Panama and Costa Rica: Tranquilo Bay, Selva Bananito & more

Today was a long day. I made the mistake of working out (which means getting up pretty early). I worked pretty hard on my legs so I kind of felt weak the entire day. I made sure we were at the airport pretty early. For the Missoula airport, an hour is usually pretty good. We were there about an hour too early. I guess one can never be too careful. After a nice breakfast we were off. I have decided that I hate flying. I am not scared or anything. I just hate that for an entire day, a person is forced to breathe recycled air, touch and even sleep on things that numerous other people have touched throughout the last 24 hours and that one must smell jet fuel every flight they board. I think that is were half of my hate for flying comes; the smell of jet fuel. In fact, it was so strong when we took off from Salt Lake that I got sick. It was kind of embarrassing. Plus, I haven't done that since I was 12 years old. Now I understand that flying is a necessary part of travel and I like to travel so I guess the price of flying is worth it. Needless to say, I was very happy when we landed in Atlanta and overnighted there. It was nice to have the break as I know on the way home; it will be an even longer day. We got the shuttle to the hotel and took a taxi to Ruby Tuesday's. After a nice meal and a little Monday night football, we were set to rest for the evening. I am so excited for our trip. I just can't wait to get done flying and finally get there!

Today's flight went much better than yesterday's. Once we landed it was on to Customs and Immigration. The entire process went pretty smoothly. I think people should always expect to wait in line at customs. It is just inevitable. After immigration, we headed outside to look for our Adventure Life representative who would take us to the hotel. They were waiting outside past all of the other people holding signs near the telephones. The sign said Adventure Life and had our names on it. We met Josue and Vanessa from our office in San Jose. I enjoyed visiting with Vanessa during our drive to the hotel. It takes about 30 minutes to get to the hotel. It went by so fast however because there is so much to look at. The Hotel LeBergerac looks smaller than the brochure but it is very charming and nice. The hotel staff was very pleasant and helpful. They recommended a nice Argentina restaurant down the street called Donde Don Carlos. After walking about 1/2 hour, we decided to stop at this other restaurant we found because we couldn't find the other one. Turns out the one where we ate is the one the hotel recommended. They had good food and it was reasonably priced. Then we had about an hour to rest before our San Jose office came to get us so I could meet all the people we work with. They took me to their office and gave me the tour. It is very similar to our office here in the states in that it has a lot of people crammed into a small area. It is nice because then you know that everyone who works there, truly wants to be there and truly gets along … just the same as our office. All of the people are so great. It was so awesome to finally meet the girls face to face. Here I work with them everyday and chat with them online and via email everyday and had no clue what they looked like. It was like meeting all my co-workers. And Fabio, the owner, is so terrific. I was really excited to meet him because he always does so much for Adventure Life. We sat in their break room and had coffee and visited a while. Then to my surprise, they brought out a birthday cake for me. It was such a nice surprise. I didn't think I would really get anything for my birthday so to have a candle and cake was so neat. I also really appreciated that they all stayed past their long work day to help me celebrate. Most of them had an hour bus ride still tonight before they even got home. So I felt very special and much honored that they wanted to help me celebrate. Once we returned back to the hotel, we checked in with the family on the internet so they new we were there safely. Then we both were kind of hungry (snacky hungry is what we call it). We decided to check out the French restaurant located in the hotel. It is a very nice restaurant but I can see how the cuisine might be a little fancy for people who have just traveled all day and maybe just want something simple. We just had an appetizer of smoked salmon and that was perfect to tide us over until morning.

