San Blas Islands, Panama

We left Cartagena, Colombia (and South America) on a sailboat called the Amande. It can hold up to 14 passengers, but there were 11 of us altogether. Some people were from Germany, others from England, and another from Argentina, and one of the staff members on board was able to speak fluently to everyone in their native language!

The Amande! Doesn’t look too big, but it can hold up to 14 passengers and 3 crew.

We boarded the boat late at night and set sail for the next 4 days. The first night and the next day had everyone questioning why they had made the decision to travel on a sailboat for 4 days. 

The quarters were a bit tight, but they were just enough!

During this time, we were sailing on the open sea to get to the islands, and it was rough! I think that we were the only ones who did not bring motion sickness pills! Everyone was feeling so sick that most of them stayed in bed. Some of us ventured to the front deck and clung to whatever we could to get some fresh air and see the horizon...

The breeze up front helped calm the sea sickness!

It was not a pleasant day. But by the next morning, we had arrived to the shelter of the islands and when we awoke everything was calm.

We awoke to beautiful crystal blue water and picturesque sandy islands with palm trees right out of a travel magazine. 

The beaches were absolutely beautiful! 

We all jumped in the water before breakfast and swam to the nearest island. There wasn’t anyone living on this island and as we made it to shore, excited to explore, we found…plastic bottles and old lost sandals! Keep the oceans clean people! 

The blues of the ocean are like none other! 

After breakfast, we motored to a different island that was inhabited. This island was clean and had beach volleyball set up and some hammocks between trees. We went onshore and the kids built a mouse house out of conch shells and coconuts. David had a nap in a hammock. Dreamy!

A mouse house made of coconuts, conch shells, driftwood and sand = amazing! 

That night we had dinner onshore and a bonfire made out of coconut husks and palm leaves. Charlie had fun feeding the fire well into the night!

That’s one big pile of palm leaves and coconuts.

Charlie worked hard, but kept the fire going! 

The next day we motored to another island (there are approximately 365 islands in the archipelago). This was a great place for snorkelling. 

There were lots of coral and fish to explore close to the islands. 

Luckily there were goggles and fins that fit the kids! It was exciting to show the kids the coral and fish. I introduced them to Christmas tree worms and how, if you wave your hand close to the small creature that looks like a tiny colourful Christmas tree, it will quickly retreat into its tube to hide. Adeline had a blast diving down to the coral scaring all the Christmas tree worms she could find. It seems a bit mean, but it's always fun to interact with wildlife in a safe way.

There were so many startfish and they were so big! 

We had dinner on one of the islands again. David claims that the red snapper was quite possibly the best fish he’s ever eaten! After dinner, it was impressive how we were ferried by dinghy back to the boat in near complete darkness except for the light of the moon. With all the other sailboats anchored in the same area, it was a wonder our driver was able to navigate back to our boat.

Our last day amongst the islands we had to go to immigration to have our passports stamped for Panama and to pay our San Blas entrance fee to the indigenous Guna people. 

Panama uses the American Dollar for their currency and they will only accept cash for payment. Luckily all the passengers on our boat were well prepared. We heard that a Dutch family sailing around on their own boat only had Euros, so one member of their family had to take a flight to Panama City (yes, there was a tiny landing strip on the island), take out cash and fly back. One of our crew members said that she heard that a ticket to Panama City was $600, so that must have been a costly mistake! If you come to the San Blas Islands, be prepared and bring US dollars!

The rest of the day was snorkeling, beach play, and endless fun jumping off and swimming around the boat. It never gets old…

The kids spent hours jumping off of the boat.

The crew on board fed us and sent us to bed quickly that night. We had to travel across open sea again and it was going to be a rough night, so it would be better if people were sleeping before the boat started rocking!

By the time we woke up, we had arrived at the marina of Puerto Lindo. We caught a shuttle to Panama City where we spent a few days exploring the Panama Canal and local parks before we caught out flight to Calgary, Canada!

Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena, Colombia is a beautiful city on the Caribbean coast. It has an impressive old town tucked inside old stone walls and it was a place David was really interested in visiting. While we enjoyed the character of the old town, there were also warm sandy beaches with waves to play in.

Our first day in Cartagena, we went to El Totumo, a mud volcano! What could be more fun than soaking yourself in slippery mud? 

The downside of going to an exciting touristy mud volcano is that it is super busy and sometimes you bump into other muddy tourists, but the upside is that you are soaking in slippery, slimy, gooey mud! Surprisingly, the kids had their reservations at first, but us parents had no reservations! Bring on the mud! In fact, Charlie didn’t even want to put his beautiful long hair in at first, but by the end he was a full-on mud monster! 

