Selected Posts
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Thrown Out of One Bus and Straight Into Another
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Nearly There
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Water Taxi
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Walking Through the Costa Rica–Panama Border
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¡Colectivo a la Frontera!
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Thrown Out of One Bus and Straight Into Another
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This Bus Was Not Built for These Mountains
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Walking Through the Costa Rica–Panama Border
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Nearly There
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Water Taxi
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This Bus Was Not Built for These Mountains
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And two days earlier than planned; thanks, Hostel Santa!Bocas Babyyyy
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This is the First Hostel I've Ever Been to with a Water Slide
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Harty Pard
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I've Also Never Stayed at a Hostel with a World Record-winning Castle Made Out of Plastic Bottles
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Turns out herrarano and gin are not ideal drinks to take neatMany Free Shots for the Hostel Owner's Birthday
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New Years Eve Day Drinks by the Sea
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Unintentional Party Bus
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Bapé Crew
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Island Hopping
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Rainbow
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Bay
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Final Bapés in Bocas
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En route to BoqueteBack Through the Mountains
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En route to BoqueteBack Through the Mountains
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En route to BoqueteBack Through the Mountains
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Untitled
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Beautiful Boquete
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Untitled
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Untitled
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Untitled
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Untitled
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Untitled
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Untitled
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Beautiful Boquete
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Untitled
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Waterfall Wall
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Waterfall Walk
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Cascada #2
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Cascada #3
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Little Baby Waterfall
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Cascada #1
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Li
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Cascada #1
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Cascada #2
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Li
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Little Baby Waterfall
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Cascada #3
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Off to Play Cowboys
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Off to Play Cowboys
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Untitled
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Our Valiant Steeds
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Homies
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Sunrise on the Way Home
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More Loud AF Birds
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A Real Tough Hombre
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Belated NYE Party Pics #1
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Belated NYE Party Pics #2
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Evening in Boquete
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Boquete Sunset
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Turns out 60× magnification is a little too magnification to make much of anything outExperimenting with Telephotography
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View from the Castle
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Thanks for Randomly Deleting a Day's Worth of Updates, App
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Lovely Coffee
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Lovely River
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Fishies (Re-post from Yesterday)
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Stream (Re-post from Yesterday)
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Chicks (Re-post from Yesterday)
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El Pianista Trail (Re-post from Yesterday)
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Trail Crew (Re-post from Yesterday)
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Big Tree (Re-post from Yesterday)
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Onwards and Upwards (Re-post from Yesterday)
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After All This Way, We Get Stuck Inside a Cloud at the Summit (Re-post from Yesterday)
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Memorial (Re-post from Yesterday)
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All Done (Re-post from Yesterday)
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Full Moon at Night
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Not quite ‘$18 for a bag’ nice thoughA Very Nice Coffee
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Final View in Boquete
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En Route to Santa Catalina
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Now it's time to learn how to surf 🏄After Several Days of Not Knowing Where I'd Sleep the Next Night, I'm Finally Sorted and By the Beach Again
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And I say this as an unironic fan of The ChosenTruly, Cheesy Biblical Telenovelas Are the Peak of the Genre
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It's basically the first time since I arrived in Central America, and I can't help but think it's because it's Martyr's Day today and they think I'm an American.I Encountered a String of Bellends Today
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Now That's a View To Wake Up To
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Clifftop Views
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Sunset from the Hostel
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Moonlit Night
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🤙🤙🤙🤙Gnarly, Radical and/or Totally Tubular, Dude! Cowabunga, and So Forth!
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I shall kayak over to you, o distant island of mysteryTarget Sighted
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Alternate title: Rebecca has crabsRebecca Made a Friend
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Bird on the Rocks
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Ben (ft. A Rented Kayak) 1, Pacific Ocean Nil
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Ben (ft. A Rented Kayak) 1, Pacific Ocean Nil
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Bird on the Rocks
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Alternate title: Rebecca has crabsRebecca Made a Friend
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Untitled
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Exploring Isla Catalina
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Last Shot of the Gang Before We Tried to Outrun a Storm Back to the Mainland
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A Lift to Town
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A: I only have mobile data at the farm I'm staying at this month, and the app I'm using only uploads on Wi-Fi connections for reasons as-yet-unknown. Also, the email digests are currently borked due to some upstream changes that were made last week. I should have everything fixed this weekend.Q: Why No Updates, Ben?
