(For English, see further down)

Efter en fantastisk tur til Galapagos, gik turen videre til endnu et kontinent, Centralamerika. Vi havde booket et fly videre til Panama City, hvor vi ville spendere nogle dage og ellers tage turen langs kysten nord på .
Men som bekendt går det ikke altid som præsten prædiker... Vi kom da til Panama City, men det gjorde vores bagage ikke. Den brugte flyselskabet lige en dags tid på at finde (i Quito som vi forlod) og så et par dage yderligere til at få dem frem. Vi brugte tiden på at se byen, herunder den gamle by del, Casco Viejo. Byen bestod af tonsvis af skyskrabere og ellers bare shoppingcentre. Sidstnævnte nød Melanie godt af ;). Og nu, hvor vi fik lidt penge fra forsikringen, pga. mistet bagage, havde man en reel undskyldning for at shoppe. Men det var nu ikke derfor, vi var kommet til Panama. Der var nemlig en bestemt attraktion, der lokkede, nemlig den berømte Panama Kanal - og hvilket syn! Det er noget af det mest fantastiske vi har set (i hvert fald menneskeskabt). Vi brugte flere timer på at obsevere gigantiske skibe, transporterende flere tusinde containere, blive ført igennem det ene bassin til det andet, ved at blive sænket et niveau ned og ført frem i det efterfølgende bassin for at gentage proceduren. Helt igennem fantastisk at det kan lade sig gøre :)!

Og efter 5 dage i Panama City (og bagagen igen i vores hænder) tog vi natbussen til Bocas Del Toro, som er en lille koloni af caribiske øer, der ligger udfra den nordlige Panamas kyst. Og lad os bare slå det fast med det samme, stedet tog os med storm! Vi havde lejet en mini lejlighed med eget køkken (endelig hjemmelavet mad, uhmmm), privat terasse med to indbydende hængekøjer og en lille have. Lejligheden var beliggende i stueetagen hos en tysk dame, der selv boede på første sal. Vi blev simpelthen modtaget med åbne arme og en gæstfrihed, der ikke har kendt til magen. Allerede første dag bankede hun på døren til vores hyggelige lejlighed og inviterede os, sammen med hendes familie (sønnen og kæresten), på en sejltur på hendes egen båd resten af dagen. Turen gik rundt om øen til Bocas del Drago, hvor stranden kaldes for 'Star Fish Beach', pga. flere hundrede søstjerne kolonier. Her snorklede vi og svømmende i det lune vand (ca. 29grader) og ikke mindst nød frokosten og de medbragte små fadøl!

De næste dage stod på at få job til Melanie (-og det kan hermed meddeles, at hun har fået job på Holbæk Sygehus med start d. 1/8). Og da jobbet var i hus og fejret :), så vi en mulighed for at prøve de til lejligheden tilhørende cykler af. Vi lavede en picnickurv og tog ud og udforskede øen. Og igen blev vi ikke skuffede. Efter 30 min. cykling langs kysten havde vi pludselig det hele for os selv. Så vi tilbragte eftermiddagen på vores helt egen strand i Caribien og bare nød livet med madpakken og igen de små fadøl ;).
Ja, man kan sige, vi blev afhængige af cyklen de næste dage. I den anledning mente vi, at vi skulle tage turen tværs over øen og igen besøge Star Fish Beach. Peter, der var kæreste til ejeren, mente dog, at vi skulle tænke os om, for som han udlagde det var turen "a bit hilly". Men vi er jo fra Danmark og vant til at cykle, så vi forsikrede ham, at det var intet problem. MEN, haha :), han fik ret, for turen var ikke bare "hilly" det var en regulær bjergetape, der var Tour de France værdig! Sveden piblede ad os og et stk tøj røg af efter det næste, så vi kun havde badetøj på til sidst. Efter små 2 timer, i sadlen på en havelåge uden gear, nåede vi endelig frem til stranden :) - dog godt trætte og med minimal lyst til at cykle de 15 km. tilbage. Her nød vi godt af vejret og omgivelserne, kort sagt dasede i paradis.
5 dage på Bocas del Toro var 5 dage for lidt, men vi har jo et stramt program.

Næste stop var Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. Vi skulle med en bus i 5 timers tid før vi nåede vores destination. Efter turen til Bocas del Toro, havde vi sat forventningerne højt til det meget omtalte Puerto Viejo. Stedet havde rygte for at være et meget "tranquillo" (afslappet) sted med masser af festhumør og gode surfsspot, og dertilhørende lækre strande. Det var i hvert fald afslappet, men formentlig fordi alle var så skæve af at have røget tjald. Og udover denne "chilled" stemning var strandene heller ikke noget at skrive hjem om. Og Melanie havde virkelig set frem til at besøge Costa Rica igen, da hun elskede det sidst hun var der - dog var det på Stillehavssiden (som også de fleste falder for og synes er det smukkeste af landet). Så vi var begge ret skuffede :(.
Derfor valgte vi i stedet for de planlagte 5 dage i Puerto Viejo, at skære opholdet ned til 2 dage og indlægge et visit til Guatemala i stedet.
DOG nåede vi lige en tur til et af verdens 5 smukkeste river rafting steder, hvad angår naturoplevelsen. Det var en super smuk tur, og sjov, da den er en kategori 4 (skalaen går fra 1-6, hvor 1 er piv kedelig og mildest talt en lille bæk, mens en 6'er giver en 50/50 chance for at overleve). Turen på floden var ca. 30 km lang (ca. 2 timer) og vi "faldt" 11 km/km! Så det var altså nogle ordentlige lodrette ture vi fik i ny og næ - super sjovt!
Så ét godt minde fik vi fra Costa Rica, men mon ikke vi vil tilbage og få et bedre indtryk og dermed besøge Stillehavssiden... ;)

