30th Birthday

We went to the Riu at Playa Blanca for my 30^th birthday in May.  We also had the pleasure of having Tyler visit us for a few days too!  Ty arrived on Wednesday and I had to work on Thursday, so Alex took him around to all the sight-seeing spots in the city.  On Friday, we headed out to Playa Blanca to start the birthday weekend.  It is only about 1.5 hours down the PanaAmerican Highway.  Very easy to get to.  The Riu is a new all-inclusive resort that just opened in April.  We were able to find an awesome deal through http://www.sunwing.ca/, which our Canadian friends told us about.  They have great deals all the time for top destinations.  We were able to stay at the Riu for 2 nights, all-inclusive, for $120 a person!  That's a deal! 

The place is so new that the palm trees were just barely starting to grow.

When we arrived, we were greeted with great customer service and beverages.  The people who work at the Riu were extremely friendly and helpful, not a normal occurrence in Panama.  When we got to our room, we discovered this amazing set up….

The storm clouds were rolling in, but that didn't matter to us.  The swim up bar was refreshing and had a covered area for us to enjoy the rain with a cocktail!

There were about 20 other friends coming for the weekend as well, some later that night, and the rest on Saturday morning.  Once people started showing up, it became quite the party.  

The resort has a 'Riu Fun' group, which is a group of young, probably early 20s, Panamanians who's sole job is to have fun with the customers.  They form water polo games, volleyball games, work out classes, yoga, excursions in the ocean, whatever you want.  Since we had such a big group, we were able to form all of our own games with one of the 'Fun' members, Alvaro.  He became our friend by the end of the weekend :)

It was Ryan's birthday that weekend too, so we had some birthday buddy glasses and mugs.

I feel lucky to have so many great friends here in Panama to help me celebrate my bday!  And, OF COURSE, that Ty came down to hang with us too!  Always great to see that guy! :)

A Little Taste of Home....Seattle Crew Comes to Panama!

I work, I really do.  But blogging about work is boring, and that’s not the point of the blog.  So let’s fast forward from Carnival to Semana Santa, my next week off.  For this vacation, we had our Seattle friends visit!  Jess, Stefan, Tanner and Kenny came and the week was a total blast!

We swooped our friends up from the airport and headed straight to our place.  I think the first impression they had was regarding the driving.  We’re not kidding people, the drivers around here are insane.  I often wonder if I’m becoming a better driver or a terrible driver.  We do whatever we want and whatever is going to get us to our destination faster, including driving on the shoulder on the highway, cutting people off at the toll, you name it.  So, I think they were a little scared until we got to our place.

We started the week off just right by cracking a couple Balboas by the pool at our place.  Stefan brought his GoPro so that was the beginning of the GoProHomo experience.  GoPros are super awesome, and he was able to capture some amazing moments from the trip!

We got up early the next morning and drove to San Blas.  

This was our third time to San Blas and it was still just as beautiful as the first.  The most shocking thing about this time was the difference in the island.  The exposed sand was very different this time around than the first time we went in September.  Fascinating that water shifts and creates a totally different island.  As I’ve said in other posts, there’s not much to do on the island other than swim and relax.  Pretty nice life.  We did some snorkeling and took naps, and after lunch we were able to have a guy take us around to some other islands nearby.  

Stefan, tapping into his European roots. 

We went to Starfish Island, which is no longer an island but more of a sand bar now.  There were starfish and sand dollars everywhere.  The water only went up to your ankles in some areas.  We checked out another island and then went back to our island for more beverages and relaxation.  

STANDING in the middle of the ocean! 

Once it gets dark on the island, there aren’t many lights to see yourself around, not that there are many places to go anyway.  We decided to play some cards at the main table where everyone eats dinner.  Others decided to congregate around us as well, and before we knew it, we made a little island party.  Unfortunately, the next morning was overcast and a little rainy.  We were still able to enjoy some relaxation and swimming before we decided to head back to the main island. 

