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02.07.2009
Fleeing Panama City
The trip Vienna - Amsterdam - Panama City was smooth, though very long. The arrival in Panama turned out to be one of the easiest I had ever experienced. Not only was the plane 20 minutes ahead of schedule, but within 20 minutes I had recovered my luggage and breezed through immigration & customs. The transfer from the airport was also especially easy and cheap: once you leave the terminal, you run into official cab drivers, easily recognizable in their white uniforms. I let them know that I was looking for a “collectivo” to the...[more] Category: Panama
03.07.2009
David - Hub to the Golfo de Chiriquí & “Mono Feliz”
Since Heidi will only arrive on July 7th, I will be travelling alone for the next 6 days. I decided to avoid the major touristy destinations such as San Blas Archipielago or Bocas del Toro and head to the west, the Golfo de Chiriquí. Even though David is the capital of the Chiriqui Province, it seems to have little to offer. Despite this fact, in recent years it has turned into a major hub for travellers on their way to and from Costa Rica. It is also the gateway to now very famous Boquette and to the Golfo de Chiriqui with its...[more] Category: Panama
04.07.2009
Want to hear a “worst days of my life” story?
Going to the “Mono Feliz” would be a challenging undertaking, I knew that. This remote place is located at the very end of Punta Burica, a peninsula on the Pacific coast, a few kilometres from the border to Costa Rica. But for various reasons it turned into a true nightmare… Since Mono Feliz is free of any means of modern communication, Juancho, the owner, needs the assistance of “Otto”, who is receiving the reservations from the outside world. He advised me to take a very early bus from David to Puerto Armuelles, so that I would...[more] Category: Panama
05.07.2009
El Mono Feliz - A safe heaven for endangered monkeys
Mono Feliz or “Happy Monkey” is a heaven for nature lovers and people who just want to get REALLY far away from the hustle and worries of our usual lives. Add to this the feeling of being on a remote island, cast away from the outside world. Okay, Mono Feliz is not no a real island, but it is simply inaccessible during high tide. Mono Feliz was created by John Garvey or “Juancho”, a gringo who sailed down the Pacific Coast of Central America 11 years ago. This is where he decided to settle down and create a small paradise, not only...[more] Category: Panama
06.07.2009
Crabs in the trees!
The first thing I noticed when arriving at the Mono Feliz were the hundreds of small crabs that run on the ground and hide in small holes when they feel threatened. Of course I have seen crabs on numerous other occasions before, but these were special. First of all, the sheer number was outlandish and then the colour: black, with orange legs and purple pincers. Well, Juancho was less excited by those little creatures: he actually called them a real pest, eating every young plant they can find. This makes it impossible to grow any...[more] Category: Panama
06.07.2009
Monkey business
Juancho’s main goal was to create this protected area and establish a safe habitat for the monkeys in this area. Maybe I was lucky, but los monos visited several times a day, always one species at a time, always in groups, mainly waiting to get fed with bananas. Afterwards they would goof around producing as much noise as possible or just throwing mangoes on the ground. Juancho explained that the monkeys generally complete a tour of the property most mornings, late afternoons & often even more frequently. Among the countless...[more] Category: Panama
07.07.2009
“No hay radar”
Heidi left Vienna on July 7th to catch an 11 hour flight from Amsterdam to Panama City. Impatiently waiting to finally set her feet on real ground after about 10 hours into the flight, the following announcement by the captain was rather disturbing. No radar was working in the whole the country of Panama and all planes had to be guided down - one by one - “by hand” (!!!). Heidi’s immediate inquiry produced an easy enough explanation - the air controller will talk to the cockpit crew and thus direct them to find the runway. The...[more] Category: Panama
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