Don't panic, the Lee blog is not dead!

Ola, to all our lovely family and friends!!!

Apologies for our temporary departure from the blog, we have alot to update you on, and all the lastest news from the Lees will be broadcast over the next 5 days, we promise!

Still to come....

Beautiful Santa Fe in Panama

3 day party on Iron's place (San Blas island) with a crazy Italian New Yorker (from Brooklyn none the less) and a Aussie (of course, there is always an Aussie)

Sailing San Blas islands - paradise and heaven all in one

40 hour non stop sail from San Blas to Cartagena, Columbia

Columbia - gorgeous colonial and party town Cartagena, Santa Marta, 5 day gruelling trek to the "Lost City" deep in the Columbian jungle, Medellin: Pablo Escobar's old stomping ground

Adios
The Leesxxxxxx

Panama City - mmm not sure

28 September - 30 September 2009

We arrive in Panama City, and as we don´t have a lonely planet guide book, we are not quite sure what to expect. We are not planning to stay long just as soon as we can get a yacht that we want to go on, we will be outta here.

As usual we get a secure taxi from the aiport to our hostel "Mama ellna"= mama is full. This particular hostel is apparently the best for organising the charter yachts to San Blas and Columbia, which is why we have decided to stay here. We arrive at the hostel and the area itself doesn´t look too inviting. The look on Majas face says it all.....

The hostel itself has excellent customer service, Stuart (the owner is Australian and has lived in Panana for over 4 years), the rooms are ok, think underground bunker, meets prisoner cell block H with air con and you have what was our home for the next 3 nights.

We decided to head out and check out what was on offer - but wait no walking around this part of town, its a taxi ride everywhere (for your own safety of course)

The city itself is a mix of old and new - skyscrapers vs. colonial townhouses.

The old town itself is not relaxing, though very pretty. It felt like you had to be on guard the whole time, and mindful of who and what was around you.

We take time to visit the old old city, which was burnt to the ground by Brit pirate Henry Morgan. At this time the Spaniards decide to relocate to a more defensible position, the old town. The ruins were not spectacular, but worth a visit. The image of the cathedral, is iconic throughout Panama.
On our last day in Panama City we took a walk though the park metropolitan, with a quirky German girl called Kat, and an interesting Aussie bloke called Luke. The lovely walk was short lived as the heavens opened and we got absolutely soaked.

Thank goodness, we managed to find a taxi to take us back to the hostel for a quick change before we headed out to the Miraflores locks - Panama Canal. Well, we couldn´t visit Panama and not see the canal now - could we?

Maja was hugely disappointed with the lack of rushing water and fireworks - Adrian and Luke were impressed though as two huge container ships passed through the canal with inches to spare. Maja looked bored staring into space, and asking "can we go now?"

Costa Rica - Adios.....

Sunday, 27 September 2009

So, our time has come to say farewell to the land of "Pura Vida". We leave Costa Rica on a high, we loved it here, especially Montezuma which was so chilled and relaxed, it is a beautiful little beach town and the hotel was lovely - except no air con but we can live with that!

To get to San Jose we have decided to get a speedboat across to Jaco, then get a bus from there to the capital. We have heard that San Jose is not a great city to visit so we have decided to stay the 1 night in a high security hotel - Hostel Pangea. We are able to organise a airport shuttle from here too, which makes our life alot easier. Panama City here we come!

Adrian, loving the speedboat action....

5 things we loved about Costa Rica (in no particular order)

1. The food - Maxis in Manzanillo deserves a special shout out!

2. Montezuma - wicked beach town, and we had one big party night there too - courtesy of Chicos bar.

3. La Fortuna - you can´t beat a live volcano and a 20km unguided hike .

4. Wildlife while walking back from the beach - so cool to see monkeys just hanging about in trees.....

5. Tortugero and Casa Verde in Puerto Viaje Talamanca

5 things we disliked about Costa Rica (in no particular order)

1. Too expensive

2. Monteverde

3. Maxis cabinas in Manzanillo - stinky malinky

4. Not much to do for free

5. Service charge + government tax which was always in very small print at the bottom of a restaurant menu.