Mud monster!!

It was a very bizarre sensation being in the mud volcano. You cannot touch the bottom of the mud pit, but you cannot sink. The composition of the mud made us float. We tried hard to sink ourselves, but it was all in vain, which is a bit comforting in a way. The locals offer three additional services; photographer, massager, and rinser. They do not allow people to bring their cameras into the mud, for a very good reason; it will get very muddy and you can lose it very easily, so you need to hand over your camera when you get to the top, and someone will take pictures of your and your family with your camera. There were also two men in the volcano that pulled everyone into the mud and rubbed them down. While we love massages, we decided against this one. It was just fun playing in the mud with the family. After the fun in the mud, we walked to a lagoon and rinsed the mud off of ourselves. There waiting for us though, were ladies that will rinse people down for a price. They were quite assertive and we had to be quite firm that we did not want to rinsed by them and we had to keep a close watch on Adeline because one lady just led her away from us and starting rinsing her off!

On David’s birthday, we went to Playa Blanca, known for it’s beautiful blue water and white sand. It sounded like paradise, so off we went. 

Playa Blanca was beautiful, we just wish there was more beach to play on!

We were ready to relax on the beach, but we were not ready for what was awaiting us at the beach! As our bus turned off the main highway and onto the dirt road leading to the beach, swarms of young men started running toward the bus and peering inside the windows to look at the occupants, then they were running beside the bus until it stopped in the parking lot. It was a bit intimidating to have such intense energy directed at us all of a sudden. When we got off the bus, one of the young men approached us to try to sell his services. Ideas of what he wanted and what he was planning on doing was swirling through my mind. He walked with us halfway down the beach. We were pretty surprised by the beach as there really wasn’t much beach to relax upon! Many restaurants and hostels had built structures for shade, that you could rent, almost all the way to the water's edge. The man who was walking with us kept suggesting that we rent a chair in the shade at several businesses along the way. Perhaps he was going to get a commission if he was the one to direct us to that location. Poor guy didn’t know how minimalist we travel. Eventually he realized that we weren’t going to rent anything and gave up on us.

One of the many vendors on the beaches.

Our ‘beach guide’ wasn’t the only assertive entrepreneur at the beach. There were people selling everything from sunglasses to oysters. One man practically put an oyster in David’s hand to try and get him to buy one, and finally we had to tell people that we were allergic. We hate to lie, but they wouldn’t push as hard if we said that it would kill us. Almost every second person that came by offered massages. I had to practically pry the hands of one lady off of my legs while repeating  “no gracias” over and over. This is definitely a great place for someone that feels a bit lonely!

While this all sounds a bit annoying, it turned out to be a great day. The water was amazing! The kids still found a place to make a castle in the sand, and we met some more Canadians with kids! We were very happy to meet the Bairds. Their kids were a bit younger, but that’s what’s great about kids; it doesn’t matter! It took about half a second for them to meet, bond and start playing together as if they had known each other for years! Before we left the beach we made plans to meet up in Cartagena again later to have dinner.

The kids had a great time with the Baird’s. 

We ended up spending a few days with the Bairds. It was so nice for the kids to have someone to play with again. In fact, we were able to walk through the old town and enjoy the charm and architecture almost a whole morning without any complaints. The kids were so distracted by having friends, it was great! One night, we walked to a place in the old town where we had heard that there is lots of dancing in the square, and sure enough, there was a large grouping of people, street food, and some street performers. There was a church in the square, and once mass was let out, the fun began! It turned out to be Zumba and many people had come ready to dance! The kids had a fun time dancing too. 

Fun times doing Zumba in a square in the old town of Cartagena. 

Luckily it was a bit cooler in the evenings! They definitely worked up a sweat!

Soon, our time was finished in Cartagena, and South America, and we left for the San Blas Islands on a sailboat!

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San Gil, Colombia

San Gil is a town known as the adventure sport capital of Colombia, so naturally, we were drawn to this town. When we arrived, we were surprised to see how steep the roads were! It was impressive how so many vehicles could manage such a steep climb!

We stayed in a great AirBnB that the kids absolutely loved because they had a large two person jacuzzi with colourful lights! It has never been easier to persuade our children to clean themselves!

The kids spent a lot of time in the jacuzzi!