We had quite an early morning today. We woke up at 5:45 AM. Now while both Kurt and I are use to getting up in the mornings for work, it is a little harder to get up early when one is on vacation. We were so excited to go whitewater rafting, however, so getting up early wasn't too hard. We set an alarm but I was nervous it wouldn't go off so I also got us a wake up call. The front desk also called our room when the transfer was there which was very nice too. We boarded the van and met with the river guides for the white water rafting. The van was very nice and comfortable. We had to swing by two more hotels to pick up a couple of other non Adventure Life travelers. That took about 20 mins. Then we were on our way to the rafting station. The drive takes a little under two hours. It is a very beautiful drive and the guide explains the area as you go along. It is also on a very good road which makes the drive easier. I spent most of the drive debating if I should tell them I am pregnant or not. I really wanted to go rafting so it was a very hard decision. Plus my doctor didn't seem to think it was a problem which made the decision even harder. Once we arrived at the rafting station we were instructed to put our bags in lockers and then head to breakfast. Our breakfast was so good. I am not sure if it was just because I was a little hungrier than normal or not. We enjoyed some coffee, juice, eggs, toast, yogurt and fresh fruit. We had to wait a little while after breakfast as there was a van coming from Arenal that had more people who were rafting today. During this time, we were briefed on the safety procedures of whitewater rafting. As they are explaining possible situations that can happen while rafting, it is easy to get scared. However, I got the feeling that they have experienced every situation and felt like I was in good hands should anything happen. When the rest of the people arrived and ate breakfast, we boarded the van again to drive to the put in to begin rafting. This about another 1/2 hour-45 minute drive. The last part of it is very very bumpy. After we arrived at the put in station, we put sunscreen on, left anything behind we didn't want to get wet and get all of our gear on; i.e. Helmets and life vests. Then we decided who was riding in which raft and the sitting order. Two strong "captains" need to be at the front so we had to decide who that would be. That is when I decided to tell our guide I was pregnant. That did not go over well. Aside from the guide not wanting me in his raft due to the risk, none of the guides felt comfortable taking me down the river. They could tell I was discouraged and they explained that in Costa Rica, the woman and her child are very very respected and taken care of and it was more than just a liability thing. All of them would personally feel bad if anything happened to me. That made me feel better but I was still bummed out because I was so looking forward to going. I kissed Kurt goodbye and boarded the van again. So I can't really say how rafting was. Kurt said that it was very fun but he thought I could've gone without being injured. Always better to be safe than sorry I guess. The driver of the van kind of had to decide what to do with me. After I pouted for awhile, the driver asked how I was doing. When I answered him in Spanish, he asked if I was fluent which I told him I am so we proceeded to converse. That is when the day completely turned around. Marlo, the driver, made a few calls and arranged for me to get a tour of a pineapple plantation. This was so interesting. There is a lot more work that goes into growing and processing a pineapple than I imagined. I had the chance to see the process of how they pick the best pineapples to export, the next best to sell locally, and then the ones that are completely deformed to be dehydrated. The ones that are exported are done so under the name Del Monte. So now the next time I eat a pineapple, I will know maybe where it came from which is very cool. Also, getting to eat fresh pineapple right out of the dirt is pretty neat. I also sampled some freshly dried pineapple. The whole experience was so neat and it was a nice alternative to just sitting at the rafting station thinking about how much fun Kurt and the rest of the crew were having. When we returned to the rafting station, I ate a home-cooked authentic meal with Marlo along with some of the other workers for the rafting company. We visited about their family lives and jobs. Ultimately, my experience was very positive. I learned about pineapples, spoke Spanish the entire day and interacted with the locals. After all of this, I only had to wait about a half hour before everyone was done rafting. When everyone had a chance to view and purchase a few pictures, buy refreshment and clean up, we boarded the van to get to our next destination. It took about 2 hours for us to get to Bananito town. The road was still in pretty good condition. The driver dropped us off at a little bar called Salon Delia. Here we met Justo, our guide for Selva Bananito, and Joseph our next driver. The drive to Selva Bananito is difficult. It is a very very bumpy road and it takes about 1 hour. The scenery is still nice but the road makes it a long drive, especially for a pregnant lady. Once at Selva Bananito, we rested for about an hour. Then we cleaned up and went down to the main lodge for a welcome cocktail and dinner. It was so cool. They have tiki torches that light the pathway to the lodge and then the lodge has candles all over for lighting. It is a very tranquil and relaxing atmosphere. The air is fresh and the sounds are peaceful. Dinner was a wonderful home cooked meal. We sat and visited with Jurgen, the owner and Justo. It was a very leisurely evening. When we went back to our cabana, we lit a few candles and sat in our hammocks. After a busy, active day the welcomed atmosphere of our cabana was a nice way to end the day. There was a gigantic full moon which lit up the entire jungle. So nice to be on vacation!!

Selva Bananito is a pretty neat place. I had kind of a difficult time getting use to the bats. They fly in and out of the room all night getting the bugs. I also felt like I had bugs crawling on my face the entire night. I know it was just my imagination. I didn't have any mosquito bites when I woke up this morning so I know I was just being paranoid. After reading the descriptions of Selva Bananito I was a little nervous of how I would like it. It really is great. I was worried about the soap the lodge provides and also the quality of the shower. Actually both were such a welcomed relief. I think that I just felt so dirty and sweaty that having a nice hot shower (provided by solar heated water) with soap was a nice treat. Today was another early morning (I thought I was on vacation). We met Justo and the gang at the main lodge at 7 for a hearty breakfast. We had eggs, toast, fruit, cereal, beans and rice, homemade cheese from the farm and wonderful coffee. The atmosphere for the meals and the entire lodge makes it impossible to not relax. After breakfast, we head back to our room to gather the things we will need for the day. The large jug of filtered water in our room allowed us to fill our water bottles. We made sure we lathered on the sunscreen and mosquito repellant for the long day through the jungle. We started on the hike at around 9. It was hot already. The first part of the hike was hard just because there was no shade cover. Walking in and out of the water along the banks of the river really helped to keep us cool. As we got into the shadier parts of the hike, we started to see more reptiles. The poisonous dart frogs are so cool. They are very tiny and their green and black coloring is magnificent. As we hiked along we chatted with Justo about his life at Selva Bananito and at Puerto Limon. When not working at Selva Bananito, he fishes in his home town. When asked what he enjoys the most, he says he enjoys both parts and enjoys the variety. It was so nice to connect with him. He is very personable and pleasant. Some of the areas we hiked through, we had to climb over small slippery rocks. He was attentive to make sure that I was safe and did not get injured. He even cut walking sticks for himself, Kurt and me. Those were great and helped for the uneven river bed we walked through. After about 2 hour s we start to climb up through the jungle. It is here we meet up with Jonathan who helps with the excursions and projects around the farm. He is quiet and has a smile that lights up a room. When we got to the top of the hill, we can hear the waterfall. It is not much further before we are actually standing on top of it. We get our harnesses and helmets on and listen to a brief description of how to rappel down the waterfall. I decided to go first. I have rappelled before but never this long of a rappel and never in a waterfall. I was very nervous. Part of it was knowing that it was slick and you are about to put yourself over the side of the cliff. The other part of my fear was knowing that I could potentially slip and fall and harm the baby. But after not being able to go rafting, I knew that I wanted to do this. I wanted some kind of adventure during my trip. So over the cliff I go. It was really fun. While nervous and scared, I also had a huge rush of adrenaline. I made it down safely without any problems. The only thing that made the rappel hard at all was after I got under the waterfall. The water is kind of pounding down on me and it caused my contacts to move so then my vision was a little blurry. That was pretty interested. Watching Kurt go down was fun. He is a natural and of course makes it look so easy. After everyone was down, we all play in the water and waterfall. The cool water is refreshing after such a long hike. After a little more hiking it is time to stop for lunch. We found a nice shady spot along the river. Lunch was wonderful. We had a rice dish and some juice. I felt famished. Apparently the hike took more out of my than I thought. It was so nice to just sit by the river and relax. The rest of the hike was pretty good. We had one more rappel that is considered the mandatory rappel. This means that there is no other way to get down but rappel. This rappel was not a long and it is not in a waterfall. However, I found myself slipping more on this rappel due to the moss on the rocks. It was still fun. When we return to the lodge, it is about 3. We have the rest of the afternoon to relax in our rooms. Both Kurt and I crashed. It was so quiet and peaceful. The only sounds are that of the animals in the jungle. It was like we were backing packing in the mountains of Montana. Nothing but you and nature…just awesome. Tonight at dinner we had company. Fabio, Vanessa, Andrea and Josue from EcoSafari have come to Selva Bananito to do a hotel inspection. It was so great to see them. I didn't feel like I really got a chance to know them when I spent time with them earlier in the week. It was nice just to visit with them. I had a great time practicing my Spanish. It was also really neat to listen to them talk with Jurgen about some of the political things happening in Costa Rica. We also met a couple from Switzerland. Ursula and Eugene are in their late 50s early 60s. They were great. Kurt even split a beer with Eugene. Our bed was a welcomed treat this evening. After such a strenuous day, it was so nice to lie in bed, read by candle light and just listen to the peace of nature.

