Tour guy.

I was out with my friend Agustin. We ended up having lunch at Fridays at the Causeway.

When leaving, I thought I saw someone familiar.
I was just going to ignore him, what I usually do when I do not remember their names.
But I do not know why, I went ahead and said “Do I know you?”

He said, Yea! I am James, from Campana, remember?

Quick chat, I gave him my cellphone number and left.

So next day I was verifying the rafting adventure I have been dreaming about for three weeks. And when I call the airline, I find out they are suddenly out of space. My reservation is gone.

All frustrated I heard the phone ring, but I decided not to pick it up.
I just do not feel like talking.

After a while, I have digested my frustration, and I check the voice mail. It is a message from James. “Roman I need a favor, please call me”.

I was like dam! What is wrong with this guy! I have not seen him in months and now just calls for favors? I was definitely not in the mood to call. But then again, something strange withing myself made me call back.

So we speak, and he asks me 3 questions. 1) Do you speak English? (ejem, he does this in English). 2) Are you ok talking with people? 3)

Huge Rocks

Saturday 17, there was a get together at Campana.
We where supposed to get there by 4pm, so we could all share a sunset, some wine and some cheese.

By 5pm, I was still at the city. And I had not picked up Mayte yet.
O well, we were so late fot the Club EcoAventura Wine and Cheese Afternoon, that I decided that it would not harm to stop on the way to eat something (Chilly Hot Dog's).

When I got to the park entrance, I got of my car to get a good satellite reading and mark the waypoint.
[8.427 North ,79.528 West, 194 Meters hight], is when I realized how windy was the night, and that being there just wearing my short pants might not have been the best idea.

Takes a little wile to get to the actual park view sight..
It is a road that goes up and down, but by the end we had gained 444 meters (1456 feet).
[And just for reference that is at 8.41413 North, 79.54643 West, 638 Meters hight.]

The French baguettes where a bit softy now, so I place them in the engine area of my car (without the engine running) [the big and hot diesel engine makes a good oven].

Anyways, I went upstairs with my friends, and attempted to get the fondue going.
It melted, to the point where I could dip some bread in it. However, not as hot as I like it.

After a while, I gave up. The constant wind blowing at 19 C (66F) made us all decide it was not worth it. So we all left.

I sent Mayte home (like a package) on someone else's car, and begun driving myself onto my next adventure.

I drove, and drove, and I was not sure where I was. I thought I had arrived, but no, it was Anton.
So I drove some more. By 10pm approx, I got to the Guayacanes Hotel. I had not made a reservation, and I was surprised to find out that the hotel was full.

I left the place with a creepy feeling. So, into the next hotel, 2 Continentes, and it was practically full too. They had available a double queen beds room. Gezz, I took it.

The Hotel was Ok. The corridors where clean with sofas. The room, altought had no decoration, was spacious and neat.
And the best, the unexpected, ahhhh, there was hot water (very hot).

Next morning, even thought I did not slept that much, I woke up early, and energetic. Desire is something that always provides me with more energy than caffeine.

So I head up for Ichi's house. Well I really do not know where he lives, but thanks to celular technologies that becomes a piece of cake (however I did got lost for 30 minutes before I actually decided to make the call).

Even thought I had burned over half an our touring around the town, I was still the first to arrive. So I had the opportunity to talk a little bit with Ichi's father. A bird watcher expert.

A couple of minutes more, and almost simultaneously arrived Harold and his girlfriend Lizi (that had drove that morning all the way from Panama city). And Ichi with a Canadian couple (whose names I can not remember now).

We pack our stuff (backpacks, rappel ropes, more rope, helmets, cooler, harnesses, more stuff, gps, people, gezz it looks like we are leaving for a week), and left.

On the route, we picked up a girl named Kenia (I believe) and her mother, and then straight to ... the supermarket! to get even more supplies (water, Gatorade, snacks)...

The Canadian guy paid for it. (He was a generous guy). I feel kind of bad that I can not remember his name.

All right, now for real, we are leaving. We are going to a place called "Los Chorros de Olá".

And so we got there, after a brief hike.
And then we hiked some more, to get further close to the origin of the river.
Until we could not hike (safely) any longer.

Obviously (and specially me) we stop many times on the way, to feel a cold splash of water (I did most of my hiking tru the river).

On the way back, the group split, Ichi Harold and I left tru a different route. We wanted to do a rappel on one of the water falls.
However the conditions where not adequate, and we had to retrieve.