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Finca de la Rey
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Hello Darkness My Old Friends
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Feeding the Chickens
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Homemade Patacones
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Hunting Bananas
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Exploring
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Dragonfly
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Shy Lil Tarantula
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RIP Sweet Princes
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Dad ’n’ Lad
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Piña Colada (w/ Extra Piña)
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I had to buy some jeans for the farm work, but the only ones they had in my size were these stupid pre-ripped ones, so now I have to patch them up myselfConditon: Better than New
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Solar Panel Installation
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Playing obscure Swiss card games (with a very pretty set of cards)Jass Queens
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Two stray dogs came to hang out with us on the beach. One was chill, one was really annoying and kept walking over the towels and pushing into people. Eventually this dog picked up on the vibe and growled at the annoying one till he left, then hung out with us for the rest of the day. Now I want to give him some food and see if I can get him to follow me to the US...Good Dog
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Walking Back at Night
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Plantains and Bananas, Together at Last
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Dion Smash
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Beach Sunset
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Picking Coffee Beans
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Funky Plant
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Back at Surfer's Paradise
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This pic captures about 15% of the stars we see out hereI Wish I Still Had a Phone Capable of Astrophotography
[Photo credit: Fabienne]
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New Blog Post: Review of 2022
Inspired by 8,760 Hours, I decided to give myself a set of goals for 2022. How did I do against them?
Read it here. -
New Blog Post: Benifest Destiny: Introduction
I'm hitting the road for the best part of the next year; here are my plans and objectives as I set off.
Read it here. -
Next stop: ChitréOn the Road Again
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[Photo credit: Gabs]We're Bananas for Bananas!
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Playa Guanico
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My Digs Are Slowly Getting More and More Spartan
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Any% Workstay Speedrun
- Arrive on Wednesday expecting to work on vague, unspecified
maintenance
tasks - Arrive to work on Thursday morning only to find that the wall you are expected to paint the top of is too high for you to reach except at full extension and standing on the top of the stepladder
- See someone else do it by leaning a normal ladder against the wall
- Vaguely remember something in your travel insurance about not being covered for working at height
- Spend the rest of the morning sandpapering plaster with varying
too much pressure
andnot enough pressure
- Get back to the accommodation to find out that another girl quit because she asked to be excused from nannying the baby because she was ill, and was told that
if you are ill for more than a week you'll have to leave
- Be fired whilst walking to the beach —
your painting wasn't what they were looking for
not wanting to pay the fee
(that hosts don't pay anyway), they almost certainly got kicked off the platform.
But Big Ben the Perennial On-feet Lander isn't phased; he's off to Panama City tomorrow babyyyyy!
Enough of this volunteering lark for a bit, I'm going to book a few weeks in a hostel and make some actual money like a normal person. - Arrive on Wednesday expecting to work on vague, unspecified
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Yes Doggocito Please Lay Exactly There
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Staredown
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After many months of me pestering them with (very technical and well-formatted) bug reports and feature suggestions, I'm now working with the company behind the app that I've been using to track my trips: Wayward. They're even paying me in real-life actual money and everything! Wow!Good News, Everybody: I Have a New Job!
Specifically, I'm going to be working part-time on the mobile app and we'll see how things look a few months down the line re: other stuff.
All those bugs and quirks I've been annoyed with for months had better watch their backs. -
Exciting new travel experience: never before have I seen a café try to pass off a urinal cake hanging off a bit of wire as soap in their bathroom.Oh, Panamaaaaa 🎶
[Please sing the title of this post to the tune of the Canadian national anthem] -
A-howsDon't Worry Ben, You Can Stay (and Work) Until Monday
A-bouts
A-nos?
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Bussin’ Through the Los Santos Hillside
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One End of the Panama Canal
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Bold Choice of Hostel Décor
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At the farm it was me, a Canadian, a Swiss and a German.Wilkommen aus Panama
At the super-successful surf camp, it was me, two Swiss, three Germans, one Austrian and even a Liechtensteiner (the rarest subgenre of German).
I arrived at this hostel and met the two German guys in my dorm. Then the German couple. Then the German girl. Then I went down to the bar and every single person was talking German. There wasn't an an un-blond head of hair in the whole place; not a single chair without a beach towel over it.
I don't know what sort of conspiracy I've uncovered here. Is Panama where they make new Germans, and then they export them back to Europe? The world must know! -
Germans aside, this place is hot, noisy and unpleasant to my country bumpkin senses. I'm having another Into the Wild moment; get me outta here and back to the beach!Cities Are Not Good for the Soul
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Time to Die, Hair
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If my previous attempt at cutting my own hair taught me anything, it's that it's not a very good idea. Time to get a professional.Change of Plan
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Who Squashed This Cat Here?
