Gringos in Panama

Two brothers and two brothers-in-law were a little concerned. Were Panamanians still free from the clutches of a Noriega-like dictator? For the good of these people, we just had to check it out ourselves. Truth be known, Anna's older brother David, (my old mission companion, aka "Junior", or "Testonie") planned a trip and I got to tag along. Younger brother Pietr (aka "Soldier") and brother-in-law Dave (aka "Marle") rounded out our little 'no hable espanol' party.

We left Portland in a foot of snow. Anna was very supportive from the inception of the idea, probably due to the nervous tick I've developed over the last year of ... opportunities for growth (work stress). A little R and R down south was a blast and really hit the spot. Not a one of us could speak Spanish, so we found friendly local "guardian angels" along the way who navigated us into a once in a life-time experience.

Don't worry Anna Allen fan club. The

sisters are already talking. These next pictures are of a hike up a densely covered and isolated jungle trail a local told us about. We swung on vines, and cooled off in some treacherous mountain runoff (Dave's knee). This waterfall was a halfway spot on a 3 hour river rafting trip that had nearly non-stop and intense rapids. This was better than anything I've done here in Oregon, there were a few spots that were class 5, most of the rest were class 3s and several 4s. Helmets were necessary, even David's pink one, (schwollie).

We discovered kayak surfing, phosphorescent plankton while night-time ocean swimming, beach bonfires, celebrated the New Year Panamanian style (blowing up mannikans with fireworks), and saw a decent amount of wildlife as well: boa constrictor, iguanas, sloth, and reef sharks.

Some we caught and cooked. Pietr caught his first fish: a yellow fin tuna, and I got this wahoo. During this trip we spotted several sea turtles, dolphins and flying fish.

We even got cozy with this crocodile. No worries, mate, I'm pretty sure she's a tame Sheila. She did like the fish scraps I tossed to her, but I couldn't quite get close enough to scratch her chin.

The snorkeling was the best I've ever seen, and the fried chicken and fried bread (local cuisine) was great. A great trip with a great group of gringos.