Another video - this one features some of our hiking adventures throughout Bocas del Toro, Panama and the next province over from us, Chiriqui. Our hikes vary in terrain and difficulty level based upon what you want to experience. We can take you on an easy walk around a beach or we can do a strenuous hike through some creeks and waterfalls as well as the levels in between. Take a look.

One of the neat things that we really like about many of our excursions is the way that our guests have an opportunity to interact with some of the local children. It is a great experience for the children and a wonderful experience for our guests. We find that the native children LOVE to have their picture taken. We take photos of them each time we encounter them on an excursion. They like to see the photo on the camera’s display as soon as it is taken. They also love to get copies of their photos that we print out and return to them on one of our trips to their village. Here are photos of children from two different villages on Punta Valiente. We generally visit at least these two villages on our excursions to Punta Valiente which include both hiking and a trip to beach.





Have a great weekend!

Tres, Scott, Gina, Jay, Jim and Jim’s older brother went on a field trip a couple of weeks ago. First they went to our friend’s chocolate farm. Tres and Scott have been there many times before and they love it every time. Then in the afternoon they went to Bahia Honda and into the Bat Cave. They had so much fun. Tres and Scott have been talking about it so much since then. Here are a few photos of the “field trip”. I never went on any such kind of trip. Pretty cool school.

Jay is working with his boots as he is about to go on a hike up the hill at Punta Valiente. The next photo is the local boy who served as a guide for the group on this particular trip. We try to engage a different guide each time so that we learn something new and the entire village benefits from our visits.

Here are a couple of pictures of the green and black Dendrobates we see on the mainland at Green Acres Farm which is the home of Cerutti and Family Chocolate.



David has the frog on his finger to give you an idea of its size.



Here is a close up of the little guy in his natural environment.

Today I accompanied Joel and Lauren from Boston on a kayak trip to paddle Bahia Honda Creek. The weather was overcast and cool, with a couple of little showers throughout the day. Just as we entered the mangrove entrance at the mouth of the creek, we were swooped on by two different species of kingfisher birds. There are at least three different species of mangrove on this creek bank and some of the specimens are at the top of their size limit. The canopy forms as red, black, and white mangroves converge overhead forming a bridge for animals to pass over the creek. We stopped and watched a mother 3-toed sloth cross directly above us as her baby clung to her belly. We also spotted several speckled caiman and took some great photos. After our paddle, it was off to see some Caligo butterflies at La Loma. During a short hike at La Loma, we spotted another sloth carrying a baby, several lizards and some amphibians. Joel and Lauren just couldn’t get enough, so when we returned home, we hiked for another hour and a half at Tranquilo Bay. The birding was excellent, we encountered gold collared manakins, tityras, pale vented pigeons, Montezuma oropendolas, lineated woodpeckers, red lored amazons, and blue headed parrots. Lauren practiced her macro photography and took some nice shots of poison dart frogs, leaf cutter ants, and a beautiful cicada. Believe it or not, Joel and Lauren still had enough energy to go take a swim, but then again, it was their last day.

We made a trip to Punta Valiente, which is located in the Nogbe Bugle Indian Reservation, with clients Joel and Lauren. We first visited the small (fifty inhabitants) Nogbe village named Punta Valiente. In the village we visited the school, where the children were happy to have there photos taken and we then traded a couple of bags of ice for some bread fruit and plantains. The villagers were very grateful for the ice. We then contracted one of the elder villagers, Constantino, to guide us to the top of a two hundred meter hill behind the village. The trail we walked passes through the villages food crops. As we walked Constantino pointed out all of the vegetation that they planted. Such things as otoi, dashine, yucca, plantains(several varieties), cocoa, bananas(several varieties), bread fruit, coconuts and a variety of other tropical fruits. At the peak of the hill we were shown the ruins of an abandoned U.S. Military radio/lookout tower. The tower was installed during WW2. Also at the peak our guide cut down some young coconuts and obliged us to try the water inside to quench our thirst. This water is referred to as agua de pipa. It is very refreshing and we all enjoyed taking a moment to look out at the ocean and see the village from this vantage point. This excursion took about two hours and afterwards we got back in the boat and headed for another even smaller Indian village called Ensenada. Here we stopped to eat our lunch and make the short hike across this portion of the peninsula to a beach. We ate our lunch on the covered porch of the local grocery store and visited with the locals about current events in the province. The walk over to the beach was about fifteen minutes, and well worth it. The sun came out for us and we enjoyed swimming in the surf for more than an hour before we returned to the boat for the forty minute return trip to Tranquilo Bay.