Author: Florence

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?

“Mum, I’ve got a sore throat”
“Why?”
“Because I’m a little ho(a)rse”

I stopped my bike and looked back at Andy. He was grinning. We’d just passed a horse and a foal. Had the sun gone to his head?

He’d slept in this morning. I watched a couple of programmes on the iPlayer to make space on my laptop.

By the time we got to breakfast at 9:00am, it was just the two of us and we had the pick of tables.

We then walked to the main road, and rented some bikes for the morning. The owner told us we were brave as it was going to be a hot day. I was keen to go bike riding as I’d been meaning to do so since the beginning of the trip but for one reason or another, it hadn’t happened.

The rental man traced a route for us. 15kms. Do-able we thought.

It started well. We cycled for a bit taking in residential homes – some with lovely lush gardens, others a bit more run down.

Our first stop was the archeological remains in Maeva, a seaside village where royalty used to live. Only ruins of temples remain now. There was no-one else there. We had a good look around but weren’t really sure what we were looking at. This didn’t bother us too much as we’ll be back tomorrow with an expert.

The red-roof church in the village begged us to stop and look at it. There’s a small cemetery on the other side of the road. The church itself was nothing to write home about – where are those over the top Santo Domingo churches when you need them?

Just along the road, we came across some old fishing traps – some still in use today.

Back on the road, we were starting to feel the heat, and so it was timely to come across Melanie’s gallery and café. I had a cold homemade lemonade and Andy indulged in an orange and chocolate chip ice-cream. We had a look in her gallery. There was some really nice stuff there but not very practical for us to take back. Melanie – originally from the States – has lived on the islands since 1999, and this would explain how she captures the colours and the life here so well.

Our next stop was only five minutes away – the derelict Sofitel hotel. We locked our bikes and jumped in the sea. The beach is stunning (there is no other way to describe it). The swim was more than welcome. We stayed for twenty minutes or so and reluctantly we had to continue on our journey; we’d only rented the bikes for four hours.

On the way back, we took a different road and came across another Marae. The road was more off-piste (read bumpy and full of potholes). One of the benefits was that there was some shade. And the houses on both sides of the track were definitely lived in by locals – all of them offering a friendly hello as we cycled past. Just across from the archeological site, we checked out the ocean. The colours were out of this world (it’s like living in a Velvia world this island!), and there was no one there, well… only one other person.

From then on, it became quite tough. I had a male bike (the lady’s one was being fixed today after someone had an issue with it yesterday) and the saddle wasn’t particularly comfortable. Eventually we came across the runway, and although that stretch of the journey was incredibly hot – no shade – it felt as if we were getting somewhere. We stopped off at the airport for a cooling drink. I took the opportunity to run my head under the cold tap.

When we returned the bikes, I asked about the Sofitel. It closed down a number of years ago now, as tourist numbers are low here. The business is for sale, but no one’s come forward yet. The spot is beautiful, and an eco-lodge would be perfect I think. Crowdfunding campaign anyone?

Back in the hotel, we cooled off with a swim in the sea – Andy went snorkeling for a bit and came across new types of fish – and then the pool.

We elected to spend some time on our terrace. The space is private, with lovely chairs and we have a couple of loungers too. Andy came back from the bar with two pints of Hinano Tahiti, and the beers were just what we needed. He’d also sorted the internet access (you have to pay for it here, and he got us twenty four hours).

On our way to dinner, we went to the hotel museum. It’s very small, and sits opposite reception. It tells the story of the people of French Polynesia and how they went off to explore new places and eventually settled in Hawaii and New Zealand. It also tells about the archeological finds around the hotel. The site is rich in history – we have two marae nearby and these settlements were the first ones on Huahine.

Dinner was excellent. We had a bottle of Bourgogne aligote, and our own secluded table by the pool… candle-lit. Our meal request had made its way to the chef – vegetables and rice in coconut cream and lime curry. Yummy.

Nature and culture

We woke up before the alarm. It’s not really surprising, we went to bed sooooo early.

Breakfast has to be quick today as we need to be ready to go at 7.45am.

