A long weekend in December 2010 provided a great opportunity to experience Panama on a five day trip. With just three full days in the country, there was time to sample both the Panama City and the surrounding countryside. Even almost constant rain didn’t keep us from walking through plazas, visiting markets and seeing the amazing Panama Canal from several vantage points.

In all it was an amazing introduction to this country, only a two and a half hour flight from Miami. Our emails from the road below chronicle the descriptions and pictures from this trip.

9 - 13 December 2010

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A 2,775 mile (about 4,466 kilometer) train journey across Canada provided a great opportunity to experience a wide variety of scenery, from forests laced with lakes and rivers, to wide open prairies to the majesty of the Canadian Rockies. The three day, four night journey across a portion of the second largest country in the world gave one time to see it at a leisurely pace while enjoying the view from the 360 degree observation deck or eating a meal in the dining car.

Reading my Canadian guidebook, I learned more about the creation of their railway. When Canada became a dominion in 1867, it was a group of eastern provinces with nothing between them and British Columbia except a small settlement where Winnipeg is today. Concerned that the Americans might try to take British Columbia since they had just bought Alaska, the Canadian government pushed for a railway to the Pacific. What followed was a tale, not unlike America’s railway construction, of politics, financial scandals, hardships and the deaths of many workers. However in November 1885 the railway was complete.

Although this was a short trip, we were able to spend time in Toronto before boarding the train and in Vancouver after we arrived. We also had a four hour break in Winnipeg, which gave us the chance to visit that city for a brief time. Overall the train journey provided us with a better understanding of Canada’s people, cities and scenery.

For two weeks in March 2010 we sampled the best of central South America, focusing on the countries of Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay. Our time in Argentina was spent in Buenos Aires, soaking up the city by experiencing the diverse neighborhoods that comprise this vast metropolis. We then took an overnight bus to the border city of Posadas and crossed over into Paraguay.

In Paraguay we visited two Jesuit mission sites to relive a significant time in this region’s history. A six hour bus trip took us to the Brazilian border, where we spent two days at Iguazu Falls. We had the opportunity to view it from both the Brazilian and Argentinean sides.

Uruguay was our last country on this itinerary and we reached it after flying back to Buenos Aires and taking a one hour ferry trip to Colonia, which is a World Heritage Site city. Then we were on to the capital city of Montevideo for some sightseeing before flying home.

Ecuador provided a great getaway to experience historic haciendas, beautiful volcanoes with sweeping vistas and natural rain forest jungle in the Amazon Basin. All of this was experienced during a 10 day trip in November 2008.

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We took 700 pictures and 2 1/2 hours of High Definition Video. The following videos summarize portions of our trip.

Episode 1 - Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi is the name of a near-perfect volcano near the Hacienda where we stayed. We saw wild horse, deer and birds while in the National Park.

Episodes 2-6
Note: You will have to register in order to view the rest of the videos. Click the player below and then look for the word REGISTER.

In July and August 2005 we spent three weeks exploring Peru. We started in Lima and then went to Cuzco and the Sacred Valley. Our next stop was five days in the Amazon Basin viewing the wildlife there, including scarlet macaws. Also on the itinerary were a home stay in Lake Titicaca, the “white city” of Arequipa and a trek into Colca Canyon. The highlight of the trip was a visit to Machu Picchu to see the lost city and one of the great archeological finds ever.

A 12 day journey in June 2009 around Scotland by train made a special mother / 18 year-old daughter trip. Going by train allowed us to experience of the beauty and history of Scotland at a slower and relaxed pace. The time in Scotland was a combination of cities and countryside, staying in four places; two cities full of history and beautiful castles (Stirling and Edinburgh) and two places in the highlands with stunning scenery (Fort William and Aviemore, near Inverness and within Cairngorms National Park).

Even at our destinations we used the train passes to see more. We took a 90 minute train ride and then a ferry journey as a day trip from Fort William to the Isle of Skye, and another day hopped on a 40 minute rail trip from Aviemore to Inverness for a stroll along the River Ness and a dinner in town before returning in the evening. So we were able to see a wide variety of Scotland during the time we were there.

