A couple days ago Gary and I went to check out an organization called Por Los Ninos (For The Kids). They have a building in Boquete where kids can go to hang out, learn and have fun. One of the organizations main purpose’s is to collect food and deliver it to the different schools in the area. It seems that the government doesn’t provide any type of school lunch program for the kids.
We had a good time handing out the food, and disrupting all the classes. Kids are always to open and friendly. An activity like this really should be near the top of every tourists list when they visit Panama.
I found a list of some of the benefits to retiring in Panama. I believe there are even more than is listed here, so you may still want to do some searching around.
50% off entertainment including movies, concerts, theater etc. (a regular movie ticket costs $4 - the retiree price is $2.)
• 25% off restaurants
• 50% off hotel accommodations from Monday-Thursday
• 30% off bus, boat and train fares
• 25% off domestic and international airline tickets
• 10% off prescription medicines (much cheaper than US prices to begin with)
• 15% off dental and eye exams
• 50% off closing costs for home loans
But beware of the many blogs who paint Panama as a perfect trouble free place to live. Like any country it has it’s pros and cons. A few months ago some people walked out of the jungle piled up rocks and sticks and caused millions of dollars of damage to Panama’s economy. They kept some people hostage for weeks behind road blocks. Come and spend a lot of time visiting before you decide to make the plunge.
Boquete is consistently listed in the top 5 places for North Americans to retire. I’m not quiet sure yet, but I’ll probably end up living there full time one day.
We didn’t go on the canopy tour, but it is a cool road so I decided to film it. I talk a bit about canopy tours, and why I would prefer to live in the mountains of Panama verses the beach in Panama.
This is a bit of a bouncy ride up a dirt road, but the scenery was beautiful.
Gary and I went for another ride today that took us to some cool petroglyphs, and nice hot springs. It was a really nice day of riding, it never poured rain while we were on the bikes, but there were a few light showers to keep us cool.
The rain came down pretty hard while we were at the hot springs, but the cool water falling from the sky really made the hot springs more enjoyable. It rains a lot in the Boquete area and we decided that visiting the hot springs on a rainy day is the perfect activity.
I’ve always been a bit interested in ancient people. We spent some time wandering around the large stone with carvings in it making guesses as to what each one might represent. Part of me thinks it may have been just some kids screwing around with a rock and the pictures don’t mean anything.
This is an unedited version of my crash in the river from the other day. I successfully cross a very sketchy looking bridge, then take a hard left back across the river and crash. The cool water felt amazing, and after shaking off the fall I pick up the bike flip a U-turn and make it safely across the river.
I thought I’d share this because it’s pretty funny the water crossing that took me down was completely unnecessary. I had already worked pretty hard to get my bike up on that bridge and ride across, just because I thought it would look cool for the video. The river was so low that I thought crossing it wouldn’t be a big deal
Don’t know how I missed this when I was editing my last video, but it’s a cool interaction with some locals so I decided to post it. I didn’t edit it or anything because…. I didn’t feel like it!
Gary and I begin on a clean, twisty road outside of Panama and try to find our way to Portorillos. After asking several locals a long the way and getting both yes’s and no’s, we knew it was up to us to discover the path for ourselves. We had a really nice ride in the mountains around Boquete. I think if I had brought my hammock I would have spent the night up there. It was a beautiful setting.
There is some really bumpy footage in parts of this video. I use 2 helmets and one of them doesn’t have a mount for the Drift HD on it. I’ve used it before on the handle bars and it came out looking much better, but for some reason this time it was really bad. So whaddha want? Your money back? Deal with it!
I filmed and edit this video month ago, but wasn’t really happy with the way it turned out. It did take a lot of time to film so I decided rather delete it I would share. Hey it’s just youtube not like I’m going to get cancelled or anything.
The road I filmed this on is one of my favorite in Panama. It’s a new road and still in great shape, no holes and very little traffic. It’s also at a higher altitude which keeps things cool.
There is a shoutout at the end to the guys at http://www.mypov360.com/ they hooked me up with the Drift HD so I could review and use it. Fellow youtuber 808yewtube helped me make the connection with them.http://www.youtube.com/user/808yewtube So I owe both of them for the fancy new camera.
When my wife and I were in Panama City visiting family for Christmas we loaded up on some cheap toys to give to presents to the children at the small community where we first met. Work, and car trouble prevented us from making it out there until late March, but better late than never. Most of the gifts we purchased were $1.00. Lots of dolls for the girls, and I picked out toy cars, and sets of green
army men for the boys.
I hope people don’t think I’m trying to show off by filming my wife and I doing this stuff. The purpose of this video is to inspire others to do the same sort of thing. There are many people in this world who could use a hand, and sometimes it’s as simple as pulling over and saying, “Here ya go. Have a nice day.”
If you do get around to doing something like this try not to be discouraged when you don’t have enough for everyone. No matter what you bring, toys, medicine, clothing, or food these people can always use more.
Song is, “Love Letters” from http://www.danosongs.com
Fellow KLR650 rider Ricka took me on a special tour of the power generation facilities at Miraflores locks. It was a very cool place, and I felt pretty lucky to be wandering around the massive equipment. Had I tried to do something like this when the U.S. was still in charge of the place I would have ended up in Guantanamo Bay.
The motors generating the electricity for the canal and parts of Panama City are bigger than my house, and there are 3 of them. V-18 motor’s that drink 3000 liters of fuel every hour, and burn through 300 liters of fresh oil every day.
Wandering around the loud, dirty plant really made me wish the world was powered by solar panels. I asked Ricka about it while I was there and he said right now it’s just to hard to store the power generated and some things need to work when the sun is down. As impressive as the massive engines were, I really hope that someday the world won’t need to rely on them to keep the lights on.