Yvette picked us up for our Nature and Culture tour. We hadn’t been in the car for five minutes when she stopped to show us the breadfruit trees – these are part of the Mutiny on the Bounty story that accompanied us today (some of the film versions were filmed here). More traditionally, after each birth, the placenta is buried in the garden and a breadfruit tree is planted. Think about that, and then look around… there are breadfruit trees everywhere.

We drove around Cook’s Bay (Pao Pao Bay ) which isn’t the bay Captain Cook anchored in, of course and then Ōpūnohu Bay.  More driving took us to the Bounty Plateau – the 360° view is simply out of this world. Yvette told us legends about the mountains – king and princesses protecting the islands.

Back at the car, Yvette gives us passion fruit juice she made at home this morning. It is refreshing and cooling. The humidity today – combined with the sun – is a killer.

En-route to our next destination, she showed us many trees and flowers which have multiple purposes – they’re used as medicine, make-up, to make roofs and hats, boats and anything else you can think of.

Next, we visited farms. Pineapples and papayas. All around us are passion fruit trees and avocado trees. We helped her pick up fallen fruits.

Next, we drive to the Belvedere. The view is – well, it’s so easy to run out of superlatives here – not bad. Not bad at all.

For our next stop, Yvette warned us to put as much insect repellent on as we could. We walked in the forest to the marae (ancient temples ). The mosquitoes were so bad that she only let us look at one of them from the car. She explained that most of the cultures and traditions have gone. These were mostly oral and were lost when the missionaries forced them to abandon their culture. These were where chiefs made political, social and religious decisions. One has steps Mayan style. In some cases, sacrifices – human – were made to the war god – Oro. The light in the forest was stunning.

Yvette then took us to the agricultural school. They make jams there – we tried a few and then got sorbets – passion fruit and ginger for me. Andy settled for passion fruit and soursop – a sherberty flavour. And then we had a fresh pineapple juice. Yvette then brought us helpings of the avocado (the fruits are huge here, seriously), papaya and passion fruit we’d collected earlier on.

As we’re ready to go, I went off to have a little chat with a couple of cats. They had a lot to say, and politely answered any questions I had.

At the fruit factory, we sampled fruit juice and ready made cocktails.

This was a half day tour. We packed so much in. I don’t think there was a moment when Yvette wasn’t talking. She loves telling stories about Moorea, talking about the cultures. She is vibrant and a tour with her is priceless. She’s great.

Back at the hotel, we went for a swim in the sea, and then the pool. We seriously needed to cool off. After lunch, we went snorkelling around the bungalows. Andy went further out. I stayed close to shore and even just there, the variety of fish is staggering – yellow ones, orange ones, black ones, stripy ones, silver ones, hoover ones (on the seabed), flat ones, multi-coloured ones, fat ones and big ones (one was so big I did a double-take as it was coming near me).

Back in the pool – there’s hardly anyone there… so here’s a tip, so far the shoulder season has treated us well and if you avoid the weekend, you have the resort more or less to ourself.

We decided to explore the other side of town (turning right as we left the hotel). Many shops, banks, restaurants and another supermarket.

On the way back, we stopped at the Moorea Beach Cafe. The setting is perfect. We have drinks whilst we wait for our take-away goat cheese pizza. Andy had a local beer. I settled on a vodka martini… and I need to say at this point that cocktails here are strong. They certainly don’t skimp on the alcohol.

A great day.

Moorea is stunning. Everything about it.

I think I’m in love.

Demain, il fait beau

We woke up to an ominous sky. As we left our room, it felt as if we were walking into a steam room; the humidity today was around 80.

Breakfast was a hearty affair. As we were discussing the day ahead, the heavens opened. We looked at each other. That wasn’t the plan for today.

Andy went off to the activity desk, and managed to get today’s expedition re-arranged to Wednesday. Theresa agreed that this was a good move, and assured us that the weather will be lovely tomorrow. We lingered a bit longer, and had another cup of coffee.

The rain didn’t let off. We got back to our room and decided to make the most of today. Desperate times called for desperate actions. I made a list:

– Delete photos and make space on my laptops (the start-up disk is full so it’s near impossible to import new photos)
– Play games (the reception desk has a broad selection of board games)
– Write diaries
– Back up photos
– Mend bag
– Camera cleaning
– Change cameras’ dates and times
– Watch episode two of Apple Tree Yard
– Walk to town
– Swim

We started with the less fun tasks.

