Aloha everyone, it’s Friday!  Took a week off, but I’m back for more!  3 times in one month!  When was the last time that happened?  Alright, anyway, let’s get back to Panama…

We left Bocas del Toro on an early morning flight back to Panama City where we caught a bus to Colon.  Now, for those of you who have been to Panama, I’ll be you haven’t been to Colon.  In fact, everyone we met asked us why we were going to Colon.  They told us the city was dirty, there was virtually nothing to do, and it was very dangerous.  Truth is, we – well, Caroline – decided we had to go there so we could stay at this one hotel that looked like it had an amazing pool (from the photos she saw on the internet).  So, to Colon we went…

The hotel was very cool, actually.  Strange, because it was absolutely massive and there was hardly anybody there, but very cool because of its odd decor and extremely interesting past.  Before it was the Melia Panama Canal, the place had a very different use.  It was built as an international military academy run by the United States (Antigua Escuela de las Americas – Ancient School of the Americas) .  Military leaders from all over the world were sent to this school to learn under the teachings of highly trained U.S. Military personnel.  Unfortunately, the school became known as The School of Assassins because of the incredible amount of ruthless military men that have come from the school. Perhaps the most famous being Manuel Noriega.

Today the United States even setup a watch list on each and every graduate of the SoA.  In fact, Congressman Joseph Kennedy once said “The U.S. Army School of the Americas is a school that has run more dictators than any other school in the history of the world.”

Anyway, so we stayed there.  And the pool was probably the biggest pool I’ve ever seen at a hotel.  (According to the staff, that was put in after the school closed its doors and became a hotel.)  We only stayed a few nights, and while we were there we visited the Gatun Locks, which is basically where the Panama Canal begins on the Caribbean side.  We also went to the Western Hemisphere’s largest Duty Free shopping area that took up several city blocks.  Most of the products there were for wholesale purchase only, and really it was kinda lame.  I mean how many times can you see the same perfumes/colognes and clothes.

The Panama Canal was amazing though.  The history behind it (and I won’t get into all of it here…) is fascinating.  Basically digging a 48 mile trench through a country that actually rises in elevation (hence the need for locks to raise and lower water levels depending on which direction the boats using the canal are heading).  If you haven’t seen this, do it.  It’s very cool.  Or at least watch a National Geographic documentary or something…  Check Netflix…

Finally, we made our way back to Panama City.  We stayed a couple nights here before heading back to Chicago.  But before we left, I really wanted to go to one of the Embara Villages and see how the natives live.  So we did, took a dugout canoe ride up a river that was full of caymans (small crocodiles) until we got to a village.

We spent about 8 hours there and learned how they live, what they eat and the issues facing their communities.  We were even treated to a traditional Embara dance.  Which was basically skipping around in a circle.  Caroline and I even got a chance to participate (no, there are no pictures of that here….).  But there are plenty of pictures which are worth many thousands of words, so I’ll quit my blabbing and let you enjoy the photos and what they have to say!

Have  a great weekend, my friends!  OH- WAIT!  For those of you in Chicago, keep reading….

My sister is getting married on Labor Day weekend (Saturday, the 3rd, I believe). Because of my Monday – Friday training with the Maui Fire Department, I have to fly out on Friday night to get in Saturday afternoon.  Then I have to fly out first thing Monday morning to get back here in time for class on Tuesday.  Anyway, I’m going to be getting in around noon or so at O’hare and my sister is getting married in Mokena at 2:00.  I’m planning on taking a cab from the airport to the church, but if any of you are going to be around and making a journey in that general vicinity…  I’d much rather give some cash to you… and maybe a nice Maui care package….  so, if you have nothing to do on a Saturday afternoon and want to pick me up and drive me to Mokena, let me know!

And now, have a wonderful weekend, stay safe, and hit me back if you get a chance!

All my aloha,

Michael

The lobby of the Sol Melia or the original School of the Americas in Colon.  I doubt these colors were here for the military school.

Kinda a cool photo of Caroline in the lobby.

The Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal from the Caribbean side.  You can see on the left the high water level and the lower level on the right.

