Panama: Natural Solutions Foundation

The primary reason behind our Panama vacation was to visit the Natural Solutions foundation. They're a great organization founded by a husband and wife team, with great intentions. They're located in Volcan, which means volcano (because it's by an old volcano named El Baru). Volcan is in the mountainous area of Panama, where the weather isn't quite as humid and the sun isn't quite as hot. This was our favorite location, for all of those reasons.

Natural Solutions Foundation is trying to startup a community in Panama. It's very eco-conscious and about self-sufficiency. These little guys are walking around in a movable chicken coup. It gets moved all over the yard so they will eat bugs and fertilize. Pretty ingenious.

Greenhouses were just built for growing new plants. The foundation already has a coffee plantation where you can buy beans that they grow and roast.

This was a really exciting part of the trip and a real eye opener for me. It's amazing to think how important self sufficiency is in other countries and how it's not as much of a priority here in America. I think we started that kick with the green movement, but really-not much of us would know what to do if we weren't able to go to the grocery store whenever we wanted. Just something to think about.

Rachel May

Panama Trip: Hostels

One of the most fascinating parts of our trip were the places we stayed. This hostel is called Mamallena Backpacker Hostel, and while it scared me the first night, it ended up being one of my favorites.

Little to my knowledge, wrought iron and razor wire are common building materials in Panama. But when we arrived late at night on my first trip out of the country and I look around and see concrete walls topped with razor wire, the movie Hostel came to mind. I was scared and wanted to go home.

But in the morning, I saw the place in a new light. I paid a whopping $15 per night there for my share of a private room. If you get a dorm, it's $8. There's no frills, but the bathrooms are clean (and they're shared) and you get what you need. One of the perks though, is pancakes. You can have pancakes for free, you just have to make them yourself. That was a lot of fun.

Everyone hung out in the main areas and this place was probably the most social of all the hostels. We met people on world tours, people that had been to Panama before and told us what we needed to see before we left, and people that were passing through on their way to Costa Rica. It was great.

I tend to get in my comfort zone at home, so I think that's why it was hard to adjust so quickly to Panama. Ever felt that way?

Rachel May

Panama Trip: Casco Viejo

If this is the first post you've read about my Panama trip, start here instead.

After visiting the canal, we ventured on to El Amador. There's not much to do there, but we ate dinner and enjoyed the view:

If you go to Panama City, there are very few things that are attractions there. The city is dirty and mainly business oriented, not a lot of tourist attractions.

One of the places to see is Casco Viejo, the old town and the French Plaza. The sad part is that the U.S. struck this part of town in 1989. I had no idea before I went on this trip. It seems like everything was pretty much left the same, so it's a mix of war aftermath and newly renovated buildings.

On the other side of this building, there is a large open plaza where the native Panamanian indians and people traveling through Panama sell their wares. It was one of my favorite parts of the trip, but I didn't get any pictures!


There's a really bad neighborhood just outside of Casco Viejo that you pass on the way there. It's pretty much made up of the people that were displaced because of the U.S. strike on their country. There was so much destruction and not enough new jobs, and a lot of people lost their jobs after they were finished building the canal. There are a lot of drugs and there is a lot of crime in the area. We didn't have any issues, but we avoided the area as much as possible.

It's hard not to take this area and the destruction that we caused and not wonder what it's like for the countries we're doing this to now. It really opened my eyes.

Rachel May