Last Day on the Beach

The last night on the island, we took a walk down the beach and had some fun in the coolness of the evening.

 

But the next morning, was the day to head on to another adventure.

 

We had one last breakfast, did some more coloring, attempted some reading, and tried to stay in the shade.

 

It was all rather relaxing. And, if I remember correctly, it got much more relaxing when Natasha *finally* fell asleep. ;)

 

This was the morning of April 19th, 2012, and you can read more about that day on my “homemaking” blog, here. The next post will be about our continued vacation which includes meeting a baby sloth, Natasha turning 2, and a town in a volcano crater!

Living the Caribbean Life on Red Frog Island

For a few days at least! Just as a reminder, this was a year ago, just before we returned to the States after our 5 month stay in Panama. We were at Palmar Tent Lodge for about 3 days or so.

One of our amazing plantain meals…

…happily enjoyed by a toddler.

Here’s Daniel cooking in the little kitchen. I usually did the dishes for him, since he cooked. Since the water was always being preserved (eco-friendly, you know…) the faucet was operated by a foot pedal. Like a pump organ actually! As long as you pump, you get water.

During the day, we did a lot of lounging. Since it was so awfully, terribly, burning hot, that’s about all you can do! I didn’t dare attempt tanning. I’m just too Irish. In fact, the sun made the sand SO hot, it burned if you stood too long on it. Once I had to run after our clothes that we draped over some drift wood to dry, and running was the only way to reach them because it was so hot! And they weren’t even really dry. The air is so humid and full of salty breezes, nothing really dried.

So during the hottest part of the day, we stayed in the shade or back at our tent, and one afternoon I colored with Natasha in the lodge. The coffee table was the perfect height for Natasha to stand at. While she colored, I chatted with a couple of the volunteers. The gal was doing upkeep for her boyfriend’s dreadlocks so that was an interesting conversation. :)

Little local boys would catch the famous red frogs, for which the island is named after, and try to get us to pay a dollar to see one. Fortunately, we could tell them we already saw them, and I was happy to have a camera so now you can see one too! (No charge.)

There were coconut trees just outside the lodge, and a long bamboo stick was leaning nearby. Its purpose was to knock down green coconuts so you could drink the coconut water!

Surf boards were for rent if you wanted to attempt surfing.

And little crabs were everywhere!

Palmar Tent Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama

This may seem a strange picture to start out a blog post with, but as we left our first hostel in Bocas Town, I had to get a snapshot of our shower. We had heard of these from our landlord in Boquete. He called them, “suicide showers”. Needless to say, we didn’t take a shower here.

We were headed to Red Frog Beach, another island which was a little boat ride away, to spend the next few days. While we waited on our water taxi, I took note of life in the Caribbean. I think this pictures sums it up:

This is where we spent the next few days! Palmar Tent Lodge is an eco-friendly, hostel type of resort on the beach.

We chose to stay in a provided tent, with a bed and a private “shower area”. The dry season was just coming to a close so water was rather precious. Our shower consisted of solar heated water in a bag, hung from a tree. It was gravity fed with a little shower nozzle and  worked pretty good, but it made for very quick and interesting shower experiences with a toddler. :)

The tent has its own battery powered light, and fan, which were quite handy. Despite our hardest efforts, there was the inevitable fact of sand being everywhere. To help keep it off of the wooden floor of our tent, there was a pan of water outside to dip your feet in before entering.

Individual tents were down a path in the jungle, and the main lodge area was on the beach.

It was like a hotel lobby, in a way. :) You could buy a beer, read a book from their little bookshelf, play some games, lounge on the sofas, and cook in the communal kitchen.

Or meet the parrots!

And of course, watch the waves.

Everyone who stayed at the Lodge was to bring their own food. They had a refrigerator that you could keep your cold items in, and bins to label with your own stuff. We took cheese and plantains and Mexican sausages, and basically had two meals a day for the time we were there. If you run out, you can buy some rice or cereal and Ramen noodles types of groceries from the bar.

A dear local lady took care of cleaning the kitchen every morning, and tidying things up. She smiled and carefully went about her duties as we passed her on the sandy paths. There were other locals working too, raking leaves out of the sandy jungle, and so on.

Volunteers from all over come to help run the Lodge…and they divide their time running the bar, taking recharged batteries to individual tents, hauling folks’ luggage around in wheelbarrows and lounging on the beach. It was so fun to meet people from the States who came down for a few months to live and volunteer their time. Once, they strung a rope between two palm trees and had balancing attempts. Anyone could get up and try walking across. We were all impressed with the one fella who could bend down on one foot with the other extended and so on. :)

And now we have a 3 year old!

Her special day included a pinkish-purple cake.

 

And a new pink bicycle.

 

And a family picture.

 

Happy Birthday Natasha! Thanks for making our duet a trio!

