Internet, Skype and Mall incl. Cineday

After sleeping quite long (yesterday we went out to Casco Viejo, had a nice Aperetif on a rooftop bar, good dinner and a "Absacker" Drink in a nice bar ), today we called some people and will now after updating the blog go to a Mall. It is so damn hot here in town, that we are really looking forward to hanging around there with Aircondition!;-) In the evening we will watch the new movie of the American Pie series.

Welcome to Panama City

Welcome to Panama City! As we heard and read lots of good things about the capital of Panama, we decided to spend almost a week here. It is really impressive, they have skyskrapers alla New York and also lots of traffic as it is in big cities, but we really like it. After travelling around beaches, forests and mountains we are happy to join again a big city life, at least for a while...haha.

old and new in one picture

Look for some news and pictures at http://volunteertravellatinamerica.blogspot.com/p/panama.html

Celebrating my 26th birthday in Panama

Lots of people must think, wow, celebrating your birthday in panama...how special. In fact, it is not that different, actually i am missing my friends and family bit but Michael makes up for it all....after a  nice breakfast with a little present from Michael we did a little hike in the morning to a waterfall and got back right when it started to rain. In the afternoon I called my parents and sister so they can congratulate me...:) I even got a birthday cake from Michael, baked by the woman at the hostel. Unfortunately, it wasnt 100% done, so we just ate little parts of it! And tonight, Michael will invite me to a nice pizzeria.....cant wait!

Magdalena

Flight back home...

We did not book a flight back from Germany as we were not sure from where to fly back... now, as we finally will go to Colombia, we had to look for a flight. It was very strange to think and discuss about the date when we should fly back, as we are at the moment just in the middle of our whole trip... In the end it was all about the price of the flight ticket - so we booked a flight departing from Bogota, Colombia, on the 31st of july and arriving in Frankfurt, Germany, the 1st of August 22h local time.
But enough of thinking about home...;-)

Our search for a sailing boat to colombia...

The first time we heard about crossing the boarder from Panama to Colombia with a sailing boat, passing 2 days on the magic caribbean islands of San Blas, we decided: this is a must on our trip! There are several boats and captains offering this, some with great, some with bad reputation in the web... There is a nice hostel, called mamallena, in Panama City which provides all backpackers with the information, departures and descriptions of all boats, which is very useful.
Well, we have the option between 3 boats, which leave around the date we want. One of them, Ave maria, was out from the beginning because of bad things in the web. The next, Fritz the Cat, with an austrian captain, seemed nice and we booked it also because of the quite cheap price of 480USD, but then we read also some strange things about him. And as we really want it to be THE perfect trip, we discussed again and decided to take the even more expensive boat called One World, departing on the 4th of may. Now we are happy, hopefully chosen the right boat ! ;-)

Panamaaaaaa, here we come!

We arrived safe and sound in Panama! Our first stop in Panama is Bocas del Toro, a group of islands in the Carribbean see. We haven`t had time to write any articles but check out the pictures under the tab "Panama". Oh yeah, and we had a really interesting taxi ride with a guy who usually works as a soldier on the Panama-Colombia-border! For the ones who dont know anything about that border....you cant cross the Panama-Colombia border by foot, it is pure jungle! The area is dangerous due to drug trafficking and people who try to cross the border illegally.


     

Here is the direct link to the Panama tab: http://www.volunteertravellatinamerica.blogspot.com/p/panama.html

The Caribbean side of Costa Rica....what a dream

We spent our second and last week in Costa Rica at the Caribbean side of the country.  We went for 3 days to Cahuita and 3 days to Puerto Viejo. Both cities, about 20km away from each other, are close to wonderful, white sandy beaches with almost no one there....we will soon post some pictures on the blog!

But for now, we say good bye to Costa Rica. Tomorrow we are off to Panamaaaaa!

http://volunteertravellatinamerica.blogspot.com/p/costa-rica.html

News in Costa Rica

Hola amigos,

our "real" followers may have noted it...:-)
There is a new tab, for our trip through Costa Rica. Enjoy us following here...
ciao ciao
MM

http://volunteertravellatinamerica.blogspot.com/p/costa-rica.html

welcome to costa rica

Hola,

here we are in costa rica. On our trip by ticabus we met a nice couple from the states. Crossing the border was no big deal, although it took us around 2 h with travelling out of nica, arriving in costa rica and final baggage check... how happy we are in Europe, travelling without any borders...:-)

after one night on playa brasilito we are now in quepos, next to the national park of manuel antonio. unfortunately the sea in brasilito was kind of ill and smelled badly,this is why we moved on already.

like it is semana santa, there are a lot of costa rica people travelling, and you note this on the road,in the hostels and the bars...but it is interesting to see also them travelling.

one last note: it is so damn expensive here!! I would almost say european prices...and after 3 months living cheaply in nica, this is really a shock!:-)

Trip to the north of Nicaragua

Our last trip in Nicaragua took us to the north - Matagalpa, Selva Negra, Esteli and from there to the Canyon of Somoto and the next day one night and day with a nicaraguan family in Miraflor.
Have a look at our pix and more details at
http://volunteertravellatinamerica.blogspot.com/p/travelling-nicaragua.html

Goodbye Party Magdalena&Michael

So, just a quick update on our Goodbye party last week! Thanks to our amazing roomates (especially Babs) we had a great barbecue with balloons in the entire house! Everyone was there....volunteers of La Esperanza, Maria, our cleaning lady, our Spanish teacher Omar, the ayudantes...and of course, we had lots of delicious food and not to forget Babsis special fruit punch!
So, now it is time to say Good bye .... Granada, La Esperanza, all volunteers and ayudantes, Nicaragua! We had a great time! And now, off to new adventures!