If time and money weren’t an issue, where would you go?

We’ve spent the past two years working while traveling.

Both time and money have been a daily challenge.

But the work we do ,(and the people managing the Internet and power grid in the countries we’ve been to) has allowed us to successfully work and travel for over 2 years.

We are now returning back to America because we want to once again spend time with our families and be part of their lives in-person.

But given unlimited time and money…

Here are 29 places we have already been that we will love to return to.

(In some cases we’ve noted the things we would do there.)

1. Tanzania, Africa – tour the tanzanite mines, see the Serengeti
2. El Cid Resort, Cancun, Mexico
3. Munich, Germany – Could live here
4. Germany – Pretty much most places we’ve been
5. Puerto Iguazu, Argentina (see the falls at midnight with the rainbows)
6. Mendoza, Argentina – spend another weekend enjoying the wineries
7. Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
8. Chichicastenango, Guatemala
9. Granada, Nicaragua
10. Boquete, Panama
11. Quito, Ecuador – neurotic crazy city, but awesome too.
12. Cuenca, Ecuador – See the surrounding hill country and take Spanish classes
13. French Polynesia – this time I would go to Bora Bora or Moorea
14. New Zealand – almost anywhere in New Zealand. We could probably live here if our family did.
15. Bali – do more diving and see more of the island
16. Malaysia – but see more of the country outside of Kuala Lumpur
17. Hong Kong (Hong Kong Island)
18. Brunei
19. Chiang Mai, Thailand – stay inside the old city walls during a cleaner air quality season.
20. Hoi An, Vietnam
21. Udaipur, India
22. Bilaspur, India
23. Hyderabad, India – Nothing can prepare you for a trip to India except a trip to India. This time we know what to expect – and the food… oh the food was so good.
24. Slovenia – Viktorija and family, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!
25. Krakow, Poland
26. Budapest, Hungary
27. Northern Italy
28. Rome, Italy – live in an apartment for a month
29. Mallorca, Spain – Stay at an all-inclusive resort, see the castle on the hill above Palma, see the old defensive castle on the water, go diving.

It seems a shame to me that in the last 7 months, we didn’t see more, do more, meet more people.

We had plans to do and accomplish different things, and I kind of feel like we planned to do *more*) during the past 7 months of our lives.

My friend Patrick Shaw says that people greatly overestimate what they can do in a year, but greatly underestimate what they can do in ten years.

So maybe we should talk in ten years.

But thinking about it, I realize that we did do a LOT over the past 7 months in central and south America, and laid a foundation for coming back to this part of the world throughout our lives.

However, we had plans.

This post talks about what we had planned to do versus what we did.

(I have written this post to remember what we planned to do, actually did and didn’t do, and also should help others traveling through Central and South America to discover some great places and things to experience.)

Lakes:
We didn’t see lake Titicaca (Bolivia), or Lake Nicaragua.
But we did get to see the beauty of Lake Atitlan (Guatemala).

Islands:
We didn’t see the Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), Isla del Omitepe (Nicaragua), or the San Blas Islands (Panama).
But we learned to SCUBA off of Isla Colon (Panama) in a town called Bocas Del Toro.

Animals:
We didn’t get to see whales or dolphins.
But we helped guard baby turtles and were part of their introduction into the world.  We saw monkeys in lots of places throughout central America; saw llamas mating; hummingbirds and butterflies in Mindo, Ecuador; and many other animals and critters.  We loved the variety of animals we saw, even if the insects were sometimes disturbing.

Language and culture:
We didn’t spend time living in an indigenous community, (though we spent lots of time around indigenous people).
But we speak Spanish pretty well now.  (Thanks Maribel!)  We speak well enough to be well understood, to receive compliments on how good our Spanish is, and to understand even difficult topics like politics and religion.

Business:
Because of taking Spanish class every day, and the time involved with both planning and getting from place to place, we didn’t grow our business in the way that we wanted to.
But I know 100% that our videos and written reviews of the places we’ve stayed in Antigua, Guatemala; Boquete, Panama; Quito, Ecuador, and Cuenca, Ecuador; have resulted in more bookings for the owners of those places.  Our knowledge of marketing on the Internet has helped other people to grow their businesses.  That’s exciting to me.

