Last year around this time the US Ambassador to Panama, Barbara Stephenson, visited a variety of USAID funded projects in Bocas del Toro. I was fortunate to be included in one of those meetings as the Bocas Sustainable Tourism Alliance was created out of one of these USAID funded projects. The ambassador suggested that I look into Rick Steves' books. So I did.

All of Rick Steves' books and most of his website are related to travel to specific locations or tours, etc. that he himself offers. He has radio and television shows on public broadcasting in the United States. So, you could say he is well-travelled and has been exposed to many different countries and cultures. Given that I wasn't going to be traveling to any of the specific locations for which Rick Steves has books, I selected a book which struck a cord with me: Travel as a Political Act.

Travel as a Political Act is a bit of an extreme title. I found it to be more of a book about traveling with a purpose. The book works through how to travel more thoughtfully to any destination. This is something that is extremely important to anyone who wants to participate in sustainable tourism. Our world is so interconnected at this point in time that to better understand people outside our own country helps us even within our own country or country of residency.

I personally came to realize how interconnected our world was several years ago. Do you remember when the oil and gas prices were climbing on a daily basis? It was crazy. All of my former colleagues in Houston, Texas were thrilled with the increasing prices as it meant their own personal incomes would increase. Bonuses, etc. are based upon the financial health of the corporation. Makes sense. Or does it?

As that oil price goes up for developed countries, it also goes up for developing countries. Granted, in developing countries the amount of oil and gas used is far lower than in developed countries. The cost of oil was driving up the cost of transportation for everything. So the cost of living here in Panama increased drastically. The cost of living on an archipelago went up even higher since most things must be transported over to the islands in one form or another. Only certain things can be produced right here in the archipelago. A large contingency of people living here in Bocas del Toro are below the poverty line. How do they deal with this increase in cost of the very basic things they need? It isn't easy.

Now, the price of oil went down about six months later. The price of the goods on the islands did not go down. The blame was based upon the transportation costs. Baloney. People somehow stomached the increase and therefore the store owners refused to reduce the price. The difference in transportation costs was now going directly into the vendors' pockets. The price of fuel went down but the cost of goods did not. All of this was before the world economy began taking hits. So it was before the blame could be based upon inflation. Panama has since raised its minimum wage to offset some of this increase in the cost of living. It was a pretty substantial increase, fifteen percent or more, with less than one month's notice to employers, but it still isn't enough for these people living below the poverty line as most of them do not work regular jobs.

What this process taught me was that those of us in the developed world have no idea how these types of price increases effect the rest of the world. We see only what affects ourselves.

Rick Steves brings out the point that people who travel with a purpose have a much broader outlook on life than those who do not. When you expose yourself to other countries and other cultures you learn to look at things differently. The book as 9 chapters and is about 210 pages long. The first chapter goes over how to travel with a purpose. The last chapter brings some of the different things that you have learned during your travels home.

To me, traveling with a purpose goes directly along with both sustainable tourism and geotourism. While everyone may want to take a trip to a Disney park at some time in their lives, this trip is not travel with a purpose. Traveling to Central America, spending time in nature and amongst some of the different cultures located there can fit within all three: travel with a purpose, sustainable tourism, and geotourism.

If you are interested in sustainable tourism or geotourism, I would suggest you check out Rick Steves' book Travel as a Political Act. I didn't consider it political, but I did take away a variety of different points that will help me make more out of all of my future travels and work here in Panama.

We had a lovely couple stay with us at the beginning of the month. They have been traveling extensively over the past year, however they chose to spend their first anniversary with us here at Tranquilo Bay. We were of course thrilled at being their selected location so we did what we could to make the stay extra special for them. Here are a few snapshots from a snorkeling session during their stay.

Here are a few photos that we captured before the party began. They are precious boys. We all love them both very much! And we are lucky that their birthdays are close enough together that they can share the party. Thanks again everyone.

Scott decided that he wanted to invite all of his classmates from the Tangerine School on Isla Colon and some of his other friends from Bocas out to Tranquilo Bay for his birthday party. It was a great day. The kids all kayaked, swam, played, ate, beat up the pinata, wrestled for candy - you know all the fun things one does at a birthday party. The parents had some fun too. Here is a quick look at the party and all the children having a great time! Thanks to all that came. It was a great day for all of us.

Just a few weeks ago the Three Wattled Bell Birds began arriving to the island of Bastimentos in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Each year they fly down from the high slopes of Talamanca Mountains for their Caribbean vacation, but not until most of the North American Tourists have completed their northern migration.

