after our great experience in costa rica, panama certainly had a tough act to follow. we also were a little pressed for time, since we had booked our boat to colombia in advance (much more on that later). we visited only a few places in panama before departing on our oceanic adventure. the first was boquete, a small town up in the mountains - cool climate, relaxing atmosphere. then we experienced the exact opposite in panama city - hot as hell, crazy-busy city hustle and bustle... after that, something completely unique, traveling to colombia on the 'darien gapster.'
now, we've got about a week under our belts in colombia! cartagena was just as the books describe - "a fairy tale city of romance" - and now, we're in medellin. wonderful people, beautiful city, and awesome spring-like climate. which is a welcomed change after the caribbean heat for a couple weeks. just as expected, colombia has been amazing and the old stereotype of "the most dangerous country" is just that, old. sure, you can still get offered drugs in most places, but just avoid it, and it feels just like home :) well...almost.
steps traveled this leg = 232,000. approximate miles logged = 1,200!
the buses in Panama rival Guatemala's for 'most colorful/best decorated' - here's a great example in Boquete.
the name of this little tienda in Boquete was a pleasant surprise...
north of the center in Boquete, there was a free garden, appropriately named 'mi jardin es su jardin' (my garden is your garden). a beautiful, well-kept garden behind a large 'estate'. loaded with gorgeous flowers and trees, sprinkled with some quirkiness...
like this! strange wooden cut-outs of people doing random things --> notice the sunbather right next to the golfer... huh?
and this guy - of course we'll construct a huge concrete flamingo to put in our garden!
dig this purple flower - the picture hardly does it justice - it seemed to glow in the sunlight.
the care-taker of the gardens - works night and day - notice her 'interesting' body shape...
at first glance, a fun looking slide, which dumps you into a cushy bed of flowers. upon closer inspection, a deadly instrument of death, with sharp razor-wire slicing the child into pieces right before reaching the end... (an interesting point - the ladder leading to the top of the slide was not blocked off in any way)
i'm tired of writing captions to flower pictures - its obviously a picture of a pretty, colorful flower, taken by a highly-skilled photographer - look at it and enjoy.
close up of a coffee tree - these things are absolutely everywhere around Boquete, growing well in the mountainous climate.
onto the craziness of the big city - we hadn't been in a big city for a while, so we experienced a bit of shock when we arrived. adding to this shock, the hostel we were planning on staying at simply doesn't exist anymore (please take down your website if you no longer exist...we're talking to you zuly's!). it seemed to simply vanish, leaving no trace behind. we roamed for a while before finally grabbing a cab to another place (which was full for the night). we stayed around the corner at a somewhat seedy joint - a wonderful start to a new place!
After settling in the next day, we began to enjoy the city. there are so many half-built sky-scrapers due to foreign investment dropping out after the economic downturn, like this cool-looking spiral-ish one. a taste of the city traffic (absolutely nuts) in the foreground.
obviously, we took a trip to the miraflores locks, on the Panama Canal (how could we go to Panama without seeing the canal?). here's a huge container ship going through the set of three locks on its way to the pacific ocean.
a look at the change in water levels from one lock to another. also a good picture to see how big this operation is - look at those tiny, ant-sized people...
another huge-tacular ship making its way through. the cost for this ship to use the canal $205,000.00 - wowee!
a cool part of the city, Casco Viejo, gave us amazing views of the skyline...
oh...and last day of joe's shaggy doo
this area of the city also had some beautiful architecture. people compare it to the french quarter of new orleans, on a smaller scale
cathedral in Casco Viejo
after panama city, we made our way to portobelo, panama, a small, old port town. the beginning of our adventure into south america. this town holds the golden altar of the church of san jose. the legend surrounding this valuable artifact - supposedly, english pirate Henry Morgan had this item on the top of his list when he attacked and sacked the town. the priest of the church caught wind of their approach and painted the entire altar black. when Morgan arrived, the priest convinced him that the real golden altar was already stolen by another pirate. apparently, the priest even convinced Morgan to make a donation to help replace the original altar. Morgan was supposed to have said to the priest, after giving him the donation, "i don't know why, but i think you are more of a pirate than i am."
before leaving portobelo, we had to make a stop at the sweet fort that lies on the edge of the water. our favorite part about the fort, it was free! anyone can just walk around the fort whenever they want. which explains why our friends saw a bunch of kids playing soccer in this grassy part during the day. can't imagine starting up a game of soccer in an old fort at home.
out with the old, in with the new!
our boat that took us from miramar, panama to sapzurro, colombia! the darien gapster. oh wow...where do we even start with this saga.
well, day 1. us and 6 fellow 'gapsters' left portobelo in a tiny van that bottomed out about 20 times and was leaking oil the entire time. well, we made it to miramar. from there, we hopped on the gapster for the first time to get to the san blas islands. first, stop, el porvenir...
great swimming beach at el porvenir! lots of sailboats are anchored here as its the northernmost stop in the san blas.