Around 3pm, the rain let off so we took ourselves to town. Turning left as we left the complex, one long street with a couple of hardware stores, a knickknack shop, a restaurant (which was shut) and a supermarket. Out of curiosity, we went in. There were hardly any vegetables for sale (I’m guessing that people grow their own. They certainly have fruit trees in their garden), but the wine selection was decent. We bought a couple of beers.

On the way back, we spotted crabs on the edge of the road, and eels in a river.

In French Polynesia, the point kilométrique (PK) markers start at PK0 at the airport and go around the coast in both clockwise and anticlockwise directions. A restaurant’s address for example would be the name e.g. Restaurant Andy, Maharaja, PK5.

We taught ourselves how to play dominos and then ‘Let Master’ – a kind of anagram game where you move your piece a certain number of spaces depending on wether you won the round, or lost it. The rules were in French. We played a version of the game. Who knows.

All day, it’s looked like the place was deserted, and then slowly people started to emerge from their rooms either stretching their legs or going for a swim. There are fewer people staying now that the weekenders from Papeete have gone home. The pool wasn’t really busy so I was able to do a few lengths. We settled by the pool with our books, and then a few pages in I realised that it was Happy Hour.

Time for rum cocktails and an early night. Not only it is tiring doing nothing, we also have an early start in the morning.

Ia orana, maeva

Yesterday was one of the least fun days we’ve had on our travel. But it had to happen. We’d been very lucky so far, all the travelling we’d done was self-contained. When we originally put the itinerary together, we toyed with the idea of breaking the journey and spending a couple of days in Buenos Aires (this would have been our third visit there, it’s an awesome place) but the airline schedules didn’t work out unfortunately.

And so it is what it is.

We left Los Angeles at 22.40 and flew to Tahiti with Air Tahiti Nui. Everything about this airline is fun. They give you flowers; the crew dresses in floral uniforms, the branding is all pastel colours. The flight was uneventful. Andy slept most of the way and when he didn’t, he chatted away to the crew in Spanish, and the hostess would then turn to me and ask me – in French – what he’d said. Bless.

We landed in Papeete at 5.05am. Get this. There was a band and dancers to welcome us, and we were presented with a traditional flower lei. Immigration was a doddle – very few people on the plane were Europeans, and so we breezed through the E.U. queue – please spare a thought for poor Andy who will have to use the non E.U. queue in the near future!

With all the paperwork done and the luggage collected, we left the terminal, went to the cashpoint… and checked in at the domestic terminal. We had just over 3.5 hours to our flight to Moorea.

The last leg of the journey was precious however. We could see our destination clearly from the runway as we boarded. As we we were seated, we had the announcement about making sure we put our seatbelt on, and then there was an announcement to say that we were preparing for landing. Our flight duration was eight minutes :-).

Seating on the left of the plane afforded us amazing view of Moorea and its jagged mountain peaks and its lush jungle. This place was on my must see list and I’m thrilled to bits to be here… 31 hours after we left Panama City.

The island feels familiar and yet so different from the scenery we had grown accustomed to. The hills are rugged and the flora’s different. The temperature’s pretty much what we’re accustomed to by now. Hot and sunny… maybe a tad too humid. But let’s be clear, we’ll take this. We’re travelling here during the shoulder season and we were told that rain would not be uncommon. This is the risk we took. The alternative would have been to come here half way through our New Zealand trip and so it made more sense this way. So far, so good.

Our transfer to the hotel was easy. The hotel reception greeted us with ‘Ia orana, maeva’ (hello, welcome). With the end in sight, we both started thinking about taking a nap on arrival… but our room wasn’t ready. Bummer. We seriously needed some TLC by then. Undeterred, we rummaged around our bags to get our swimmies and hit the beach. The water was warm, the sun was out… and just by swimming for 15 mins or so, we saw an incredible amount of fish. Easy snorkelling around here we reckon. Swam in the sea, loungers, infinity pool, loungers, swam in the sea, loungers, infinity pool… repeat.

We got our room at 2pm and laughed. I had deliberately asked to get a standard room – as opposed to a bungalow over the sea as there is quite a lot to do in Moorea. I’d anticipated that we’d never leave the bungalow if we stayed in one. Our room is amazing – spacious, the hottest water we’ve had since leaving London, a massive bed and an outdoor private balcony.

