Next on the travel itinerary

Panama is absolutely incredible! I highly recommend everyone to visit this beautiful country. Our first full day here be were able to go to the canal and check that out. It was quite the experience. The canal has had a huge impact on Panama and you can definitely see it walking around the Panama City. There is a lot of American influence here but it has also created an interesting mix of cultures. The one thing that keeps throwing me off is paying in US dollars while trying to communicate in Spanish! Panama mints some of its own coins but mainly uses the dollar as its currency.

Tonight we are catching a night bus back up to the northern part of Panama. We are headed to Boquete. A coffee capitol in Panama right next to a volcano you can hike to the top of and see both the Atlantic and the Pacific. It is supposed to be quite a bit colder up there too. I can't wait! After a few days in Boquete we are headed to Bocas del Toro. A much more touristy set of islands than we just left but they are still supposed to be absolutely incredible. More crystal blue water and white sand beaches. Damn I live a hard life. ;)

San Blas (aka Paradise)

We have just gotten back to the hostel in Panama City after 4 days in the Kuna Yala (aka Paradise!). The last few days were absolutely incredible. Exactly what I was looking for. The Kuna people are beautiful, friendly people and we had the privilege of living with them for 4 days!

The Kuna have their own set of laws so they are technically separate from Panama. They are the only people who are allowed to own the islands and there are over 400 islands in the San Blas bay area. The islands are not large though. The one that we stayed on housed 300 Kuna and I could walk around it in under 15 minutes. The islands that we visited were absolutely beautiful. You can't swim on the islands that the people live on because their toilets are holes built out over the ocean. The islands you visit to swim look like you have died and gone to paradise. Small deserted islands surrounded by crystal blue water with excellent snorkeling, white sand beaches line the edges of the islands and the middle of the island is full of palm trees perfect for hanging hammocks. It was more beautiful than I could have even possibly imagined.

I was so happy there (not that I am not happy now). Our "guide" took us to stay with his family and his sister was there with her three little kids. I had so much fun playing with the kids. The little girl and I would play shark attack on the beach while my friends Brian and Tim rough housed with the little boys. We had wonderfully relaxing mornings, afternoons and evenings. Our last night there they made Lauren and I pasta since we don't eat meat and the locals performed a traditional dance for us. I kept asking myself "What else could I possibly want?" I have been so satisfied with life for the last couple days that I have to wonder what I am doing with my life back in Salt Lake City. I really need to remember this feeling and take it home with me to apply it to everything that I do!

oh the ever changing plans...

Lauren and I have decided that Costa Rica does not want us so we are going to listen to the signs and leave Costa Rica. Yesterday, after getting robbed, we waited for over 1 1/2 hours for a bus that was supposed to come every 10-15 minutes. The bus was going to take us to Puriscal where we were going to catch another bus to Mastatal and then walk to the farm we were going to work at. As we waited at the bus station we were in fairly foul moods and it wasn't getting better. We looked at each other and nodded. We were going to the beach! So we caught a taxi to the Caribbean bus station and got tickets for the next bus to Puerto Viejo, where we are now.

This morning we treated ourselves to a wonderful breakfast complete with french press coffee and made a new plan of attack.

The new plan.... Today we are going to go to Panama and stay there until it is time for Lauren to fly home. We are going to Panama City first for 4 or 5 days. And then we are going to Bouquete. A smaller town higher up in the mountains of Panama. It sounded nice in the guide book, a little like the town we fell in love with in Mexico, San Cristobal. We will be there for 3 nights and then on to Bocas del Toro for several days of relaxing islands. We haven't quite solidified our plans as to how long we will b each place but I am sure everything will work out.

So that is where I am at. I am slowly getting over the loss of the electronics but it still really sucks. Especially not being able to take photos. Seriously thinking about getting a camera in Panama City. Depends, as always, on the funds.

Panama here we come....

Starting Costa Rica of right...or wrong

So what are travelers two worse fears? How about losing their luggage and having their things stolen. I think those are up there on the list of things you do not want to happen when traveling, right? Well guess what? In the last two days I have been able to experience both of these traveling hazards.

Aeromexico kindly lost my luggage and wasnt able to find it for almost a day. I am very glad to say that my luggage has returned to me. So I thought I was good to go. We were no longer delayed and ready to get started exploring Costa! Oh but then this morning had to happen...

