Adventure Travel Photography Blog
While visiting Panama, I attended two weeks of Spanish classes at Casco Antiguo Spanish School. The school is located in Casco Viejo, a revitalized historic quarter of the city. The popular UNESCO World Heritage Site features beautiful churches, nice plazas, a variety of museums, countless stores, and hip restaurants. Every day after class, I took in a few sites. Below is a list of things to do:
LET’S GO
Casco Viejo is the old quarter in Panama City and is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The hip and eclectic area features many restaurants, bars, shops, churches, and plazas. While I was studying Spanish for two weeks at Casco Antiguo Spanish School, many times I spent 30 minutes either before or after class just taking in the scene. Each plaza has a unique vibe. See the differences below.
TAKE A SEAT
I recently went to Panamá to study Spanish at the Casco Antiguo Spanish School. Some Americans might ask why not Mexico, Costa Rica, Guatemala, or Spain as these are popular places to visit for United States citizens.
Of course, they all have draws, but having visited each country previously, I was pleasantly surprised by Panamá. Below I’ve listed some wonderful conveniences about Panamá City.
FIND OUT MORE
Antigua is a city in the central highlands of Guatemala famous for its architectures and ruins of colonial churches. Once the capital of Guatemala, it is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
During my time in Antigua, I stayed at Hotel Mesón del Valle on the South side of town which is a bit quieter. Hotel Meson del Valle is one of twelve hotels operated by Antigua Hotel Solutions. I didn’t know this at the time of booking, but think it is good to know if hotels rooms are booked during peak times like Easter. Continue reading “Top Things to Do in Antigua”
Our final day at the school was really long, but wonderful. On the second day, not as many people were there and of the kids who were there the girls were more interested in tying bottles while the boys were more interested in kicking the soccer ball. Continue reading “Building a Bottle School in Los Potrerillos, Guatemala (Day 3)”
My flights to Guatemala were uneventful with the exception of the AA gate agent requesting me to insert my bag into the size. After it went in, she said it didn’t fit because I pushed it. I looked at her and said, “I’ve traveled around the world with this bag.”
I find this annoying on two accounts. First the sizer is much smaller than the overhead bin for an A300 (there was at least 2 inches to spare when I placed my bag above my seat). Second, they seem to target tourists. For long distance flights, I dress in long cotton pants and a cotton shirt for comfort. Because I wasn’t donning a business suit, I qualified for harassment as did my seat mates.
Continue reading “A Day in Guatemala City”
Yesterday, so many people struggled with the wind during the climb up Cerro Negro that nearly half our group bailed on the hike up Telica Volcano. I wish they would have bailed before the guide, who listened to all the complaining about Cerro Negro, shortened our scheduled hike by three hours. But I think there were only two of us that voted against a shorter hike, so we were out-voted regardless of how many people ended up going.
The good news is this tour required an all wheel drive vehicle, and the tour provided two large vehicles for only seven of us, so we got quite a bit of space. Barb, Silvia and I traveled in one car while Connie, Isabella, Janet, and Linda followed behind us.
Once again we stopped for water at the market before we continued for at least an hour to Telica Volcano. We turned off the Pan-American highway and onto a dirt road. Amazingly, not only does this one lane, dirt road provide a way to the volcano, it is also a bus route! A school bus comes twice a day to shuttle the families who live in the area into town. I saw the bus pick up some riders, but there was not an official bus stop (as we would know it), so I am not exactly sure how the bus schedule works. Of course the road is also home to ox, horseback riders, and tourists too! Continue reading “Hiking Telica Volcano”
Our group piled into the van and after stopping at a market for water, we took an hour ride out to Cerro Negro. Our drive took us from the paver streets to a dirt road that we shared with oxen, horse drawn wagons and more. On the way, we passed by peanut, sesame, and yucca farms. One peanut farmer was very resourceful. His family hung carved, painted airplanes on a wooden mannequin by the fence-line with a sign indicating the price, $5. Our driver honked to notify them that we wanted to support the local economy. The family also hung a cooler with bags of juices and tea for the locals. Continue reading “Sand Boarding Down Cerro Negro”
After a thirty minute drive, we arrived in Catarina, a small town of 8,300 people located near the Apoyo Lagoon Natural Reserve. Catarina is known for its countless nurseries and art workshops. We arrived to the city quite early as we planned to hike down an extinct volcano for a swim in the Apoyo Lagoon, so we didn’t see many open businesses. But we did walk along one of its quaint streets to reach the trailhead at the top of the crater. Continue reading “Hiking in an Extinct Volcano to Apoyo Lagoon”
Today is my first day to ever set foot in Nicaragua. I’m excited to be here, though I don’t have too much to report yet, as most of the day consisted of twelve hours of travel.
My first flight out of Denver to Miami which appeared to be a new plane for American, an Airbus with TV monitors in the back of each seat, was delayed an hour due to a broken A/C. Funny, the plane was plenty cool!
The TV’s in the backs of the seats were nice to have especially given current Academy Award nominated movies were available for purchase. I was able to knock Whiplash off the list. Originally, I had just planned to read my book, but the woman behind me was such a loud complainer both me and my seatmate had to resort to headphones. She is worth mentioning because it was so humorous! Continue reading “My First Two Days in Nicaragua!”