Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Photos
1100 photos have been uploaded to my online gallery; gallery.me.com/tcreger, just look for the 3 Albums labeled Panama
Monday, January 24, 2011
Thank you
I just want to post a note to thank you for following along with my blog. It was fun to write, although I caught a lot of grief from people on the trip for spending time on my computer, I enjoyed sharing. I've received a lot of comments about my posts on Facebook and I'm overwhelmed by the number of people that read these. So thank you for the encouragement and support, whilst traveling far away from home. I will add a link, or two, to the gallery where my pictures will be soon, and I hope you enjoy them!
I will be setting the album as a view only, not allowing downloads. I ask that you please do not use my pictures without my consent. It has become a problem with some of my previous albums. I appreciate your understanding.
Cheers to all!
Love,
Tess
I will be setting the album as a view only, not allowing downloads. I ask that you please do not use my pictures without my consent. It has become a problem with some of my previous albums. I appreciate your understanding.
Cheers to all!
Love,
Tess
Day 11, January 23rd, 2011
Day 11, January 23rd, 2011
One last day, mostly a travel day, but not before a couple of stops. The group decided to meet for breakfast at 7, but Polly and I didn’t get the memo, so we met them at 7:30. The bus rolled out at 7:45, we were off for a stop at the park in the middle of Panama. It is a national park, 500 acres of rain forest, last chance for some bird watching. After 10 days to looking up into the trees, my neck is soar and I just couldn’t look for anymore birds. Yet, the moment someone says, “hey, there’s a sloth” and I just deal with it. So, on our walk today, we saw a 3 toed sloth, Tamarind Monkeys and a rarely seen nocturnal bird named a Potoo; I swear it looked like it was carved into the branch it was perched on, it was asleep, of course, so it was perfectly still and very difficult to see. The park ranger worked really hard pointing it out to me, in broken English, luckily I finally saw it, got a couple of pictures too.
Next up and our final stop before the airport was a little tour of Panama Viejo (Old Panama). The area we went to was the ruins from building built in the 1560’s. This was the area of Panama that was the first settlement on North America from the Pacific side, landing here in 1514; 400 years before the Canal was finished. The buildings were quiet large, with thick walls and of some importance, since they were built with stones, making them expensive as well. Most all of the houses from that time would be similar to the wood and thatch buildings that the Embera People live in currently. The area was inhabited by the Kuna Indians at the time, known for having a large population of albinos. At one point in history, the Smithsonian did a study on the “White Indians” in Panama, it wasn’t until later, after the study was complete, did they identify this inbreeding abnormality. The albinos are highly regarded in their culture and are treated as though it were a special gift. During our tour, we saw a group of modern Kuna Indians, dressed in their native clothing, on display for what appeared to be the filming of a documentary. They wore vibrant colors and the women wore beaded bands on their legs, looking more to us as stockings or leggings, it was fascinating to see. There were even 2 albino included in this group, one girl and one boy, yet the boy was not part of the filming. But shortly after we arrived, they all changed into “street” clothes and went on their merry way, talking and texting on their cell phones; jokingly we said they were probably on their way to Mc Donald’s, haha.
We casually strolled around the area, absorbing the history and taking interesting pictures of the Viejo and Nuevo Panama together; the tall skyscrapers piercing the blue sky back drop of the ruins. Someone on the bus proclaimed the modern Panama City to be reminiscent of Dubai, although never having been there themselves. I strongly disagree, Panama and Dubai have a charm each of their own and al though Panama does have very tall buildings, it is a far cry from Dubai and I hope it stays that way.
Off to the airport, we swiftly floated through the few lines of ticketing and security and the group disbursed to separate lunch spots. Polly and I had pizza, nice way to ease ourselves back into our world. Short afterwards, we bid our phenomenal adventure farewell and boarded our plane to Houston. 12 hours later, we were home and cold, saying goodbye and wishing everyone well. Until we meet again, friends, fare forward travelers.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Day 10, January 22, 2011
Day 10, January 22, 2011
Another travel day. We were traveling back to Panama City again today and we didn’t have any scheduled plans for this morning. After breakfast, half the group went out and rented bicycles and the rest walked around the city. I decided to just sit at the hotel and relaxed. I did a bunch of packing, computer stuff, since my computer didn’t work for an entire day and I reflected on the adventures we had had, it was wonderful. Then I went to lunch with Jan and Gary at a little sandwich shop with air conditioning, yeay.
