Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil
A Miraflores Lock

I remember hearing years ago that the Panama Canal wasn’t worth visiting because it was just some boat going slowly through a passageway, and there was really nothing more to see. From Kansas in the early 2000s, that made sense enough to me to dismiss any potential excitement about the place, an easy acceptance and … Read more

Casco Viejo, Panama

August 22nd, 2013 | Posted by Brianna in Panama | The Places We've Been - (0 Comments)
Plaza Francia, Casco Viejo, Panama

It started to rain as we climbed into the taxi we’d flagged down near the casino. Downpours are a daily occurrence in August in Panamá, but they’re also often fleeting so we carried on carefreely with our Saturday adventure. We had read that finding reasonable parking in Casco Viejo could be quite the challenge and also that … Read more

Lenovo Brick

In case you missed it, here are links to Part One and Part Two of this saga. The next two weeks were an exercise in patience and maximizing efficiency. We worked out a schedule where we would alternate blocks of hours at the computer. On several occasions, off-time saw us writing blog posts with a pen and … Read more

PC Doctor Receipt

In case you missed it, here is a link to Part One of this saga. Broke-ass computer in tow, we pulled into Neily around lunchtime. The PC Doctor wasn’t hard to find, right across the street from the largest grocery store in town on the main drag. We stumbled into what looked like a pretty … Read more

A dead Lenovo in Costa Rica

It was Saturday morning in the Costa Rican jungle. There were monkeys hooting all around us, the coffee was fresh and hot, an empty beach was just sitting there waiting for us about a hundred paces away, and we had nothing planned. This probably sounds more or less like a description of an idyllic paradise. … Read more

Panamanian Apartment

August 13th, 2013 | Posted by Brianna in Lodging | Panama | The Places We've Been - (3 Comments)
Panama Apartment

This month we’re staying in a small apartment building in a second story mini-studio in the older but trendy El Cangrejo neighborhood of Panama City. Though it’s certainly far less square footage than we’ve had since we left the states, the setting and space are perfect for our return to city life. We’re half a … Read more

Driving into Panama City

Panama City (Ciudad de Panamá) is a modern place with lots of history. Founded in 1519 between the Pacific and the surrounding tropical forests by the conquistador Pedro Arias Dávila, the city was common a starting point for expeditions that ultimately conquered the Incas before being burned to the ground by the English pirate Henry … Read more

Panama Migración

We cross borders by land in a CR-V with US passports and our two dogs. We do not carry drugs or weapons or disallowed fruit (usually). These articles are not a definitive guide to crossing borders nor should they be used as a sole source of information. They are our experiences. When, Where, and Which … Read more

Playa Zancudo

Commensurate with our experiences, our favorite photos from Costa Rica were taken outdoors capturing only a small fraction of the limitless wonders of nature that caught our attention daily this month. The word raw has been a more heavily used part of our vocabulary than usual as we’ve moved through Central America, and indeed as … Read more

La Chelita, Cafe de la Familia in Costa Rica

This is an installment in an ongoing post series detailing a typical day in one of our destinations. Not everything in this schedule might happen on any given day, but it should give you a good idea of our usual activities. 5:00AM – Howler monkeys, the jungle’s alarm clocks, start their deep guttural bellows from … Read more