Ancient Cultures and Civilizations:
We didn’t get to San Augustin, Colombia; or in Peru – the Ruins of Kuelap, Macchu Picchu (due to flooding in March), or the tomb of Sipan near Chiclayo. But we saw the remnants of powerful and amazing ancient civilizations at Copan, Honduras; Tikal, Guatemala; Guayabo National Park, Costa Rica; Ingapirca, Ecuador; Cuenca, Ecuador; and Cajamarca, Peru.

Land Travel:
We did not see Belize; visit Santiago, Chile; return to Buenos Aires, Argentina; nor did we get to most of the countries in South America.
But we saw every land country in Central America (except Belize); went to or near the top of five volcanoes in three countries (Irazu and Poas, Costa Rica; Pacaya, Guatemala; Masaya, Nicaragua; and Cotopaxi, Ecuador); we covered thousands of miles by bus, plane, car, in the water, and on foot; saw amazing markets at Saquisili and Otavalo, Ecuador, and at Chichicastenengo, Guatemala; got to the capital cities of Guatemala (Guatemala City), Nicaragua (Managua), El Salvador (San Salvador), Costa Rica (San Jose), Panama (Panama City), Ecuador (Quito), and Peru (Lima); and met many amazing people along the way.

Personal Growth:
I’ve recognized and let go of some of my own ethnocentricity (which I didn’t know I had); become a Spanish speaker; learned that the jungle is a great place for me to visit, but for short-term visits only; and have learned that even though the longest we’ve been apart in the last 7 months is 4 hours, Carrie and I love and appreciate each other as much or more now that we ever have before.

I feel like a year or more could be spent exploring just Ecuador and Peru, with a mention to the lifetime that could be spent exploring Colombia and the other countries in South America.

I do think that these are areas which we will return to at some (as yet undetermined) future point in our lives.

At the same time, 7 months in central and South America has given me an even greater appreciation for the country I call home, the place where I grew up.

The United States of America is a place where stores almost always have change for a $20 bill, many stores are open 24-7, the bathrooms nearly always have tissue paper and toilet seats, and the spirit of the people, more than anywhere else I’ve ever been, says both in word and in action, “we can do it if we’ll just work hard at it.”

I am so grateful for the opportunities provided by our travels of the last seven months, and I’m very grateful as well for the opportunities and life I’ve been able to have growing up and living in the United States.

Apartment in Quito, Ecuador
(March, 2010)

Since you stayed at the apartment (I have in Quito) last month, I have gotten a lot more bookings.  I’m booked through the end of the summer, (2010).

It’s been really great… having you stay with me was more like having someone working for me because with the video you made and pictures you took while you were here, I have had MANY people want to book the apartment… I wasn’t sure at first since I gave you the discount to stay here, but having you stay at the apartment was one of the smartest things I think I could have done for future rentals.

Pablo Proaño
Quito, Ecuador

(November, 2009)

We loved having you guys stay in one of our casitas. Our favorite experience with any renter we’ve ever had was the night when you made us the most delicious Italian dinner of eggplant parmesean I’ve ever had. (And we were super impressed you offered to cook for us while you were renting from us)!

We were so happy too that we invited you to house-sit for us while we went to Florida in January 2010. During those two weeks in January, it was so nice to know that we didn’t have to worry about anything while we were in Florida.  Thank-you for taking great care of our home, taking care of the challenges and repairs at the casita rentals, and for getting messages to the neighbors for us.

Since you made the video of our casita “B”, we’ve had a nearly full booking schedule.

You guys are the best renters we’ve had… From our perspective, you guys being here felt like having family stay with us, but getting paid for the visit.  Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!

David and Cora Kent
Boquete, Panama

Hi Carrie and Jonathan!

Thought I would let you know we just had a month-long booking come in from someone who watched the video you made of Kookaburra.

Thanks so much for your interest in Kookaburra and its success. We had noticed the networking you did on our behalf and so, although this note comes just a little belated and with prompting (since it resulted in this rental), it comes nonetheless with our genuine gratitude.

Chris and I hope your travels are still wildly satisfying and endlessly awe-inspiring. Take care of each other!

