Casco Viejo, Panama

I’m a mother. I’m about to celebrate my second Mother’s Day. When I look at my son Joaquin Fox, my heart clenches and I feel weary with adoration and love. Joaquin’s dad (and my husband) Juan and I had been living abroad in Panama for seven months when we found out I was pregnant. Those first thoughts of packing up and heading home to the San Francisco Bay Area were fleeting.

One May evening in 2011, while strolling through our eclectic, vivacious, steamy neighborhood of Casco Viejo in Panama City, we decided that heading “home” because of a baby would be selling ourselves short. We had made the wild and yet obvious (to us) choice to live abroad after getting married and we wanted this baby to be a part of that history; a part of our family’s history living abroad.

And here we are today: A California mama, a half Guatemalan papa, and our Panamanian baby boy.

From where I’m standing today, I look around and see an amazing life that we have built here in Casco Viejo, Panama from nothing but hope, inspiration, patience, and creativity. And of course, the handsome Mr. Fox.

Beautiful picture!

Check out Molly Berry’s website, The Berry & The Fox !

And we would like to extend a very happy Mother’s Day to all the moms and grandmothers and great grandmothers around the world! <3

San Pedro, Belize

This was taken as we walked along the beachfront in San Pedro, Belize. I spied this foot poking out from the side of a small cafe, and immediately thought, “Toemailer.”

Nice shot, and thanks for thinking of us!

Check out Another Day In Paradise !

Charco Verde, Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua

Here is a picture of my toes/feet overlooking the black sand beach of Charco Verde, Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua. We’re currently traveling around Central America before going back to Bolivia where we came from at the start of this journey. The blog I’m writing about our time in Bolivia and beyond is http://notesfromcamelidcountry.net

Hope all’s good in the world of toes and mail.

Looks like a beautiful place to just chill!

Check out notesfromcameldicountry !

Panama City, Panama

Our short Panamanian encounter started after 26 hours of bus from San Juan del Sur (or actually Rivas) and we were pretty beat up when we got to Panama City. We had 4 goals with our stay here:

1. Visit Tuva’s friend, Maria, in Panama City
2. See the Panama Canal
3. Buy everything we have dreamed about the last months at a real, big, American-style mall
4. Chillax at the San Blas islands

We managed to reach all goals with the six days we had, and then some. It must be said that if we’d had some more time we would have visited the cloud forest in Boquete and the beaches in Bocas del Toro, but because of our limited time we had to prioritize!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mathiasg/8522217547/

Kuna Yala http://www.flickr.com/photos/mathiasg/8523369084/

Kuna Yala http://www.flickr.com/photos/mathiasg/8522256233/

Looks like a great trip!

Check out The Flashpacker’s Guide To The Galaxy !

 

 

Placencia, Belize

Sitting on the dock of the bay.

“…watching the tide roll away, sittin here restin my bones, just to make this dock my home” Great shot!

Check out Sharon’s Paws Create !

Costa Rica

On one of the Arenal Hanging Bridges

Nice shot, must be awesome through there!

Check out sdobie’s Flickr Photostream !

Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala

Location: Pacaya Volcano, Guatemala
My blog: www.willowwanderlust.wordpress.com
Caption: Volcano toes: Enjoying the view after a long, dirty hike to the top.

That must have been one fantastic trip!

Caracol, Belize

The Mayan ruins of Caracol date back to 900 BC.  The name Caracol means “snail” for all of the snail shells discovered at the site during excavation.  At its peak Caracol was inhabited by around 140,000 people.  I’m sitting on the ruin called Caana.  About half way to the top.  Caana is still one of the highest structures in Belize at 143 feet.  Plus mine!

Great shot, place looks awesome!

Check out Sharon’s Paws Create !

El Salvador

We drove along the coast heading towards La Libertad to find accommodation by the sea, but they were either dirty, musty smelling, too expensive or seemed shady. The streets were nice though! They had a cute aquatic theme going on:

Looks like a good part of a great trip!

Check out canuck in latin america !

Granada, Nicaragua

We are privileged to participate in a missions program, called El Puente or The Bridge, in Granada, Nicaragua that is helping rid the area of gang activity and combating poverty through teaching women and teen boys (who are the most at risk in Nica) to create sustainable jobs and teaching money management through this. I have written extensively about this program and our experiences on our blog.

My picture  was taken in Granada inside The Bridge’s compound.

Great work, and fun shot!

Check out This Handmade Circus !

San Jose, Costa Rica

It’s hard to believe that the first week of class is already over! Now I’ve officially had all of my classes and I think all of them are going to be pretty good, some I’m super excited about and others shouldn’t be too bad. I’m super excited about the ecotourism, music, and conversation classes. I can’t wait to learn about all the different types of Latin music that I will hopefully be able to dance to by the end of this semester. How the conversation class works is that we have one day in the classroom and then we have to volunteer for at least two hours outside of class. I think it will be a great opportunity to interact with people in the community (possibly teaching English) and I’ve only heard great things about this class. I’m also in a film class and I think that will be interesting as well. Today was the first day I had it and it was ok, but a little boring because I had already seen the movie we watched. That won’t be happening all the time though, so hopefully we watch some good movies. The fifth class that I have is Intro to Literary Analysis. I think it will be alright. Not the best subject in the world but I have to take it for my major :/ I’m sure it’ll be better here than at U of I anyway.

Last night we had our welcome dinner at this really pretty restaurant called Ram Luna. It overlooks the valley and it was soooo pretty! It took us two hours to get there though because there was so much traffic (gotta love 5:30 rush hour :/). Our dinner was a yummy buffet and then after dinner there was some dancing for entertainment. It was pretty cool. We ended up going out to the patio to check out the view from there. It was amazing! We were able to see four different provinces from there. Overall, the night was a lot of fun. It went a lot later than I was expecting (I had no idea there would be a buffet and dancing ) but it was still a good night.

We don’t get too many night shots here, well done!

Check out Kathryn’s Costa Rican Adventure !

Roatan Bay/Maya Key, Hondurus

Rachel writes, “Surprisingly, the surprise unfolded exactly as I envisioned it. There were a few slip-ups here and there (heck, for 5 months of ensuring 10 people don’t say ANYTHING, it’s going to get a little tough), but ManFriend had NO clue. I must admit it was the ultimate surprise. His face was unforgettable – and it was as amazing as I thought it would be.”

A beautiful vacation for sure!

Check out Rachel’s blog, saltedchocolate.

San Jose, Costa Rica

Not sure I like the way those cows are staring.

Check out diane_l’s Flickr Photostream. and her website, Diane Dodd Photography.

On The Bus In Guatemala

Ksenia S writes, “Taken in Guatemala, somewhere between Todos Santos and Huehuetenango after celebrating All Saints Day. The bus was full but my friend and I badly had to get to the hometown that day. Thus, the bus roof was the choice. Scary at first, the roof was a perfect spot to enjoy the beauty of the curvy mountain roads covered with the morning fog.”

Amazing that they let you do that and seems like a great adventure!

Check out Ksenia S’s Flickr Photostream.

San Ignacio, Belize

Karla writes,
“Taken on the front porch of our cottage in the jungles of San Ignacio, Belize. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been in my life!”
Must be wonderful. Thanks for the feet toemail!
And check out some great music at her blog, auralmemories.