Wallamble

Another day at Playa Blanca – again we filled the day with swimming, eating, reading, dancing and relaxing 🙂 Every holiday needs a day or two like this!

Yesterday we posted some daytime photos. Today we post some of our evening photos.
Our evenings at Playa Blanca finished with a kid show, live music and a little dancing…

Today was full of swimming, eating, reading, dancing and relaxing 🙂 Every holiday needs a day or two like this!

Our days at Playa Blanca started with well-balanced sampling from the buffet breakfasts…mmm!

Here a are some daytime photos 🙂

Time well spent!

After a sleep in, we enjoyed the view and some fruit and banana cake thoughtfully provided by the hotel…

We headed to the zoo to see the infamous La Rana Dorada (Golden Frog)…

Then to El Chorro Macho Falls…

Then up the super steep hills to Las Cruces where we could appreciate the picturesque volcanic crater that we had spent the night in!

Then mid-afternoon it was off to Playa Blanca for a little R&R.

Still utterly amazing!

Awoken by Lachie trying to get comfortable in the *comfy* beds.

Awoken by the air-con going off when the generator ran out of fuel.

Awoken by howler monkeys at dawn.

There are only SO many times you can go back to sleep (even for Bianca!).
We were ready for a new day not long after! The Capuchin monkeys and agoitis were also up and playing outside our room 🙂

Breakky + chilling out with our new friends 🙂

More snorkeling, this time on Isla Rancheria

Another snorkel – this time around bird poo island!
(aptly named by the kids 🙂  )

Lunch with the hermit crabs
(man! these cute little guys are everywhere – much to the kids delight!)

And back to the mainland where we were dropped back to our hotel. Again we saw Oli (whom E+L proclaimed as the best surfer in the world!)…

Then we tracked down our transfer and it was off to El Valle. He promised our transfer would take 3 hours, it took 5.5 hours (grumble grumble).
Luckily we had a quick stop at Maccas mid-trip to tie the kids over. Yes Panama – we haven’t quite found your best eateries – but we’ve found other amazing stuff!

Back to the huts for a swim and dinner. Only to be greeted by monkeys, agoutis and a crocodile. It doesn’t get much better than that!

We won’t focus on the silly guys teasing the crocodilo out of the water with a fish

mmm…spaghetti for dinner. Yummo!

On our way to bed post-dinner we thought we’d wander back along the beach amongst the hundreds of hermit crabs, only to be warned that the crocodiles like to swim on the beach at night – eek! You should have seen how fast we got off the beach 🙂

After a very *bumpy* morning the day turned out spectacularly.

Within minutes of getting past the Coastguard I spotted a couple of dolphins.  Our luck had changed 🙂 Then there was a turtle, then another, fish galore…!
Before an amazing snorkel at Golden Grain Island where we saw a white tip shark, thousands of fish and Nathan saw another turtle. Awesome!

To the ANAM huts to check out where we were staying for the night

Then off dolphin spotting

Before reaching Sendero Los Pizos for a super-steamy hike to see the hot springs

Then a ride up the canal spotting scarlet macaws…

Not the best start to the day….

6:40am – shower – dress – precious weetbix – pack – go go go!

7am – waiting for our “contact” to turn up to take us into town at the pre-agreed time of 7am
(he had changed out hotel to an out of town location at last minute and Santa Catalina doesn’t have taxis)

7:30am – we give up and start the 20 minute walk into town:  kids + bags + all!

8am – wandering around town we can’t find the “shop” of the place we are meant to be going on tour with – eek! After 45 minutes of walking around and then befriending a stranger and trekking all over town we find Riccado our tour guide – phew!

8:45am – a quick breakky – and we were HUNGRY!
(no buffet breakfasts here – kids would you like quesadillas or toast with your eggs?)

9am – then we were off…?

9:30am – on our way out to Coiba National Park we get stopped for what-seemed-like-half-an-hour (15 minutes?) by Panama Coast Guard. Think boat with 15 bullet-proof-vest wearing well-built Panamanian men armed with automatic weapons asking for passports and *robustly discussing* something in rapid-fire Spanish with our boat captain

10am – we’re off!

P.S. for aesthetics, the photos above are not in perfect order with our timeline

P.P.S. yes that is Nathan making weetbix with water from the shower. You can drink the water in most places in Panama 🙂

The day started with breakfast on the balcony in the restaurant at Finca Lerida a local boutique coffee-farm on the outskirts of Boquete. The bird watching just from the balcony was incredible. Nathan particularly enjoyed watching the hummingbirds 🙂

Then a tour around their coffee platation…

Luckily the weather cleared up for a walk through the coffee farm and cloud forest, and a little vine swinging

Back to town for a little lunch at the yummy Sugar & Spice Bakery and another little wander around the shops. You’ll be glad to know we didn’t buy a machete like the ones in the picture below. Not sure if the airlines or US custom would have been too pleased.

We had time before our next transfer, so Lachie filled it by break-dancing with the fellas in the town square…

Tehn a late afternoon transfer to Santa Catalina.

Below are some piccies taken out the car window en-route. Nathan who sat in the front next to the Spanish-only speaking driver, could often be heard exclaiming “muchas policias” and “muchos perros” 🙂

Finally we made it to Santa Catalina.

Only to find out that the center-of-town hotel that we had booked was closed (it looked like it had been closed for some time…?).
Thankfully the owner who had taken our booking, had reserved us a room elsewhere.
Unfortunately this was a 20 minute walk from town.
Fortunately the room was adequate and had a great restaurant next door.
Time for dinner and off to bed.

Good night amigos 🙂

Addios Isla Basimentos stunning National Park. Today we are off to the highlands.

First there was the transfer from Red Frog Beach to Bocas del Toro

Then the ferry from Bocas del Toro to Almirante.

Then we were lucky enough to have Israel transfer us to Boquete. Along the way we saw a Toucan

Lots of beautiful waterfalls

Fortuna Dam in the Fortuna cloud forest – whcich provides 30% of Panama’s electricity.

A coffee stop on the Continental divide
(mmmmm Boquete coffee mmmmm)

A river canyon

Piedra Pintada (the pre-Columbian petroglyps)

Before reaching our hotel – a funky Roundhouse in Boquete
(where we also supremely lucky enough to get an upgrade!)

In the evening we went for a walk around Boquete

and had a yummy dinner (and even better margaritas) at Big Daddy’s for dinner.

Another awesome Panama day 🙂

Down to Red Frog Beach for breaky…

Where we actually (finally!) saw the tiny tiny red frogs (and his colourful friend)

then a walk around the point (no swimming in that rough sea though!)

A visit to our favourite sloth

A water taxi across to Bocas del Drago (Playa Estella – Starfish Beach) for a wet swim and some yummy coconut.

a swim at home

a visit on our porch from the neighbourhood monkeys
(not the howlers we could hear in the morning, the capuchin ones)

a walk around our villa to find sloths in every other tree!

our family monkeys

and then a final search for nesting turtles 😦

Buenas noches!