Today is my birthday. It is weird to be in the jungle celebrating a birthday. This morning the ladies that make the food, made a coffee cake to help celebrate my birthday. They even included a candle and everyone sang 'Happy Birthday'. Definitely a unique experience. After breakfast it is time for us to head to the horse stalls. I was so excited to go horseback riding today. The funny thing is, that my grandpa owns a farm and I am from Montana, and the only time I ride horses, is when I am on vacation in Costa Rica. We took a 3 hour horseback ride through the farm. We listen to Jurgen explain what the farm is doing and what they are doing to better the environment. It was very interesting. I felt very safe on my horse. I felt like we were making the horses work pretty hard as they had to go up hills some of the time. My horse was sweating pretty well. But then again, they also seem to like having someone ride them. On our way back to the lodge, we went up some pretty steep and muddy hills. I watched with hesitation as most of the group ascended the hills. I was the second to last to go. The person right before me did not make it. His horse started to slide and both horse and man ended up tipping over. The man hit is head on a rock in the creek. It was such a good thing he was wearing a helmet. I felt so helpless watching the entire thing happen. I didn't dismount because I didn't know what I could do. Jurgen was behind me so he dismounted and helped the young man steady himself. You could tell his horse and my horse were both shaken up. I was so glad to see the man was okay. All I kept thinking the rest of the way back was what if that had been me. I could've easily harmed the baby. It was a very scary experience. However, the man recovered and everything ended up being okay. Thank goodness! This evening we had a presentation at dinner about Selva Bananito, and the other things Jurgen and his crew do. It was another relaxing evening. While we were at dinner the ladies at the lodge decorated our room for our honeymoon. When we got back to our room there were palms, candles and flowers all over the room. It was beautiful. The crew at Selva Bananito has truly made our time here special.

Today we leave the jungle. While I have enjoyed my time here, I am also ready for something new. We are headed to the beach today so I am very excited about that. After breakfast, we hiked through the jungle to the zipline and canopy tower. The zipline is only 2 zips. It is more to get to and from the tower than for the "adventure of it". Then we rappelled down the tree. The coolest part of this morning was watching Ursula and Eugene, challenge themselves. Both were pretty hesitant to do the zipline. But it was so much fun watching them push themselves to the limits. Ursula even decided to do the rappel which in the end, she loved. Our transport vehicle came to get us after lunch. Leaving Selva Bananito, you feel like you are leaving family. It was kind of hard to say good bye to Justo because we got to know him so well. The transfer to Puerto Viejo was long. It only takes about two hours but the roads are not good. First of all, you have to take the bumpy road out of the jungle. Then I think we are all clear and going to be on smooth roads. Not true. The roads near Puerto Viejo are not in good shape. We drove on about 4 blocks of smooth roads and then we would hit about 3 blocks of bumpy, pot holed roads. The baby I could tell did not like this ride. It was pretty rough. I was so excited to get to Cariblue. Cariblue is very nice. It has a very "Caribbean" feel. Our room was okay. We were the first room you come upon on the bottom floor. It was darker than I thought it would be. We decided to grab our guide book and go sit by the pool. We figured out what were going to do the next day, just in case we needed to pre-arrange it (we didn't). Then we just sort of hung out. It was nice to relax by the pool. Kurt had an interesting experience with the bartender. The bartender asked Kurt for a tip telling him that 2 or 3 dollars was not that much of a tip. For us, we felt it was kind of a lot. Here in the states we tip about a dollar every other drink. So for the bartender to ask for a 3 dollar tip off of just a beer, we were a little disappointed. We decided to just eat dinner at Cariblue. The food was good. We spent the rest of the evening playing a mini ping-pong tournament. This was actually very fun. It was very relaxing and something different from what we would be doing at home. We were pretty tired from the day so we hit the sack fairly early.