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I gave the barber the broad strokes (#2 back and sides, bit longer on top) and told him to get creative with it otherwiseFresh New Trim
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...and the red one is my hostel. The problem: San Felipe (a.k.a. Casco Viejo) is one of the only interesting-sounding things to see in this city.Three of These Five Flags Are Areas One is Advised Not to Visit, Day or Night...
Decisions, decisions. I feel like a little field mouse trying to weigh up whether it's worth risking a run across some open ground for the sake of some tasty tasty grains, except the risk here is that an owl may try to mug, kidnap and/or carjack me.
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View from My Balcony
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Nothing Like the Ever-present Thrill of a Surprise Dog Turd to Keep One on Their Toes
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Most ‘s’ sounds are debuccalised, ‘ch’s get pronounced ‘sh’ and word-final ‘n’ is sometimes dropped, which means ‘cascada’ becomes ‘cahcada’, ‘mucho gusto’ becomes ‘musho guhto’ and the plural form of verbs becomes indistinguishable from the formal-you/he/she/it form. I just thought everyone here had a cold.Controversial Opinion: Panamanian Spanish is the Worst Spanish Dialect
Also, people who work in the bus industry seem to mostly communicate via silent hand gestures and whistling. -
Here I am in Panama's largest bus terminal, where I can get anywhere in the country for a maximum of about ten bucks. Wherever shall I go? 🤔🤔🤔Endless Vistas of Opportunity
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In-flight Entertainment
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Once more unto the beach, dear frienda, once moreOne Step Forward, (Quite Literally) Two Steps Back
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Plot twist: there's not enough room to standStanding Room Only on the Bus
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Scorpito
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Rave Scorpion
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Every time it happens I don't have my phone on meThe Tail End of a Chicken Stroke, Caught on Camera
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Stepping Down to the Sunset
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Sunset (ft Fabs) #1
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Sunset (ft. Fabs) #2
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Moon Over the Treeline
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Stuff Grows Fast in the Tropics
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You Never Know What the Next Lift'll Be
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Apparently this is just how I start every month nowPool Party
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Moonlit Clouds
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It somehow took the driver an hour and a half to change itBlew a Tire on the Drive Back from the Party Last Night
[Photo credit: Luca]
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Oh boy, then I hope you play chess – this is an Elo 1500 and up establishmentWant to Know Which Bathroom to Use?
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Another Isla Catalina Sunset
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Cosy Café
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Video Backlog Uploaded
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Orb Weaver
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That's One Way to Transport a Load of Rice Husks
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It was actually way more orange than this, but I like what my phone camera did to itPurple Sunset
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Shy Guy
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Sigh, Just Another Day at the Office 🙄
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Don't swerve left, don't swerve left, don't swerve leftSardine Mode: Activated
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There's a can of Balboa, so it counts as a traditional Panamanian meal...My Last Dinner in Santa Catalina
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Gymnast
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Loadin’ Up
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Just Keep Climbing
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Queen of the Hill
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What Goes Up...
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Hard at Work
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Gotta Get Them Rice Husks
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The shop in Santa Catalina hasn't had these in for weeks😍
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Making a Mess of a Bollo Blanco
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Official Tropical Fruit Power Ranking
- Mango
- Papaya
- Pineapple
- Passion fruit
- Guanabana
- Banana
- Trash tier: Avocado
I shall conduct further studies and eat more strange mushy things.
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I've sent off my BAS applications, for the on-ice IT Engineer and Radio Officer positions.Antarctica Update: My Applications Are In!
Now I need to wait until the application window closes at the end of March, but in the meantime I can tweak mine as much as I like. -
Long-time listeners will remember when I first arrived in the jungle and both of my big toenails immediately decided to embark on solo careers due to irreconcilable artistic differences. After a few months of dutifully applying some mystery cream every day and waiting patiently, they are (very gradually) growing back. Only time will tell whether they end up looking as strange as they did before, or stranger, or perhaps even normal, but for now it's body's natural regenerative functions 1, unknown jungle fungus nil (or, actually, I guess it's sort of 2-all and still all to play for).Toe Update: They're Back, Baby!
Radical thought: do we really even need toenails more?
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When they turned everything on at middya yesterday, they knocked out the power in our bit of the city for most of the afternoon.Let the Carnevale Begin!
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Two Great Tastes that Taste Great Together
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I looked in 5 tiendas and 2 supermarkets for a new e-reader (I'd even settle for a Kindle!), but to no avail; Panama is not a nation of readers.Another Technological Travel Casualty
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#Squad
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Scourge of the seven seas, as well as clothing thrist stores everywhere.Yarr, It's the Feared Captain Add Name!
This is the finest $10 I have ever spent.