Our flight to the city was uneventful and we settled into a County Inn and Suites; we can see the bridge of the Americas from our room. Then after a little more computer stuff on a faster connection, Polly and I decided to take a taxi to the Hard Rock Café, at Metrocentral! We had a good time in the mall, back the real world I guess, and the HRC was fantastic. I spent a bunch of money on shirts, glasses and a really cute hat.
We giggled and laughed and joked with our driver on the ride back to the hotel and after a quick call home to a friend, I called it a night, showered and went to sleep. See you all manana!
Day 9, January 21st, 2011
Day 9, January 21st, 2011
Another leisurely morning; coffee, then breakfast, a lot of fun visiting on our dock and balcony. Push off was again 9 AM and we were headed to Bird Island. An area where special sea birds nest once a year, otherwise they are out to sea. We didn’t dock, no one is allowed to walk on the island during nesting season, so we motored around it a couple of times. We also boated by “Turtle Beach”, an area that the sea turtles nest, again we didn’t land, it was very rough sea near by and we were nicely out in a spot that was only effected by large swells, no waves.
Our first stop was a beach for lunch, it took us quiet awhile to do our in boat sight seeing. The beach was clean and pretty, I even found a fantastic shell very close to the boat, and that started a search by a couple of us to find some more.
Then a lunch of fruit salad and a club soda. I also took a walk along the beach for a while and visited another little shack with trinkets for sale, got myself a keychain.
We were then off to snorkel some more, 4 spots, 1st stop, Starfish Beach. It was really cool, and we got to turn a Starfish over on it’s back and watched it turn itself over. Another spot was a mangrove, it was fascinating. Mangroves are the nurseries for all the fish, schools of tiny baby fish, I loved it. It was also really cool to see all the roots for the trees, neat to see how they grow. Then off to a couple corral reefs, that were full of color and fish, but still awfully small fish. I did get to see some cool jelly fish, a Green Murey Eel, a bunch of Parrot Fish, more Star Fish and a Spotted Ray, gorgeous!
Snorkeling took up the rest of the day and we made our way back to hotel, we were scheduled to have a farewell dinner for everyone at 7 pm, so we had some time to clean up and chill out. I had bought a bottle of white wine at a grocery store stop that we made in Vulcan, so we decided it was a white wine night. Dinner was a Red Snapper, coconut rice with beans, veggies and delicious orange/pineapple juice, delicious again!!!
After dinner, I sat in the hammock for hours, listening to my ipod, Benedictine Monks, Chants, while I was watching the moon rise in the sky. My mini computer decided that it didn’t want to turn on for me, I was very concerned, but what could I do? So I left it in my room, in it’s case, with a couple silica packets and hoped it was just the humidity bothering it; it’s working now, only took a one day break. Then off to bed late, almost feel asleep in the hammock, Tranquillo!
Another leisurely morning; coffee, then breakfast, a lot of fun visiting on our dock and balcony. Push off was again 9 AM and we were headed to Bird Island. An area where special sea birds nest once a year, otherwise they are out to sea. We didn’t dock, no one is allowed to walk on the island during nesting season, so we motored around it a couple of times. We also boated by “Turtle Beach”, an area that the sea turtles nest, again we didn’t land, it was very rough sea near by and we were nicely out in a spot that was only effected by large swells, no waves.
Our first stop was a beach for lunch, it took us quiet awhile to do our in boat sight seeing. The beach was clean and pretty, I even found a fantastic shell very close to the boat, and that started a search by a couple of us to find some more.
Then a lunch of fruit salad and a club soda. I also took a walk along the beach for a while and visited another little shack with trinkets for sale, got myself a keychain. We were then off to snorkel some more, 4 spots, 1st stop, Starfish Beach. It was really cool, and we got to turn a Starfish over on it’s back and watched it turn itself over. Another spot was a mangrove, it was fascinating. Mangroves are the nurseries for all the fish, schools of tiny baby fish, I loved it. It was also really cool to see all the roots for the trees, neat to see how they grow. Then off to a couple corral reefs, that were full of color and fish, but still awfully small fish. I did get to see some cool jelly fish, a Green Murey Eel, a bunch of Parrot Fish, more Star Fish and a Spotted Ray, gorgeous!
