Cheap Sleeps in Over Water Bungalows

by Neil Woodburn on

A dream of mine has always been to stay the night in one of those picturesque tropical bungalows that literally sits atop the water. It’s another dream of mine to be fabulously wealthy one day–at which point I’ll finally be able to afford to stay the night in a picturesque tropical bungalow that literally sits atop the water.

And so it was with great joy that I came across an article in Budget Travel detailing the places one can do so around the globe for less than the millionaire’s rate in Bora Bora.

Prices mentioned in the Budget Travel article range from $215 a night on the San Blas Islands in Panama, to $330 at the Raiatea Hawaikik Nui Hotel on the French Polynesian island of Raiatea (photo above).

Sign me up! I’m ready to go!

Word for the Travel Wise (10/14/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Even though it was only this past February I spent three weeks in the Caribbean and a year since I was in Costa Rica, thoughts of traveling somewhere in Latin America or the Carib has been swimming heavily around in my head. The question now is where to go or travel to first? I have a few ideas, but I’m certainly open to others. For instance I know very little about Panama with the exception of the famous Panama Canal. What’s up with the beaches? Worth checking out? Anyone out there been over to Isla Grande? After reading this tiny blurb from Lonely Planet it has certainly placed Panama on my list, but any additional feedback for anybody would be great!

Today’s word is a Spanish word from Panama:

isla – island

Amerispan, Cactus Language and IMAC are all good starting points to learning abroad. A free membership at Spanish Unlimited gives you the opportunity to learn a new word everyday by email, gain pen pals and hear audio of the words. Their website is actually a good resource tool for many different Spanish related topics. I won’t even begin to list some of the texts out there that could further your studies because there are entirely too many. If you know of some language books that would be useful please feel free to list them.

Past Spanish words: escalar, cercano, realidad, enfermo, jalar

Surf Panama

by Erik Olsen on

Just a little while ago, we did a podcast with the travel guide writer Joshua Berman. Joshua told us all about his experiences living in Nicaragua and how he came to write the Moon Guide Book “Living Abroad in Nicaragua”, which just came out. One of the things we discussed was surfing down there, which has really taken off lately. That got me to thinking about other places in Central America where the surf is up and so I thought I’d do a little Googling to see what I could find.

Probably the best piece I found is this one in the Washington Post, that is all about surfing in Panama. There, just a short distance from the canal, you can ride tasty waves all day long and then settle yourself down in one of Panama City’s fine drinking establishments. Body boarder and would-be surfer John Briley headed down there to take surfing lessons, and his story not only discusses the destination as a fine new surf spot, but is also a soul searching tale of an old dog learning new tricks.