Warm wishes,
Jenny

Panama Hats originated in Ecuador.

In fact, Panama hats originated very close to Cuenca, Ecuador.

So why are they called Panama hats?

Well, that’s a long (perhaps sordid) tale involving:

• One of the journeys of Eloy Alfaro to Panama
• Teddy Roosevelt
• A hat

But that’s not the story I will tell now.

Yesterday, Carrie and I went for a little walk from the Kookaburra Café (where we’ve been staying here in Cuenca).

We wanted to visit the museum and workshop of Hormero P Ortega & Hijos, one of the most famous Panama hat makers in Ecuador.

After about 40 minutes of walking, we arrived at Hormero P Ortega & Hijos (Hormero P Ortega and sons), to have the man at the gate tell us that the workshop is closed on Saturdays.

Lots of places are closed for some or most of the day on Saturdays/Sundays in Cuenca.

That was a bit disappointing, but at that point we were close to Cuenca’s Terminal Terrestre (where the buses leave from), so we went to check out the best options for leaving Cuenca on Tuesday night or Wednesday.

From there, we took a $4 taxi to Turi, which is a town and church on a hill above Cuenca, with a beautiful view of the whole city.

We wanted to eat lunch up there… we assumed there would be lots of restaurants with the beautiful view (and had been told as much by a few people). We found one restaurant with a great view, but it appeared to be some kind of dinner theater place, and it was closed.

So we took a taxi back to the city, wandered around a bit, and on our wandering back to the Kookaburra Café, we ran into this place just 2 blocks away from our hotel.

Rafael Paredes S. y Hijos, Panama Hat makers since 1957

Wanting to do the appropriately touristy thing and learn how Panama hats are made, we entered the exhibits.

Did you know that Panama Hats are made out of one single reed that is shredded, braided, pressed, and steamed into the shape of the hat? That was really interesting to see.

Rafael Paredes S. y Hijos apparently is also the hat maker of choice for many of the contestants in the Miss Universe contest. Their hats have also been featured in advertisements (on beautiful women who wear attractive hats on posters in order to get men to buy beer, and women to buy hats).

We played around trying on different hats, with no real intention of buying them for ourselves.

But then, I found a Panama hat that I liked.

Carrie said it looked *really* good on me.

Finding a hat I like is one thing, but having my wife say it looks *really* good on me kind of makes it a done deal.

One problem – the hat I selected was too small.

Turns out that in Ecuadorian Panama hat sizes, my head is not an XL.

It’s not even a XXL.

My head is HUGE.

I’ve known that for some time, but Rafael Paredes S. y Hijos is specially making, just for me, a XXXL (that’s three X’s) Panama hat in the colors of my choosing.

The women working there in the shop thought it was quite funny that I had such a “gran cabeza”.

(They actually said “cabeza grande” (giant head), but I preferred to say “gran cabeza” (which is more like “grand head”). It sounds more like a compliment – at least to me.)

To have a hat specially made to fit my head, in the colors of my choosing, costs $25.

It takes just 2 days to have one made, so I’ll be returning tomorrow to pick it up.

Carrie’s head is between a medium and a large, but they had a large in these fun colors, which looked great on her, so she got the large.

When you buy a Panama hat at Rafael Paredes S. y Hijos, they also give you a carrying bag for your Panama hat at no additional charge. This will be great for us for as much as we will be on the road in the next 4 weeks.

Probably more often than I should, I check what words and phrases people have typed into Google to get to our web site.

Tracking what people want to know about is important if you want to be of service to others.

Also, it’s just fun to see what Google thinks CarrieAndJonathan.com is about.

Today, I want to share a tiny smattering of what I discovered people have been looking for, prior to landing on our site.

Also, I want to answer their questions.

These are all actual search phrases typed into Google by people before they landed on our site.

“what are chifles”/”what is an ecuadorian chifles”
Despite the funny English in this question, I am happy to respond to this one. In Ecuador, Chifles are chips made from thinly sliced green plantain.  They are very delicious.  We like chifles better than potato chips (which we don’t really like, so that’s a terrible comparison.  That previous sentence should say: We like chifles.)