Kram R & M

Aften an amazing trip to the Galapagos Islands, our journey now brought us to yet another continent, Central America. We had booked a flight to Panama City, where we would spend a couple of days and then head up north. But as you know things don't always happen according to the plan. We did arrive in Panama, however our luggage wasn't as lucky. So the flight company used one day for tracking it (and it was still in Quito, where we departured from) and a couple of more days for transporting it to us. But fortunately it was "only" lost and not stolen :) and we got it back - thank God! Anyway we got to see the city, both the center and the old part, called Casco Viejo. Being famous for its sky scrapers we cold see why. The city was filled with them and they were magnificent to look at - all with different architectural designs. In addition to this the city also had another attribute, several big shopping centers. This Melanie enjoyed in particular ;). Especially now that she had a legitimate reason for shopping - all of stuff being lost and gone. But this was not why we had decided to come to Panama. The main goal was seeing the infamous Panama Canal, and what a sight!! It is one the most fascinating things we have ever seen (at least humanly created). We were there for ages just stunned by the sights we saw. Gigantic ships loaded with hundreds and thousands containers being passed through from basin to basin, whilst the water submerged and therefore facilitated their passing. Amazing!

After seeing a great deal of what Panama City had to offer, we headed up north to Bocas Del Toro. These are a colony of small islands located just outside the northern part of Panama in the Caribbean Sea. And we might as well say now that we fell in love. We rented a mini apartment with a kitchen (finally home cooked meals, yumm), private veranda where two hammocks hung (ready to be chilled in) and a small garden with both mango and lime trees of which you could help yourself to whenever. The apartment was located on the ground floor and the first floor was where the lady, who owned the place, lived. We were received with open arms and a hospitality that you couldn't imagine. already the first day she knocked on our door and ask if we wanted to her and her family on their boat and go sailing around the islands as well as snorkeling! We of course gracefully accepted. We visited the opposite side of the island, which is renowned for their beaches and their starfish colonies. We sunbathed on the deck, snorkeled in the warm water (around 29 degrees) and enjoyed our home made lunch as well as iced cooled beers ;)!

The next dew days were dedicated to Melanie and her job/internship hunting (and we are pleased to inform you that she is starting work at Holbæk Hospital starting August 1st). We then celebrated and in accordance to that made a picnic lunch and took the bikes out to explore the island. And yet again we were not disappointed. After 30 min. biking along the coast we suddenly had everything to ourselves. So we spent the afternoon on our own private beach, eating our delicious picnic lunch and again some iced cooled beers ;).
The next few days, you could say we got addicted to the bikes. So we decided to bike across the island (about 15 km) and visit Starfish Beach again. Although Peter, the boyfriend of the landlady, warned us and said that the trip would be a little bit "hilly". But we said that we are from DK and we are used to bike, so we didn't think it would be a big problem. But boy he was right!!! His casual comment "a bit hilly" turned out to be nothing less of equivalent to an ordinary mountain route - it was definitely worthy of The Tour de France!! The sweat poured of us. And after two hours riding a garden fence without gears we finally arrived at the beach. We emerged ourselves into the turquoise waters and relaxed in paradise (trying to block out that in order to get back home we had to go through the same hell once again).
5 days in Bocas del Toro was not enough, however we knew that other beautiful places would be awaiting us.

The next stop was Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. We needed to take a five hour bus ride before we reached our destination. After Bocas del Toro, our expectations were quite high, not only because of what we saw there, but also due to the reviews about the place from others and Lonely Planet. Furthermore this was a country Melanie had looked very much forward to seeing, since she had a fantastic trip with her parents, when they last visited (though that was the Pacific side, which also is said to be the prettiest and best part of the country). The place was known to be very "tranquillo" (a.k.a. calm) along with being a great place to party as well as a surfer's paradise with great beaches.
However what we were met by didn't impress us, far from it, unfortunately. We do have to give the place credit for being calm, but that was mostly due to the pot people were smoking ;). So instead of staying there for 5 days, which we were planning to, we only stayed for two and moved on to Guatemala. Although we did get one great experience to take with us from Costa Rica, and that was river rafting :)! We rafted a class 4 river (the classes go from 1-6, 1 being equivalent to a small creek and 6 giving you a 50/50 chance of surviving). The route was about 30 km long (around 2 hours) and we dropped 11km per km! So we really hit some quite vertical falls once and again :). It was super fun!
But we haven't given up in Costa Rica just yet. We plan to return and get a better impression, whilst visiting the Pacific side ;)

Hugs from the both us <3