We Love Visitors!

We are happy to announce that we have had 2 sets of visitors!  So exciting!  We were lucky to have the Aguilars and Shane visit for Thanksgiving, then we selfishly crashed Bridget & Jarod’s honeymoon and met them in Bocas del Toro.

Anna, Santiago, and Shane arrived and we were able to have a big Thanksgiving dinner along with some other friends from school.  Alex cooked a delicious meal (duh) but, unfortunately, wasn’t able to eat much of it.  He had gotten really sick (the most sick I’ve ever seen him!) earlier in the week and was still recovering on turkey day.  Luckily, there were plenty of leftovers and he definitely had his fill of tgiving goods.   

We headed out to San Blas for a couple days.  The boat ride to the island was really choppy and wet!  We were happy to arrive to the beautiful oasis and relax in the sun for a couple days. 

 

 

 

We decided to explore a little more of Panama so we headed back to the city.  We then ventured out to the Canal at the Gatun locks.  We were able to see the new locks that are being built and got up close and personal with some ships!

 

 

We then continued on to Portobelo and took a short boat taxi to a little secluded island for the rest of the day.  I was too relaxed to take any pictures at this point.  Sorry :).  Thank you Anna, Santiago, and Shane for your visit!!! So fun!

 

Shortly after the Aguilars, we headed off to meet up with the McCormicks!  They had been honeymooning in Nicaragua and Costa Rica so we decided it would only be natural to meet up in Panama. 

Unfortunately, it rained a lot, but that didn't stop us from riding bikes, taking the boat tour of the islands, snorkeling, searching for sloths, beaching it, having a jalapeño-eating contest (that didn't last long), and cheers-ing many umbrella drinks. 

 

 

 

 

Oh yeah, and Alex and Jarod attempted some body surfing. 

 

 

We had an awesome time with the newlyweds, and we thank them for allowing us to finish out their honeymoon with them, aka Friendmoon :).  You guys are the best!

 

Chiriqui

I started this a while ago and never finished it, so it's a little outdated. Oh well! 

We have officially kicked off the holiday (aka vacation) season!  Longest start to a school year ever, but the next 3 months are going to be awesome.  November is a big month for Panama as it celebrates its independence from Colombia and Spain.  We take a day for our 4^th of July, they take a month.  I’m not complaining at all.

For our first four-day weekend, Alex and I decided to head west.  We ventured out farther than we have been yet since arriving in July.  I had bought a deal off the internet (just like a groupon, but the Panamanian way) for 2 nights at a ranch in Chiriqui called La Isleta Guabala. 

The package included breakfast, unlimited kayaking, and horseback riding.  They even adopted the local crocodile as their pet.  His name is Toto :)

The horseback riding was amazing!  I don’t know that I have ever gone before, maybe when I was little, but I was super nervous to get on that thing.  They showed us some keys things to know and threw us up there.  It took a little bit to get used to, but after maneuvering through the creek, we were good to go. 

We walked along the river for a while, next to a small waterfall, up and down hills, and then headed up one big mountain.  The view from the top of the mountain was breathtaking.  We saw their heard of about 40 cattle below and our guide said something along the lines of, “Let’s go, the horses know what comes next.”  I started following our guide and he starting calling to the cows, “Venga! Venga!” over and over again.  He started to speed up, and so did mine.  We were jogging at this point and I was not ok with it.  I tried to slow him down but when I looked up I saw all the cattle were coming to run with us as well.  That got a little scary for sure.  I had never been so close to so many big animals before.  We went through a gate with the horse and then the guide let all the cattle through as well.  The cows were running so fast! 

 

We were out there for about two hours and it was so awesome.  I didn’t want to stop, but our butts were starting to hurt pretty bad J.  Before we got back to the main area, we trotted through a herd of beautiful Longhorns and the rest of the horses. 

We still had plenty of daytime left after that, so we decided to go kayaking.  The ranch was located on Rio Santiago so we spent some time touring the mangroves and went up and down the river.  I forgot the camera for this part.  Lo siento.  We met some Panamanian friends that came along with us and they were nice enough to let Alex use one of their fishing poles.  The tide was still out so there was a small sand bar where we could get out and throw in the line.  Alex caught a blow fish!  He pulled it out of the water and it got real mad and puffed up, to the point in which I thought it was going to explode.  Alex threw him back in the water and luckily he was still alive and swam away. 

It was an adventure filled day for sure.  Roberto, the owner, has thousands of acres of land and takes advantage of the great things it has to offer.  We were lucky enough to talk with him a lot while hanging out at the restaurant at nights.  All of the meat that he prepares in his kitchen is from his own cattle, as well as all of the vegetables and fruits.  For breakfast, Roberto makes homemade guava and orange jams for his pastries.  He also has wild hearts of palm that he picks and uses for his salads.  So delicious and amazing!  We were spoiled there for sure.  Oh and, of course, he makes his own hot sauce, duh.  He has been approached by many people who want to sell it by the jar in their stores in the city, but he’s not interested.  He says if he sells it in the stores, then there’s nothing left for his customers.  What a great guy! 

It was sad to leave the ranch, but it was time for some beach action.  We headed up there road about 25 minutes and checked in at Las Lajas Beach Resort.  We only stayed here one night and we wished it was longer.  There were more people here, and it definitely didn’t have the small personal feel like the ranch, but Las Lajas was beautiful!  It had the ultimate, “I’m on vacation” feel.  I even had my first fruity drink since arriving in Panama (a piña colada with an umbrella J).  We lounged, swam, and enjoyed the awesome scenery.  We headed back the next morning after a delicious breakfast and a walk on the beach.  I wish it was closer to the city so we could go there more often!