Another shot of the locks.

On our way to the Embara Village in a dugout canoe.

Our welcoming party.

This is the chief of the clan.

Some of their keiki.

We brought some lollipops for the kids, and as you can imagine, they loved it!

Cooking us a local meal of fried plantains and fish.

Here’s the local dance.  Oh, yea, in addition to skipping, there was also this little drum.

Buh bye, hombre!

Several of the locals seeing us off.

Hey, hey!  Two weeks in a row, whaddya know!  First off, thank you for the responses to the last Aloha Friday.  I’ve learned that those pretty flower-like plants are called Coleus.  And got a suggestion that the rock sculpture thing could be fossilized trees that had fallen millions of years ago.  Good stuff, lets go with it!

Alright, so now we’re on our way over the mountains and down to the sea.  It’s about a four hour bus ride, maybe five, I can’t remember, but the scenery is exquisite.  Tropical forests, mountains, vultures and once we got over the ridge, we could see all the little islands off in the Caribbean.  Eventually, we made it to the end of the line for the bus and were required to take a water taxi over to Bocas Town where we’d be staying the next four nights.

When we got there we grabbed a cab to Playa Tortugas Hotel, one of the newest and most swank hotels on the island.  As soon as our cabbie heard where we were staying the prices for the cab ride doubled.  So we were anticipating a really sweet place.  Unforutnately, the place wasn’t quite as good as advertised.  It was off season so they seemed to let the place run down a bit.  A skeleton crew were employed and with the exception of maybe two employees, nobody really seemed like they wanted to help us with anything.

The pool was dirty, the restaurant was expensive, and took forever to get our food.  Not only that, but the food was not good at all.  Our air conditioning didn’t work in our room (and it was probably about 100 degrees outside, baking in humidity.  So we were really disappointed.  We went down and spoke to the lady in charge, told her our concerns and she promised to make it better.  At this point we just wanted to cancel our stay.  We were actually thinking about getting back on the bus and returning to the cute little village of Boquete.   But alas, we decided to give it a shot.

The hotel upgraded us to a suite on the top floor overlooking the ocean and the pool, gave us these really nice robes and made some kind of flower display thing on our bed, reimbursed us for our meal and were on their best behavior from thence forward.  They even got the maintenance guy to clean the pool!  So the next four days were pretty good.  We enjoyed relaxing at this amazing pool, cruising around Bocas Town which we could literally walk around in about 20 minutes, and enjoyed plenty of good ceviche at the restaurants.  In fact, on our last day in Bocas, we decided to just have ceviche from every restaurant we could, oh, and limonadas as well…

All in all, Bocas was a neat little place, and although it is considered by many as the gem of Panama, its probably not a place we would go back to.  It was neat to see, and we’d recommend it, but we enjoyed other areas a little better.  Bocas del Toro was a little seedier and dirtier than we expected and the Jamaican feel of the locals trying to rip you off was abundant.  That aside, it is beautiful and relaxing and extremely hot!

Not going to dive much more into Bocas.  I’ll just leave you with a bunch of pictures.  I know I haven’t posted an Earth Trot Project update in a while, and unfortunately, that’s because I haven’t had a lot to share, or time to work on that.  I do have a few articles that my sister wrote for it so I am going to try to post those soon, and do have another canoe project that I’m getting ready to dive into, but until they add another twelve hours in the day, I’m drained on time.  Stay with me though, we’ll get to that stuff soon.  But for now, here’s the goods…

Have a great weekend, everyone.  Hit me back with any questions, comments or concerns!

All my aloha,

Michael

Rasta bike rentals in Bocas del Toro.  Gotta love it.

How’s this old truck rotting away in somebody’s driveway?

Back of the truck.  Guess this guy must be using his other car around town…

Typical houses on the water in Bocas town.  Love all the colors.

No Caribbean town would be complete without representing the Rastafarian culture, right?

This was really cool.  We stumbled upon this Afro-Caribbean culture event that was going on in the town square, and there were all these cute kids dressed in their particular cultural attire.

