Where no roads lead

After a luxurious week-long break from the obligatory exhaustion and stresses (the fun kind) of travel in a foreign country, today we will hit the road again. We've been so fortunate this past week to have been taken in by some friend's of Michael's parents... dinner every night, hot showers, a clean, comfortable bed, daily tours of the area and sunset drives through the mountains.... who could ask for more? It is a generosity that I can only hope to repay someday to a couple of weary travelers, finding home in a foreign place.

And we love Panama so far, as we suspected we might, and can't wait to move on to see what else this country has to offer. Volcan, where we've been staying, is beautiful... and the diversity of landscapes within this relatively small area is astounding. Savannah in one microclimate, and just around the corner in the valley is a rich rainforest. The wind here is ferocious as well and you might get knocked over if your footing isn't sure enough, wet clothes hung up to dry are done before you even walk back in the house... but it makes for an exciting atmosphere, the same feeling you get when you're tucked away inside the shelter of your house during a storm. On one of our ventures into the surrounding environment, we walked through refreshing and vibrant rainforest and marveled at all the characters, the interesting plants and beautiful humming birds. We both agreed it was the best hike we'd been on so far on our travels.

Now we return to the road and have plans to meet with Michael's friend Jack, who worked in Panama with the Peace Corps half a year ago. The three of us will soon make our way by bus to Chiriqi Grande, on the Caribbean side, and then catch a boat to Cusapin, an Indian village where no roads lead.