To the Bat Cave

There have been several moments during my time here that I've thought to myself, "If my mom only knew what I was doing right now..."  But our adventure last week takes the cake.  Last Saturday, Jameson, our friends, the Kates, and I paid Rutillio to take us in his kayuko to a bat cave on Bastimentos.  

The ride there was surreal.  We paddled through mangroves up a winding river where it was totally silent except for the paddles hitting the water and a myriad of wildlife noises.  It was quite beautiful.  Then we got out and walked through a cacao field.  It was a dream come true, chocolate hanging from the trees (see pic).  

The cave itself was awesome, terrifying, but awesome.  There were bats everywhere, we had to swim through cold murky water with who knows what swimming around us, and we hiked though jagged rocks & over deep crevasses.  At one point we climbed on a narrow ledge about 8 feet above the water with nothing to support us except the opposite wall so we shuffled along london bridge style for about 10 feet.  That was scary.  Fortunately bats don't freak me out, but the spiders in there made me gag.  

It was fun, but I just kept thinking, "What would my mom do if she could see me right now?"  It's ok mom, we escaped without a single death and only one injury, which was my own fault because I was so concentrated on watching my step that I failed to see the gigantic stalactite hanging from the roof and rammed my head right into it.  Yes I have stalactite bits in my head, a one of a kind souvenir!  

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas.  We love you all and can't wait to come home and see you in just 9 days!  

Katie & me

Look closely, they're huge

Doesn't this little boy look like a Panamanian Webster?

Jameson & the Kates

Cacao pods

Entrance to the bat cave

Rutillio leading us into the dark

Just 3 of the hundreds of bats

Me & the Kates

Jameson the crocodile

Wake boarding with a surf board

I don't think it gets any more beautiful than this!

My very first newsletter!

Check it out! I've been working on this for awhile and now it's finally done.  This will go out to like 500 people and I made it. That's fancy. Click on full screen so you can actually read it!

Newsletter Winter '09 -

Pura Vida Baby!

Bonjourno!  Hope everyone is doing well at the start of this fine holiday season.  Jameson and I are on cloud 9 after returning from our weekend trip to Costa Rica.  It was totally awesome.  We had a little trouble crossing the boarder because we were totally unprepared for all the documentation we needed, but we figured it out and crossed the “structurally sound” bridge (see pic) to Costa Rica and on to Puerta Viejo, a sleepy little surfer town with the best food we’ve eaten in months.  Yes we got offered pot and coke about every 10 steps and we followed a guy with missing teeth and mismatching flip flops to a $15/night hostel, which we stayed in, and yes it rained a lot, but still Puerta Viejo was an unexpected delight. 

 We went on a canopy tour which, for those of you who don’t know, is a series of zip lines strung atop a rain forest canopy on to which you glide from platform to platform at lightening speed while viewing the wild life below.  Pretty much one of the coolest things I’ve ever done in my life.

 Then we rented bikes and rode about 6 miles to Manzanillo beach.  Beautiful bike ride, not so great beach, but it was still fun. But the best part of the whole trip was the food.  Oh my heavens I’m salivating just thinking about it.  I don’t know why all these culinary geniuses gathered in this random spot on the map, but I thank the heavens they did.  Crepes with home made chocolate sauce, chantilly cream, vanilla ice cream and slivered almonds, chicken tandoori with some yummy vinegar thing, homemade mint chocolate brownies, raspberry truffles and oatmeal cinnamon pancakes with honey and chocolate syrup… ahh the list continues but I wont.  If you ever go to Costa Rica and don’t go to Puerta Viejo, you are missing out on the best food of your life!

 Now we’re back on Bastimentos and back to work, but a crappy day here in sunny Bocas del Toro Panama beats a good day in freezing cold Utah!! Love you all!

I saw these kids playing in the garbage and loving it!

Our little room for $15 a night!

Loving the harness and helmet.

Obviously this is an older pic, but it made me miss my fam so I put it up!

Seeing Starfish

We had a stupendous day at starfish beach this week.  What a cool place.  It kind of felt like being in a cartoon, there were perfect gigantic starfish everywhere.  It was totally worth the sketchy bus ride up the hill through the jungle!

The One That Got Away

Aloha Comrades!  How is everyone enjoying the cold?  Sometimes I think about you guys waking up in the gray mornings dressing for battle against the elements as I lay in my hammock and listen to the waves and I think, "Wow, sure don't miss that." I know, I'm a stinker.  Anyway, we have been extremely busy down here.  I've been put in charge of doing a community newsletter, which I'm actually stoked about because it means I get to play with all the cool gadgets on my mac.  When it's all done, I'll post it so ya'll can check it out.  Jameson is a work horse.  I don't know what he's doing half the time, but he always comes home dead tired and super sweaty so I know he's working hard somewhere. 

We did get to take a little break this week and go fishing in the ocean.  It was totally rad.  Yup, it was rad.  Jameson caught two needle fish and I caught the biggest fish ever.  Of course we'll never know exactly what it was because it broke my line and got away, but I'm pretty sure it was a 6 foot marlin.    

A few weeks ago we went to the beach and had some professional photos taken.  Our friend, Diem, is a professional photographer and offered to take our pics if we would babysit her little boys.  No problem there, her kids are so cute I want to eat them, so we definitely got the better end of the deal.  She did a great job and we had a lot of fun with her.  So here are a few for your viewing pleasure.  Check out her website to see more of her stuff and you'll get to see her munchkins too. www.diemkphoto.com