“how far is it from david, panama to boquete, panama?“
Taking the local bus, it’s about 1 hour to Boquete from David, Panama, give or take 20 minutes.  Boquete is absolutely worth a visit for a few days, if not longer.

“are frozen bananas bad for you?”
Is frozen water bad for you?

“does it matter if you use yellow or green plantains when making patacones”
Yes, use green plantain. The yellow plantains won’t work for patacones.  They’re still delicious when fried, just not the right plantain to use for patacones.

“can you see lava masaya”
We weren’t able to see lava at Masaya volcano… lots of sulfuric ash spewing from the mouth of the volcano though.  You can, however, roast marshmallows over lava at Volcan Pacaya in Guatemala near Antigua.  (Take the marshmallows and a stick with you though.  There’s nothing except people renting out horses as taxis up the volcano, and kids selling walking sticks, once you get out to start your trek up the volcano).

“do ecuadors eat cuy/why do ecuadorians eat gineapig”
Yes EcuadorIANS do eat cuy.  Why they eat guinea pig is beyond me as I don’t like the flavor at all. Not all Ecuadorians eat guinea pig, but my guess is that many do because they like the flavor of it.  Others eat cuy as a social custom or tradition.

“does everyone in ecuador have a pet chicken”
No, just the people who live close to wherever you happen to be trying to sleep.

“how many mph can a koala run”
That is a good question… Maybe you should race one to find out.

Keep those Google visitors and random searches coming!

Carrie &Jonathon,

I’m confused looking at your site… you guys have traveld a lot looks like… where all have u been?

james

Hey James!

Well, we have done a lot of travel in the past, but since October, we’ve been permanently on the road, living wherever we are…

Here are a couple of maps to show where we were in October-December.

After that we were in Colorado briefly.

In January, we flew back to Costa Rica and took the bus to David, Panama.

What we have been up to since January is on the map below.

Now we’re in Quito, Ecuador, taking Spanish classes.

Thanks for asking and for visiting our website!

We spent two nights at Hotel Santana in Santa Ana, Panama City, Panama.
Here is our review of the hotel.
I remember hearing something about Manuel Noriega when I was a child.
I remember thinking he was in Nicaragua.
“Noriega” sort of sounds like “Nicaragua”, especially to a 9 year old.
Why do I bring it up in a review of Hotel Santana in Panama?
The United States invaded Panama in 1989. To some of you, this isn’t news. To me, (and I imagine to many people in the US under the age of about 33,) this is surprising news.
The United States invaded a country as close as Panama?

And within my lifetime?
And wasn’t the US in Panama managing the canal anyway?
You can read the whole history of it here on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_invasion_of_Panama), but yes, the United States invaded Panama.
The invasion was short (and was done under other pretenses, A.K.A. “Operation Just Cause”, but) resolved an issue many around the world feared:
The Panama Canal could or would be held captive by a government not necessarily aligned with the ideals for which the canal was designed and built.
When the United States invaded Panama, the primary staging ground for the invasion was the Santa Ana neighborhood.
Below you can see the old officer’s club, which is now pretty much just an abandoned piece of prime real estate, that hasn’t been developed, or really touched (other than by graffiti and skateboard wheels) as it’s a something of a memorial now.


