Spanish, and the fact the girl at the bus station counter had a crush on him, the three of us got the first three seats on the bus.

Our bus left promptly at 8 a.m. and we planned on getting to David at around 2:30 and then were to catch another bus to Boquete.

At 11:30 we stopped for a 30-minute break in a little town called Santiago. We headed out at noon and were on schedule to get to David at 2:30. Not 15-20 minutes from Santiago our bus came to a screeching hault. A group of people holding banners were blocking the road.

It was shocking to see protesters blocking a major roadway. We literally missed passing by the road block by about 1 minute.

Surely the authorities would be there in a matter of minutes to make the protesters leave the road. No way could traffic be stopped by a small group of people holding banners. We treated the incident as a bit of a novelity. We got out took some pictures and then got back on the bus expecting to leave in a matter of minutes.

One car decided it had enough and attempted to drive around the protesters by going through a ditch on the side of the ride. They failed miserably. The people surrounded the car and pummeled it with rocks and sticks. The car turned around and went back to its spot in the road.

An hour passed and the people gave no indication that they were going to stop protesting. No other cars dared to try and pass -- this said, the protesters were not violent, they never approached cars or threatened people who were taking pictures.

Andrew asked the woman next to him exactly what was going on. Turns out it was an entire town protesting the exploitation of workers in a local copper and gold mine. Apparently the mining company and/or the government was forcing the workers to work in unsafe conditions, was not paying fair wages, and as the mine grew the town´s farm land was decreasing.

These were people fighting for equal rights and they wanted results immediately. I don´t think we´d see something like this in the states -- at least not in this day and age.

We learned that the protests were going to end between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. I´m not sure who came up with this time frame, but we were really hoping for 3 p.m. Enduring sitting in a cramped bus for more than six hours seemed like a nightmare.

To add to the fun, I had woken up that morning with a horrible head cold. I haven´t had a cold in years, and I couldn´t believe my body decided to give out on that day.

Honestly, though, I was never angry. None of us were. How could we be angry about losing a few hours in a day of traveling when an entire town was fighting just to be treated fairly.

Three o´clock rolled around and the protesters seemed to be gaining momentum. They had even created a new, and bigger banner. Towns people formed a line and performed a dance as they beat on a small drum.

I guess it was only a matter of time before a tourist decided he´d had enough and thought he could talk his way the protest barricade. A tall blond-haired man swaggered up to the crowd confidently. He got into the face of several protesters and was immediately doused in the face with homemade pepper spray. He turned back to his car, humiliated.

What an idiot. His antics only made the town´s people more angry.

Four o´clock rolled around. My head was pounding and I couldn´t breathe through my nose. A kind older woman next to me saw how miserable I was and gave me some kind of pill. I don´t know what it was, but it helped!

When six o´clock arrived, we anxiously awaited to see if the protesters would roll up their signs and make way for the winding rows of traffic to pass through.

This was not to be. Finally people stuck in traffic snapped. Semi-truck drivers and buses blew their horns, cars tried to move forward hoping the protesters would move.

Still the protests continued.

Chris decided he might as well grab snacks and drinks for us, considering we might be there awhile-- and yes they had two snack stands, oddly enough.

While Chris was in the snack line, and Andrew and I were back on the bus, the dynamic of the protest changed. In the distance, on the other side of the barricade ONE police truck approached. The protesters grabbed rocks, tires, and branches that they´d spread on the road to prevent vehicles from passing by. They tossed the debris on to our side of the road. Andrew jumped out the bus to look for Chris. Fortunately, Chris was close by with snacks and we made it back to our seats safely.

Things escalated quickly. Earlier I mentioned that the girl who had the hots for Andrew had given us front row seats on the bus. Now our front row seats afforded us the view of the protesters last ditch efforts to make their voices heard.

They doused the heaping pile of wood and rubber with gasoline and set it a fire. The town´s people moved to the side of the road and finally let traffic pass.

We drove on as the fire blazed behind us and hundreds of cars, trucks and buses made there way through the incredible scene.

