As Daniel had said yesterday we were picked up in the morning. Unfortunately my alarm went off but he was very kind and waited. I did not know what to expect but I had the feeling it would be wonderful, maybe like my so far favorite island Nananu in Fiji. From the mainland it took about 30-40min by boat to reach Isla Parida. The weather was great and the sun shining. The water glinted. I was so exited! And then there was the private island. Beautiful! Marvelous. Like a jewel in the ocean. From the side we arrived at to the other side Daniel used a golf cart as transportation vehicle. That was so fun! Especially cruising along the over 1km beach…

After inspecting the wonderful property I got to see the first time in my life pygmy marmoset. These are probably the tiniest monkeys of the world around the same seize of a tarsier maybe. They had three – two males and one female. And they had even a story: They all including another male belonged to a private zoo in Panama what needed to close. So the owner was looking for a place for the four. Finally they found one and all four pygmy marmoset were divided in two each between two new owners. Isla Parida got two males. And the female with another male came to somebody else… But the female behaved strange. People said every morning she was looking out for someone or something calling… Nobody understood what was going on. After six months her companion the other male died of a scorpion sting and the new owner suggest to reunited the remaining female with the two other males of Isla Parida who she already knew from times back in the zoo. And can you imagine what happened? As soon as the female met the two others she got exited and so happy. And it became obvious why she was looking for someone everyday – she had missed her choses partner! He was one of the two males of Isla Parida. When the four had been divided people did that just randomly without thinking that even a tiny monkey could have chosen a partner for life! So a big happy end for the pygmy marmoset couple!

Then I saw the macaws. The owner of the private island own over 20 macaws and lots of other parrots. They breed them and goal is to release the to Panama native macaws on the island. At the moment of my visit there were already a few couples flying around wild. Michelle a lady from the states takes care of them and brought her own parrots as well. It was an amazing experience to see these magnificent and intelligent birds that close. So wonderful. And each of them has their own personalities, habits, likes and dislikes.

Furthermore the owner had Panama deer, two females and one male. There were so tame that I could go close and pet them. I felt like in paradise sine I love animals so much. Close to the deer was the monkey tree! On that tree live five female spider monkeys. As soon as I entered the place one of them got very excited. Her name was Bella. She loved the attention and the cuddles. She was one very communicative monkey and all time she did a sound what was similar to the twitter of a bird. Another monkey was Lucy. She was curious and shy at the same time. Even while looking at her photos you realize the two different personalities of the monkeys. The other monkeys stayed on the tree. Outside the monkey tree was a kind of angry whitefaced capuchin. He was supposed to be caught and brought of the island because he was alone and aggressive. Supposedly he had killed a few tamarind monkeys. But he is just a very smart monkey and since he was escaped a trap he is now difficult to catch.

And if you think that is enough of overstimulation for one day – you are wrong!
With Daniel and his family I visited later the other side of the island or maybe just another island? I am not sure. Anyway at that place his mum and dad lived. It was beautiful! The mum had few wild caymans as pets who she fed everyday. Wow! What an experience! I had never seen that before but it was real! The place was wonderful as well and I really don’t know what was the best on that day. I have seen so many miracles… If there is a paradise it will look like Parida!

I am very thankful that I had met Daniel and for his great invitation to Parida. It was really one of the best things I ever have experienced traveling. For everything I had witnessed today one day was not enough….

Isla Parida

Pygmy marmoset

Panama deer albuterol inhaler

Spider monkeys

Whitefaced capuchin

The other side and feeding the caymans

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This was a very special day! With a friend I left cold and rainy ‘Lost and Found‘ looking so forward to the sun in David. We went down the hill and took the easy but longer way. It was raining again. But who cares I thought, will be in a warm bus in a bit! But No! Guess what, not even one public bus stopped for us. And it rained and rained. I was soaked to the bones. I started to freeze. I had not expected that public buses can deny to take you! Was it because we were two and there is not enough space?! Out of a sudden more two more traveler from ‘Lost and Found‘ arrived and I got worried. I told them to stay somewhere else since I imagined our chances get less and less with four people trying to get into the bus. We already stood for over an hour in the rain! As expected they were a bit annoyed but I really was sick of staying in the rain. My last bus attempt was even to stop one with jumping in front of it so it would have to stop or drive over me. The only thing I got out of this was a: “Loca!” and they kicked me out again… I decided to try to even stop cars and hitchhike… Lots of cars passed by but nobody took us… Maybe travelers had a bad reputation? For sure I knew that people who took people in the back of a truck had to pay a high fine of US$150! So surely nobody wanted to risk that… Then a truck stopped. It was loaded with the biggest plastic boxes you could imagine! Very big and blue and with a fitting lit to them. The driver offered us to hop in and as I understood he wanted to bring us to David if we would be quite and sit in the boxes. Very funny! That was what we did until he stopped after maybe 20min and told us to leave… Again back on the streets at least in the sun. After waiting another 20min finally a car stopped. It was a young Panamanian named Daniel with wife and kids. He offered us to drop us of in Bambu Hostal in David! Thx god!!! The saviour! After he had lunch with his family he came back to the car and ask if we had anything planned this weekend. Of course not! best place to buy cialis jelly “You want to see something else?” And he invited us to join him and his family to visit a privat island with lots to see…