The cost of the invasion:
- About 20,000 people lost their homes and became refugees as a result of urban warfare
- Has been estimated to be between 1.5 and 2 billion dollars
- 23+ Americans and 1000+ (still unknown) Panamanians dead
Our friend Dan (an American living in Playa Coronado, Panama) told us (when we stayed with him in November 2009) that when he was stationed here at the Panama canal (before the changeover in 1999 to give Panama control of the canal), United States Military personnel weren’t allowed to go into the Santa Ana neighborhood.
People in Santa Ana and Chorillo (another neighborhood) were simply still too angry about what had happened, and it was feared that the people of Santa Ana might not take too kindly to Americans coming into their neighborhood again, even just to buy a beer or some groceries.
When we reserved Hotel Santana, I didn’t put those two things (“Santa Ana”, and “Hotel Santana”) together.
The fact was pointed out to me by our taxi driver, on the way from the bus station to Hotel Santana.
Our taxi driver told us “Es un barrio MAAALO”, (it’s a BAAAD neighborhood).
Normally we shrug this off, because most taxis will tell you something bad about the hotel you’ve reserved.
(This is often done in an effort to get you to go to a hotel where they earn a little under the table commission for bringing you there.)
Then he told me that Santa Ana was where America launched the invasion.
(Riiight. The invasion. Forgot all about that. All I could think was, Oops! Shouldn’t have reserved a hotel here! and hope this wouldn’t be a BIG oops!)
Driving into the barrio, I realize that the taxi driver was right… Santa Ana is not the nicest neighborhood.
But Hotel Santana comes recommended pretty highly on TripAdvisor, has a nice website, and definitely for the price, Hotel Santana seemed like a good deal.
I don’t know if the Santa Ana neighborhood ever was nice (i.e. pre-invasion), but it certainly is one of the rougher parts of town.
To be fair, we haven’t gone walking much in the neighborhood, and probably won’t before leaving here.
We’re only in Panama City for 2 days and there are quite a few interesting things to see within the city, and definitely within an hour of the city.
Despite the neighborhood’s rough outward appearance, we actually like Hotel Santana.
$29/night gets you an air conditioned room with a TV (with cable), a private bathroom with a hot shower, a lobby with WiFi (bring your own computer/Internet device) and a really secure building. There is security posted just inside the (always locked) door at all times.
Hotel Santana offers you no view (because many of the rooms don’t even have windows), but if you’re only in Panama City for a day or two, there are plenty of places to be out and about where you can enjoy a nice view.
Just 10 blocks walking from here is the main part of Casco Antiguo.
Our only complaints about Hotel Santana:

The hotel center is an atrium, and all the walls are plaster/tile.
It’s well-lit (which is good), but even in a room on the far end of the hotel from the front desk, you get lots of light in your room at night, and can hear people speaking when they’re checking in or checking out.
If that’s our only real complaint, it’s probably pretty good here.
Yes, there are nicer hotels in Panama City, and places you could spend a LOT more money. But if you’re okay not being in a “great” hotel, opting instead for the “good enough” category, we think Hotel Santana might be your choice.
For $29/night, we’ve found Hotel Santana to be a good place to stay.
Plus, it gave me a great excuse to brush up on my history of the Panama – United states relationship, and to see a really interesting (albeit less pretty) part of Panama City.
(Hotel Santana’s Website – clicking will open a new window)

Panama Viejo and Casco Viejo in Panama City, Panama are not the same thing…

I don’t know why, but for some reason, I thought that Panama Viejo (old town Panama City) was Casco Viejo. I was wrong.
This morning, Jonathan and I decided to go see Panama Viejo and then have lunch at one of the many new and fun places in Casco Viejo.
Casco Viejo is also called Antiguo Viejo, as you’ll see in the video below.
We grabbed a taxi right out front of our hotel (Hotel Santana), and were taken to Panama Viejo. Our driver also told us where it was safe and where it wasn’t if we wanted to walk around the old city.

Panama Viejo is the ruins of the original Spanish settlement in Panama City. It was abandoned in 1671 after pirate attacks and fires destroyed it.
They are currently working on restoring the ruins, and there are some pretty amazing places to see.

We saw the ruins of an old convent that was newly built when the city was destroyed. It also looked like they were setting up for a wedding reception. What a cool place!
Then we walked to the tower. But, unlike London, city’s tower was used primarily as a church tower, with the added benefit of serving as a lookout for pirates.
During the restoration process, they put a roof over the tower. But they wanted to make in invisible from the outside. So, the water drains go down through the staircase to the top.

It was really amazing to get to look out the same windows, and see all the ships waiting to go through the canal and pretend they were pirates. Hello Pirates!
From there we realized that Panama Viejo and Casco Viejo were not the same thing. So, we asked a woman who was working at Panama Viejo for a good lunch recommendation.
She suggested Restaurante Jimmy. So, all 3 of us grabbed a taxi together, and we went for lunch (dropping her at her destination along the way).

I am so glad that we asked her where we should go, and that we listed to her!
The food was amazing with lots and lots of options. It was delicious. I highly recommend that you try Restaurante Jimmy in San Francisco district of Panama City, Panama.

