Hello Folks!

Yes, I know it´s been a while since I last wrote something… I am equally aware of the fact I did not fulfill my promise of uploading some pics! :) Anyway, time for a short summary on what I´ve been up to in the last ten days: I´m having a blast! FYI; if you´d like to know any details on whereabouts and / or historical details, I suggest you look either here or here.

On the 9th I went from Panama City to Portobelo to get on a ship, sailing from there to Cartagena, Colombia via the San Blas Islands. First new experience to me was the fact that I got seasick on the first night (yay……) but fortunately recovered the day after! Next 2 days were spent in the San Blas archipelago, which is really a wonderful place to be. See the pics for more details, words cannot explain here. After this 2-day ´stop´ the plan was to sail on to Cartagena in 2 days, if it wasn´t for the engine which decided to go on strike in the middle of the trip…. which meant an additional day and a half in the open sea! No worries though, we still had a good time and there were plenty of dolphins around to keep us company!

Upon arrival in Cartagena, I´ve pretty much done all the tourist stuff and it struck me this is really a great place to be. There´s plenty of things to see and do in and around the city (check out those mud volcano pics!) and its whole vibe made me change my travel plans; instead of 2-3 days, I am now having my 6th day in Colombia - I love this place! After Cartagena I decided to travel to a town called Taganga (direction North East), from where I made my first dive trip yesterday. Unfortunately I ended up having to use some eardrops but the diving was still fun ;) The plan is to fly back to Panama City (please, no more boats for the time being ;)) on the 22nd or 23rd, ensuring I´ll still make it to my Spanish classes which start on the 26th. Never thought I´d be running into a tight schedule on this trip but here we go…

Anyway, as a picture is still worth a thousand words, have a look at a short summary of my trip below, including the following: Panama City´s Casco Viejo Area, the Miraflores Locks (Panama Canal), Isla Taboga,  San Blas, Cartagena, the Mud Volcano and some creepy fortress.

Till next time!

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Hey everyone, as things have been rather silent from my end during the last few days I decided to just put up a quick note here. All is going well, been doing a lot of stuff - just didn’t surf yet but as for the rest I seem to be executing my plans quite well… and I do reckon fulfilling a plan is probably a once-in-a-life-time experience for me :)

Also have just had very little time and opportunity to use the internet and as such update this site. Damage control for the pics has been done, I got most of them back and now just need to upload them so just be prepared to get really jealous in the next 24 hours ;)

As for everyone that sent me an e-mail - thank you so much! :) Yes, I do read them but just haven’t found the time to reply yet. No worries, I’ll be doing that shortly!

Just keep reading / posting as I might tend to get too lazy to do that myself ;) Have a warm, fuzzy day!

-René

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Hey everyone! I know this might a bit late to start posting on Panama City - but better late than never! So far things are going well - visited the Miraflores locks (best way to see the miracle called Panama Canal), ran around the classical Casco Viejo area, which has a lot of pretty colonial-style buildings in and around it and went to Bella Vista as well. If possible, I’d be posting tond of pretty pictures here but this is where my bad luck for today kicked in… my camera started rioting and all of a sudden claimed my memory card - containing all pics I took so far - needs formatting. I’ve tried a bunch of tricks but unfortunately the card seems as accessible as the Andes’ highest peaks :(

Anyway, tomorrow I’ll be ritually smashing the failed card to pieces - and take pictures of that at least! ;) The damage control is being taken care of right now as I asked a guy that joined me yesterday to send some of his pics by e-mail. Fingers crossed… Besides that I’m planning to go to this place called the Causeway (kind of a boulevard connecting a few islands) and Isla Taboga. Also arranged a sailboat that will take me and a few others to San Blas and subsequently Cartagena (Colombia) on Saturday!

Once again, I’ll keep you posted… hopefully with more than just a bit of text!

Have a good one!

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Hey everyone!! Just a short note to let you know I arrived safe and sound in Panama City. You’ll get the details (and pics) later on, only have a few minutes time right now. Just wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Dad! Hope you’ve had (or, given the time difference, are still having) a great day! I promise to bring you something nice from the area, just need a little stimulation regarding my creativity!

Keep in touch - and keep reading!

Rene Read more »

“Az sum Bulgarche…” :)) As previously promised to my Bulgarian friends, part of this website will be devoted to their country. Not because anyone asked for it, but just because it’s fun and I like it so much! During July I’ve made a (third) visit to Bulgaria, again seeing many wonderful places and enjoying quality time with my friends. Please have a look at the photostream at the bottom right of this page (yes! I know I have yet to set this thing straight…) for some pictures of this trip, which took us to Sofia, Hisaria, Koprivshtitza, Burgas, Nessebar, Sozopol and back to Sofia again. Trust me, these places are worth visiting! Thanks again guys!

Hajde chao (i mnogo tzeluvki za zheni) for now… I’ll be writing more on this later on! :)

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Welcome to my website… even though it’s less than 24 hours until departure there’s still a lot of work to be done. And yes… I’ve been lazy, fuzzy and totally disorganised about it… but what’s so different about that? ;) Anyway, have fun browsing through my sorry attempts to build a decent website!

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