Pool at Hotel Bambito

After crossing the border from Costa Rica into Panama, we drove straight to Volcán, the town we enjoyed the most on our last visit to Panama, and also one of the closest to the Costa Rican border. We stayed the night in Hotel Bambito, the only place in town with a swimming pool. Our girls love to swim. Marie would do it all day if we let her. It was a really pretty indoor pool surrounded by glass windows so you still felt like you were outside. We were glad it was indoor because it was pretty cold outside – too cold for swimming anyway. They also had a hot tub, sauna, and ping pong table, all of which we enjoyed.

Meals with Friends

The next day, we met up with some friends for lunch and dinner. Both suggested the same restaurant, at Dos Rios hotel, so we ate there twice, and enjoyed the food both times. It was great to see our friends again, to catch up on what’s happened in the year and a half since we were last in Volcán.

Driving to Las Olas Resort

Jen at Las Olas

The next day, we thought we’d get a little closer to the border and go find a hotel by the beach somewhere. Our friends recommended Las Olas Resort, and gave us directions. But unfortunately, we missed the signs, and got very bad directions from several locals, which ended up taking us 1.5 hours in the wrong direction! We were all pretty frustrated at ourselves – well, Jen and I were. The girls somehow handled the extra 3 hours in the car with a very good attitude, just having fun playing together. When we got to the hotel, we found out it would be about $50 more per night than we thought because the prices on-line didn’t say it was an extra $20 per person for more than 2 in a room. I asked for a discount, it being the low season, but they wouldn’t budge. :(

Emily Learned to Swim!

Turtles at Las Olas

So, we went swimming that night, and also played a little at the beach and watched the sun set. The pools there were pretty shallow, which was great for the kids. In fact, because Emily could almost touch her toes in just about every part of the pool, she got brave enough to try swimming on her own from one end of the pool to the other, and did it! Our little girl has taught herself to swim! (Which is good because for some reason, she gets terrified whenever I try to teach her myself).

We had dinner at the resort and the girls enjoyed feeding the lettuce to the turtles in the pond and watching the parrots and macaws in the cage by the entrance.

Back to Costa Rica

The next day, we headed back to Costa Rica and immediately felt a little safer and noticed how much more green and dense the foliage was. We really like it here. :) We drove all the way to Dominical to find a hotel to stay at. Although we did stop at the beach just long enough for Marie to lose her shoe in the waves…

Pool at Hotel Ambiente

The hotel we planned on going to turned out to be be closed, so we drove around to several others, and ended up at one that was a little pricier than what we wanted (because we had to get 2 rooms instead of one, but they gave us a big discount). But it was so beautiful and we were ready to treat ourselves to a nice night after all that driving, so we took it. We stayed at Villa Ambiente, and it really was ambient (although we did have to drive through a river to get there). The architecture, furniture and decor were lovely, and the ocean view from the pool was spectacular!

We swam a little until it started to rain, then had dinner at a fun pizza restaurant in town, followed by some delicious ice cream at Ruby’s Homemade Ice Cream, owned by a sweet family from New York (Ruby is their baby). We enjoyed visiting with them, and they even showed Emily how to make waffle cones when she kept probing them for details.

To Buy a Hotel or Not to Buy

Courtyard at Villa Ambiente

Being a business man and having a mind that wants to know how things work, I enjoy talking to business owners to see how they run their operations. In addition to the ice cream shop owners, I also talked to the receptionist at Villa Ambiente (who was the only one there except the gardener) to see how things were run. I found out that it was owned by a man from Switzerland, and run by this woman and a gardener. The hotel is also for sale for 1.7 million dollars! Whew! Way out of my price range (for now), but it sure got me thinking about what it might be like to own a hotel, and how profitable a venture it might be.

In fact, I spent all week researching about buying commercial real estate in Costa Rica, how to run an effective hotel, and created a complex spreadsheet to help me analyze how profitable a hotel might be given many different variables. It’s been fun to learn about, even if I don’t end up purchasing a hotel. But I think it could certainly be a better place to diversify my savings than sticking money in stocks and mutual funds all in US dollars. At least with a hotel I’d have a little more control over the ROI. Something to think about.

Fresh Farming

Visiting the sheep

The next day we headed home, and on our way back stopped at a farm called Finca Ipe for some fresh cinnamon and honey. They even showed us the boxes where the bees make their honey and we got to stick our fingers in and taste the honey right out of the hive! Delicious! Fortunately, these were bees that didn’t sting. We got to see their other animals, too, like sheep, goats, rabbits, and chickens. The kids really loved it!

Overall, we had a great trip and it was fun to be together, see old friends, meet new people, and have new experiences together. For our next visa run, we are planning to visit our family back in Utah for a week or two, and then maybe take our kids to Disney World in Florida. We’ll probably be out of the country a bit longer for this next trip because September/October are the rainiest part of the rainy season here in Costa Rica, which I’ve heard are often just best to avoid altogether.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy the video and pictures below.

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Fruit - all this for $3.00!