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For three weeks in June and July of 2000 we explored Europe with our kids, who were nine and six at the time. The majority of our trip was spent in Switzerland, but we also visited Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and France. Our transportation was primarily by train, with a few buses, gondolas, chair lifts and boats thrown in for good measure. We relied on a Swiss Pass Family Card, which provided unlimited train, bus and boat travel throughout the country. We also used a pass for Luxembourg trains and buses and bought Metro passes during our time in Milan and Paris.

Seeing things by foot by spending many of the days hiking in the Alps and even trekking to two different huts for overnight stays were major highlights of the trip. Our other accommodations were almost all hostels, which gave us the opportunity to picnic and cook to save the costs of going to restaurants every night. It was the first multi-cultural international trip for the girls and they greatly enjoyed the experience.

Over New Year’s in 2007, we visited Belize and Guatemala. Belize is just three hours south of the United States by plane. The flight from Belize to Tikal took around an hour. Our focus was the Mayan archeological ruins of Tikal in northern Guatemala. The unique thing about Tikal is that it is surrounded by dense jungle inhabited by a variety of wildlife including monkeys and toucans. The first video above is a trip overview showing just the highlights of Tikal.

We also spent a night in Belize City upon arrival and three nights in Placencia, in southern Belize at the end of the week. In Placencia we relaxed in a bungalow on the beach and spent a day learning to scuba dive in Laughingbird Caye National Park.

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The other three video episodes include much more content of the trip, including getting there, as well as the site at Tikal.

Episode 1 covers the trip getting there. If you haven’t ridden in a small plane before, you can get an idea of what it’s like by watching this video. You will actually see one of the archaeological sites (Yaxha) from the air near the end of the video.

Episode 2 covers the site called Yaxha. It is nearby Tikal and wonderfully preserved. The roads near the airport start off pretty good, but get worse as you enter the countryside. Along the way, you will pass through villages, getting a glimpse of their daily life. We had lunch at a nearby ecolodge.

Episode 3 covers Tikal itself. We stayed at an ecolodge inside of the park. This enabled us to walk through the ruins at anytime. Towards the end of our stay, we reentered the ruins in the late afternoon and watched the sunset from the summit of one of the ceremonial temples. Fabulous sight. While at the top, we were also treated to conversations with people from around the world.

At the end of the video you will see some excellent shots of a toucan. I used a 10X lens and a 2x multiplier to get this shot. It was fun to hear the toucan call to other toucans nearby before he flew away. We were completely by ourselves on the walk back to our lodge where we celebrated the day with a cold beer.

Other Sites
I found these other sites to be helpful.

• Nice photos - http://fourlittlefeet.wordpress.com/2008/08/10/tikal/
• History of area - http://traveltomove.com/2008/07/26/history-of-tikal-tikal-guatemala/
• More photos - very detailed - http://lifeisbutadream.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/honeymoon-review-tikal/
• Nice adventure writing and some videos - http://xiebob.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/yucatan-2008-day-10-tikal-guatemala-2008-03-25-tuesday/

We explored Alaska by train and cruise ship over 13 days in June 2007. Traveling by both land and sea was a great way to see this amazing place. Two very different national parks, Denali and Glacier Bay, were definitely highlights of the trip.

Death Valley is one of the most famous national parks in the United States. It is known for having the lowest point in North America (Badwater at 282 feet (86 meters) below sea level, as well as being remote and harsh. While this is the case, there is also great beauty with sand dunes, springs, canyons and mountains as high as 11,000 feet (about 3,300 meters). A national monument for many years, it became a full-fledged national park in 1994. Today it covers over 3,000,000 acres.

This national park contains over 1,000 miles of paved and unpaved roads and no visit is complete by just staying on the major roads of Death Valley. We took a Toyota 4Runner 4×4 vehicle four day trip in April 2006 that packed in many of the iconic sights of Death Valley with 270 miles of off-road travel to the most remote and varied parts of the park. This included springs with rare pupfish (Saratoga Springs), 700 foot sand dunes (Eureka Dunes), flats where rocks mysteriously move from one place to another (The Racetrack) and higher elevation valleys and wooded plateaus (Hidden Valley and Hunter Mountain). A combination of camping in the backcountry and staying one night at the historic Furnace Creek Inn made the trip a true authentic adventure.