More specifically, I was in Panama City, in the neighborhood of Casco Viejo, which is the historical district of Panama City and on a whole, much poorer than the downtown. Panama City, the fancy downtown part, where Donald Trump is building his next mega project, looks like this:
But Casco looks more like this:
Now we are in Barro Guadalupe, which is about as different from Panama City as you can get. We're up in the highlands, in cloud forests with over 800 types of orchids growing. In fact, we went to an Orchid Sanctuary (Fincas Dracula) today that grows over 2600 types of orchids, the second largest sanctuary in the world.
Their premiere orchid is called "Dracula," because it's got a slightly sinister face inside the petals. Russ and I follow the German travel methodology -- pack light, make plans as you go, and try and do as much as possible. Since I arrived on Saturday night, we have done everything from visiting the Canal to visiting Barro Colorado Island, recently featured in National Geographic as the place with the most diverse bat population in the entire world. Our guide on the island, Juan Carlos, was very fun -- he loves watching Lost and called Costa Rica "cheesy." Everywhere we go, thus far, people have been amazingly friendly, which is essential, since our Spanish is amazingly embarrassing. I am the human sugar cube, and the mosquitoes can't get enough of me. Here's a pretty normal size bite:
Now imagine them all over my body. I'm one itchy chica. Tomorrow, we'll be grabbing a bus and heading down to Bocas Del Toro, which is on the Caribbean side of the country, and doing the beachy thing, snorkeling and trying to spot the multitudes of sea turtles that live off the coast during this time of year.
3 comments:
I CANNOT WAIT to hear all of your stories upon your return.
It's funny to juxtapose the tropical image I have of you right now with the scarfed visage on your profile. I doubt you're wearing a scarf in Panama.
Be safe. Return home whole. I miss you two!
Hey I just came across your blog on the web. I'm going to Panama in June. Sounds like you liked it. What did you think of Bocas..I'm planning on spending some time down there...any recommendations?
Thanks for stopping by, Ana! Panama was one of my favorite places I've visited, hands down. I hope you have a wonderful time.
I really enjoyed Bocas -- we stayed on Bastimentos (a short boat ride from Bocas proper) at a wonderful resort called Tico Tom, which I highly recommend. We spent time boating and snorkeling from Bocas and hiking the island of Bastimentos. No sea turtles sightings, though.
If I were you, I would also consider going to the San Blas islands -- they are much wilder, a bit more pristine, owned and operated by locals, and are supposed to be amazingly beautiful.
Hope that helps -- feel free to write again if you want to ask about anything else!
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