Back at the hostel I found out two of my photos won the GCT competition for the calendar 2012. I am so happy but I know without my great friends I would not have made it! That’s why:

Thanks to everybody who had supported me for the contest of getting a month in the official Galapagos Conservation Trust calendar 2012! My photos won and I am delighted to tell you that sea lion and Galapagos hawk won. Therefore I will be in the calendar with two of my shots 🙂 Thanks to everybody who believed in me and took a few minutes to vote me! I am very lucky to have friends like you!

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Did you ever visited a coffee farm? Or do you know where the best coffee comes from right now? I gave it a try and visited the organic coffee farm of Don Cune and learned about the process of growing coffee over harvesting it up to the final roasted product.  Don Cune is one of the growing numbers of organic farmers in Panama. He grows mainly coffee but sells as well fruit liquors. He knows lots about plants and even healing plants. The most expensive coffee right now is Geisha coffee from around Boquette in Panama. Also Don Cune is growing Geisha. He showed the way of sugar cane juice making as well as various ways of dealing with the coffee cherries / beans. Unfortunately his farm got lots of sand flies who bite me again even though I had used high deed repellent. I should just have know at that point that the best way to prevent their bites is actually coconut oil because they are so tiny that they will drawn in it while trying to bite.
At the guesthouse they showed me a very rare salamander what is barely known to science and i took the second photo in history of it…

Don Cune’s coffee farm

Olingo

 

 

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The place ‘Lost and Found’ sounded so great. It offered fantastic hikes and wildlife. But in reality it was overrated. I arrived the night before in darkness and rain taking even the more difficult route since the bus dropped me there. They were no private rooms and the dormitory had three level bunk beds and five of them. Furthermore it was so messy I did not know where to step first. I had expected more. The advertisement had looked promising and the ‘Lonely Planet’ recommended it. They had a Kinkajou (Honey bear) but I had no chance to take pictures of and that was one of my main reasons I came. If you stay two nights you get the third night free. Since the weather was so bad and it rained and rained all hiking paths were muddy and slippery. It was seriously no fun to explore outside. It was cold and besides the TV room there was no possibility to hang out inside… I really had loved the hot showers though! They were extremely hot and I enjoyed them very much. However there are more volunteers than wildlife. I only observed a Olingo and a Cocomistle coming out in the evening and looking for food at the platform.

buy levitra next day air The Olingo

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David is the second biggest city in Panama. And it is a perfect place to stay and plan trips from there in surrounding towns like Boquette or areas like the cloud forest, the hot springs or islands. I stayed at the Bambu Hostel of Greg and Mike and it became like a second home to me while being away.

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Around the little island of Boca Brava are lots of other islands. New friends I had met in the guesthouse I stayed had organized a boat driver for today who brought us everywhere we wanted. I saw Dolphins and pristine empty white sand beaches. Just a wonderful relaxing sunny day.

At Boca Brava I met new friends Mark and Casey who told me about another monkey shelter. This time a howler monkey orphanage. So a foreigner family own a guest lodge and take care of howler orphans. Many monkeys still are sold as pets and for getting a baby mostly the mothers are killed. The average monkey baby cost only US$20! Therefore the monkey mum dies. Since I love monkeys so much I really got excited if that place is as nice as the one in Puyo. The bus dropped us off and the owner Steve picked us up with his car. The lodge is beautiful and big. Everywhere one is surrounded by lush and wild jungle. From the lodge what is a bit higher up than sea level on a good day you can see the ocean! The family introduced themselves and after a few minutes from everywhere the monkeys appeared… There is nothing sweeter than all these babies with their big dark eyes. I was happy. I enjoyed so much watching them playing, eating, having their milk. The more I hang out with these creatures the more I want to protect them from all harm… Monkeys are so human… unbelievable how they act in certain situations…