These girls were awesome.  And they loved getting their photos taken.

Local delivery boat, with a few cases of soda or something.

This is the main waterfront of Bocas Town.  All the restaurants back right up to the water, and people’s individual boats just dock right up to them.  Pretty neat.

Local artisans selling their handmade beaded crafts.

This is a night shot of the restaurant at our hotel.  What an awesome looking place.  And some good ceviche here too.  But stay away from the dinner menu….

Here’s the view from our room at Playa Tortuga Resort.  Not too shabby.

Alright, let’s see… Maybe I should re-introduce myself to y’all, since I’ve been out of touch for so long.  Hi, I’m Mike.  OK, so got that out of the way, let’s go to Panama…

First stop on our 33 day honeymoon world tour was a surprise visit to see my dad and help him celebrate his 60th birthday at Papa Passero’s in Chicago.  It was such an awesome surprise!  He and my mom both just stared at Caroline and I when we walked through the door.  It was like they were trying to place how they knew us.  Then once it dawned on them they were ecstatic!  Thanks to my sister, Jen for helping to pull that off!

We spent a few days with them and then it was off to our next stop, Panama!

We ran through two weeks in Panama at a blistering pace, starting off by flying into Panama City.  What a shock that was.  As you know, I’ve visited several major cities in both South and Central America and Panama City was not what I was expecting at all.  The architecture was amazing, it was beautifully situated on the Pacific Ocean and had a modern feel unlike any place I had visited south of the border.  Actually, the setting with the tall buildings and highway right along the ocean made me feel like I was driving down Lake Shore Drive.  It had a lot of similarities to Chicago.

We got in a bit late at night and stayed at this fruit hotel.  Well, that’s not what it was called, but all the rooms were designed after some kind of fruits, and everything in the place from the room keys to the carpets had something to do with that particular type of fruit.  We had the “Lemon Lime Room” I think, and it was pretty funny.  I felt like I was in a Sprite commercial.  What a trip…. But alas, we didn’t stay in the city for long….

The following morning we set off for the domestic airport and hopped a small plane for David.  From there we jumped on a bus to a small but charming town of Boquete where we stayed a few nights.  Boquete was very similar to Ha’iku, here in Maui.  Very lush and tropical, on the base of a volcano and teeming with wildlife.  It was quite wet too, but we enjoyed our stay at The Haven Spa.  This place was really, really nice, and the price was pretty good too, for what we got.

The town of Boquete was home to a ton of ex-pats that came down to Panama to take advantage of the great “pensiones” plans they have down there.  The medical equipment and services are top notch, so much so that some of their hospitals are affiliates of Johns Hopkins.  Healthcare is universal, food is affordable, living costs are good, the way of life is a bit slower, but certainly a nice escape from a lot of the nonsense that goes on state-side.  And as far as politics, well, the Panamanians are doing all they can to lure retirees down to their country, so there are a lot of perks.  And we met plenty of people living it up down there.  Probably close to half the population spoke at least broken English, so it was easy to get by.

But, you know we didn’t stay on the beaten path for too long.  We spoke with some locals and asked where they like to go to get away from tourists and enjoy their days off and that’s where we went.  We were pointed towards a couple of really cool hikes in the area and some great local restaurants where we fell in love with the “limonadas,” which was essentially like a lemonade smoothie.

Unfortunately, we had to leave Boquete after a few days, but in hindsight, that would be the first place I’d go back to in Panama if I ever get a chance to return.  From Boquete, we took the one hour bus ride back to David where we planned to jump on another plane to Bocas del Toro, but that didn’t work out so well for us.  It seems that since it was slow season, they just stopped that particular flight altogether and the quickest way for us to get to Bocas Town was to take a 5 hour bus ride over the spine of the country and down to the small Caribbean port town.  So, through hours of windy roads, rainforests and jungles and over the mountain we went.  Finally we got down to the Caribbean and jumped on a small boat to Bocas Town.

Bocas Town was a trip…. But that’s a story for next time.  Let’s take a look at some pictures from Boquete and we’ll check out Bocas next week!

