Even early in the morning, my brows sweated from the sweltering heat. We walked the cobblestone streets, admiring the pastel-colored colonial buildings adorned with balconies. Our steps were accompanied by the clip-clop of los coches – horse-drawn carriages – taking tourists around the block. Vendors and tourists crowded the open plazas, and the palenqueras – Afro-Latinas dressed in colorful traditional garb – greeted them. As if we were transported back to the Spanish colonial times, we experienced a place where history and the present intertwined. We were in Cartagena de Indias, or simply Cartagena, in Colombia.
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Ocean to Ocean Tour in Panama
Panama’s Ocean to Ocean Tour starts in Panama City (Pacific Ocean side) to Colon (Atlantic Ocean side) and back with stops at Gatun Lake, Agua Clara, and Fort San Lorenzo to view wildlife, cargo ships transiting through the canal, and explore an old Spanish fort.
Mexico: Journey to the Monarch Sanctuary
I climbed the steep hills for an hour or so at an elevation of about 10,000 feet. The trail was a mix of stairs and dirt paths equivalent of climbing 600+ stair steps. My legs were like jelly when I reached the site, but it was so worth it. There were hundreds of thousands of monarch butterflies! I can hear the wingbeats as they swarm like bees in the oyamel fir trees. My day started in Morelia, Mexico, in the Michoacán State, some 5-6 hours West of Mexico City. My next destination is El Rosario Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary, a few