We spent the next day in the city doing some sight-seeing.  Our tradition when visitors come is having a big seafood dinner from the fresh fish market.  Going to the market is always an interesting experience.  The fish is iced down, but not like you would see in the states, or at Pikes Place, and it’s much dirtier and rugged as well.  If you go later in the day, the smell can be pretty strong, which is gross.  But, the fish is super delicious and extremely cheap. 

The boys outside the Fish Market

You can’t come to Panama without seeing the Canal, so we headed to the Gatun locks.  We have decided this is the best place to see the locks and see the ships come through.  Of all the times we’ve gone there, we’ve seen ships every time.  The Miraflores locks are closer, but the last two times we’ve gone there, we haven’t seen ships.  No point in going if you can’t get the experience of seeing the massive vessels pass through with only inches on each side while they’re in the locks.  So amazing.  The Gatun area also has a new museum and observation deck on the expansion project as well.  Since they’re still working on it, you can see all the construction and work that is going into just one of the three new sets of locks.  From the deck, looking down on all the workers and trucks, they look like little ants running around, which gives you an idea of how incredibly large the project is, and how much bigger the ships are that will be coming through that side of the canal!

You can see the ship leaving the locks behind us.

The water is full in the locks, waiting for the next ship to come through. 

The next few days were spent at an amazing house on the Pacific Ocean, which also came with a maid, a gardener, and best of all, it was FREE!  Remember my post about when the Demers visited ?  Well, we were lucky enough to get in contact with Kevin again, and he let us use their house for a few days, asking only that we leave some money for the AC and treat the maid and gardener well.  Easy peasy!  The house was absolutely beautiful and huge.  The maid had her own house on the property, behind the main house, and Tanner stayed in his own detached room as well.  The house was equipped with an infinity pool, pool toys, surround sound speakers, and a huge beach and ocean just a step away.  The maid cooked our meals and cleaned up after us.  All we had to do was relax and enjoy ourselves!  It was quite the place. 

We took a day trip from there to El Valle to show the crew some rainforest hiking.  We hiked to the top of the Sleeping Indian Princess, which was much harder than any of us expected. 

One of the most entertaining parts of the week was the three (maybe four…five?) hours we spent making Balboa commercials in the pool, and recording ourselves falling into the pool with the GoPro.  Tanner decided that Balboa needs to work on their advertising and started coming up with strange ways to drink a beer in the pool.  Kenny decided to be creepy in the background.  This website is having trouble uploading any of the videos, but you can check out the Balboa commercials by looking up Stefan's instagram, @seattlethetuffin. 

The end of the trip is always the worst, especially when Panama decides to not sell alcohol!  I guess they figured we had consumed enough for the week.  Tanner flew out early Saturday morning, and the rest of the group not until the afternoon.  Alex and I took Tanner to the airport and also dropped off our rental car.  At 7:00 in the morning, there was a stupid documents check right before the airport.  Panama has these often, especially on holiday weekends, where they block the road and make sure you have all your car papers, license, and passport with you.  Well, Alex didn't have those things.  Car papers, yes, but passport, no.  I always keep a copy of them in our car, but that was not acceptable for this officer.  It's actually better that Alex didn't have his passport because his 3 month driving had already expired on his tourist visa.  

We spent some time talking to the officer.  We always try to pretend like we don't know what they are saying to us in order to heighten their level of frustration, in hope that they'll just let us go.  It didn't work this time.  After lots of broken Spanish BSing, the officer finally looked at me and said, "So what are we going to do with him?"  I mumbled some things in Spanish and eventually blurted, "Dinero?"  The officer smiled and said, "No problem here?"  I smiled and laughed and told him there was no problem at all.  He shook my hand, then shook Alex's, and he walked away with $20.  Damn corruption.  I guess it's better than a ticket....or getting arrested...

We were happy to provide Tanner with that last minute moment of excitement.  He was relieved to get the airport on time and get back to US soil. 

We took the rest of the group on a couple last minute excursions as well.  We went out to the Amador Causway, and then to the top of Ancon Hill.  

The last thing we saw before heading to the airport was a sloth! Sorry you missed it, Tanner! 

It was SO sad to see all these guys go.  We had such a fun week and we hope they'll come back soon!! Thank you for coming Jess, Stefan, Kenny, and Tanner!!!