We didn´t say much as we headed toward David. We´d spent more than 6 1/2 hours on a crammed bus and had witnessed an incident that affected us deeply. We also were exhausted, thirsty and hungry AND we still had to catch another bus to Boquete.

Well, the buses to Boquete had stopped running and there was no way we were staying in the shithole that is David. We decided to take a cab. Andrew negotiated a fairly decent rate, and we hoped the cabby wasn´t going to rob us.

We made it to our hostel within minutes of the door closing at 11 p.m. I was almost deliriously sick and wanted to sleep for an entire day.

We crashed, having not eaten for almost an entire day, dirty and sweaty but at least we were in Boquete and we were lulled to sleep by the bubbling river outside our hostel.

The next morning, I was feeling better, and as my Dad would say, we had a new lease on life.

Boquete is magical and I think our experience on Wednesday has made it that much sweeter. Thursday treated us to thieving monkeys, steaming hot springs, and a gently rolling river perfect for frolicking. I´ll talk about this in the next post.

Crema de Gringo

Hola Kids,

My turn to write the blog tonight. Joys reading the kindle, fan blowing, and its very close to bedtime. Early morning tomorrow as we head to Boquete, 5 hours north of Panama.

Its always the way when traveling - once seeing a couple great spots in your host city, host town, host neighborhood, host park, host restaurant, host bar, whatever - you want to see more, more, more.

A rundown - we woke up the 14th and headed out to Parque Natcional Metropolitano. The park sits 2 miles from our hotel and remains the largest national park located within a citys limits in all of Central America. Mucho Animales y muy bueno miradores (views) of Panama City. We walked every hiking trail in that bad boy, practicar Espanol with the parque guard and took a taxi from its enterance to a neighborhood we were dying to visit Casco Viejo.

Casco Viejo is Colonial Panama. Looking a lot like New Oreleans, with its narrow streets, mulit-colored buildings, museums, anitquated & new architecuture and monuments, the area is prime for us lookyloos & camera bugs AND...El Presidante! He lives there. Whats better - gigante platos of chicken, rice & lentils for $5.50. Now thems prices I can get down with. Me, Joy and el Presidante. Upon leaving we vowed to come back the next day.

After a brief rest at the hotel & another rain shower, the rains are very much like Colorados 4:15 summer storms, we left for an Itlian restaurant in El Cangrejo, a neighborhood just south of our hotel. El Cangrejo is nothing like our hostels neighborhood or the aforementioned Casco Viejo. Its like a mini Times Square mixed with a bit of Vegas. Large hotels, casinos (Dad, Fathers Day Panama this year), strip clubs and nice restaurants and bars. After thriftily spending $5 on lunch we splurged on $30 dinner. A special Valentines Day for me lady. I mean, shes worth it, right!

This morning we woke up and took a 35-cent bus ride to the Panama Canal with our new buddy Andrew from Halifax. He speaks fluent Spanish, French and English, loves to travel & explore and is an all around great guy. Hes awesome to practice Spanish with, as there is not much judging our horrible butchery of the language. Big bonus.

Side note - some dudes are heading to the casinos now! Bro & Dad youd be in trouble here. Haha.

After sharing a 40-person, Blue Bird School bus with roughly 80 mormon missionaries & 40 working-stiff Panamanians, we walked the 10 minutes to the first set of locks on the canal - the Mira Flores locks. I will not do the explanation or recreation of the engineering marvel that is the canal within this blog, so I would advise consulting the Internet for a detailed description. Very cool and there were many big boats passing through a very tight, long canal. Get your minds out of the ditch, canal, gutter, whatever. Ha.

Joy, Andrew & I went back to the hotel and prepared for a waltz down to the fish market for ceviche. Not before, however, Joy caught a horrid glimpse of something all backpackers must deal with in such a confined, dorm-like living/space sharing scenario. The glimpse, you ask. The magic of a rotund, bald, eastern european man with cream all over his bulbous head, stomach and legs while wearing a speedo. Can you say Crema de Gringo. Not sure heading to the fish market would do much for our stomachs after that, but we risked it. A beautiful walk down the boardwalk, adjacent to the Pacific, with a view backwards into the banking district of Panama, and we were eating fresh fish, shrimp and langostino ceviche. Yummy!