Then we caught another taxi and asked to go to Casco Viejo. We stopped outside the National Cathedral. Then we walked along the water.

We saw the ruins of a club that was right on the edge of the ocean. It looked like it was a pretty amazing place (before it was destroyed by the US during the 1989 invasion).
We walked a little further and found a fun path that was covered with vines and flowers. We later learned that this path was built on the remnants of an old city wall.

We did some more walking in the area, and then decided that it was time for ice cream. Panama City is hot. Hot hot hot.

We saw a fun gelato place, so we stopped in there. They didn’t accept cards, and we were out of cash, so Jonathan asked where the nearest ATM was. The woman gave him directions and he was off.
When he came back we enjoyed some lovely ice cream from Granclement. I really liked all the old ice cream scoops on the walls.
Then we decided that we would walk back to our hotel. It didn’t seem too far, so we thought we’d give it a shot.
It turns out that the ATM was further than the hotel! So, we had a nice little walk, even if it was one that I wouldn’t want to do after dark.
They’re really working to get the neighborhood cleaned up. In a few years it is going to be prime tourist area. But right now, it’s a little on the sketchy side.
When we got back to the hotel, we worked in the lobby for a little bit.
We were able to make some new friends that way. We met and chatted quite a bit with Eric Goldschmidt, a pastor from Wisconson, and a Czech couple living in Portland, Or.
Then it was off to bed, since the taxi was coming at 5:30am to take us to the airport.

The Panama Canal at Miraflores

For some reason, whenever I hear of the Panama Canal I think of “Arsenic and Old Lace”.
Teddy says “I’m going to the basement to dig the Panama Canal!”
I love that show…
No trip to Panama, especially Panama City, would be complete without a trip to the canal.
We didn’t really make it work last time we were here (as we just passed through Panama City), but this time we knew we’d go.
Our overnight bus arrived into Panama City from David at 6:00am – exactly on time!
There are some crazy buses in Panama (all over Central America)!

From there we went to our hotel, and they let us check in super early, which was great!
So, we were able to grab a nap.
I read that there is a restaurant in the visitor’s center of the canal, so we decided to go there, have lunch, and watch a few ships pass through.
It was awesome! The food was ok, not the best (and pretty pricey), but good enough.

But it really did have the best view of the canal, which is really what you’re paying for when you go to eat at the visitor’s center.
We got to see a very large cargo ship go through.
It was really fun to see the workers on the ship waving and taking pictures (of us, waving and taking pictures).

It takes about an hour for a ship to go through the canal.
The video below is 1 hour and 15 minutes of our time summed up in 2 minutes.
Press play to see it.

Then we had to basically run through the museum because we waited to long to check out the exhibit.
But, we did get to see some really fun parts. I especially liked the guy dressed in the haz-mat suit. He clearly needed it, what with his hand down at the level of his shin.

Jonathan liked the UPS guy. He decided to shake his hand, but got a little more than he bargained for.

After closing the museum, like we tend to do, we took a taxi out to the Causeway.
The Causeway took dirt from digging the canal and then used it to connect some islands off the cost of the city.

So, we went to the far island and then walked into town. We had dinner at a restaurant that was back on the mainland, and decided that for one of our last meals in Panama, we should try the “Panamanian Touch”.
It was just a collection of local foods, but the name sure was interesting. It wasn’t the best food I’ve ever had, but the experience was really great. It was a fun walk, with plenty to see, and great company.

A few of you have mentioned that we’ve been posting rather sparsely the past couple of weeks.
So, I thought I would summarize the past couple of weeks in Boquete.
(This is a long post, but I’ve included lots of pictures. This should help if you like to read by skimming. )
Carrie and I have had two wonderful weeks here in Boquete, and we’ve really enjoyed our time here in Chiriqui Province, Panama.

(In case you missed it, I did talk about our wonderful day at the beach at Las Olas/Playa Barqueta.)
Before heading to Florida, David and Cora had dinner for their guests/renters.

The dinner was for Nick and Joyce, friends of David and Cora’s, to celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary.

The next day, we drove David (day-vid) and Cora to the airport in David (dah-veed).