after a swim at el porvenir, we headed over to the island where we were to camp out for two nights with a kuna family. the kuna are the indigenous tribe of the san blas and are very protective of their culture. we were kind of unsure what to feel about staying with the kuna. though they were super friendly and it was great to see some indigenous in their natural setting, we felt a bit like intruders. it kind of seems like we're not really wanted there. evidenced by everything you want being a dollar, including a photo of the local women in their traditional dress. they are very communal and self-governed. the decision to allow us to stay on their island had to be approved by the kuna island chief. anyhoo...these kuna kids were adorable. this picture was free :)
our dinner the first night -> a humongo parrot fish! some local fishermen sold it to the 10 of us and i think we only ended up eating about 2/3, if that. it was delicious
joe relaxing on the kuna island
why we didn't swim in the water here. as stated by our capitan, marco, no swimming because of the "kaka kuna." yes...this is the toilet. we all dreaded going to "walk the plank," literally.
those ominous skies in the previous photo gave way to a torrential downpour. so...we huddled inside a kuna house. this is the inside...sooo many clothes just hanging all over the place.
day 2: hanging out with our animal friends on the island :) they were 2 months old and absolutely adorable. they would just wander around like little puppies, digging their nose in the sand looking for food
he's actually not as sad as he looks! they said he has been like this for about 2 years now! we fed 'skinny dog' any chance we could get.
thumbs up to the DG!
day 3: onto our deserted island for the day/night. beautiful place for a snorkel, swimming, and beers.
enjoying island livin
you can see the ominous looking darien gap in the background
just a day in the life
day 4: before we departed the san blas and made our way to colombia, one more stop at another kuna island. you can see how tight all the houses are packed in here.
colombia! sapzurro to be precise. good sunset timing upon our arrival.
day 5: after a few days of loungin on the islands, we all took the uphill walk from sapzurro to capurgana to get our passports stamped. this is the view from the top of sapzurro.
a couple of our fellow DG travel buddies: lucy and ant. enjoying bottle cap sized shots of the last central american rum, cortez :)
final day with the DG crew: traveling from sapzurro to cartagena. a day which we shall never forget. quite a peaceful, yet deceiving, start to our day while waiting to board our boat from sapzurro to necocli, to cross the bay.
this is actually what the experience was like - although these smiling faces were not common while on the 2+ hour boat ride. about 45 minutes into the ride, i got a little splash from the waves and thought, "oh well, at least it's windy and i'll dry by the time we get to necocli." not possible. the remaining hour and a half was like someone throwing buckets of saltwater into your face, constantly, and without mercy. the whole time, the boat is rising and falling over, slamming your ass into your hard wooden seat. we were sore for two days after.
then...to make it even better, about 300 feet from shore and only a mile from the dock, our boat runs out of gas. 2 and a half hours later, our 200 horsepower boat carrying 16 people and all of their backpacks gets towed by a 15 horsepower boat (a small step up from a canoe with an engine)! the waves were insane so we couldn't make it all the way to the dock. we all jumped out near the beach, already drenched, hoping that our bags were in better condition than us :) we were all just so freaking happy to get off that damn boat!
after that oceanic experience, we bused it to cartagena and finally arrived around midnight. we've vowed to stay away from boats for a good while :)
cartagena! we made it! the beautiful entrance into the walled city.
you wouldn't believe who we saw in Cartegena! none other than the great Tom Brady! seen here signing autographs...
night out in cartagena! we were "happy" because i found a 50 mil peso (about $25) right at the start of the night. aguardiente's on us!
the ginormous colombian flag at the top of the castle.
underneath the castle, there was long winding stretches of tunnels. you could easily get lost in here - this one seemed to descend forever...
old town vs new town
book row. it's amazing how similar businesses clump together in certain areas. right after book row, it was ceviche row. there was also a fish row, a flower row, a smoothie row.... the list goes on
the continuing saga of spatula - exciting news! little spatula learned to read! here he is, kicking back with a classic...
kite flying in the park near the water. don't these kids go to school?
probably the brightest colored building we saw in cartagena.
just about how every street in old cartagena looked
a good shot of the contrast between the old town, surrounded by this huge old wall, and the new town, filled with modern skyscrapers
plaza de bolivar.
we met some great new friends in Cartegena
onto medellin! after our longest, coldest bus ride yet, we made it to medellin, the city of eternal spring. the weather is perfect for us since it's set in a valley
first night in medellin, a brewery "tour"...really, just a way to drink good beer for cheap! best beers we've had since we left new mexico. actually really good. cheers '3 cordilleras!'
our walk in the free botanical garden. one thing we've loved about medellin so much. free things to do! dig this fuzzy pinkish flower.
yes, crazy people do exist everywhere.
the view of plaza de botero, a sculpture park holding about 20 awesome fernando botero sculptures.
one of our favorites
marie antoinette, botero and lauren style.
modern art is sometimes ridiculous. joe clearly does not agree that this should be hanging in a museum...
so we made it to South America - hanging out in Medellin for a couple more days before continuing our journey southward. the journey from panama to colombia was certainly an experience - something we will be talking about for a long time to come. and we learned something from our crazy capitan, Marco, that we will never forget (a story for another time). for now, one day at a time. enjoying medellin :)
tallyho!
-lauren and joe
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