We walked back into the Casco Viejo neighborhood for a second helping of sights & sounds and helped ourselves to some Gelato for dessert.

Full day, right. From here it was cheap eats for dinner in the worst Chinese restaurant this side of San Diego. But we were within our price point of under $7 for two which allowed us to choke it down.

I need a good transition here, and my journalism teacher would frown, but after "dinner" we went to a bar that boasted traditional Panamaian folk dancing. Our cab driver found the place (cabs are about $2 for any ride in the city), we were seated at the "mafia" table up close to the stage, watched one dance and were told that it would be a minimum of $17 per person to watch the show and drink! What! Do we look like touristas! We are on a budget, people, so we took in the rest of the show at the bar instead, paid $9 bucks for three beers and called it a night. By the way, Andrew, our new buddy, almost died.

Ill leave you with that and save the story for later. A bit exaggereated cuz hes not dead and more funny than scary. Dont worry, Mom!!

Bedtime yall. Met some great people, who we will, no doubt, see more of along our trail...lots of kids do this (joy and i are among the elders now) and will have more tails to spin.

Hasta Luego!

Panama City

Well, we made it! We got to our hostel in the city yesterday at around 2 p.m. after a very interesting ride in a diablo rojo, an old American school bus painted like a county fair carnival ride packed full of locals. It was a great way to experience how locals get around and to see the city-- the ride took about an 1 1/2 hours! Our hostel is great for $25... our room is a little cave like and has no frills, but it works. After settling into our little room, and having an arrival beer, we decided to explore.

We walked about 1 mile down to a boardwalk along the Pacific... great views... the City center to the left and the old city, Casco Viejo to the right. We walked around for a couple hours and we were really impressed by the city. Very clean and beautiful and the area where we were was very safe -- I did get yelled at by a tourist police officer because I crossed the white line from the pedestretian path to the bike path! I think we need tourism police in San Diego!

After walking around for a couple hours, we headed back to our room and took a much needed nap. When I woke up from our nap I was greeted by a rash on my arm and my upper lip looked like someone had socked me! I guess my sensitive Gringo skin needs to get used to the tropics!

I rallied, swollen lip and rash aside, and we went out for round two of exploring.

Unfortunately, unbenounced to us, the entire city shuts down on Sundays, especially at night. No restaurants were open other than a fastfood chicken place called Pio Pio. I did NOT want my first meal in Panama City to be a chicken sandwich (unless it was Chick fila. I would totally eat Chick Fila).

Anyway, we were SOL for eating dinner at a restaurant. We decided to settle on snacks from the market by our hostel. When we were at the market earlier, I noticed a case at the counter that contained what looked like Dim Sum. Apparentely, there is a large Chinese population in Panama City, so it was indeed Dim sum! We ordered a BBQ bun, some kind of meat wrapped in a noodle, and a sausage that tasted and looked like a fat slim jim. The bun and noodle thing were amazing!! The sausage? Not so much. The best part? the Total cost, including a bottle of soda, $2.50!

Finding food like Dim Sum in a tiny market on a random street in Panama is one of the best parts of traveling. In a million years I would have never guessed my first meal in Central America would be Chinese food. Oh, and have I mentioned our second meal was pancakes!? But those are free, and I will never turn down free pancakes.

Well, now we are off to see the beautiful national park in the middle of the city. There are sloths, monkeys, little deer, tons of birds, and reptiles, all within a five minute ride from the city center. We will spend a couple hours at the park and then we are heading to the old city, Casco Viejo, for mojitos and cigars, and a romantic dinner!

That is all for now. Oh, one more thing, I am still trying to figure out this weird keyboard. There is not an apostrophe, so I cannot use contractions. LOL.

Happy Valentines Day, all. Wish me look on staving off additional rashes, bug bites, and allergies!!