Stay tuned my friends.  I’d write more, but I’ve got to get back to studying.  As some of you know, I’ve been hired as a recruit by the Maui Fire Department, and so until December 2 I’m in training.  This training is by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done.  Physically and mentally I’m wiped out every day.  And even now, I’ve got to get back to the books.  But I will write the rest of this next week… or shortly thereafter.  ;-)

Have a great weekend everyone!  And hit me up if you get a chance!

All my aloha,

Michael

Butterflies on a branch that we found on a hike outside of Boquete.

Kinda neat shot of water hitting these rocks.  The waterfall itself was a huge 400′ falls, but I don’t think I’ll be including any photos of that here.  Maybe you’ll see them somewhere else down the road…

Running stream along the hike.

Oh yea, I like this one with that giant yellow leaf and the water cascading down the path.  Pretty sweet, huh?

Not much of a botanist, so I don’t know what they’re called, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen these guys around out here too.  Colors are great, aren’t they?

So, this old castle was apparently built by this guy for his wife.  He spent his whole life building it and before he finished it she passed away.  He continued to work on it until his death a few years later, and this is how it stands today.  Picturesque, isn’t it?

I really like this photo of these young local ninos in there casa.  Even the dog is just chilling down there taking it all in.

A few more ninos checking out the gringo with the big camera.

These rocks look like they’re man made and just stacked there or something, but they’re not, and they probably go up 200′ or so.  Trippy, I never saw anything like this, anyone know what they’re called or how they form like this?

And here’s Caroline climbing the rocks.

Doesn’t this just look like a fairytale?  Maybe I should Photoshop in a horn on this thing, and it could pass for a unicorn.  What do you think?

Panama Lager and Limonada.  Awesome.

Fruit stand on our way across the mountains to Bocas.

A little over two years ago 2700 people applied for a position with the Maui fire department.  They were each informed that there would be a written test that would cover everything from memory retention to physics to chemistry to math to all sorts of other problems.  Then they were given a date and location of where to show up and take the test.  From there, those who scored in the top 60 were invited to take another test, this one an agility test of strength and endurance that was to take place a few months later.  About 45 people passed the physical aspect.  Then almost two years after the physical test was taken, the top 16 candidates were notified that there would be an oral interview.  Again they were given a place and a time to show up.  After the oral interview the top 12 were selected and offered a position as firefighter recruits.

I am one of those 12.  Not sure how I passed the written, as it was by far the hardest test I’ve ever taken.  Same with the physical, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, and by the end of it I was literally hallucinating…

So now we were informed that our academy would start on July 1st.  Then it will be all day every day for about four months until we finish our training.  The fun part, is that since our island is considered a “rescue island,”  we have to be trained in all kinds of cool techniques, like water rescue, jumping out of helicopters, repelling down cliffs, and all kinds of adventurous activities.  So, yes, I am looking forward to that.  But what I’m REALLY looking forward to is the 10 days a month that I’ll be working.  That means I’m going to have a lot more time for Earth Trot and The Earth Trot Project!  Woooohooo!

Since the academy doesn’t start until July 1, Caroline and I have decided to go on a honeymoon.  Since we hadn’t gone on one yet, we booked tickets to leave on Monday for Panama!  Yep, we think that will be a really fun time, so stay tuned for some photos from that.  Then from Panama we’re flying to Chicago for a quick trip with the fam and a reception for those who haven’t yet met Caroline.  Then… it only gets better…  we’ve purchased a car (brand new 2011 Hyundai Elantra) and we’re going to drive it from Chicago through Omaha, Denver, Aspen, Salt Lake City, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, and all the way up Highway 101 to Eugene, Portland and finally to Seattle.  From there we’ll put the car on a boat and have her folks in Vancouver pick us up and take us up to British Columbia for another reception and time with the family.