Some years they show up as early as June and some years not until the beginning of August. But one thing is for sure, you know when they have arrived. The call, before you are accustomed to it, sounds man made. For sure it is out of place, metallic sounds do not normally occur in nature. Our guests here at the lodge have given the Bell Bird many nicknames over the years such as Clank Bird and Electricity Bird.

At Tranquilo Bay there is a tall stand of forest between the main lodge and the cabanas. This morning on my way to the barn, (3) Three Wattled Bell Birds were conducting an impromptu orchestra from the tallest perches in the stand of trees. The volume of these birds at close range is amazing. As always, I stopped what I was doing and listened to the music of the Bell Birds as I watched two Broad Winged Hawks, a pair of Common Black Hawks and a Turkey Vulture glide gracefully overhead.

After a few minutes I decided it was so beautiful that I had to get some sound recorded. I ran to my room to retrieve my IPod and microphone and quickly entered the forest beneath the canopy. After the last call, I counted 10 seconds and then held the microphone as high as I could and hit the record button. As I am sure you know, not another call was muttered. I sure enjoyed it while it lasted, maybe next time.

So, we have all these cool birds that you can see here if you come visit us, and we thought you would want to be able to see them. So we created a separate sub-site of our Tranquilo Bay site that allows you to see the entire bird list. The bird list is by family and includes the following pieces of information: Photo (if we have a good one), Scientific Name, English Common Name and the Spanish Common Name. We will be updating the photos as we acquire new ones. We also have a bird list that you can download that includes the same information. Take a look at the new subsite here. We will continue to add information regarding birding Panama's western Caribbean slope over time. We hope that this sub-site becomes a point of reference for all those interested in birding this special region.

This photo is of a red-lored amazon. We have hundreds of these that travel to and from our property each morning and evening. Their noise is a wonderful wake-up call to the jungle.

We have added a new section on the website for birding. You can access it here. We are really excited about birding here on the western Caribbean slope. We have a bird list of 114 different birds here on site that grows on a weekly basis. Here is one of my favorite birds. Montezuma oropendola. We see these here by the hundreds on a daily basis. And the noise they make is so cool.




You can check out many others here on our updated birding gallery. Stay tuned for more birding developments!

Jim, Ramon and Natalia have worked hard to put together this video. It is amazing. Let us know what you think!

Happy 17th Anniversary to Jim and Renee! Many more years of wedded bliss to follow.

Wishing each of you a wonderful weekend full of beautiful views such as this one.

Ramon got this shot of just one of the different "textures" we find here in Bocas.

Ramon got some really incredible shots of this iguana. The texture of the scales on his skin is amazing.

Happy Birthday to our little girl. She is the princess of our place. She reigns over all of our hearts.

Catching a turtle laying eggs during daylight hours is almost impossible. Ramon caught this female in process. We are extremely fortunate to have these photos. Turtles around the globe this year have run into many challenges such as reality tv shows, oil spills, etc. So when this one returns to her nesting grounds out here on the Zapatilla Cayes unfettered by the other problems it is awesome. It is as it should be.

This weekend's birthdays include:

Jim's Mom - Gayle today
Jim's Brother - John tomorrow
Yohanny - tomorrow
Renee's step-mother - Monday

July is full of birthdays. There are more to come.

Ramon and Natalia are spending two months at the Zapatilla Cayes this summer to transition the team who is taking over studying the turtles there. We saw both of them briefly over the weekend. Ramon spent the night with us upon returning from Costa Rica and Natalia came by to pick him up. Ramon picked a selection of his favorite photos from out at the cayes last month and gave them to me to share with you. Enjoy.

We are celebrating a few special birthdays today. Jay's mom, who is here visiting us now, is having her birthday today. My dad, Charles, is also celebrating his birthday today. We had a special time with him during our recent vacation in Houston. And this month Tranquilo Bay celebrates its fifth anniversary. Hard to believe that we have been open for business for five years. Some times it seems like yesterday and then some days it feels like it has always been.

Well, we are all trying to get settled back into our routine. Vacations, business trips, etc. all occurred during the month of June. Little by little we are becoming reacquainted with our tranquilo life here in Bocas del Toro. We celebrate the freedom to choose our life this 4th of July. We celebrate our freedom from the normal day to day. We hope all of you celebrating the independence of the United States of America enjoy your day. For those of you in other locations or of other nationalities we wish you freedom.