Howler monkeys

Tamarind monkeys at the marina near Boca Brava

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It was time to leave Santa Catalina. I had almost no cash anymore and I needed to keep going especially since I hoped to find a bit more excited places and a bit more after my taste. Since I don’t surf Santa Catalina had not that much to offer. The restaurants were expensive and the selection of foods small. Even the only shop in town was mostly empty. To buy some food was so lucky and only happens when you are exactly there when they deliver. The strange girl which what I shared a room with had started talking to me yesterday and she suggested we should travel together for a bit… “Why not?” I thought. It sounded good to me traveling with another girl even though I most of the time travel on my own. But as I and you will see I will be disabuse later… The girl named Nada was from Serbia and lived in Germany. She had left or lost her job – I can’t remember. She had been the opposite of easy going for my taste. And she tried to dominate. Either way I knew there were two buses very early in the morning in direction of the second largest city of Panama named David. But she supposedly had found out there were later buses so we could have enjoyed the time until noon at the beach. I believed her but the reality taught me something else! There were no buses anymore and we sat with all our bags on the streets waiting… She got mad at me since she could not handle the situation. But I found a taxi and could bargain a pretty cheap price to a place called Boca Chica what was on the way to David. US$20 for each of us. So the day seemed saved and she got back to a normal mood. We barely spoke at the drive. I simply enjoyed the luxury of driving in a car instead of a packed bus and I took photos of the famous Panamericana. That road connects Alaska over Central America down to the most southern city of South America – Ushuaia in Argentina. The Pan-American Highway is the world’s longest “motorable road”. However, because of the Darién Gap, it is not possible to cross between South America and Central America by traditional motor vehicle. The taxi driver said he was not going all the way to David today but he recommended us to stay on an island named Boca Brava close (2min boat ride for US$2) to Boca Chica. We arrived at a tiny marina at Boca Chica late and it already was dark. To make sure I knew how to leave the little island of Boca Brava where we were supposed to go and to find the Panamerican Highway back I was asking the taxi driver about it. But before he could even answer the strange girl acted crazy and weird shouting at me I should stop talking ‘all the time’ and that I annoy her and whatever else… I was shocked and surprised at the same time since we barely spoke a word on the drive and I just was good enough to buy her a bottle of water. I told her to hold back and to stop talking to me that way since she didn’t know me. I told her to behave. What a crazy attitude that woman had. In that moment I really wondered why she had even talked to me and suggested to travel for a while with me. And I regret – sometimes it is way better to be alone and happy than being surrounded by crazy, weird and damaged people. Especially when you travel you alway should choose carefully with whom you want to share the trip or if it might be better going alone and independently. But I had learned. Actually just as side info – since that moment she never had spoken a word to me anymore and she stayed three nights completely ignoring me. And well she was if I remember right 35 or 36years old – but behaved like a stupid stubborn child or worse.

Ahhh and until I forget it – the most annoying song of my trip! Had to hear it everywhere, literally everywhere in Ecuador and now also in Panama. The Panamerica reminded me about it. But listen yourself…

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I did not feel good today so my plan to explore the area in and around Santa Catalina failed. Still I got some pretty amazing shots from a golden sunset at the beach of Santa Catalina. Enjoy!

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Yesterday I left Panama City in direction of Santa Catalina a little dreamy surfer beach town. It is so tiny that it has no ATM machines and you have to bring enough cash. Famous became Santa Catalina for hosting once the Surf World Championship. Every person in that little town had thought that this will bring lots of business and so they had invested in building more accommodation or buying more food to serve the expected thousands and thousands of guests. But the weather at the championship became bad and rainy and so very few visitors arrived to watch their surf stars. That brought many of the villagers financial problems since they had invested. Meanwhile the place recovers and starts to come back slowly. I stayed at Rollo’s Guesthouse in a two bedroom what I shared with a girl from Serbia which did not talk to me the first days… So today I went diving because the dive shops over here brag that they see the whale shark everyday. Funny when I went I didn’t see it… Also the owner of the dive shop was very grumpy and unfriendly and I ask myself how he ever could make business… He had a creditcard reader and when he had cash you could get it and he would book it plus 10% interest from your credit card. And since there is no ATM it was the only way to get cash over there… Still very unfriendly. The dives itself where not that amazing – I saw few sharks and a big school of rays. Lunch break was at Isla Coiba which is a national park.

Isla Coiba

Santa Catalina