We are staying  at the Manava Beach Resort and Spa Moorea and it’s not too shabby… let me tell you! The staff are incredibly friendly. The place is beautiful, the water is potable and it’s run as an eco-friendly place. The bungalows over the sea are located over corals rescued from the lagoon. There is a man who goes round checking on the health of the coral (pollution, global warming, tourism), and he brings unhealthy coral back to the resort and tries to restore it to full health. This, in turn, brings in an crazy variety of fish which you can see really well (this is the clearest water we’ve seen on the trip yet).

We can’t wait to explore the island further. It is supposed to be unspoilt. With so much to do and not much time, we sat down to draw of a list of the activities we’d like to do. As we were busy planning, there was a knock on the door, and when I opened it I was faced with a man with a pineapple in his hand. A welcome gift.

We played three games of table tennis and I lost all three. True, I was getting distracted by the view but also some of my shots were shockingly bad.

Ah yes, the view. No photos today I’m afraid. Too tired to function, but full service will resume tomorrow.

For dinner, we opted for the resort’s themed buffet (‘food of the world’). At 5900 CFP (Franc Cours Pacific, or the Pacific Franc) per person, which is roughly £42 a head, it’s not cheap, but we’re too tired to go and explore. Also, we’d seen the menu in advance and there was tons of salads. Imagine, salad we could finally eat without the fear of getting unwell! And we sneaked in a tiny bit of salmon for an Omar lookalike cat.

At 8pm, there was a dance performance by the pool. It was great to see some Polynesian culture… for ten minutes. All the travel finally caught up with us and as good as the dancers were, we left. Because… bed.

PTY – LAX – PPT

Guillermo was ready for us at 7.45am. Andy just had time to weigh our bags to make sure we were within our limit.

The drive to the airport was super easy – no traffic – so we were there soon after 8.10am. If only all airport rides were that easy. On the way, we passed Panama Viejo, and saw a few ruins.

The check in was fine. Breakfast wasn’t. There wasn’t a lot of choice. The food was okay, and the coffee a little less than okay. We had planned to be at the airport 2.5 hours before we were due to take off. But with the easy journey in and our flight time being pushed back by 25 minutes, we had a lot of time to kill. Waiting to board our flights, I made a start on researching our next destination – and as the internet connection was fine, I purchased the Lonely Planet e-book. Andy went off to explore the shops, came back, went off to get a much better coffee and then had to leave half of it behind as they called our flight.

We flew with Copa Airlines. We got decent seats. When the food arrived, it turned out that they’d lost our vegetarian requests, so we made do with a bread roll and a small salad. Clearly today’s not going to be our lucky day for food.

Looking at the flight map, we thought about how we were flying over all the countries we’ve visited over the last nine weeks in less than three hours.

How can we sum up these past nine weeks?

There were some discoveries and revelations. Some places will stay with us forever; some we can’t wait to go back to. We’ve enjoyed the landscapes, the scenery, the cultures, the food, the weather, the many people we have been lucky to meet. I would do it all over again; I don’t think I was ready to leave Central America. Andy knowing we were leaving got himself mentally ready and is looking forward to the next chapter of our trip.

There were some casualties:

  • My hairbrush
  • My sunglasses
  • A jumper left behind by accident
  • Andy’s flip flops (he no longer flops)
  • His sandals
  • His shorts never seen again after our first cenote (forgotten? Misplaced?)

And a few disappointments. We never really got to grips with Guatemala (probably the country we were most looking forward to) and the food in Panama which for us was mostly stodgy western food. We never managed to sort out surfing anywhere.

Some odd numbers:

  • Countries visited: 8
  • Beers consumed: 35 (Florence), 37 (Andy)
  • Photos taken: 21,000 (we have a lot of deleting to do!)

After 6 hours and 40 mins, we landed in L.A.

Andy sailed through immigration. I didn’t. I had one of those guys who get a power trip out of the job and the uniform. The conversation didn’t go well. I had to bite my tongue and think before I spoke (not one of my strengths) but that annoyed him even more as I took too long to respond. Anyway, to cut an unpleasant incident short (and this is by far the worse thing that’s happened to me on this trip), he let me in… so I could get out again.