Snorkeling took up the rest of the day and we made our way back to hotel, we were scheduled to have a farewell dinner for everyone at 7 pm, so we had some time to clean up and chill out. I had bought a bottle of white wine at a grocery store stop that we made in Vulcan, so we decided it was a white wine night. Dinner was a Red Snapper, coconut rice with beans, veggies and delicious orange/pineapple juice, delicious again!!!
After dinner, I sat in the hammock for hours, listening to my ipod, Benedictine Monks, Chants, while I was watching the moon rise in the sky. My mini computer decided that it didn’t want to turn on for me, I was very concerned, but what could I do? So I left it in my room, in it’s case, with a couple silica packets and hoped it was just the humidity bothering it; it’s working now, only took a one day break. Then off to bed late, almost feel asleep in the hammock, Tranquillo!
Day 8, January 20th, 2011
Day 8, January 20th, 2011
Tranquillo… The most common descriptive word used here on Bocas Island. There was quite a party next door last night, but otherwise, the place is gorgeous and peaceful, the easy life. The partiers were at the youth hostel next door; a big group of surfer dudes, that are loud, but easy on the eyes, haha. Apparently, the surfing is amazing here, not far down the coast are some killer waves, we can see them from our balcony. From our dock (car port), we got a good look at a Lion Fish, not native to Panama and they are killing a lot of fish. It’s now common for them to be hunted with reward; population control. There were also a few crabs and a little school of fish, once in a while. A lot of corral and mussels cling to the pillars that our hotel was built on.
Today, we pushed off in our boat at 9 am, after a wonderful breakfast. I’m really going to miss the fruit and fish here in Panama. Our 1st stop today is a village named, Salt Creek. It’s another Indian village that hosts tourist, to a very limited extent. They let us come in and walk through their rain forest and they sell their handmade items, much more primitive then the other villages we visited. Our intentions in this village were to see more birds.
We also got to see a caiman, a couple of poisonous frogs (and I didn’t die from them, maybe next trip, haha), a 3 toed sloth, a 2 toed sloth and a couple of night monkeys. As well as the birds, I got some fabulous pictures of some of them, but I can’t remember their names. I enjoyed shooting some butterflies too, so colorful and graceful. One big, beautiful butterfly doesn’t land often, so I never got a shot of it. This was the hottest, buggiest place we had been to; very dense forest. It was a pretty quick trip, but some had a really difficult time with the heat.
Through the mangroves, we went to a neat little restaurant built on the water, specializing in lobster. I had the mixed fish, with coconut rice and an orange crush. The water was so clear next to the dock that we could see Starfish, Needlefish, Sea Urchin, some Parrot Fish and watched sardines jumping, fabulous.
We also got the chance to change into our bathing suits for our snorkeling excursion. We were going to 2 different corral reefs, in 2 different locations. The corral here looks over snorkeled and our stupid guide, Ricardo, was standing on it, I was not amused by this display of disrespect, nor was Skot. He also didn’t know the names of the fish, just hollered a lot, “Lady, come see the pretty fish”, ugg. The driver of the boat was a native Panamanian, Livingston, and you could tell he has seen his share of tourist and difficulties. He was not amused by Ricardo either, nor by the other boats of snorkelers that were bringing lobsters to the surface in excitement calling it lunch; he'd yell out to the other driver to mak them throw it back. Such ridiculousness. It was interesting and fun to snorkel, but a little sad to see the poor conditions and the lack of really large fish, that should be normal for this area.
One last stop was a pretty private beach. It was a five minute walk, through the woods, that looked like everything was planted instead of natural and most of the “park” was under construction. We weren’t exactly sure why we stopped here, some of the group found some nice views of birds, but otherwise, it was just a bit weird. The funniest thing was while Skot and Suzy were taking a walk on the beach alone, they came across a couple, the woman was nude and the guy was taking pictures, Skot felt very awkward, Ricardo however, he thought it was great and felt it necessary to borrow some ones binoculars, to get a better view, yikes, that’s professional. But I don’t think professionalism is part of Ricardo’s vocabulary. The rest of the group could see the seen from where we perched ourselves with beers and kinda just laughed at the whole thing. We didn’t stay at this location very long at all, we were all ready to shower and rest.