We ate the continental breakfast that Cariblue offers. I thought this was very good. It is buffet style and there is a lot to choose from. Not really having a plan, and just excited to be on the beach, we decided to just walk along the beach this morning. I wanted to so something a little active. We walked along the beach for about 2 hours. It was so much fun and so relaxing. Then we walked back to Cariblue along the road. We knew there was a place to rent boogie boards and bicycles. We found a hotel called Costa de Papito which rents surfboards, boogie boards and bicycles. They were very helpful. It only cost $7/pp for a bike rental and $7/pp for the boogie board rental. Then we spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach right outside of Cariblue. It was so much fun. I spent a lot of time just watching Kurt. The waves were a little too strong for me. I was also nervous that the crashing waves would harm the baby. But I still found it relaxing and enjoyable just to hang out on the beach. It is so nice and warm here and I am on vacation so a little down time on the beach is exactly what I needed. Plus, it is fun to just watch Kurt play in the water. After playing in the waves for a couple of hours, our stomachs started to grumble. We biked into town and tried to find a place to eat. We were looking for an Argentine restaurant that my co-worker had told us about. I guess they have wonderful dinners. Little did we know that it is only open for dinner so we never found the sign (they only put it out at night) nor the restaurant. We found a great little place off of the main street called Tamara. They had wonderful food. Both Kurt and I had fish. We received a ton of food for a good price. When we finished eating we decided to walk off lunch. We checked out the street vendors and also the shops along main street. After walking around for about an hour, we realized it was starting to get late. We went biked back to the hotel to pick up the boogie boards and take them back to Casa Papito's. Our bike ride back to Casa Papito's was a little scary. It was dark and the road is not in good condition and we were concerned the cars wouldn't see us. Luckily we had our head lamps with us because of being at Selva Bananito so we wore those and that helped. Once we arrived at Casa Papito, we asked if we could use their internet to check our email and catch up with the folks back home. They were so nice and accommodating even though we weren't staying there. They also let us sit at the bar and try to find the Sunday night NFL game (aren't we horrible). We didn't have much luck with that so we decided to just go back to Cariblue and relax for the rest of the evening. We finished the evening with some beers (well some virgin drinks for me) and a mean tournament of ping pong. Really good way to finish out the day. My recommendations for the day: Wear sunscreen! (We didn't and got burnt to a crisp). Plan what you want to do today, the day before. We spent the morning relaxing which was great but we really didn't get to play on the beach very much by the time we rented our bikes and boards and also tried to get lunch. Skip going into town except maybe for a quick bite to eat. The only reason you would want to go into town is if you wanted to pick up some souvenirs (since with this trip you really don't get a chance to do that) but there really isn't anything worth seeing in town.