When Dennis Sells You a Lemon, Make Lemonade ... and Quit Your Job

I was enamored with my little cream car when I purchased it from a salesman named Dennis back in ’05. For a Colorado girl, driving a cute, bubbly convertible VW in the California sun was a dream!

Four years later, the cuteness wore off, and the little bug’s ugly side reared its head. I started having trouble with the accelerator and the startling sounds of a mechanic’s cash register crashed in my ears. I was hoping it would be a cheap and easy fix but there is no “cheap” or “easy” in the German engineering lexicon. I needed a new transmission, which would cost a pretty penny.

After dropping off my junk heap with Art, the mechanic, Chris and I were cruising down the 163 in his reliable, problem- free 1992 Geo Metro. I was talking about all the cars I wish I had bought - any car that passed seemed better than mine. I saw an old conversion van roll by, and I told Chris maybe we should just buy one of those and go road trippin’. An idea took root -- my memory is foggy, I can’t remember who conceived the plan – but we started talking about buying and fixing up an old van only to drive to the tip of South America and back north to Alaska.

This absolutely crazy idea seemed reasonable to both of us.

When we got home that afternoon I started researching the purchase of said van and driving to Argentina. I hit a big road block pretty quickly in my search: The Darien Gap. How had I never heard of this? I didn’t realize that the Pan American highway stopped abruptly in the southern jungles of Panama! From the Gap you have to ferry your car to Columbia which is a huge money and time suck.

Reality started to set in from this point. I love Chris, but did I really want to live with him in a VAN for a YEAR? His body odor, his freakishly straight body hair and lack of underwear seemed underwhelming and extreme. Plus, we didn’t have the financial resources to wing such a trip. Still our hopes for an adventure did not die.

From our headstrong goal of covering two continents and thousands of miles, we paired down the excursion to several months in Central America…and scrapped the van. We both knew this would still be an adventure of a lifetime.

So that’s how the seed was planted for us to quit our stable jobs, head to Central America for several months, travel, volunteer and have crazy adventures in foreign places. I never thought I’d thank Dennis for selling me a crappy car, with a crappy transmission, crappy electrical system and a steadily unraveling convertible top. Who knows? We may have never thought of this hair brained scheme if my transmission wasn’t left for dead on the east bound lanes of Highway 54. Thanks, Dennis.

Our adventure begins the morning of February 13 in Panama City, Panama, where we arrive from LAX on an overnight flight. We’re going to take a city bus from the airport to our hotel in Casco Viejo. Originally, I wanted to take a cab but Chris said we should dive in head first and travel the way we’ll be traveling for the rest of our trip – “Donde esta la hotel?” Unless the water is shallow, headfirst is always the best policy, right? That or a cannonball.

We spend two weeks in Panama. We don’t have firm plans yet, but we’ll be in Panama City for about four or five days, then we head north for the city of Boquete beneath Volcan Baru, after which we press on towards Bocas Del Toro on the Caribbean side. This is our last stop in the country before we cross the border into Costa Rica.

On the South East side of Costa Rica we bed down in an area called Puerto Viejo where we will be volunteering with an organization called the Jaguar Rescue Center. We’ll be volunteering for roughly three weeks and have rented a small “tree house” to live in while we’re volunteering. It was Chris’ “dream house” – off the grid, in the jungle, a hammock outside and an outstanding price tag.

From Costa Rica, we continue north to Nicaragua where we scoop up our awesome brother and sister in law for a week-long adventure in Isla Ometepe and Granada. Eric “the small” and Mandy “the wrecking ball” Parkes, we love you guys so much and are excited to have you share in our experience. Thanks for coming to see us!
After we drop Mandy and Eric back at the international airport in Managua, we’ll head to the rustic, tropical paradise of Little Corn Island. The idea behind Little Corn Island is to do exactly nothing for at least a week!

Our itinerary opens up wide after our sojourn to Little Corn. We want to have this trip unfold naturally for a few months. Sometime in April we start another volunteer deal with an organization breeding/rescuing sea turtles, but we are stilling working out the details with the folks from Loma Linda University. I’m learning that things happen slowly in Central America, so I must be patient.

