the glass is 90% full. *sip*
It´s been a week of my 10 week trip, so 90% to go! The past week has been so full. Scratch that, just today has been so full, so I’ll start with now and work backwards as far as I can go.
I just finished sharing some wine with an elderly couple in a beautiful hotel in the cute city of Boquete. The woman was part of the canopy tour I took this morning (more in a minute) and she invited a German traveller friend of mine Nicki and I back to chat with her and her husband. Her husband Tony is the director of the Bridge of Live museum being built in Panama City, which is being designed by Frank Gehry in association with the Smithsonian. (!!!) He also has spent the past 20 years helping to map the regions of Panama so he was a wealth of info on where to go and what to see, and is going to put us in touch with a guy who can take us to a remote marine station on an uninhabited island in the Bocos del Torro archipelagos in a few days to wander the wilderness of the carribean sea. Perfect!
This morning Nicki and I came to Boquete from the Waterfall Hostel (more in a minute) to Boquete to do a canopy tour of the forest here. “canopy tour” sounds like looking at beautiful nature, but really is is being surrounded by beautiful nature while sliding across zip wires hundreds of feet up in the air.
Boquete, from above:
Canopy Tour:
Last night, I left the city of David and came to the Waterfall Hostel. I will get more photos of this place later, but I will try to describe it now. Two guys in their late twenties bought this property a few months ago and are in the process of turning it into an artist/music retreat/hostel. It gets its name from a series of waterfalls that run through the property which fill up the 2 swimming pools. There is a bar, a pingpong table, a jukebox, a drum kit, a disco light, a few acres of fruit and avocado trees, and most importantly a “do whatever the hell you want and have fun” vibe. Oh, and Nicki and I were 2 of only 4 guests last night so we had the whole place to ourselves. After we cooked some fish that we bought from someone on the side of the road for $1 on our way back from Isla Boca Brava (more in a min), we had a silly wild fabulous evening capped by jumping off the waterfalls by spotlight while the jukebox blasted in the background some time well after midnight. This is def a place to come back to for a retreat in the future.
More pics of the waterfalls and the grounds to come, but here is a short clip to give the vibe of the evening. Yes, its blurry, but that’s how the night was.
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Click through for for high res, this is drawn on the wall of the waterfall hostel
I spent the day with Nicki and two Canadian travel friends (who are joining us tonight at the Waterfall Hostel) on the island of Boca Brava. Starting to get tired and running out of time here, so back to summary mode: hiking, beaches, monkeys, and boats.
On the road to Boca Brava… Eden!
Look its me! and the unemployment gloves!
Token monkey video:
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The previous day I spend in David nursing a sunburn from the previous day, spend on a small island off the pacific coast town of Santa Catalina. Gorgeous and beautiful island I assure you, but I didnt have my camera so I will have to get photos later from the Israeli and Spanish friends who did have a camera. OK, that´s all for now.
A big hike planned for tomorrow in Boquete and then off to Bocas del Toro…