Today was kind of a frustrating day. We had a pick up scheduled for 8:30 to head to Panama. So we made sure we were up in time to get ready and have breakfast. By 9:00, our driver was still not there. The hotel knew we were waiting for someone to pick us up. After watching us sit for a half hour, the hotel offered to call Costa Rica Reps for us. I talked to Vanessa and she said that the driver had called and said his SUV had broken down and that he wouldn't be there until about 10:30 (2 hours later than he was suppose to be there). Trying to be understanding and flexible we decided to take advantage of the extra time. We just walked down to the beach and watched the surfers for awhile. When the driver arrived, he was very apologetic and we continued on our way. The drive to the Panama border is about an hour and a half. We were on the road a half hour/45 minutes, when the vehicle breaks down again. We were in middle of nowhere and had zero cell phone service. By this point, my patience is running short. We sat and waited on the side of the road for about an hour while the driver tried to fix the car. Kurt and I really couldn't help much so we just sat in the car and waited for it to be fixed. I was actually surprised by both of our attitudes. We knew there was nothing we could do so we tried to make the best of the situation. The driver finally fixed the car and we were on our way. Because we were so late getting started and then broke down for about an hour, we were really behind schedule. The driver felt very badly about all of the delays so he drove like a mad man to the border. Luckily the roads are better heading to the border than they are heading to Puerto Viejo. The turns in the road and sometimes large pot holes still made the drive a little difficult however. Finally, we arrived at the Panama border. The border is pretty chaotic. There are lots of people coming across from Panama and also going to Panama. When we get out of the vehicle, we are swormed with people who want to carry our bags across for us for a small fee. Jim, the owner of Tranquilo Bay, met us as soon as we stepped out of the car. I was relieved to see him. I didn't want to be hassled during the crossing. Thankfully, Costa Rica reps had called Jim to alert him of our hectic morning and that we were running late. The border crossing is a rickety old bridge over a river. It is kind of need to feel like you are actually "crossing" a border. It makes it more real that you have to cross the bridge to get into Panama. Once across the bridge, we have to go into the passport office so they can stamp us in. then we have to go to another office to purchase our tourist card. After that is purchased, we have to go back to the passport office to show them that we have purchased the card and they can stamp the card as well. Then we are on the road again. To get to the boat dock is going to be about an hour drive. As we continue on our way, we come across yet another obstacle. Right before the bridge to cross the Changanola river, they have dug a huge hole in the middle of the road . So we wait yet again in a cramped vehicle for the hole to be filled in so we can cross the bridge. This delay took about 45 minutes. I guess that is just our luck today. When we arrive at the boat dock, we meet the owners of the dock and a small EcoLodge which they are just started. They are Americans from Florida who retired in Panama and decided to start a lodge. The boat ride to Bocas Town beautiful. I am so excited to be on the water. We listen to Jim and Jay (owners of Tranquilo Bay) explain the area and how they built Tranquilo Bay from the ground up. When we arrive in Bocas Town, they are able to pull right up to the Bocas del Toro Hotel. A lot of the business and restaurants in Bocas town are right on the water and have their own boat docks. We bid farwell to Jim and Jay and arrange our pick up time for tomorrow. When we get to our room, we are thrilled to find out we have received the best room in the hotel. We are on the very top floor in a room that faces the water. Our balcony is the length of the room and over looks the water as well. It is beautiful. After such a rough start to the day, we realize we are hungry. We decide to take a walk through town and find a place to eat. We end up eating a this neat little restaurant called Flip flops. We decide to eat out on the deck that is on the water. The entire patio is covered in sand. It feels like we are sitting at beach cafe, very cool! The food is decent. They make really good Pina Colodas. I decided that it would be a good idea to check out the other hotel that we use in Bocas Town. This hotel is called Hotel Bahia. This is a nice hotel but it is not directly on the water which is the only drawback. It is where the old United Fruit Company use to issue its paychecks. Located in the hotel lobby is the giant safe where they use to keep all of the money and the checks. That is pretty neat to see. The rooms in this hotel are roomy but not as well lit as the rooms at Hotel Bocas del Toro. After the tour of Hotel Bahia, we walked around town and looked at the shops. We found a place to buy some authentic Panama handicrafts. Here we purchased a hammock. I can't wait to get home and use it! When we return to the hotel, we just sat on our balcony and enjoyed the view. It is very neat to watch all the boats commute around from island to island. We are so excited to finally be at our destination and to be on the water again. With tonight being Monday night, we decided to find a place to watch the Monday night football game. Now it would seem that we are football fanatics by this point. That really isn't true. I think we both just liked the idea of doing something familiar in a foreign country. Right next to Hotel Bocas del Toro is a restaurant/bar called Buena Vista. Amazingly, they were playing the football game and amazingly, we were not the only Americans interested in the game. The owners of this bar are Americans. The woman is pregnant. I listen to her chat to some customers about her due date and about how her pregnancy is going. Being pregnant I am very intrigued to hear how it is to be an American living in a foreign country about ready to have a baby. This woman makes it sound like it is just everyday living. I guess the medical services in Panama City are similar to the United States. I would love to have this lady's life. How cool would it be to live in this town, own a bar and restaurant and be able to speak Spanish any time she wants to. I am sure it is a lot more work and a lot harder than she makes it seem but it sounds like dream life to me. This place also serves good Pina Colodas (I had a sip of Kurt's) We turn in for the night and watch the rest of the game in our room. I don't remember who won but it was a good game.