I’d like to say that we walked into Trump’s America, didn’t like what we saw and turned around.

Or I could say that the low temperature (14C!!!), the mist and the rain did not appeal to us so we turned around.

But the reality is that we’d never planned to spend anytime in Los Angeles. We’re here because of our flights and so we walked ten minutes to terminal B and waited for our check-in to open – over two hours. And then we found out that again the vegetarian meals we’d ordered were not registered, and it was now too late to get them.

Onto security. Yes, of course my bag was picked up for inspection and emptied. And I was asked some ridiculous questions.

This is how bad things are right now. I’m sitting opposite a bar that has Californian, wines, and I’m drinking water. I need the stress headache to go away.

The best (worse?) thing about the departure lounge is a souvenir shop… full of Trump crap. I looked in disgust, not knowing whether to laugh or cry #resist

Hmmm… an airport day, and not one of our best ones.

A tale of three cities

We had breakfast on our roof terrace this morning. I dipped my toes in the pool. Many birds – including a bird of prey – flew by, some stopping to drink from the water.

With our bags packed, we checked ourselves out of our AirBnB place and waited for Guillermo (the taxi driver who took us to our dinner place on our first night here, and to Miraflores the following day). He was prompt, and the journey back to the CentroAmericano hotel was easy enough. We dropped our overnight bags and Guillermo took us to Hard Rock Hotel Panama Megapolis.

The plan was to do some location scouting for this evening, and then walk back to the hotel. We explored the complex, and the shopping mall nearby (Andy’s still trying to buy shoes).

We walked along Avenida Balboa – the ocean on one side and the high rises on the other. Many of the buildings are residential, which I wasn’t expecting. But then again, that pretty much sums up Panama City. I’m not quite sure what to make of the place.

It was fitting to come across the monument to Vasco Núñez de Balboa. His claim to fame is to be the first European to cross the isthmus of Panama to the Pacific Ocean, having heard of “the other sea”. And yes, the idea for a Panama canal dates back to then, as this would greatly shorten the route for the transport of gold and silver to Spain.

The man is a bit of a hero in Panama. Several parks and avenues bear his name. The Panamanian currency is called the Balboa, and his likeness appears on the reverse of most Panamanian coins. The Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal is the port of Balboa. And the national beer is… Balboa.

The walk back was hard. Too much sun. Too little breeze. Very little water. I overheated – and drunk a lot of water when we got back to our room.

We had planned to spend a couple of hours in Panama Viejo, but thought it wise to retreat to our room. This gave us the chance to sort our bags ready for tomorrow morning. Funny fact: there are five floors to this hotel, not many people are staying here today and yet we’re in the same room we were in last time we were here. What are the odds?

What is now Panama Viejo was the first capital of Panama. It was established in 1519 and suffered a number of fires and pirate attacks, the last of which by Welsh pirate Henry Morgan totally destroyed the city. The devastated town – in the eastern side of the city – is still in ruins and is now a popular tourist attraction.

This led to Casco Viejo to establish itself as the second capital city of Panama. We loved our stay in Casco Viejo – slowly exploring the narrow streets, restored and ruined buildings.

When the canal took off, it brought great benefits to the infrastructure and economy. There were also improvements in health and sanitation, Yellow fever was eradicated in 1905 and the malaria rate dropped off significantly. And so it was thought that Panama needed a smarter capital city – businesses moved to the high rises.

Today, it’s not a big city with an urban population of only 430,299.

We walked back to Hard Rock Hotel Panama Megapolis and made our way to BITS (Bar in the Sky). Located on the 62nd floor, it offers great views of the canal, Casco Viejo and much of Panama City. The perfect place for sunset we thought… We figured we’d have a couple of drinks to celebrate our time in Central America. We’d even brought our diaries. That was the plan.

The reality is that we missed the sunset by a few minutes (how did that happen???). By the light in the sky, it doesn’t look like we missed much. We still walked around and took in the view. As for the drinks, the bar doesn’t open until 8pm, and that’s when Guillermo was due to pick us up.

Hey ho.

A rubbish story

 

The alarm went off at 3.50am and there was no ignoring it as it was extremely loud. I guess Andy wanted to make sure we wouldn’t miss it. We met our driver in reception at 4.30am for the short drive to the airport. We checked in and soon after 6.15am, we were in the air… in a ridiculously small plane.

