My college buddy, Andy, and I had planned a trip after both finishing grad school in the summer of 2010. That trip got delayed as we focused on moving and finding jobs. Hanging out over Labor Day weekend in 2011, a trip for the new year was decided upon with Central or South America in our sights.

With some help from an ad in Outside magazine, …

My college buddy, Andy, and I had planned a trip after both finishing grad school in the summer of 2010. That trip got delayed as we focused on moving and finding jobs. Hanging out over Labor Day weekend in 2011, a trip for the new year was decided upon with Central or South America in our sights.

With some help from an ad in Outside magazine, …

Rising early in the morning, Andy and I were packed and ready for a full day of white water rafting with Exploradores Outdoors. We were picked up by their van at our hotel and greeted by Ricky, who was our guide for the ride and gave everyone on board a pre-orientation to rafting. We quickly made friends with Jane - the only English speaking …

On our first morning at Selva Bananito, we were greeted by an amazing breakfast spread of eggs, fresh fruit, juice and more.

Carlos joined us and the others to talk about the possible activities for the day. We agreed upon horseback riding and tree climbing!

Jonathan led Benny and Marteen on a nature hike, while Carlos took Andy, Ursula and I …

Benny, Marteen and Ursula said goodbye that morning. Andy and I were the only guests for the day but, regardless, Carlos organized another great activity for us - horseback riding and zip lines!

We rode around the property first and made our way to the start of the jungle. We disembarked and started a hike up to the zip line course - another …

Day 5 meant saying goodbye to Costa Rica and crossing the border into Panama. I didn't fully understand going into our trip that it would be such a literal crossing.

Jonathan gave us a bag of drinks and sandwiches from the staff and drove us to a nearby convenience store where a van run by the rafting group met us. The van's driver took Andy …

Andy and I had no clue that on Day 6 of our adventure what an amazing excursion lay ahead of us with Gambit Tours in Bocas.

A rep from the company met us at our hotel and escorted us to their office. From there, we joined a boat full of excited passengers and started cruising along the local waters.

The boat first stopped for some dolphin …

Goodbye to Bocas and hello to Panama City! A small but safe plane ride on Air Panama started the day off. The airport was low security and low service but a lot of fun to experience.

Landing in Panama City, we were greeted by Olmedo, our extremely friendly and knowledgeable tour guide. He brought us to our hotel first so we could check-in and …

Day 8 started with a nice breakfast buffet at the hotel, which featured a mix of local flavors and standard American fare.

Strengthened by our meal, we took a short taxi ride to Casca Viejo. We had seen a bit of it with Olemdo but wanted to explore it by foot. And there was a ton to explore!

Every turn led to another church or statute but also …