Today we are headed to Tranquilo Bay. We are getting married there today. I am so excited. It is something we planned right before we came. We thought it would be just like us to "elope" in Panama. The only person that knows are my co-workers and my mom. It will be such a surprise for the rest of the family. We ate breakfast at the hotel out on the water. Very good breakfast . Jim and Jay arrive at the dock at 10 AM. The boat ride to Tranquilo Bay is about a 1/2 hour. It is again nice to be on the water and the scenery is beautiful. Crystal blue water and gorgeous, plush islands. Tranquilo Bay itself is also very beautiful. We arrive at their boat dock and then walk on a board walk through the marsh lands. Jim and Jay show us where the dinning area and where they live (same building). I finally get to meet Renee, Jim's wife, and their two kids Body and Tres. After exchanging so many emails back and forth, it is great to meet her. We are then escorted to our bungalow. Tranquilo Bay has 6 bungalow type rooms. Each one has a porch with two hammocks, one or two beds depending on accommodation needs, and private bathrooms and showers. They give us the farthest bungalow so we can overlook the water. It is beautiful. The bungalow isn't located directly on the water. It is on a bluff that faces the water. The room inside is beautiful. It is very roomy and has a homey feel. It feels more "Americanized" than our other places but the comforts of home are a welcomed touch after being in the Jungle and thinking I had bugs crawling on me at night. The rooms have air conditioning and fans. The bathrooms are beautiful and the showers are roomy. You can drink the water from the tap as it is filtered rain water. We get a chance to freshen up before it is time to have lunch. For lunch we had taquitos, rice and salad. It was very good. Now it is time to go snorkeling. I am so excited. I have never really snorkeled before. We load up all the gear and head out. Jim is going to be our guide. He parks the boat near some reef and gives us a brief overview on how to snorkel. We get started and we follow him for awhile while he points different things out. After about 10 minutes, we realize the current is very strong and we have drifted pretty far from the boat. Jim decides the current is a little too strong and that it would be better for us to find a different spot. When we find the next snorkeling spot, we all split up. It is so neat to see the beautiful coral and the cool fish. When I have to clear my snorkel, I am so nervous to step down because I am afraid I am ruining the coral. So that is a little bit of a challenge. I know Kurt and I both swallowed quite an amount of sea water. We saw all of the tropical fish you would see. It is so cool to watch them dart in an out of the coral. Jim found a puffer fish and pointed it out. This thing was pretty creepy. It is tucked in between the rocks and it is all puffed up. It just stares at us from the safety of its little cove. Then we split up again. I am wondering around looking at things when I came upon a shark. Now being from Montana and living my entire life there, I really don't have experience with Sharks. My first instinct is panic. I surface to see how far Jim is. He and Kurt are pretty far away. I don't know what to do. So I decided my best bet is to try to get closer to where Jim and Kurt are. I start swimming as fast as I can (thank goodness for flippers as I can swim a lot faster). While I am busting my butt to get to safety, all I can hear in my head is the Jaws music. Then it occurs to me that my rapidly kicking feet and legs looks like food to the shark so that causes me to panic even more. Finally, I reach Jim and Kurt. I tell them about the shark and Kurt is fascinated. Jim must've read the horror on my face because he tells me that the shark is called a nurse shark and they are harmless. Good to know (after I have pretty much just had a heart attack). Kurt and I decide to go see if we can find it again because Kurt is interested in seeing it. We swim together holding hands and all I keep thinking is 'I wonder how many other couples can say they went snorkeling on their wedding day and encountered a puffer fish and a shark'. This is such a neat experience. In order to make it back to the lodge in time to get ready for the wedding and get married at sundown, we have to start heading back to the lodge. Kurt and I get ready and then meet everyone at the main lodge so we can head out the island where we are going to get married. We take the boat to Zapatilla Caye. When we arrive, Kurt and I are surprised to see everything the staff has done for our special day. They set up an aisle with coconuts and tea lights, an archway at the end of the aisle made out of palms and made two bonfires at the beginning of the aisle. They also planted two coconut trees at the end of the aisle in our honor. Kurt and I could not have imagined a more beautiful setting for a wedding. The best part is that I never dreamed my wedding would be like this. It was absolutely perfect. When we return to the lodge we have some appetizers and toast to our wedding. Dinner is a curry chicken dish with rice and we had homemade chocolate ice cream for dessert. The dining room has a very homey feeling and the entire atmosphere is very relaxed. I felt like we have known Jim, Renee and Jay all of our lives and that we were sitting down for a family dinner. Very neat. Upon our return to our bungalow tonight, we found our room decorated with flower petals. It really made it feel like a honeymoon. What a wonderful way to end a perfect day!

Last night in the middle of the night, there was a huge thunderstorm. I can't believe how intense the storms are here. They feel so close. I am scared of lightening so the storm made my adrenaline rush. It is beautiful to watch the lightening strike over the ocean. Today we start the day with a hearty breakfast of fruit, eggs, cereal and coffee. Our day is filled with adventure. Jim is going to take us out and show us some of the activities that Tranquilo Bay offers their clients. We start our journey by going to some nearby islands that are inhabited by native tribes. Our first stop is an island where the villages is located on a hill right on the water. I am amazed at the simplicity of life in this village. The people live in small huts. I don't think they have running water or plumbing. They speak a native Indian language that I am not familiar with. Some of them also speak Spanish. We meet up with one of the locals and he takes us on a hike to the top of the island. On our way, we see women washing their clothes in a stream. We also get a lesson some banana trees and other native plants and trees. It is very interesting. When we reach the top of the hill, we see an old tower. The tower was used for transmitting when the United States first occupied Panama. It is so neat to see the history. It seems very random that amongst these people, is a large tower used by the US. Our next stop is another island with another village. This village is more spread out. The school is located on the water but then the rest of the people live dispersed throughout the island. As we land at the boat dock, the children rush to greet us. It is so fun speak Spanish with them. They are very intrigued by our arrival. One of the their favorite things, Jim tells us, is to have their picture taken with a digital camera. They don't know what they look like so they like to get their picture taken and then look at the screen to see themselves. So we stay at the dock and visit with them and take their pictures. We continue on our way. We hike through the island to get to a white sandy beach on the other side. I am not sure why we didn't just boat up to the beach. My only thought is that it is too shallow to get the boat all the way to the beach. Also, Jim maybe just wanted us to meet more locals. While we are hiking, we have a few kids trail behind us. I feel badly because I am not sure if we have just interrupted school of if they were done for the morning. At any rate, I enjoyed interacting with kids. One kids runs home and brings his kitty to us so we can see it. Pretty neat. The white sandy beach is beautiful. It is very private. We are the only ones there. It is kind of weird because it is just Kurt and Jim and me. So we just hang out and play in the waves. I think it would've been more fun if maybe just Kurt and I could've hung out at the beach by ourselves or if we had surf boards or boogie boards to play with. We were only there about an hour. It just felt a little awkward. But I am sure if there were more people at the lodge, just hanging at the beach for the afternoon would've been really fun. Next, we head to another island with trees so we can have a picnic lunch in the shade. Lunch is sandwiches, fresh fruit, chips and homemade cookies. A true picnic lunch. After lunch, we go sea kayaking, This is a really fun activity. I was nervous because I had never sea kayaked before. It is surprisingly much easier than maneuvering a river kayak. We kayaked to a cave that is in the middle of rocks. This is a little challenging as we have to go in the cave when the tide is going out so that we don't hit our heads. I was kind of freaked both about getting into the cave and actually being in the cave. Once we are in the cave, you can see a bunch of bats at the top sleeping. I kept waiting for them to start swarming my head. That didn't happen luckily. It was neat to be in the cave but I couldn't stay long. To get out of the cave, you also have to wait until the tide is low. It was much easier getting into the cave than out of. Our next adventure is to go dolphin spotting as we head back to the lodge. This takes some patience as you have to wait for them to surface. After staring at the water for awhile you start to think the waves are the dolphins surfacing. Your eyes start to deceive you. Once we spot them, we try to take pictures as they surface. You have to be quick on the draw to capture them at the exact moment that they are surfacing. Jim said usually they get pretty close to the boat because they are curious about the boat. They only got close to the boat once. After awhile we don't see them anymore. Jim decides he will see if the dolphins will play with us. So he maneuvers the boat in the area where we see them to see if they will swim next to the boat. We tried for about a half hour without any luck.

