Categories
Argentina Featured Articles

Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls is one of the most famous and spectacular waterfall in the world. It is located on the Iguazu River, on the border of Brazil and Argentina.

Legend

Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful native girl but she fled with her mortal lover in a canoe. Furious, the god sliced the river, hence creating the waterfall.

How to get to the falls from the Argentine side

The waterfall can be access via two roads, on both sides. If you want to visit it from the Argentine side, the town near Iguazu Falls is Puerto Iguazú, in the province of Misiones. The falls are part of the Iguazú National Park, shared between Argentina and Brazil.

Categories
Featured Articles Panama

James Bond: New movie will showcase Panama

Are you excited for the newest installment of the classic James Bond action series? Pumped to watch the suave Englishman dodge bullets, uncover truth and seduce a beautiful woman? If you are a fan of both James Bond and Panama, you’ll be in luck this coming November. The newest installment of the high octane adventure movie, Quantum of Solace, starring Daniel Craig as Bond takes place in Austria, Italy and South America. However, the “South America” scenes in the movie were actually shot in Panama. Rumor has it the streets of Panama City will double for a city in Bolivia in the film.

Shooting for the film started in Panama last February. Main filming locations were scattered around Panama City, serving as backdrops for Bond escaping assassination attempts, dodging bullets, and romancing a beautiful, and maybe dangerous, woman.

Categories
Featured Articles Panama

Cocktails: What will you be drinking in Panama?

With its breezy beaches, clear turquoise water and lush green hillsides, Panama is the idyllic location to celebrate life with a cocktail. From the national drink of seco con leche to tropical creations and Caribbean inspired drinks, there are plenty of ways to drink up in honor of the isthmus nation. If you can’t actually make it to Panama, you can always mix-up a Panamanian inspired cocktail at home and drink enough to at least pretend you’re relaxing on a Caribbean beach. Or, impress your friends with your worldliness at your next party and offer a Panamanian inspired bar menu.

    Pina Colada: If you like dancing in the rain, you’ll probably enjoy this fruity, tropical drink. It can be found all over Panama and when made with fresh pineapple is truly delicious. The cocktail mixes ice, rum, coconut cream and pineapple juice. If this drink alone doesn’t transport you to the tropics, jazz up the glass with little umbrella and put on your bikini.

    Seco Con Leche: Seco is a traditional distilled liquor made from sugar cane juice. The cheap 80 proof liqueur is the national drink. The most traditional (though admittedly not most delicious) way to drink is seco is mixed con leche, or with milk.

Categories
Panama travel guide

Restaurants in Bocas del Toro

When visiting Panama’s tourism hot spot in Bocas del Toro, you will find a wide variety of restaurants that cater to both tourists and locals. Along the waterfront are touristy restaurants with great outdoor seating built on docks over the water. These establishments offer standard fare at slightly inflated prices. But, these are great places to get a coffee in the mornings and enjoy the watching the sun reflect off the Caribbean waters.

If you are like me, and are always in search of local joints where the food is cheap and authentic and the clientele is mostly Panamanian, than you should not miss Restaurante Chitre. Located on Bocas’ main strip, this cafeteria style haunt is a well-loved local institution. It may not look like much on the outside (or the inside for that matter), but here you can get a heaping pile of rice, beans the their to-die-for pollo asado for about US$2.50. The ladies who do the cooking know how to make good roasted chicken. The meat was tender and delicious and the sauce was the best I had during my entire month in Panama. Wash down your patacones with a soda and sit at one of the small, slanted tables outside. As soon as you bite into that pollo asado you’ll be glad you visited Restaurante Chitre. The only problem with place is that once you eat there once, you’ll find yourself not wanting to eat anywhere else during your stay on the island.

Categories
Argentina Featured Articles

Martial Glacier and other trekking trails

Located really close to Ushuaia, Martial Glacier provides the views of a lifetime. You need a bit of stamina to tackle the hike, but in the end, it’s surely worth it.

How to get to Martial Glacier

Follow the national route 3 about 7 km out of the town of Ushuaia. The road is paved and signaled. Once arrived at the base of the mountain, there’s a ski slope. Take the ski lift up the slope and now you can see the glacier on one side and the Beagle Channel on the other. If you want to get closer to the glacier, you need to hike for another 2 km.