Lauren and I are staying in a private room in a hostel in San Jose. We lock the door everytime we go out and there is no one else who has a key to the room. Well this morning we went out for a run and Lauren couldnt find her ipod. When we came back to search the room I realized I couldnt find mine either. Then we both came to the realization that our cell phones and our cameras were missing. The worst part about it is that someone had to have stolen our stuff while we were in the hostel. So no pictures of this trip to share. ;( We do have to count our blessing though... Our passports and our wallets were left alone. (Which I think is a little odd as well.)

Anyways I am looking forward to getting out of San Jose and I will deal with the losses.

Highlights of Mexico

- Days with absolutely nothing to do.
- Eating homemade bagels in the hand built house of Matt and Laura then planting 100 trees with them to celebrate tree day (and Matt's birthday).
- Having time to analyze and think about what my life has consisted of for the last 5 years.
- Reading amazing books... Eat Pray Love, Three Cups of Tea, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close..
- San Cristobal de las Casas!
- The people, coffee, and markets in San Cristobal.
- Las Palomas Hostel.
- Having a free room and breakfast at the wonderful Hotel Plaza Huatulco.
- Manfred (and his daughter Marisol).
- Surfing with the owner of Quicksilver.
- Having the time to about what I want out of life...

Sorry it has been so long...

Wow how time flies. I haven´t been updating this once thought convenient blog as often as I thought I would be. Lauren and I have been traveling around through Chiapas, Mexico for the past 5 or so days, enjoying being tourists.

Ventanilla was an interesting experience. We spent our mornings filling little bags with dirt to be planted with mangrove seeds that we would collect in the afternoons. We also fed and cleaned the deer cages as well as helped take care of the volunteer´s house. All in all a good time but maybe a little bit too much time spent there. It all got a little old after awhile. The volunteer work wasn´t very structured and the other volunteer showing us what to do wasn´t all that motivated so it was hard to keep busy. My spanish did start to improve though as there were only two other fluent english speakers in the village.

Then it was on to San Cristonal de las Casas. I would recommend everyone to come here! But be warned it is cold. The city is just the right size to be able to explore but not get too lost. The markets are a lot of fun and there is incredible coffee here. (If you do come you must stay in Las Palomas. An excellent little hostel located within walking distance of everything.) San Cristobal is full of native indians. The villages surrounding the city (and the city itself) is so full of culture, it is incredible.

We have just arrived for one more night in San Cristobal from a two night excursion to Palenque. We stayed in a great little village called El Panchan. We were within walking distance of the Mayan ruins of Palenque. Exploring them was pretty incredible. The Mayans have such an interesting history and it was amazing to be able to stand in their buildings. Although I was a little disappointed at just how touristy it was with manicured lawns and scaffolding on some of the ruins. The next day we joined a tour of several waterfalls and hopped on a bus back to San Cristobal.

Sorry for the brevity of the last week or so. Free internet is great but it also means there are lots of people waiting to use the computer.

Oh other good news... I have started a flickr account and should have some photos up soon.

Ah the way plans change...

So Lauren and I have finally made plans as to what we are doing for the rest of our Mexico trip and for our Costa trip. Did I say plans? Maybe a direction as to what we might want to do would be a more appropriate way to describe these so called plans.

We have left the wonderful Plaza Huatulco to carry out the rest of our Mexico trip. We were headed to Playa Mazunte to work at the Hostel Einstein for free room and board. If you didn´t know we found the hostel through WWOOF and were under the impression we would be working on organic gardens at the hostel. Our taxi driver convinced us to let him take us all the way to Playa Mazunte. He gave us a great deal and I was able to practice some Spanish with him along the way. He ended up dropping us off at the wrong hostel which turned out to be a most wonderful thing to do! We ended up meeting Laura. Her and her husband, Matt, are from England but have lived here for the last 5 years or so. She informed us that Matt worked in the next town over on a reforestation project. We were very interested to learn more, especially after walking to Hostel Einstein and realizing WWOOFers were used there mainly for free labor cleaning rooms and such.

So Lauren and I left Playa Mazunte on the back of Matt´s motorbike. We are now staying in Ventanilla working in a protected area. There is a beautiful lagoon with an island where they raise cocodrilas (crocodiles) and venados (deer) and several other types of animals indigenous to the area. Several years ago Ventanilla was hit by a hurricane that wiped everything out so this tiny town is trying to build things back up by creating a protected area. It´s all quite wonderful. There are only two other people in the town that speak english so I´m working very hard on my Spanish. We had some great impromptu lessons last night over beers. There is definitely no internet in the town so we have traveled into Pochutla today to use the internet and buy some groceries to try and save some money. So I am sorry to say that I wont be able to post trip updates until Sunday when we are in San Crisobal de las Casas, our next leg of the Mexico trip. At least that´s what we think. ;)