Our host was extremely accommodating too. We had arrived a bit late and most tourism companies were closed for the night, so he called and invited a man representing an adventure company to our place the night we arrived so we could book some activities for the next day. He even convinced the adventure company to give a group rate! Sweet!

The next day, we went mountain biking and rafting. So far, it had been very difficult to find a company that had a bike to fit Adeline, but this company seemed confident that they had one for her. When they arrived with the bikes, we were a bit unsure, looking from bike to bike, without a clear decision which one would be for her. They all looked pretty much the same size! But sure enough, with a few modifications, we made one fit her, and she rocked it once she got used to it! 

It was great to get back on our bikes! 

We had a steady climb at the beginning and then had a solid downhill that Charlie loved! He zipped way ahead of us, and our guide had to race after him. She complimented him on his need for speed! Along the way we spied a few animals, from goats to iguanas. We followed trails that skirted a river most of the way, and at one point of time, our guide took us to a place where the sound of the river echoed off the rocks, but made it sound like there was a waterfall rushing behind them. Pretty cool. 

It was a fairly easy ride, but Charlie loved the downhill!

Before we knew it, our ride was over and we were heading down to the river for our rafting!

Adeline was happy to kick back and relax after the bike ride.

Our rafting ride was on the Rio Fonce, and the kids were pretty impressed with the rapids! They were mostly class 2 and 3, similar to the rapids when we went rafting in Pucón, Chile, but somehow, these were a little more exciting. Our guide was doing two jobs at the same time; steering and photographing! 

We loved our second time rafting! 

Multitasking isn’t always the most effective way to get things done, which we found out, as one time we got a bit hung up on some rocks and almost tipped the boat! Another time, we got a bit stuck in some rapids, but we made it out and it made it very exciting! Unfortunately, our guide’s GoPro did not make it out alright. The case opened and water got in. Oops! We never got to see any of the pictures that he took. 

At one point, we got out of the raft and swam in the water! 

The rafting was a lot of fun, but when we got closer to the city, it got a bit stinky. We heard that the community dumps its sewage into the river, so we were pretty careful not to step in the water as we were getting out.

Our second adventure day was just as exciting as the first, however more practice learning Spanish may have proved useful as we really didn’t have a clear idea of what we were about to do until we were in the actual situation. We were told that we were going to go trekking to a waterfall and do some climbing. Sounded great! What we really did was climb down a ravine and went through some obstacles down a river. It definitely wasn’t the wet season as the waterfall didn’t have a big flow, but it was still beautiful all the same. The first obstacle was jumping off of a platform, about 5 metres high, into some water between some boulders. 

Jumping right into our adventure! 

Definitely a daring way to start the adventure. Next, we scrambled across some wires, from which our guide bounced and wiggled and tried relentlessly (but unsuccessfully) to shake David. 

Then we got to rappel! This was Charlie, Adeline and David’s first exposure to rappelling. 

Normally, we would expect to have some thorough explanations of safety and how to properly rappel (perhaps the language barrier interfered), but we didn’t get many explanations at all. While we love the opportunity to climb and rappel, we still don’t know a lot about it. 

What we do know is that you control your speed down releasing the rope you are holding onto. What we think we know is that there should be some sort of backup in case you let go of the rope by accident. What we are pretty sure about is that there really wasn’t a backup at all. Hopefully we were wrong… We got to rappel two at a time, so Charlie and Amanda rappelled together and David and Adeline rappelled together. 

Being able to rappel with the kids eased our nerves a bit. We just stayed a little ahead of the kids in case they got into trouble with their ropes. The first drop was about 10 metres, a great way to get started. The second drop was probably about 30 metres and most of it was a free rappel, it was over a ledge and there wasn’t anything to put our feet on, or push off against. It was right next to a waterfall and it was beautiful! All in all, it was lots of fun and very beautiful. On the safety scale…for a parent…it might have be safer if our Spanish was better….

We thought that the rappelling was the last of our adventures and it was time to hit the jacuzzi again, but alas, we were led to another site. Now it was all guess work. We guessed that we would be going zip lining. We were right about this, but first, we were led to a huge apparatus. There wasn’t anyone else there and there were no pictures or description of what it could be, so I (Amanda) went first to figure things out. 

After putting on the harness and strapped into a seat (everything looked and felt very secure which helped in the confusion about what we were about to do), a wire was attached to the back of the seat and pulled backwards about 20 feet back and quite high into the air. 

Only up at this point did I come to the realization that this must be a giant swing. The people at the bottom shouted out “Listo?” (Are you ready?), and after my excited “Si”, the wire was released and I swung high in the air back and forth until the attendant managed to slow me down and finally stop so everyone else could have a turn. 

