Life in Volcan

**Tuesday, February 7, 2006**

We're going to go bop around Volcan for a bit this morning, then come back and relax for the afternoon. There's supposed to be a store in Volcan that sells Land's End seconds and remnants for $5 (weird,huh?), so maybe we can pick up a sweatshirt or something there. It's pretty chilly at night and in the morning: 52 degrees this morning. Janet and Glenn made us a wonderful breakfast: watercress omelette, fresh sausage, fresh fruit, tamarind juice and blackberry juice (fresh, of course) and fresh coffee they grow and roast themselves. We're going to be so plump by the time we get back :)

I'll take some photos this afternoon of the local hummingbirds. Glenn said there are something like 11 or 12 species here. The ones we saw at breakfast were HUGE, as big as a swallow, maybe even a tad larger than that. They are beautiful.
The bomberos, firemen, have some really cool old trucks. The ambulance I saw is an old Toyota minivan; I think the gringos pitched in a few years back to buy it and stock it with medical equipment.

We're not in Kansas anymore!

OK, I'd best get off the computer and go have some fun with Dad, see what we can see and who we can talk with in really broken Spanish!

Cerro Punta

**Jenn & Herm have now moved to Cerro Punta on the other side of Volcan Baru, and are staying at the Cielito Sur Bed and Breakfast**

**The road to...


..Shangri La **


Monday, February 6, 2006

We had a lovely dinner at the Hotel Cerro Punta; I'll write more about it on the blog but it was quite an experience! I'm on an old iMac here with an ancient version of Internet Explorer that I can't log into the blog with. It's kind of funny; wherever we go there is a computer available, but each one has a piece missing from the puzzle: no usb ports for camera, no cd burner to back up large amounts of photos, no updated browser to log in and do blog writing, etc. But the fact that we can keep in touch as much as we do is really cool. : )

I even got a lovely email from Jane @ Coffee Estate already. There were a few stands of bamboo over at the Coffee Estate - I've never seen one before. When the wind is blowing through them, they sway all over because they're so tall and thin. They rattle against each other, making this hollow clackety-clack noise. It sounds like they're about to come crashing down all around you!

Coffee Estate Inn

** Jenn is not currently able to post to the blog here, but still has access to e-mail, so I'm passing on some excerpts of their continuing journey : ) Michael ~ **



Sunday, February 5, 2006

This morning Barry gave us a very thorough and informative tour of the coffee plantation. He told us all about the coffee process from start to finish - it was really interesting and he made it fun, too. My pockets are full of coffee berries and beans in different stages. They have a little roaster in their kitchen that will roast a pound of coffee in about 10 minutes. He bagged it up for us, but we noticed it didn't really smell much like coffee. He said it takes about 24 hours after roasting for the aroma of the beans to come out, and by now my luggage smells really yummy!


We also ordered 4 or 5 extra pounds that they will roast right before we leave Bocas and have it sent to Panama City to be ready and waiting for us when we fly back to the states.What a cool place they have here. It's a work of love, and they spend their time playing host to guests and growing things. Sounds rough, doesn't it? You should see the view. They are both very accommodating and friendly. They've only been back to Canada once in ten years, and they only go to P. City once a year, so they're here in paradise most of the time.

Today I think we're not even going to leave our bungalow except to go out to dinner. Even though we haven't "done" much, it sounds really good just to sit, hang out and enjoy the view or a good book.