Once back at the hotel, cleaned up and ready to eat, Skot, Suzy, Georgia, Jan, Gary and I, went to dinner at the Pirate. A filleted Tuna was my pick tonight, along with coconut rice and beans, oh a horrible margarita. We had a great time chatting about the whole trip so far and playing, “who sings this”, to the 80’s music, I loved that of course. We also stopped for some ice cream too, delicious.
Stayed up late, trying to upload some pictures, updating info on the blog and such, went to bed at about 11:30, what an eventful day.
Tranquillo… The most common descriptive word used here on Bocas Island. There was quite a party next door last night, but otherwise, the place is gorgeous and peaceful, the easy life. The partiers were at the youth hostel next door; a big group of surfer dudes, that are loud, but easy on the eyes, haha. Apparently, the surfing is amazing here, not far down the coast are some killer waves, we can see them from our balcony. From our dock (car port), we got a good look at a Lion Fish, not native to Panama and they are killing a lot of fish. It’s now common for them to be hunted with reward; population control. There were also a few crabs and a little school of fish, once in a while. A lot of corral and mussels cling to the pillars that our hotel was built on.
Today, we pushed off in our boat at 9 am, after a wonderful breakfast. I’m really going to miss the fruit and fish here in Panama. Our 1st stop today is a village named, Salt Creek. It’s another Indian village that hosts tourist, to a very limited extent. They let us come in and walk through their rain forest and they sell their handmade items, much more primitive then the other villages we visited. Our intentions in this village were to see more birds.
We also got to see a caiman, a couple of poisonous frogs (and I didn’t die from them, maybe next trip, haha), a 3 toed sloth, a 2 toed sloth and a couple of night monkeys. As well as the birds, I got some fabulous pictures of some of them, but I can’t remember their names. I enjoyed shooting some butterflies too, so colorful and graceful. One big, beautiful butterfly doesn’t land often, so I never got a shot of it. This was the hottest, buggiest place we had been to; very dense forest. It was a pretty quick trip, but some had a really difficult time with the heat.Through the mangroves, we went to a neat little restaurant built on the water, specializing in lobster. I had the mixed fish, with coconut rice and an orange crush. The water was so clear next to the dock that we could see Starfish, Needlefish, Sea Urchin, some Parrot Fish and watched sardines jumping, fabulous.
We also got the chance to change into our bathing suits for our snorkeling excursion. We were going to 2 different corral reefs, in 2 different locations. The corral here looks over snorkeled and our stupid guide, Ricardo, was standing on it, I was not amused by this display of disrespect, nor was Skot. He also didn’t know the names of the fish, just hollered a lot, “Lady, come see the pretty fish”, ugg. The driver of the boat was a native Panamanian, Livingston, and you could tell he has seen his share of tourist and difficulties. He was not amused by Ricardo either, nor by the other boats of snorkelers that were bringing lobsters to the surface in excitement calling it lunch; he'd yell out to the other driver to mak them throw it back. Such ridiculousness. It was interesting and fun to snorkel, but a little sad to see the poor conditions and the lack of really large fish, that should be normal for this area. One last stop was a pretty private beach. It was a five minute walk, through the woods, that looked like everything was planted instead of natural and most of the “park” was under construction. We weren’t exactly sure why we stopped here, some of the group found some nice views of birds, but otherwise, it was just a bit weird. The funniest thing was while Skot and Suzy were taking a walk on the beach alone, they came across a couple, the woman was nude and the guy was taking pictures, Skot felt very awkward, Ricardo however, he thought it was great and felt it necessary to borrow some ones binoculars, to get a better view, yikes, that’s professional. But I don’t think professionalism is part of Ricardo’s vocabulary. The rest of the group could see the seen from where we perched ourselves with beers and kinda just laughed at the whole thing. We didn’t stay at this location very long at all, we were all ready to shower and rest.