Last night there was another phenomenal thunderstorm. This one seemed worst than the one the previous night. I actually had enough courage to sit on our porch and watch it. This took a lot of guts for me because the lightening was darting across the sky. I was sure we were going to get hit. Today we are headed to Boquete. I am excited for the next destination. I haven't planned anything for our time in Boquete so it will be nice and relaxing. We take the boat back to the EcoLodge boat dock that we took the first day. We tried to spot more dolphins along the way. We actually get to see a mother and her baby surface. This was pretty cool. As soon as the mother sensed us following her, her and baby split. Chalito our driver for the journey to Boquete is right on time. I try to interact with him and practice my Spanish, however after speaking English for so many days at Tranquilo Bay, it seems my Spanish speaking skills have left me. The trip to Boquete takes about 3 hours. The road is through the mountains which makes the trip very beautiful. The only drawback is that it is a very windy road and about an hour into the drive, I start to feel a little car sick. We stopped for about a half hour and that is a welcomed break to get some fresh air and stretch our legs. The town of Boquete is beautiful. It is a very plush mountain town. It reminds me of some of the small mountain towns in Montana only Boquete has rain instead of snow. Our accommodations are wonderful. We get our own private apartment complete with kitchen, TV, and dinning room table. The shower is big here as well. We decide to go check out the town and grab a bite to eat. We ate at this little cafe that actually looked pretty dingy. I was a little nervous to eat here but we really didn't want to look for another place to eat. Besides there were a lot of locals so we figured it must be okay to eat there. The food was actually pretty good. After lunch we decided to find an internet cafe to connect with the people back home. We also wanted to let our friends and family know the big news about the wedding and send pictures of the big day. The rest of the evening we just relax in our room. It is nice to have some time to ourselves and to not have anything planned.

After a relaxing evening last night, we wake up very refreshed today. We have breakfast in the courtyard of the hotel. It is very relaxing and breakfast is very filling. Since Boquete is known for its coffee, we decide to take a coffee plantation tour today. We toured the Kotowa coffee plantation. It was a very interesting tour. We got to see the coffee bean from the very beginning and then follow the process until it becomes coffee. With it being off season, it wasn't quite time for the coffee harvest to be harvested. So we really didn't get to see the plantation in its prime but it was still very interesting. At the end of the tour, we got to sample some coffee and try to see if we could taste the difference in the different roasts. The tour was a little pricey but I thought it was well worth the cost given all of the information we learned about the coffee business. The rest of the afternoon, we just explored the town, checked email and relaxed. We were going to try and play golf but it started to rain. The rain is beautiful. It really comes down. Overall, I really enjoyed our stay in Boquete because it was so relaxing.

Today we headed for Panama City. The drive to the airport from Boquete takes about 45 minutes. You have to drive to the town of David. I was amazed to see all of the new development springing up on our way to David. There were a bunch of gated communities going up almost every 10 miles. Panama is becoming a popular destination for retirees, hence the gated communities. We talked to your driver about the growth to get his opinion about it. On one hand, he thinks the development is good because it will bring more business for him therefore more money. On the other hand, with more Americans moving to Panama, bigger US companies are going to move into these communities, which in turn raises the cost of goods for everyone. For many locals, higher prices for things like groceries and clothing would be a great challenge for them. Nonetheless, it was interesting to get a locals opinion about it all. Once we arrived in David, we connected with our flight to Panama City. The flight to Panama City is about an hour. It was a very beautiful flight. Panama is so green. I am glad we got a bird's eye view of the country. We also were able to see the Pacific and Atlantic oceans at the same time which were very neat. After we arrived in Panama City we met up with Kenny from Tecal tours to begin our Panama City tour. We started our tour with a visit to the Museum in the old part of Panama City. This museum explains the conditions of the country when the first settlers arrived and how the country developed from there. Then we head to tour ruins from the first buildings ever built in Panama. This was so cool. It is amazing to think we were viewing buildings that existed a hundred plus years ago. I climbed up an old bell tower that was part of one of the first churches. From the top of the bell tower I could see all of the ruins in this particular area. The interesting thing I noticed as we drove in this area of the city was that the ruins are pretty much right in the middle of the city. We would drive around and see some old ruins on one block and then on the very next block, there would be restaurants, businesses and apartments. Our next stop was to go to the newer part of Panama City. We then headed to the "white house" of Panama. It is so crazy because you can walk right up to t he office where the Panama president's offices are. Normally the president would live in this building too but Panama's current president has young children and wanted them to have a more relaxed atmosphere for home life. The only security near this particular building is guards at the beginning of each block and then a security guard inside the building. Not quite as tight security as the President of the United States. Very very interesting. Also located in the office building of the President are Herons. They are just free to roam about the building. I thought this was a nice touch. When we are finished with lunch, we head to the Miraflores locks. We first toured the museum and learned about the construction of the Panama Canal. Given the time frame of when the canal was constructed, it is such an amazing site to see. After we tour the museum, we get a chance to watch a boat go through the locks. This is a very complicated process but it works flawlessly. It takes about 45 minutes for the boats to go through the locks. It is crazy how large these boats are and how much cargo they carry. The boats have to shut off their engines and be pulled through the locks by locomotives that are located on either side of the boat. Then they drain the water on one side of the locks until it is even with the other side. Then the locomotives pull the boat through and they raise the water level again and the boat continues on its way. Kenny told us that the ships are becoming increasingly larger and can't get through the canal. Because of this, the Panama Canal is going to have to be remodeled or else it will become obsolete. Already they have to unload some of the larger ships' cargo and put the cargo on a train. Then the train goes across the length of the canal with the cargo. When it gets to the other side, they unload the train and put the cargo on another ship and it continues on its way. When one thinks about the time and effort it takes to do this, it is easy to see why the Panama Canal is such an important landmark to Panama and many other countries.