Categories
Panama travel guide

Biking in Bocas del Toro

On rainy day in Bocas del Toro, my travel companion Lindsey and I played cards in our hostel (Mondu Taitu) and brainstormed activities that could be equally fun in sun as in the rain. After talking to David, one of the friendly American owners of Mondu Taitu, we decided a bike ride through the island to Playa del Drago on the opposite side was just the thing to do. David told us the bike ride was just as fun, if not more, in the rain and the drizzle would keep us from getting too hot. The journey was 15 km each way and hilly, but we were up for the challenge.

We found bikes to rent in town for US$5 each, though I can’t say these bikes were in top condition. Because of the humidity, ocean air and general lack of upkeep, most bike rental places have rather rusty and ill-working bikes. The brakes worked (mostly at least) and the tires were inflated though, so Linds and I set out on our journey.

Categories
Featured Articles Panama

Hiking Volcan Baru

Volcan BaruWhen my oldest childhood friend and I decided to go to Panama, we knew that we had to hike its tallest mountain. Being from Colorado, where 14,000 foot peaks seem to be everywhere, we felt pretty confident that we could conquer Panama’s highest mountain, which stands at just over 11,000 feet. However, as we set out in the dark on our trek up the volcano that early morning, we did not fully anticipate the difficulty of actually reaching the top and coming back down in one day.

Baru Facts

  • The hike is 30 km round trip from the trailhead outside of Boquete.
  • It should take 5-7 hours to reach the top and approximately the same amount of time to descend
  • Volcán Barú is the tallest mountain in Panama at 3,474 meters (11,398 ft) high.
  • It is a dormant, but potentially still active, volcano that is located in the Chiriqui highlands just south of the Continental Divide.
  • Volcan and Cerro Punta are on its western side and on its eastern side is Boquete.
  • Rising from a fertile area of cooler highlands, Volcan Baru stands out above the other peaks nearby, though the top is often shrouded in clouds, especially during the rainy season.
  • The volcano can be hiked from either side (leaving from Cerro Punta or Boquete), but a guide is needed to do the technical and ill-marked trail from its western side.
  • The most common, and easier way, to get to the top is hiking up a 4×4 jeep trail from the mountain’s eastern side near Boquete (though I am not sure if its possible for any vehicle to navigate this rough road/trail).
  • Volcan Baru either be hiked in one or two days. Some prefer to hike up with packs and camp somewhere near the summit to break up the 30km round trip venture. During the rainy season (May-December) clouds often move in on Baru in the afternoon, so camping can also help you avoid doing much hiking in the rain.
Categories
Panama travel guide

Bus Travel in Panama

If you are a traveler on a budget in Panama, buses are definitely the best way to get around. Not only will you be able to travel cheaply throughout the country, it is also a great way to see and enjoy the countryside in between. With only one in four households owning an automobile in the mostly rural country, Panamanian buses are an important and integral form of transportation for the small nation. While busing it may not be the fastest or most comfortable way to get around, it definitely provides an experience in itself. As locals usually travel by bus in between cities, (and it is usually best to do as the locals do) with a little patience and some preparation for the confusion and/or unexpected, buses are a great way to get from Point A to Point B.

Albrook Bus Terminal
From Panama City, you can get to almost any destination both within Panama and a few in Costa Rica from the Albrook Bus Terminal. Although overwhelming and sometimes confusing to figure out which bus leaves when and goes where, this is a one-stop terminal for bus travel anywhere in the country. However, if you ask enough people or simply say the name of your destination to enough people, you will eventually be pointed in the right direction and put on a bus. Most buses collect fares just before you arrive at your destination, so you can keep your money belts and wallets safely tucked away as your navigate through the people and buses.

Categories
Argentina Featured Articles

Argentine Tango

The Argentine Tango is a social dance which originated in Argentina and was later adopted in Uruguay and the rest of the world. Many people confuse the Argentine Tango with Ballroom Tango.

Origin and history

The beginnings of Argentine Tango can be traced to the working class port neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. For this reason, tango is also referred to as the music of the immigrants to Argentina. One of the most popular “origin stories” has it that tango came from the Niger Congo languages of Africa.

The dance itself derives from the Spanish habanera, the Uruguayan milonga and candombe and also contains elements from the African dances practiced by the community in Buenos Aires. The music is a fusion of styles from Europe.