The flight was just over 30 mins (or 30 mins too long if you’re me). With just enough light in the sky, we were able to take in the Panama City skyline, and a few moments later sunrise over the clouds.

It is staggering how varied Panama is. With Bocas del Toro having such a relaxed vibe and being so hot; Boquete so mild and atmospheric; Santa Catalina so small and laid back; Panama City (and the canal) being so slick and modern and now here we are… in Guna Yala (formerly known as the San Blas islands), away from modern technology. A true place to unwind.

We first heard about San Blas in 2001, and since then, I have wanted to come here. This is the home of the Kuna indigenous people.

  • The Kuna speak Dulegaya. Yes is eye, no is suli. Hammock is kachi. Water is di and island is dup
  • Playón Chico (Ukupseni) was the centre of the 1925 Tule revolution. The uprising against the Panamanian government which was using military action to force them to adopt Hispanic culture, led to political autonomy from the mainland. They celebrate each February and flags have started to pop up across the community
  • It is said that the Kunas had the first autonomous indigenous territory in Panama and Latin America
  • They are the second smallest people in the world after the pygmies

We are staying at the Yandup Island Lodge. It wasn’t easy making this happen and yesterday, as we were packing our small bags for our stay, Andy raised concerns that it was a hassle coming here, and maybe we should have skipped it (I think it was the 3.50am wake up call calling). Today, minutes after being here, he regretted the fact that there was no Internet connection, as he couldn’t research how best we could combine another trip with another stay here 🙂

The Yandup Island Lodge is eco-friendly. They have solar panels and ask their guests to be mindful of the use of water and electricity. They also engage people staying here with the community, making sure first that we don’t do anything to offend. We’re told what clothing to wear/not wear when visiting the community; how not to haggle when buying goods and how we cannot take any photos of people (in some cases, this may be possible if we ask first and probably for a small fee).

After being shown to our over-the-sea cabana (it’s gorgeous), we went to have breakfast. We have a red pepper omelette and cheese, orange juice and coffee. This is a no nonsense place. All the food is included in our package. There is one option for breakfast and set menus for lunch and dinner. This suits us well.

We also have two activities a day planned… but after a quick chat over breakfast, we’d agreed to skip this morning’s activity (snorkelling) and stay in our cabana, or to be more accurate our veranda (if that’s the correct word). We have a walkway all around our room, and to make the most of the sea view, we have two hammocks, a rocking chair and a hanging chair… tough choices.

On the spur of the moment, we decided to walk around the island (the lodge is on its own island) and five minutes later, we were in our hammocks. The four hours until lunch passed in no time. Reading, writing our diaries, staring at the view in the distance and the sea. Andy snoozed – apparently the soothing sound of the waves was the culprit 🙂

Lunch was a tasty affair – a fresh green salad, stuffed baby aubergines with green beans and potatoes and watermelon for dessert. And plenty of water. From our table, I spotted two needlefish swimming about – they’re almost translucent bright blue.

At 3.30pm, we left by boat to go to visit the Playón Chico community. Instantly, it felt like every one lives on top of each other. We learned that there are 49 Kuna communities, with around 30,000 people. Over 3.000 people live on Playón Chico alone. 60% of the population are children, with most families having between five and eight children. It’s so crowded on the island that the chief asked for volunteers to go and live on the mainland. This is now in planning, with the move planned within the next ten years. Most houses are made from material from the forest. Families commonly have two buildings – a living space and a kitchen. The women wear the Kuna traditional dress – super colourful. They are displaying their wares, mostly molas in the hope that we’ll stop and make a purchase. Traditional molas have geometric patterns. Two molas are used as part of the traditional outfit, over the skirt and blouse. Photos cost a dollar each.

There were two games of football playing on the main square – on the same pitch. All boys I noticed.

People here live simply. Mother Nature is the provider. They get fish from the sea, and food from the forest – coconut, mangos and pineapple. For wood, they burn mangrove tree and coconut shells. It is very much subsistence living.

Tourism here is well managed and controlled, and they are careful not to compromise their way of living. It is not easy to make it to Guna Yala, which means that they know exactly who is coming when and staying where. The communities benefit directly from every dollar spent.