About a Year Ago…

One year ago on April 16th, Daniel, Natasha and I said goodbye to Boquete, Panama. You might have thought you’ve seen all the pictures from our Panamanian adventure, but no!

I thought I’d share pictures of our last week in Panama, before returning to the States. Are you confused yet as to what time I’m referring?! :) This would be…April 16-26, 2012. As in, after we left Boquete but before we flew home. See, we took a bit of a sightseeing vacation before actually returning to the States so we could see more of Panama.

To get an idea of where we were and where we were headed on our little excursion, see this map.  A is Boquete, and B is Bocas del Toro. 

So here we go. Never before seen pictures of our last week in Panama, day one! (April 16, 2012)

The last morning in our house on Volcancito Road:

All our bags, waiting for Daniel to lock the gate for the last time.

We walked quickly to the bottom of the hill, to catch the bus to David. About halfway down, a kind couple stopped and offered us a ride. Turns out that the fella knew of the exact county I grew up in back in the States! As an added bonus, he knew a dairy farmer from there. (I grew up milking cows…)

We caught the bus just in time and headed to catch a smaller bus at the main bus station in David. After our potty break, (where you pay a quarter to get a wad of toilet paper from the restroom attendant) we actually saw a couple from the church in Boquete on the sidewalk. That was a pleasant surprise! We exchanged goodbyes and “God bless yous” and waited for our bus. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the Indian family sitting on the cement waiting for a bus with not only all their belongings, but a propane tank AND a full size mattress. You see all sorts of people at bus stations…

As a little reminder, we were accustomed to being about 3500 ft. up in the mountains, with cool 70 degree weather and no humidity. But just an hour down the mountain, the temperature and humidity rose. David is much hotter and sweat appeared out of nowhere on our foreheads!

So we began the ~6 hour ride up to Almirante (where you can catch a boat to Bocas Town). For having to say goodbye to Boquete, I was in a rather good mood. It felt terribly exciting to be going to the Caribbean and it was fun to be seeing more of Panama.

For some reason we never referred to the buses as “chicken buses”. I guess that is what folks call them in other Central American countries, basically because you can see just about anything brought on, including chickens. We didn’t actually SEE the chickens in this box, but it was fun to hear them peeping. Natasha thought that was kind of fun.

As we approached the coast, houses started to look much more Caribbean.

Changing from bus to taxi to water taxi is kind of stressful. Especially when you look like a tourist, don’t speak much Spanish and have a ton of bags with you. After arriving at Alminrate, we took a quick taxi ride to the waterfront and got a water taxi to take us to Bocas Town.

Imagine the water taxi “station” looking something like this and when you arrive, “helpful” guys looking for tips descend upon you like vultures. “Taxi? Motel? You need help with your bags? I call taxi! We have one waiting! Here, here, here! I get it for you. No problem!” It’s hard to say no, because you don’t want to have to tip them, but when they really are legitimate, it’s hard to know which ones are!

Chiquita Bananas!

Turns out the reservations didn’t work out for our original hostel, but with the help of a slightly over-helpful local, he arranged for us to stay in another hostel down the street. For our supper, we went downtown and bought a pineapple. The town made me think of New Orleans, even though I’ve never been there. Very fishy and Caribbean!

More to come, so stay tuned

Early Birthday Celebration

It’s birthday month around here! Daniel’s Grandpa had a birthday the 12th, and Natasha was born one day before my Grandma’s birthday! We couldn’t be two places at once, so we missed the family gathering for Grandpa Bob, but we did have a little early party for Grandma and Natasha with my family this past weekend.

This was her first decorated cake! Please tell me you can tell it’s a panda. :)

 

So, she will be 3 on the 21st…

And Grandma will be 90 on the 22nd!!! Yes, I said 90!

 

The age difference is noticeable, but precious. It’s easy to see similarities though. They each need help doing basic daily things, and each one is headstrong and wants to be independent. But, one is nearing the end of life, while the other has her whole life ahead. May God bless the moments ahead, however long, for each one. It can be rather sobering…so we’re treasuring all the memories and times we share.

Happy Birthday my dear daughter, and my dear Grandma. We love you!

Anniversary Followup

To celebrate the actual DAY of our 5th anniversary, I made a carrot cake (in memory of our wedding cake) and we had fun cutting it just like at our wedding. And then feeding it to each other.

I used a Primal recipe, but skipped the dates and added pineapple chunks instead. It turned out lovely, moist and delicious. I was so proud!

Then…for the get away! We flew to Austin, Texas to enjoy some warmer weather, big blue skies and BBQ!

Some window shopping too…

This was one of the most fun places to eat. We stood outside in line for over an hour so we’d be sure to get some before they were sold out!

Indeed, we didn’t miss out and it was SO good!

We enjoyed the city park and lake with walking trails and a canoe ride.

It was a wonderful trip away and I didn’t want to come back! Now things are completely back to “normal” and we’re anxiously awaiting no-coat weather here. It might be a while though; we had snow all day today!