Having to be the sacrificial penguin that gets pushed into the water first to test for predators obviously worked for the kids. While they are usually quite tentative about new situations, they both hopped into the swing with no restrictions!

Lastly was the zip line! It was different from any other zip line we have seen before. It was probably also the longest zip line (300 meters) we have ever seen and we were responsible for slowing ourselves at the end with hand brakes on bicycle handlebars. 

What they were able to communicate to us was don’t touch the brakes until we saw red, at which point, squeeze the brakes hard! Before we started, we saw a sign saying that it was for people aged 13 and older. For Adeline and Charlie, they needed to ride tandem with a guide. That suited us fine. Again, we got to go two at a time, so Charlie and Adeline went with their guides first and then David and I got to go. It was definitely exciting jumping off and zipping over the deep ravine we had just rappelled in, but the responsibility of being in charge of our safe ending was a bit nerve wracking. We were constantly scanning the wire for any indicator for the red that would tell us to start braking. We were getting closer and closer and there was no red! Finally, just before we arrived at the landing platform, the guide who had gone before us held up a red stop sign, and we braked. I braked a bit too hard and too fast so I never made it to the landing platform. I had to grab the wire overhead and pull myself the rest of the way. We took another zipline back, and this time, knowing to look for a person to tell us when to brake, we did much better and we both landed on the landing platform. 

Charlie and his guide got stuck both ways!

Charlie, perhaps worried a bit like me, didn’t finish on the landing platform either time. Good thing he was with a guide to help pull him along the wire the rest of the way!

We had a great time exploring the adventure opportunities in San Gil, but we were definitely happy to be done. While it was certainly a fun time, the language barrier made things a bit nerve wracking.

Our last day in San Gil, we wandered the streets and went to an interesting park called El Gallineral Natural Park while we waited for our bus. 

It was a beautiful park with lots of big trees with “barba de viejo” (old man’s beard). We also saw lots of squirrels and some parrots. It was a nice relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

As we wandered back to the town centre, there happened to be some folk dancers performing! We all enjoyed watching the traditional dancers and were disappointed we had to leave to catch our bus!

Puerto Iguazu, Argentina

One of the last adventures on our bucket list was to visit Iguazu Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world. Our AirBnB mentioned that he helps people find transportation to the falls and sure enough, when he saw that we were four, he told us that it would be cheaper to take a taxi than to pay for four bus fares. That is when we met Mingo, our driver for the next few days (It also turns out he was our lifeline when trying to leave Argentina too!).

But first, the falls! There are two countries that showcase Iguazu Falls; Argentina and Brazil. We went to the Argentinian falls first. When we arrived, it was pouring rain, and even though we had our raincoats with us, Mingo insisted that we would need some plastic ponchos, so we picked some up, and we are certainly glad that we did. There was so much rain, and our raincoats were a bit dirty. They definitely need to be treated again to be fully waterproof. So wearing our plastic ponchos we walked through the deep puddles to a train that took us to the trails to the waterfalls. We hiked across what seemed like hundreds of metal boardwalks over rivers and streams that would soon become the Iguazu Falls. 

As we walked across the many boardwalks, Charlie spied some huge catfish!

Our first stop was the “Devil’s Throat” where you can get a view of the biggest part of Iguazu Falls. It is pretty amazing the amount of water that passes through the Devil’s Throat.

It is pretty crazy to think that there are so many places in the world that are in a terrible drought, while here, there is such an over abundance of water at the same time!

The most exciting part of visiting the falls for the children was, of course, the wildlife. There are signs everywhere reminding people not to touch or feed the coatis and monkeys. This is the first time we have seen coatis, which are small animals that are similar to a raccoon.

There were lots of coatis at the Falls! 

They are very sneaky like raccoons and seek out food anywhere they can find it...even out of the hands of unsuspecting guests. We witnessed the aftermath of a coati jumping onto a lady to steal her empanada. I don’t think she was hurt, though they can leave people with some nasty gashes, but she was pretty shaken up.

We also saw some monkeys. I am pretty sure they were looking for a free meal also, but they weren’t as bold as the coatis. There were workers at the park designated solely to chasing the animals away from the guests.

There were a few trails to explore to see the different views of the waterfalls. All of them offering spectacular photo ops.

One of the things we really wanted to do was to ride in a boat that went up to the falls. Unfortunately, the kids were too young. But Mingo let us know that we might have luck on the Brazilian side….

