Category: Central America

Rancho Margot – an Eco Lodge

Costa Rica

Rancho Margot is a beautiful property in the cloud forest near Arenal Volcano. What makes Rancho Margot special are it’s efforts to be environmentally conscious. It generates all of its own electrical power from hydroelectric generators. It has it’s own dairy and produces its own cheese. You can even try your hand at milking the cows if you like. It grows a lot of the food that is used by its kitchen to create the food that is eaten by its guest as well as the volunteers and interns. You can also help harvest daily. We help picked some greens[…]

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Panama City … A mixed bag and up and coming travel destination.

Panama

Panama City is an up coming area. We decided to stay in Casco Viejo which is the old quarter. The area is exactly our vibe except that it is under major revitalization. It recently became a UNESCO Heritage Site and all of the buildings are protected. The area several years ago was run down, dirty, overcrowded and basically neglected. The buildings, however, are amazing. The streets reminded us of Rome and just about every single one of them is under restoration right now. It’s great to see the area being turned around but it made for a very quiet stay.[…]

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Panama City Carnaval

Panama

So, Carnaval in Panama City was….less exciting than expected. We thought that it would be a good substitute for Rio but not a chance. There were 5 floats driving around in a loop about 3 blocks long. The crowd wasn’t excited and no one was dancing. The line to get in was absolutely crazy. It was probably 4 blocks long with pat down searches for everyone coming in. There was a line for men and women so whoever got through first would wait in the DMZ until the other person came through. It reminded me of images of refugees being[…]

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