It feels good to be able to support this community, even if only in such a small way.

Upon landing, we’d noticed a fair amount of rubbish along the water’s edge. This was evident again around the town. Mostly plastic from further up the coast washed down here with the current. It was the same story in Santa Catalina sadly: some currents are full of rubbish, and Mike tries to pick some up each time he is on a boat. Here, there was a man busy sorting through the rubbish by the airport first thing. You can’t help but think this is a losing battle.

We have great crepuscular light at sunset time. After dinner, Andy went for a massage. He comes back even more chilled. We stared at the stars for ages. It was pitch black outside. We sat in our hammocks and rocked from side to side to the sound of the sea.

Yer an itoge (I am happy).

Small fishes, big fishes and all sizes in between

We cooked our own breakfast this morning. Andy had a cheese omelette and I had cheese on toast with fried eggs. And a glass of fresh pineapple juice to go with it.

At 7.45am, Mike came to pick us up. A short drive to the harbour – if you can call it that – and we boarded Dolphin I.

We had a full day of snorkelling ahead of us. Yes, the craziness continues!

After watching a pod of dolphins pass by, we continued to Isla Granito de Oro. The island is idyllic – white sand, palm trees. But we didn’t go ashore. We put our snorkelling gear on – including fins which is a first for me – and we proceeded to swim around the island. Incredible. Such a variety of marine life – we saw turtles, a huge school of fish, cornet fish, reef sharks, spotted eagle ray, blue sting ray, moorish idol, freckled porcupine fish, sea urchins and much much more. And so close to us. This was the first proper snorkelling I’ve ever done, and I only manages it because Mike held my hand most of the time. This gave me the confidence to have a good look around, putting my head just a little deeper into the water.

Our second stop is Islas Cocos. Again Mike held my hand, the variety of fish was incredible. A tiny yellow fish started to follow Andy around. It’s no bigger than 2 cms, and yet it seemed comfortable close to him. It’s quite funny.

We continued on to Coiba Island where we disembarked for lunch. The island used to be used as a prison until fairly recently. Now, it welcomes snorkelling groups. There’s a small educational centre (with some weird exhibits) and a few trails – we hiked the shortest one to the viewpoint, which looked out over the islands we visited in the morning.

I decided to sit out the next snorkel. It’s a short one but clearly my morning’s adventures had taken their toll. I felt nicely tired, that nice feeling you have when you’re gently aching. I think I’ll sleep well tonight.

Our final stop is Isla Ranchería. There were a few boats there already, but we moored away from them. We took a little stroll – enough to see the crocodile trail to and from the sea. We’d seen the sign, and were told to avoid the fresh water river. We splashed in the water for a bit, reflecting on what an excellent leg the San Jose to Panama City was. Totally unexpected.

On the way back, we saw more dolphins in the distance.

We dropped our stuff in our room, and set off to find La Mencheria – where according to Lonely Planet we’d find the best ice cream in the whole of Panama. Andy and I both had scoops of passion fruit and nutella. Delicious!

We’re currently sitting in the hammock outside our room. There is a cold bottle of Panama Lager near us, the little kitten is asleep nearby. There is the smallest of breezes. I just chatted to Andy, and he agrees… this was the most excellent of days.

If Bocas del Toro was paradise, what does it make this place? Heaven?

“Don’t go too far to the left, that’s where the crocodiles are”

So sad to be leaving our hotel in Boquete this morning. We loved it and would have given anything to have a few more days there, watching the clouds pass over the mountains, the light changing constantly and our feathery friends.

A little downbeat, we boarded our private transport, which was spacious and luxurious. So already things were looking up. And then we noticed our driver’s nephew’s t-shirt: ‘Save a cow, Eat a vegetarian’.

An hour into our journey, we stopped at Rey supermarket in David and did a mini supermarket sweep. We had 35 mins to get breakfast for the next two days, and we picked up a few treats too. We didn’t do too badly considering it’s always tricky to navigate a supermarket you’re unfamiliar with.

Back on the road, we hit the PanAmerican Highway. Progress was slow as traffic was reduced to two lanes for all vehicles; the other two lanes were being upgraded or maintained.