We’ve taken full advantage of house-sitting for David and Cora their at their home, and have really liked having use of their theater, pool, views of Volcan Baru and the Boquete valley, and their great spaces for entertaining.

Rob (a real estate developer we met in November) came from David and visited us.

Rob stayed one night here in Boquete. He brought a cake with him, which was made and decorated for us by the bakery here in Boquete. The frosting tasted like marshmallow cream.

The next day, we went to the Boquete Feria, a yearly 12 day festival of coffee and flowers which has turned into a big event for this whole region.


We’ve gotten together with Vicki a couple of nights – Vicki is from Texas but has lived in Boquete for a few months and now calls it home.
We’ve had some great games of Mexican Train dominoes with Vicki.
Another night, we had pot-luck dinner with the 5 people who are renting from Dave and Cora right now.

They’re all Canadian: Kenneth and Collette, Francoise, and Ron and Linda.
Kenneth said to me one day, “I heard a rumor that you are a runner.”
I replied, “That’s a nasty rumor!”
Kenneth runs about 5 miles every day, and gets to and from Boquete in about 55 minutes (easy on the way down to town, but very difficult on the way back up the hill).

By way of comparison, it takes Carrie and I about 35 minutes to walk into town (and 45-50 minutes to come back), walking at a pretty good pace. (We usually pay the $2 to take a taxi back up the hill.)
Unfortunately, Ron and Linda headed out a few days ago, so we said bye to them. But we got to have another dinner with Kenneth, Collette, and Francoise in Casita B (the same place we rented for 2 1/2 weeks back in November.)
Thursday night, eating dinner with Kenneth and Collette, we discovered that they were going to be headed to Panama City the same nights we were going to be staying in a hotel in Boquete.
They offered that we could stay in Casita B those two nights (which are last night and tonight), and is where I’m writing this post from.
It’s nice to feel “at home” in a “foreign” country, both at Dave and Cora’s, and being back in Casita B.
(We didn’t really need an excuse to get to Canada, as it’s somewhere we’ve wanted to visit, but being that we have met and know some Canadians now, we have an excuse.)
So we’re looking forward to visiting Canada and seeing Kenneth and Collette again in the future.
No trip to Boquete could be complete without visiting the favorite bar of the local gringos, Amigo’s (Yes, with an apostrophe), so we had chili and a hamburger there one night.

We also picked up fried chicken and fried yucca one night from the poorly named but local favorite, Milquiburger. (We have no idea why it’s called that, but it’s a roadside stand that’s open from about 5PM-8PM and is known for delicious fried chicken.)
We also met Tom and Caroline, who live right behind David and Cora in the castle. Tom is from Holland and Caroline from the UK.
You might be inclined to make assumptions about people who would build and live in a modern-day castle, but Tom and Caroline are some of the nicest and most genuine people we have met in our travels, and their castle truly feels like a home.
Tom and Caroline graciously invited us for drinks with them one night at the castle, which is when we got to know them.

Caroline mentioned she was going to England, so while she’s been gone and Tom’s been a bachelor, we invited him to David and Cora’s for chicken parmesean.
Another morning, Tom invited us to have coffee with him at the castle.

He also invited us to breakfast at a restaurant in Boquete, where we had some delicious local home-cooking (at a place the locals call Olga’s – since Olga owns the place).

(We have returned to Olga’s since, and would return again if we were going to be here in Boquete longer.)
Another morning, we went and had breakfast at a coffee finca (coffee farm) here in Boquete – Lerida Coffee, where we watched the hummingbirds and enjoyed the view.

We also met Bambi, an appropriately named wild deer.
She is so used to people though that she eats right from the hands of one of the people working at Cafe Lerida.

It has been a wonderful two weeks in Boquete.

From here, we will head to David, Panama on Monday, where we will spend an afternoon and evening with Nick and Joyce (the couple from above). Then we will take the overnight bus to Panama City, where we will spend 2 days seeing the Panama Canal and old Panama City.
On Thursday, we fly to Quito, Ecuador.
We will spend a month in Quito, hopefully having a good Internet connection, taking Spanish classes in the mornings and working in the afternoons, exploring the upper part of South America on the weekends.
We’re sad to leave Panama, but we are happy to know we have made friends here that will last a lifetime.