Whirlwind tour, I know.  But we’re REALLY excited for it and looking forward to every leg of the journey!  We should have quite a few good photos when we get back… or at least we hope so…

What else, what else… Oh yes, of course, graduation!  Last weekend Caroline graduated from the University of Hawai’i, Maui College.  But not only did she graduate, she graduated as valedictorian!  She gave a speech to her whole class and rubbed elbows with Governor Abercrombie and all the big wigs.  I was so proud of her, she did an amazing job, delivering her speech with perfection in front of thousands of spectators, faculty and students.  It was moving, poignant and powerful and she dominated the microphone.

From the Governor to the Mayor…  Last night we were invited to a cocktail reception for non-profit organizations in the county of Maui.  We applied for a grant that would help fund our Mokupuni o Hawai’i project, a project we’re looking into that would essentially see us creating a video documentary series on Hawai’i similar to that done by the BBC entitled Planet Earth.  We didn’t win, but we did spend the evening with Mayor Arakawa and a bunch of heavy hitters in the non-profit sector here on Maui.  Met some great people and we were so happy for those who did receive some funding!

So yea, that’s what’s been going on over on this end.  What’s happening on your end?  Leave a comment below and let us know!  Have a great weekend everyone, stay safe and spread the aloha!

All my love,

Michael

On my way to the interview.  Everyone said “wear a suit.”  So I did (had to buy one).  Good thing I listened.  I saw two other guys going into their interview, both in jeans and gym shoes.  Neither got a job.

Aunty Sandy and Caroline after graduation.

Caroline delivering her valedictory speech.  She killed it.  Fantastic job, babe!

Testing out a new lens on some graffiti in central Maui.

Small kine waterfall on the way to Hana.

We met some really cool cats from New York who hired us to take them on a photo safari to Hana.  They certainly didn’t need to hire us, but they did, and we had a great time!  Here’s a photo from that trip.  This one is taken in a cave at Waianapanapa State Park.

Graffiti on the Agave plant at Waianapanapa.

You know I love waterfalls!

A four hundred foot waterfall… how cool is this guy?

Waterfalls as the sun was setting in Kipahulu.

And this is the moon actually, low in the sky in Kipahulu.  Just breathtaking!

I know, it’s just a working title, anyway.  Maybe we should start making these quarterly newsletters instead of weekly ones… I’m not doing a very good job of staying on top of this.  But here’s why: I was getting ready for my wedding!  Yes, the one day of your life that is truly all about you (well, if you’re the bride, anyway).  I’ve got a ton of other stuff to cover, but this newsletter here, well, we’ll just save this for the wedding!

We hadn’t done too much to prepare for the ceremony, and just before the wedding took place we figured out all these last minute things we wanted to do that we hadn’t gotten around to, so the last few weeks were crazy!

Friends and family started arriving in late February, and trying to entertain everyone and get everything finalized with the wedding was a little stressful, but not too bad.

The wedding itself was on March 5, and for about two weeks surrounding that date they were calling for heavy rains and thunderstorms the entire time family and friends were supposed to be out here.  Fortunately for us, there was very little rain, except for on our wedding weekend.  Friday rained pretty good, but by Saturday we just had a slight drizzle and overcast skies which actually made for a really nice Hawai’i day.

There were about 40 people in attendance that literally came from all over the world to the small island of Lana’i for the wedding.  We had people from Japan, Taiwan, Austria, Hawai’i, Chicago, Vancouver and more all gathered together to celebrate our union.  At about 10:30am Saturday morning guests started coming down to Hulopo’e Beach where we pretty much had the entire place to ourselves.  I was down there a little early picking the spot for the ceremony when a pod of probably 50 dolphins swam by the West side of the beach.  Being Caroline’s aumakua, (family protective spirit),  I decided that was the place.  We spread some orchids and tuberose flowers on the beach and before I could gather what was happening nearly everyone was there.

Uncle Coelho started playing Hawaiian music on his 12 string guitar and all the family gathered together.  I walked both my mom and Caroline’s “mum” down the aisle to where we stood in front of the beautiful blue Pacific ocean and the thundering shore break at Hulopo’e Bay.  Both mum and mom walked to either side of the aisle and I stood talking with our minister, Todd until Coelho started playing Maunaleo, then everyone turned and looked down the aisle.  As I turned, I felt my knees start to buckle and I immediately got choked up.