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I know KaZantip's whole gimmick was being a fake country, but this is the first time I've almost been deported from a festivalVery Nearly Didn't Get in Because I Didn't Have a Photo of My Panamanian Entry Stamp
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Fireworks Battle
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[Video credit: Fabs] -
#CalleAbajo4Lyfe #YesMyQueenCharles Who?
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[Video credit: Fabs] -
Struttin’ around like he own the placeGet a Load of This Flared Trouser-Lookin’ Li’l Guy
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Beach Day
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Carnevale Floats #1
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[Photo and video credit: Fabs]
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Carnevale Floats #2
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Carnevale Floats #3
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[Video credit: Fabs] -
Where's My Kayak?
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I sure hope someone kept the receipt for all these birdsA Glitch in the Matrix
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Carnevale Floats #4
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[Video credit: Fabs] -
Hostel Party Crew
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We ended up drinking with some kind of Panamanian celebrity chef, and as a result ended up with an accidental VIP backstage passBackstage Pass
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I thought the rum was on my side, but yesterday's hangover had me horizontal until 6pm. I feel betrayed.Et Tu, Rum?
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Casco Viejo
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Cinta Costera at Night
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Turns out we decided to go for breakfast right next to the route for a protest march — from what we could gather from their banners and leaflets, something about a labour dispute with minersCasco Viejo was Crawling with Cops This Morning
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For the really non-commital body modderHat Piercings
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Several hours in the second-largest mall in the Americas, and I have found almost none of what I needed. I don't think anyone even knew what an e-reader was.Albrook Mall
Maybe I think Amazon deserves to not pay tax now. Shopping sucks. -
Cool Statue
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The View from la Avenida Amador
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You Had One Job
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Avenida Amador
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Bridge of the Americas
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Fabs and the Seismograph
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Those Birds Must be Delicious
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Modelos negros and Pilsen 6.0s don't count; but this is still only a porter, I think the stouts really will have to wait till August.My First Proper Beer Since Leaving England
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Balcony Working
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I take back what I said about the chess placeNow This is the Worst Toilet Door UI I've Ever Seen
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I had a hell of a time convincing the people at the bus terminal that I definitely did want to go this way. And the conductor just refers to me asDarién, Ho!
the gringo
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Lago Bayano
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Slash N Burn
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But I'm a-headin’ rightThar Be Dragons
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My New Gaff (from the Outside)
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My New Gaff (from the Inside)
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Showertime
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Banks of the Rio Lara
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Finally, the Socialist Lentils I've Always Craved!
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New Blog Post: Travel Tips
Here are some of my top tips and tricks for travelling, from kit packing to safety advice.
Read it here. -
I've Always Wanted a Standing Desk
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Hot Dog, Hot Dog, Hot Bitch?
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My Dictionary App Says This Means
Spinster's Potatoes
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I Do Not Understand What I Am Being Told Not to Do Here
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How's the UK? Pretty Much How I Left It
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I only just found out that video embeds in emails don't work in a bunch of email clients, and the fallback link isn't shown either. I love standards that everyone implements differently. Anyway, that should now (finally) be fixed. I also added some cute little icons to indicate which posts have photos, videos and audio (and which are still to-be-uploaded).Tracker Update: Videos in Email Digests and Content Type Icons
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Mise en Cuisine
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Puerto Lara from Above
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Balsa Tree
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New Blog Post: Costa Rica
I visit Central America for the first time, spending time befriending animals and frolicking naked in the jungle.
Read it here. -
Almost Ran Smack-bang into This Spooky-Lookin’ Dude
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I'm 300m up a small mountain in the middle of the jungleHow TF Did This Get Here?
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Cannae see a thing, Cap'n!Viewpoint #2 was a Bit of a Bust
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Cheeky Birthday Jungle Hike
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Man, does that dude owe me big nowAccidentally Scared Off a Tarantula Hawk Wasp That was Dragging a Paralysed Tarantula Across the Path
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Now there's snail trails everywhere and I keep treading on the bastardsGot Back to House Only to Discover That the Kids Have Used One of My Pots to Collect Snails from the River
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Last Sunset in Darién
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Absolute terrors... but very cuteMis Niños
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Plan A was to spend the night in Panama City, then tomorrow night in David, etc. But now I'm going straight to the Costa Rican border in a single leap! All for the low, low price of almost 24 hours of busriding.Plan A was to spend the night in Panama City, then tomorrow night in David, etc. But now I'm going straight to the Costa Rican border in a single leap! All for the low, low price of almost 24 hours’ continuous busriding.Hell Ye, Overnight Buses
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All the Pura Vida I Can Eat Lies Just Across That Bridge
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An Unexpectedly Beautiful Border Crossing Experience