Back at Ichi's house, I we were welcomed with great hostpitality. There is nothing like a good "sancocho" [a Panamanian soup] and chicken with rice, home made, to regain the depeled energy. Followed by a 45 minutes rest on a hamok.

And then I had to say good by, and leave.
It was time to come back home.

It was a great weekend.




I almost forgot to add (actually I did, and I am editing the post), this adventure was possible thanks to Ichi and his wife Ivy. They lead a club named “Coclé Aventuras”, and provide an unique personalized experience that is imposible to find on larger groups. If you feel the need to contact them, just drop them a line at cocleaventuras@yahoo.com. (They are bilingual).



[Hotel room number]


[Here I was lost]


[The Fellowship]

The Fast Food Race.

Now just for the fun of it, let's find out what kind of fast food habits do I have.

Yes I keep all my recipts, and no, I am not an accountant.


Anyways, here are the results.

The winner for the most visited fast food restaurant is Wendy's, with a total of 43 meals.

Wendy's	43
Subway	24
McDonalds	22
KFC	19
Don Lee	7
Niko's	7
Gas stations	6
Athens Pizza	4
Quiznos Sub	2
Hard Rock Cafe	2
El Rey (supermarket)	2
Fridays	1
Crepes & Waffles	1
Bennigans	1
Deli-Gourmet	2
Don Pascual	1
Chalet Suisse	1
El Prado	2

The adventure shop.

A friend recently opened up an adventure shop in Panama.

It is the first adventure shop over here.
So far adventurous people had to order stuff tru internet from US or elswere.

When the store was open, although I assisted to the inauguration, I was not very enthusiastic about buying anything.

However, I think that the old saying "dog that barks do not bit" may apply to me, but in reverse.

Every time I set a step on the store, I walk away with something on my hands (and less cash on my wallet).

 
 

Amusing readings

So I had a friend dealing with some overheat issues on a server machine, and he had made some changes to the chassis and cpu heat sink and fan to attempt to remedy them.

As I read tru the changes, everything seemed pretty ok, as today cpu fans come with easy specs like "for p4 3.0ghz".

But then I remembered reading some time in the past an article about thermal resistance, however all I could say is that lower numbers means better heat transition.

Anyways, I got curious (I guess I am a curious person) and did a little research on the web for such topic.

I do not know, maybe I was lucky, but I landed on a site with articles for a guy named Tony Kordyban regarding Cooling Electronics.

And I was hook. I mean, most of the articles included more math than I was willing to read, however the relaxed writing style, and the spicy sense of humor kept me reading article after article.

I would have to say, that the lecture was truly inspiring. I mean I was even at times laughing at what I was reading. Come on, some of the articles where deep in formulas and *serious* stuff, nevertheless, amusing. Not to be misinterpreted as goofy, as his writings ,altought lacked of any bragging, gave him a feeling of extremely knoledgeable.

Anyways here is the link for the readings [scroll down for Tony Kordyban]. And I have also found out he wrote a book.
Hot Air Rises and Heat Sinks: Everything You Know About Cooling Electronics Is Wrong

Isla Iguana II

This is part two of the last year trip.

I was undecided on whatever I wanted to go or not.
By the time I had made up my mind, the trip was full.
Odly enought it was then when I realized how much I wanted to go.

So, I figured out that by sharing the expenses with a couple of friends, I could make the trip on a reasonable cost.

Mayte Jelix and I left on my vehicle at 5:00pm.

The sunset was beautifull today.

[Yea we all know about the dangers of talking on the cell phone while driving...so I was not talking on the cell phone while shooting this one. OK!]


Mayte and Jelix waiting at the "El Arenal" beach, for the boat guy to arrive...


Last time I was here, I climbed half wey of the light house, but the deteriorated stair conditions scared my out from going all the way up.

For this ocation, I was prepared, I had a climbing harnes, ropes and carabiners, that allowed me to clip myself to the structure before and after every step.

Additionally I had in my fanny pack my trusty Petzl Tikka Plus headlamp, cell phone, my camera and a pocket knife.





The sunset spectacle has begun.


Oh look!, it is me at the top of the world.
[I am not covering the view, I am the view.]
[I am wearing my Abc Student Harness]


The view is getting prettier by the minute.


















Dinner time.


Next day.


The underwater creatures persecution has begun.
[The Aquapac camera case was a total success]














A strange creature washed up on the shore...