There in front of me was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, draped in a gorgeous white veil and elegant white wedding dress.  On her left arm was her father, walking her down the aisle.  They looked so happy together.  When she approached where I was standing I hugged her dad, thanked him for allowing me to marry his daughter and took her to center stage to get the show started.

Todd did an incredible job with the ceremony, making everyone laugh, cry and appreciate the beauty of the moment.  We were so blessed to have him there to perform the wedding.  The whole thing lasted only 20 to 25 minutes and then it was on to the reception!  Which was unreal (mahalos to The Four Seasons Resort Manele Bay for hosting it)!  The food was incredible, we had fish tacos, steak satay, build your own sandwiches, all kinds of desserts (including cheesecake and tropical fruit shooters), island fresh poke, caprese salad and so much more.

Funny thing is, we were so hungry but really didn’t eat much.  We spent so much time talking with our guests, thanking everyone and enjoying our time with family and friends.

Afterwards we mosied up to The Lodge at Koele and had a few cocktails with some of our guests.  The whole weekend was really amazing.  We had so many of the ladies dance hula for us, it was fantastic.  Caroline danced one for me, Mapuana, Caroline’s kumu hula (hula teacher) danced for us, Auntie Pua danced and so did Aya.  We really couldn’t have envisioned or planned a better experience, especially for those who came from outside Hawai’i to learn a little about our culture here in the islands.

I’m not going to go too much more into the weekend because I don’t want to bore anyone, but if you are in Chicago or Vancouver, you can expect us there at some point this summer to have a little reception out that way as well, so we certainly hope to see you there (hopefully, we’ll have another Aloha Friday out before then…)!

Attached below are a bunch of photos from the wedding.  We got almost 800 images from our amazing photographer, Amity Mason – check her out at: amitymason.com, who, as you can tell, did an unbelievable job. Well, enjoy the photos, enjoy the new site, and hit us up when you get a chance!

Mahalo nui a me aloha kakou!

Michael

How beautiful is MY WIFE?!!!

mmmmhmmmm…. mmmmmhmmmmm.

Caroline and her dad walking down the aisle.

At the “altar” in front of the sea.

Not a dry eye in the place.  Me and mum, with mom wiping her eyes in the background.

Some of our wedding party.

Three sisters, Amy, Caroline and Esther who hadn’t been together in the same place for 23 years!  We were so honored to have Amy come in all the way from Austria, and Esther to fly in all the way from Taiwan to help us celebrate!

This is one of our favorite photos.  Look at the size of that shore break behind us!  It was ROCKIN’ the beach!

The overcast skies made the grounds nice and green, enhancing photo opportunities tremendously!

My dad gave an unforgettable toast at the reception, just praising Caroline for being so amazing.   It really was heartfelt and poignant and made us all smile!

Caroline and her best friend Ciara from Vancouver.

Our amazing officiant, Todd and his family, Laura, Jason and Tyler.  We were so honored to have Todd and his family there helping us celebrate and officiating the wedding.  Everyone was blown away by his message.  Thanks Todd, for everything!  We love you!

My wife dancing a hula for me.  Thanks to Mapuana who really kinda forced her into doing it!  And mahalo to Uncle Coelho for playing music for us.  He and his family our such good friends, we love them so much!

My bride and I. Or me and my bride, whatever.  Sorry to my mother, the “Grammar Police.”

Mapuana, Caroline’s kumu, dancing for us.

My best friend, Chris, jamming some Stevie Ray Vaughan on Uncle Coelho’s 12 string Ovation.

The lovebirds in the orchid garden at The Lodge at Koele.

Here we are again outside The Lodge at the pagoda.  Love this photo!

I really like the roots of this tree behind us, just massive!

The evening was topped off with a majestic sunset.

Photographer: Michael Neubauer

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Photographer: Michael Neubauer

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Photographer: Michael Neubauer

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Photographer: Michael Neubauer

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Photographer: Michael Neubauer

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