The next day we went to the Brazilian side of the Falls. Instead of a train, we took a bus to the falls, and I think that we all agree that we liked the Brazilian side better. The trails weren’t quite as long, but there was a nice boardwalk where you were able to walk right overtop of a large waterfall with almost a 360 degree view of other waterfalls.

Another reason we liked the Brazilian side better was because Mingo was right, we were able to ride a boat right under some waterfalls! First we went on a small jungle tour where we saw wild pineapple plants and spiders that spin golden webs. Then we boarded the boat! We put on our plastic ponchos and expected to get drenched! And we did! The boat focussed on one waterfall in particular and the driver did a great job at entering at every angle to make sure nobody was left out! It was good that we wore our ponchos, but even so, we still got wet! 

That will be a memory the kids will not likely forget for a while!

After the falls, Mingo suggested we go to the Parque das Aves, which is a bird refuge. It had a lot of local birds in some pretty beautiful enclosures. The videos of the baby birds at different ages that showed how they fed and cared for them in the refuge was definitely a highlight for the kids. There were several enclosures that allowed people to walk through so you are up and close with the birds. One of the most impressive was the macaw enclosure. 

It was so large, and there were so many different kinds of macaws swooping and eating and biting their wooden toys prepared for them right at the refuge. There were a few other animals at the refuge that weren’t birds. We saw an iguana, caimans, butterflies and snakes. Amanda was pretty sure she saw a capybara, but not in a cage, just in the wild.

So many fun photo ops! 

We were pleasantly surprised with the food we found in Puerto Iguazu. We never had time to buy groceries at the store, and really, our AirBnB didn’t have enough pots and utensils to prepare much of a meal so we went for a walk and found Calle Brazil which had restaurant after restaurant that served what we know as charcuterie. 

The kids absolutely loved the pieces of meat and cheese with olives served with toothpicks (so fun for the kids!). In fact the restaurants were right around a small market that sold all sorts of olives. Adeline and Charlie were in heaven! We ended up buying a jar of olives, just for them to eat back at our apartment. It didn’t last long…

The Aussie family from Uruguay gave us a great tip. They had also spent some time in Puerto Iguazu and they found a fantastic ice cream shop called Cremolatti. We decided it was important to give it a try…. And they were right. It was pretty delicious.

Yum! Cremolatti  was definitely a winner in our books!

Other than the falls, Puerto Iguazu is pretty neat in that it is where the borders of three different countries meet up; Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Our next destination we were planning was Bogotá, Colombia, so we decided to fly there, and after some research, David found that the cheapest flights were out of Asuncion, Paraguay, which wasn’t too far away from Puerto Iguazu. So on our last day, Mingo our driver agreed to drive us through Brazil to Paraguay so we could catch a bus to Asuncion.

Los Tres Fronteras; Argentina to the left, Brazil to the right and Paraguay straight ahead! 

It seemed as though it was just not meant to be…. He picked us up and headed for the border with Brazil which was about 10 minutes away only to find that the people of Puerto Iguazu were protesting the Argentine government and had shut down the bridge to Brazil. No problem says Mingo, we’ll take a ferry across the river directly to Paraguay. So we hopped on the next ferry, got to the border only to find that we needed a visa to get into Paraguay! 

Oh no! No visas and only 48 hours to get to Ascuncion to catch out flight!

Shoot, we hadn’t needed a visa to get into any of the other South American countries, and we got a little lazy checking those entrance requirements! And the worst part, we could only buy a visa at the airport in Asuncion or at a consulate! Oh boy! So back on the ferry back to Puerto Iguazu and Mingo took us to the Paraguayan Consulate to buy visas. Unfortunately, it would take a day to process, so Mingo found us accommodation at his pastor’s hotel, made sure we got food to eat and picked us up the next day to take us back to Paraguay. We were told that the visas should be ready by 9:00 am, so we were at the consulate at 8:30 am to make sure we were ready to go! But 9:00 came, and 10:00 came and eventually, some time after 11:00, we finally got our visas and we hightailed it back to the ferry and, hooray, we were allowed in! Lesson learned.

Hooray! We got our visas and made it to Paraguay!

Mingo took us right to the bus station, made sure to find us a good bus line, and took us to the special seating area just for that company. He really took care of us! I kind of felt a little embarrassed having a driver in Puerto Iguazu. That really isn’t our style, but it certainly proved to be extremely helpful, but it probably wouldn’t have been the same if it was a different person. Mingo really was a stand up guy, and we were certainly grateful for that!