We then bought some fruit at some great prices – $1 for a large pinneapple, 10 cents for a banana, etc. Amazing. That morning we had another large but cheap breakfast as well, of banana pancakes and hojaldres for about $8 for the family.

That night, we had dinner at Richard & Nancy Young’s house. Nancy made a great soup, Greek salad, and some heavenly rolls. The missionaries joined us as well (they feed them every week). Richard & Nancy have a daughter named Rachel, and she and the girls had a lot of fun together. And after dinner, they put on a little “play” for us on the front porch. It was very short, but cute.

Rachel and the girls doing a ?play?

We visited with the Young’s for quite a while after dinner. Richard trades currencies, and is very up to date on computer programs and technologies, and has quite a setup in his office. It was a really fun night, and we were so glad we could spend some time getting to know this nice family.

Friday, we had a leisurely morning, and in the afternoon, went to Richard’s again, who drove us to the home of a young couple, Shaun and Danielle, who just moved here from Canada. They have a two year old daughter, Anna, and are building a lovely home in the mountains. It was really fun talking with them about their experiences in coming here, and the challenges they’ve faced. They were really sweet people and we were glad we could meet them.

It’s been really interesting in Volcan, as we have done much less sight-seeing and vacationing than in previous places, and more time living and interacting with the people here. We’ve actually enjoyed that a lot. And after having now spent more than four consecutive weeks together as a family, 24 hours a day, we really do feel a lot closer than we did before we left. It’s been a real blessing being able to have so many new experiences together, and to see how our kids react to things and be able to teach them along the way.

Sometimes we’ll need to have “quiet time” (the quiet game has been a great help in that area), or Mommy and Daddy will need to take a “rest” for a while and not be bothered. But the girls have generally been so good, and things that used to become moments of high drama at home (such as a fly buzzing around their food) no longer bother them the same way. And our love is just growing stronger all the time. We have the sweetest kids!!!

Sorry, Mom. We’ve been slackers about getting a picture of all four of us together. We’re working on it. :)

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Rock with an ancient map

We saw a large rock with a map (supposedly) painted on it. We were told that the spirals probably represented mountains or volcanoes, and circles represented cities, as it described local geography from the Caribbean to the Pacific sides. We also saw magnetic rocks that change the direction of a compass if you place one nearby. There was a rock that only shows its design when wet, and many pots and other types of stones used for grinding food and medicine. Remains have also been found of a temple, tombs, and gold.

We were particularly interested in these artifacts because of our belief in the Book of Mormon, which talks of civilizations living during these periods in the Americas, although it’s difficult to determine if there is any correlation.

We also learned that because of the acidity of the soil, bones will disintegrate within 10 years, leaving no trace. However, some of the pots found contained human ashes, which were analyzed to be from around 800 B.C. Also, many of the statues have faces both Asian and African in appearance. One life-size statue (now at a museum in Panama City) shows an African man on top of an Asian-looking man’s shoulders. They think a volcano may have destroyed this people around 300 A.D., but they’re not sure.

Giant lemons (1 qt of juice each)

It was a very interesting visit, and we enjoyed it a lot. It is mostly outside, surrounded by beautiful gardens full of plants and birds. We saw a lemon tree with giant lemons that can each produce a quart of juice! I also liked the large Traveler’s Palm, whose ends always point north and south. There were also pink bananas from the Philippines that peel themselves. They even had Papyrus, which the Egyptians used to write on. She gave us a piece to take home. When it dries in a couple days we can peel it and write on it, and the writing will never fade way. On the way out, we also saw several Tanagers Red Winged Black Birds which have a striking bright red color – beautiful!

Emily and Marie riding a horse

The owner of the museum also had a horse which was tied to a tree, and the girls asked if they could ride it. Our guide said she’d ask her husband if he could take them for a ride, and he was glad to. Emily was so excited to finally get to ride a horse! Marie was a little scared and wanted to get off, but later chose to ride with Mommy. He walked them around the property a few times and they loved it. We were glad Emily got to ride a horse, and again impressed with Panamanian hospitality.

Small restaurant we ate at in Caizan under $2/meal

After we finished there, we continued on the road to Caizan, which leads into Costa Rica. There are some beautiful vistas along this road. We drove all the way to the small town of Caizan and decided to have lunch there at what we could hardly tell was a restaurant. It was basically run by a woman and her daughter, in part of their house (I think). She had no menu, and basically just asked what we liked and if she had the ingredients, she’d make it. Jen and I had some rice and soup (very good), and the girls had french fries (which she made right from the potato), fried chicken, and hojaldres (fried bread – kind of like a scone – very good). It was a lot of food, and none of us could finish it all. But what amazed us most was the price – $7.80 for all of us, so less than $2/meal. Amazing. That’s eating like a Panamanian. :)

Then we headed back to Volcan and browsed through some of the stores. We got some ice cream cones for 25 cents each, which we enjoyed as they quickly melted. We just had left-overs for dinner that night. It was a really fun day.

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Emily on the monkey bars

We ate lunch at Hotel Dos Rios, which has a little playground where the kids enjoyed swinging and running around. They also have a butterfly house, but it was recently destroyed when a tree fell on it during a strong windstorm. This was a nice restaurant, though, and we enjoyed the food a lot.