Once back at the hotel, cleaned up and ready to eat, Skot, Suzy, Georgia, Jan, Gary and I, went to dinner at the Pirate. A filleted Tuna was my pick tonight, along with coconut rice and beans, oh a horrible margarita. We had a great time chatting about the whole trip so far and playing, “who sings this”, to the 80’s music, I loved that of course. We also stopped for some ice cream too, delicious.
Stayed up late, trying to upload some pictures, updating info on the blog and such, went to bed at about 11:30, what an eventful day.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Day 7, January 19th, 2011
Day 7, January 19th, 2011
Travel day. Breakfast at 7, roll out 8 AM to drive across the continental divide over to another state named, Boca Del Toro, to an island resort. It was a long, long day, traveling by day bus, stopping to see birds and little shops along the way. It was taking a very long time to get a short distance, but as the bus was making it’s way through the hills, the clutch went out. So we had to make a very short stop to wait for another bus, and transfer all of our baggage from one bus to another.
Once we were all settled, we were required to drive direct to our destination, no more stopping, we needed to get to the water taxi by 3pm to get to our hotel. It took us 7 hours to make the trek.
I write this blog whilst sitting in a fabulous sling back chair, on a balcony, overlooking the Caribbean Sea, in a little bay that is now perfectly still with the full moon gazing at its reflection. I’m loving this hotel, it’s named Bocas Inn and it‘s adorable. Our group occupies the whole Inn and we are enjoying the quietness and each others company, out in the open.
The only other thing we did tonight, once settled and sharing a couple of beers together, was to take a stroll down the main street. It’s charming and of course there are lots of little stores with brightly colored hammocks and shirts hanging up outside to entice you to come inside. A little group of us, Polly, Jan, Gary, Skot, Suzy and I all stopped at a stand that had some of the art that was displayed inside the hotel. Gorgeous vibrant paintings, that looked a little more Jamaican or African, then Panamanian, but we all loved them and made some purchases.
Then, just a little lighter in the wallet, we ventured off to dinner, on the water, overlooking the taxis. It was a fantastic fillet fish dish, grilled in garlic and tomatoes, served with coconut rice. Yum! We also enjoyed a view of the full moon rising.
After dinner, in the darkness, I made my way back to the hotel alone, I was starting to feel the bugs biting, and decided to type my blog and rest for a little bit. Then Georgia and I went for another little stroll, in the other direction from before. It was a beautiful evening, the perfect ending to a long day.
Travel day. Breakfast at 7, roll out 8 AM to drive across the continental divide over to another state named, Boca Del Toro, to an island resort. It was a long, long day, traveling by day bus, stopping to see birds and little shops along the way. It was taking a very long time to get a short distance, but as the bus was making it’s way through the hills, the clutch went out. So we had to make a very short stop to wait for another bus, and transfer all of our baggage from one bus to another.
Once we were all settled, we were required to drive direct to our destination, no more stopping, we needed to get to the water taxi by 3pm to get to our hotel. It took us 7 hours to make the trek. I write this blog whilst sitting in a fabulous sling back chair, on a balcony, overlooking the Caribbean Sea, in a little bay that is now perfectly still with the full moon gazing at its reflection. I’m loving this hotel, it’s named Bocas Inn and it‘s adorable. Our group occupies the whole Inn and we are enjoying the quietness and each others company, out in the open.
The only other thing we did tonight, once settled and sharing a couple of beers together, was to take a stroll down the main street. It’s charming and of course there are lots of little stores with brightly colored hammocks and shirts hanging up outside to entice you to come inside. A little group of us, Polly, Jan, Gary, Skot, Suzy and I all stopped at a stand that had some of the art that was displayed inside the hotel. Gorgeous vibrant paintings, that looked a little more Jamaican or African, then Panamanian, but we all loved them and made some purchases.
Then, just a little lighter in the wallet, we ventured off to dinner, on the water, overlooking the taxis. It was a fantastic fillet fish dish, grilled in garlic and tomatoes, served with coconut rice. Yum! We also enjoyed a view of the full moon rising.
After dinner, in the darkness, I made my way back to the hotel alone, I was starting to feel the bugs biting, and decided to type my blog and rest for a little bit. Then Georgia and I went for another little stroll, in the other direction from before. It was a beautiful evening, the perfect ending to a long day.
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