At some point, we turned left. The smaller road was in good condition. It was also deserted. The landscape’s definitely more rural. Grazing fields. People travelling by horseback.

None of the grandeur of Boquete; the houses are modest and made of bare bricks (some brightly painted, others not) and metal roofs. A horse stood waiting at a bus stop.

We stopped in Soná for lunch. Brian (we found out recently that the correct spelling of his name is Brayan) suggested Ise Ming, a local restaurant. The menu changes daily; there wasn’t much for us today so I ordered a fried egg sandwich; Andy a cheese one. Both were tasty, and excellent value – we paid $4.60 for both sandwiches and one drink. The currency in Panama is the Balboa but everything is priced in dollars (one Balboa is one dollar). Every now and then we get a few Balboa coins as change. Having placed my order, I walked down the main street for a bit and noticed that all the bars have a metal fence in front of the doorway. How very wild west!

Back on the road, the landscape’s more parched. The road twisted and turned. Slowly, we made our way down to the coast. We passed the small community of Farfán – there was no sign of life. Deserted. Everyone’s probably keeping out of the sun.

We arrived in Santa Catalina around 3pm. This is a small fishing village famed for its surfing. We’re staying in a hostel type place, but we have our own private room. Rooms don’t have numbers here, they have colours. We’re allocated the pink room (!!!) but it comes with an en-suite so I don’t complain too much. It also has two double and four single beds.

We put our swimming gear on and walked ten minutes down to the beach. First, we needed to cross a small river – we’re told to watch out for the tide (so we didn’t get cut off) and the crocodiles on the left.

The sand was so hot, we hopped to the sea (yes, we really did). When we got there, it was glorious. The beach’s curved and it wouldn’t look out of place in an advert. It’s stunning. We played and splashed about for a while. A lot of fun.

On the way back, we stopped at the hostel for a couple of beers and made it back to the coast five minutes from the hostel in the opposite direction to the beach in time for sunset.

Tonight, Brayan organised a barbecue for us all. We chipped in – cooking and washing up. Good fun. But we didn’t stay up too late as we have a fairly early start tomorrow morning.

Officially stupid

Breakfast with a view. Fresh fruit, toast and marmalade; it’s included so quite basic but still tasty.

At 8:30am, we picked up our guide Octavio who took us over a hanging bridge to the hotel’s coffee plantations. The plantation is unlike any other we’ve ever seen. There are no rows of coffee plants here, it seems that they grow haphazardly, few and far between. We learned about pollination, how one coffee plant differs from another and how the soil and weather conditions also make a difference. Next, we tasted seven coffees from the farm; one by one starting from the light roast going up in strengths, two speciality ones and a blend. We smelled it three ways: dry straight from the grinder; brewed with the foam on top and then remove the foam and taste the coffee. At the first slurps, we got bitterness but trying them a second and third time, we were able to get a few more flavours – blueberry and honey for example. Interesting fact: the light roast contains the most caffeine, as roasting removes it.

I was lucky enough to get a glimpse of a male quetzal as it flew into the forest.

High on caffeine, we decided to have an early lunch as I had stupidly put my name down to go zip-lining at 1:30pm. The idea behind this was that doing it once proved that I could conquer my fears; twice meant that I was cool with it. Bah.

Gear on, safety and instruction talks out of the way, we boarded the bus to the top of the hill. The first zip-line was fine. I didn’t get on with the second one at all, and that freaked me out a little as there are a total of twelve lines to go through. But after a quick pep talk to myself, I got back on track and even started to have fun. The two longest lines are 500 meters each, and flew right over the hotel’s restaurant where Andy was positioned as ‘official’ photographer.

Back in the restaurant, I ordered a treat – passion fruit mousse. And incredibly, two male and one female quetzals flew past.

Sitting on our patio, we aimed to write our diaries but realised the futility of our task when the hummingbird came back to feed on the flowers near us. Up in a tree, we spotted a medium sized red bird – so bright. And then, he came and stood on a fence right next to us. And then further into the forest, one of the male quetzals. Too far to take any decent shots but clear enough that we could see the blue feathers at the back and the tail.

We went for a little wander around the hotel, trying to catch the last of the light, and then back to our patio – diaries and rum. Some of our travelling companions joined us. We may just have started something here.