At the playground, Emily had a great achievement as well. She made it all across the monkey bars by herself for the very first time! We were all really excited for her, and she was also excited for herself. :)

After our visit with Bernie’s family, we rested for a while back home, and the kids watched some more cartoons in Spanish. Then we went to dinner at the Loco Pollo (crazy chicken) Mexican restaurant. I had a delicious burrito and Jen had some enchiladas. It was good to get some Mexican food. I haven’t had much of it here, and I like it quite a bit.

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Emily with miniature pony

That afternoon we went to Finca Guardia (Guardia farm) to ride and see some miniature ponies they have there. When we found the entrance, we realized there was no way our little Yaris would make it up the rocky hill, so we decided to take the 20 minute walk. Fortunately, a kind family from Panama City drove up after us in an SUV and offerred a ride to the farm.

The ponies were very cute and small. We also got to see a baby donkey that was born the day before, and even hold some baby goats that kept saying “MAAAA!”. The girls loved them. Emily was sad, though, because she wanted to ride the ponies, but unfortunately, the ones you could ride were already being used.

This week is Carnival, but we’re seeing no celebration of it in Volcan, which is probably a good thing as I hear it gets rather crazy in the city.

Marie getting her hair cut

For a snack after that we had some chocolate cake at a pastry shop. Then we each got a haircut at a place called Evi’s, which is run by a woman who cuts hair out of her house. She was really sweet. It only cost $2-3 per cut, so all four of us got a haircut for only $10 total! She did a great job, too.

That night we went to Don Tavo restaurant (I think) where I had some creamy and delicious tomato soup, Jen had some pasta with sausage and the girls had chicken fingers. Then we came home and watched Spanish cartoons together and ate some chocolate ice cream we’d gotten from the grocery store. It’s wonderful and creamy and rich (and probably not healthy). It’s mixed with marshmellow – kind of reminds me of “Brownies on the Moon” (my favorite), but with a little better chocolate and no brownies. Mmmm…

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Emily went to primary without a problem today, but Marie was too shy to go. During Relief Society, Jen said she was getting fussy, and someone gave her a cute piece of decorated paper to play with. After a while she was frustrated because she was trying to make a crown out of it so it would stay on her head, but it wouldn’t work. The woman got out some tape and made it into a crown for her. How nice!

My Spanish hasn’t been improving too much, because I’ve been having too much fun to study, but I can now successfully get around by taxi and order food at restaurants, pay the bill, etc.  I can also carry on simple conversations with people who speak slowly and clearly using simple words. I did finally buy a nice dictionary on my iPhone which is helping greatly so I can look things up as I hear them. I wish I would have done that at the beginning of our trip! It’s been so handy! (Before, I had to have Internet access to use the dictionary – not practical around here.)

Emily and Marie are picking up quite a bit of Spanish as well, mostly from the cartoons they watch. Sometimes we’ll hear Marie blurt out phrases like “está bien”, “cuidado”, or “vamanos”. Emily continues to ask what different words mean or how to say something in Spanish. I’m so glad that Jen does such a great job at taking care of us, though, as it would be much more difficult without a good knowledge of Spanish.

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On the road to Volcan

Yesterday, we made the 1.5 hour drive from Boquete to Volcán, Panama. While Boquete is beautiful, and many people choose it as a retirement destination, it didn’t hold a whole lot of luster for us as a place to stay more than a few days. We found the town to be a bit too crowded and cramped for our tastes.

As soon as we made the turn off the main highway leading up to Volcán, however, our jaws started dropping, and continued to drop the further we drove. With lots of open farm land, cascading mountains, and rolling hills, we really felt like we could breathe here – the drive itself was truly breathtaking, refreshing, and good for the soul. For us, if we compared Boquete to Park City, Utah, we can compare Volcán to the Heber valley, but on a much grander scale. The pictures below just don’t do it justice.

View from our rental house

Once we were in town, we took a wrong turn and headed up the mountain for about 20 minutes. The views were so spectacular, we didn’t really notice there was no civilization and that we were probably going the wrong way. Eventually we turned around and found Las Plumas, the rental homes where we’re staying for the next 7 nights. The homes are really well taken care of, and secure. The furnishings are lovely and comfortable, and we have reliable Internet access! There’s also a little yard for the girls to play in.

Near Cerro Punta

After we got settled, we took a drive further up the road to the towns of Cerro Punta and Guadalupe, which are known for their strawberries, and even more beautiful views. We browsed the street vendors and bought some strawberry bread (delicious!), raspberry jam (even better), a strawberry “duro” (frozen pureed strawberries and sugar – delicious!), and a nice hot tamale.

After coming back for a rest, went went to a steak/seafood place for dinner. Emily got a delicious hamburger, Marie got fish sticks, and Jen got a sirloin steak. I just shared with everybody, and we still ended up with extra food. Then we picked out some groceries for the week, including some things the girls are used to at home like cold cereal, Macaroni & Cheese, and spaghetti.

And that night we had our first hot shower in three days! Ahh……

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