Today we started at about 5 AM. We had to be at the boat dock at 6 AM. However once we arrived, we found out that the boat actually didn't leave until about 7. We are headed to Barro Colorado. This is an island that was created when the Canal was flooded. We ended up being on the tour with a student group. I didn't realize until later but Sundays are not typical days for tourists to go on the tour, hence the student group. The boat ride to the island is about 45 minutes. It is pretty neat because you are in the canal where some of the large ships pass through. One really doesn't realize how large the boats are until you are right up next to them in a small dinky boat. The large ships seem to be the height of a skyscraper. When we got to the Smithsonian Research Center located on Barro Colorado, it seemed like there was a lot of wasted time while the staff got organized. We had some time to grab some water and have a snack. Then we watch a slide show of the potential bugs and animals would we see on our tour. Initially, I was very excited to go on this tour because I thought we would see a ton of wildlife. After we had been walking in the jungle for about an hour, we decided that we were all jungled out. At this point, it really wouldn't matter what type of animals we saw. We had been in the rainforest and jungle enough on this trip and so we were ready to be done about the first half hour. I think this is largely due to the fact that we had a really busy two weeks with activities planned almost every day and that we had so many early mornings. We were at the end of our ropes. We did end up seeing some wildlife we hadn't seen before (monkeys) and some that we had seen every time we had been in the jungle over the last two weeks (frogs). When we saw the monkeys, they were right above our heads and there was a baby too. So we did end up getting some great pictures. After the tour, we ate lunch in the cafeteria. It was kind of weird because it felt like we were at school. There are a bunch of class rooms and researchers at the Research Center. It was not what I expected. Lunch was very good and we were happy to just be sitting and relaxing. We were suppose to go to the museum and gift shop after lunch but it was raining buckets and none of us felt like getting wet. So we just hung out and waited for the boat to leave. Overall, this tour was kind of a waste of time for us. I think had we not spent time in the jungle previously, we would've enjoyed it a lot more. Given the early hour and the many delays during the day, I think we would've preferred to sleep in and explore Panama City on our own. Tonight we were desperate for some "American" food and good beer. So we went to TGIFridays. We ended up watching one of the games from the world series so that was pretty neat. It was nice to have a relaxing evening. I have heard that the night life in Panama City is pretty fun. With me being pregnant and given our early morning and long day, we were happy to have some nachos, beer (ice tea for me of course) and a baseball game.

Today was a very relaxing day. We met with our affiliates and had lunch. After working with them on my trip and other trips, I was very excited to finally meet Jorge and Yesenia. We ate lunch at TGIFridays (what a coincidence). They are both very pleasant people and we really enjoyed our time with them. We decided we wanted to go to the YMCA where they have a handicraft market. We hadn't really had a chance to shop for souvenirs so this gave us a great opportunity to do so. I highly recommend doing this if you have extra time in Panama City and want to get souvenirs. There are a lot of different booths; some selling the same things and others selling different homemade handicrafts. Many of the items are made by either the locals or the local Kuna people. After the market, we headed to our hotel. Because our room at the Albrook Inn was so awful and they couldn't move us to another room, we decided to find another hotel that was closer to the airport so we wouldn't have to wake up as early. We found a hotel called Hotel Riande. This was a super nice hotel but it was better than our room at the Albrook Inn. They have a very large pool and a nice dinning room bar area. We spent the afternoon by the pool just relaxing and enjoying our last day in Panama. This actually was one of our most fun times because it was so relaxing and a good way to end the trip. This evening, we had a nice dinner in the dinning room and finished the evening watching Monday night football in our room.

I can't believe two weeks have gone by already. Our trip was adventurous, interesting and very fun. If I were to do it again, I would make sure we have more down time at the beach and that we didn't have something planned everyday. It was nice that the trip was so packed with adventures but by the end, we were so worn out, we might need a vacation from vacation. For having our wedding and honeymoon be part of this trip, we really couldn't have asked for more. Even with the car breakdowns and delays, I feel like this is one of the best trips of my life. Can't wait for the next Adventure!!