As of now, we plan on being gone three to four months. We’d like to see as much of Central America as possible. We’ll definitely be hitting up Guatemala and Belize to see some Mayan ruins, Lake Atitlan and who knows where else!

We’ll end our visit with a stop in Oaxaca, Mexico, where we’ll spend a week or so and then catch a plane ride back to TJ. Only after purchasing hot churros, a cup of corn, two el borracho wrestling masks and a velvet Jesus will we step back across the border and snag a cab to 4075 Georgia St.

That’s it for now. We should be pretty well-connected during our entire trip – allegedly, Internet cafes are everywhere. I wonder if the rebels let you post to Facebook?

Frenchie's Ready to hit the Road!

Yep, our buddy Mr. Mustard, AKA Frenchie, is coming with us to the Grand Canyon! He's all packed up in my backpack pocket and ready for his next adventure. I just hope he doesn't meet a sexy bottle of Heinz ketchup while we're on the road and decide to ditch us!

What goes down must come up

This Friday we're heading to the Grand Canyon to do the famed (infamous?) rim-to-rim hike!

The 24-mile hike from the South Rim of the Grand Canyon to the North Rim should take us about 12 hours.

Most people take 3 or 4 days to do this hike, but we're doing it in one day! Chris and I have both climbed mountains, and are in good shape, so with the necessary provisions, I'm sure we'll be fine. Now, I'm not saying I will enjoy hiking for 24 miles, and climbing a vertical 6,000 feet, but I can and will do it.

The ascent to the North Rim is the killer part of the hike. We'll be gaining more than 6,000 feet in elevation from the canyon floor to the top. Wheee!

Here's our plan: We'll leave our offices early on Friday and head for our hotel near the South Rim. We should get there at around 8 p.m. We'll have a late dinner, and hit the hay early. We'll wake up at 3 a.m. on Saturday and drive to the Bright Angel trail at the South Rim. This route is a little longer than the other trail, South Kaibob, but we can park right at the Bright Angel trail head rather than taking a shuttle from the visitors center to the South Kaibob trail head.

We hope to start our hike at around 4:30 a.m. We want to get down to the bottom of the canyon floor to Phantom Ranch before noon so we can avoid the oppressive heat. I really hope we luck out and don't have to hike through the blazing sun in the middle of the day. I don't deal well with temperatures below 50 degrees or above 75 degrees. I can thank San Diego for that! If all goes well, we'll finish at around 4 or 5 p.m.

The logistics of the hike are a little tricky. Unless you're INSANE and want to hike all the way back to where you started the hike, you have to make sure your car is waiting for you on the other side. Chris's buddy will be hiking the trail north to south and will be driving our car from San Diego and leaving it at the North Rim. My little Beetle will (hopefully) be waiting for us on the north side at the end of the trail and Chris's buddy's car will be waiting for him and his sons on the South Rim. Perfecto!

After our hike, we're heading to Page, AZ where I plan on eating a ridiculous amount of food, and then hanging out until Monday morning doing whatever people do in Page, AZ.

I hope all goes as planned and that we get some amazing pictures!

Oh, and I'd like to thank Chris for booking a hotel room for this trip. After years of refusing to even look at a tent, I've recently started camping. To my surprise, I actually enjoy sleeping in the great outdoors. However, I really don't think that after hiking for 12 hours straight I'm going to want to be one with nature. I'm sure I'll want to be one with a cold beer and some HBO in the hotel room! So, props to Chris for being a good husband and getting his wussy wife a nice room at the Page, AZ Motel 8. :)

Latest update: Apparently you can rent canoes in Page and take a nice, leisurely trip down a peaceful part of the Colorado River. Sounds like a great way to top off our crazy trip!

Hello Again

This blog was originally created to update people on our Africa trip. Well, that didn't go so well, but I'm starting fresh!

We take a lot of cool weekend trips, and I've yet to document any of them. A shame, really. So here goes. I probably *should* start with the trips we took first and then work my way up to the present, but that requires me remembering everything, so for now, I'm starting with our next adventure: Hiking the Grand Canyon South rim to North Rim!