PANAMA

I recently traveled to Panama with a group called Globekick. It was a wonderful experience and I met some really awesome people and did some things I never even thought possible, like living on a private island for 3 days. It was an amazing experience I will never forget!

My friend LeighAnna, (who I met in Australia) and I flew into Panama City a few days early to just relax a bit. We stayed at an all inclusive resort, which I had never done before.  We stayed at Playa Bonita Dreams. I would recommend staying there for a few days, but I would have gone stir-crazy if we had been there for a week or more. After that we met up with our Globekick group, spent a few nights in Casco Viejo, and then headed to the San Blas Islands. Below is a breakdown of my day by day sights with some visuals.

I didn't take as many photos as I would have liked to due to the salt, sand and sea and being afraid it would damage my camera and phone. I did buy a fake go pro, and it wasn't the quality I was expecting.

August 17 and 18 - Playa Bonita

  • All inclusive resort
  • Pool time and lots of food

August 19 - Casco Viejo

  • Met up with our tour group at Magnolia Inn
  • Wandered around Casco Viejo
  • Tour of Casco Viejo
  • Group Dinner

August 20 -

  • Rainforest Hike
  • Panama Canal
  • Authentic Panamanian Dinner

Here is a very poor time lapse I took of a lock draining, and a boat going through the Panama Canal. I obviously don't have a steady hand and would have done better with a  little tripod, or mount.

August 21 - To the San Blas

  • 4x4s through the jungle for 2 hours to the Guna Port
  • 1 hour boat ride to Tortuga Island
  • 30 min boat ride to Cocoabandera - home for the next couple days
  • Lobster dinner

August 22 -

  • Visited the local Guna village where we learned a lot about their culture**
  • Pelican Island with a lot of starfish
  • Obstacle course on beach

**I bought a fake go pro and used it to take photos while we visited the local village. I'm not happy with the image quality or the fish eye lense on my faux pro, but it is what it is.

August 23 - Last Island day

  • Goodbye to Island
  • Visited more popular island Perro Chico where you can snorkel a ship wreck
  • Hostel in Marbella

August 24 -

  • Mola shopping
  • Mask shopping
  • Back to room early to get ready for dinner and drinks in Casco Viejo

August 25 -

  • Hang around hostel until airport shuttle

 

This whole experience was different that I expected but it was a wonderful experience none the less. I met a lot of great people, and can't wait for my next Globekick adventure!

Morocco

I recently got back from an 18 day tour of Morocco and all I can say is it was so much better than I thought it would be.  It's a beautifully diverse country with nothing but lovely people inside of its borders. 

If you're interested in purchasing prints, shoot me an email! (rachelfromiowa@gmail.com)

Thank you, and Enjoy!

Casablanca

  • Hassan Mosque II - Tallest minaret in the world. One of the only Mosques that non-Muslims can visit.
  • Cathedral with stained glass

Rabat

  • City Center
  • Kasbah - fortified city
  • Medina - Walled city with market
  • Hassan II Tower
  • Mausoleum of Mohammed V

Moulay Idriss and Voulibilis

  • Holy City only open to the public since 2005
  • Teal is a holy color, as well as the green tiled roofs
  • Voulibilis is an ancient Roman city right outside of Moulay Idriss that we visited on our way to Mekenes. It is supposedly the capital of the ancient kingdom of Mauritania, and a world heritage site.

Meknes

  • Grain storage
  • Medina tour
  • Mint Tea and Camel Burger

Fes

  • Palace gates
  • Guided tour of Fes including the medina, oldest university in the world, tannery, and Medersa Bou Inanina.

Chefchauen

  • Guided Tour of Chefchauen
  • Early morning walk through the city when no one is out and its quiet.
  • Hike into the mountains that the city is named after where we met this lovely woman who welcomed our hiking group into her home for tea, olives and bread. We talked to her through our tour guide.  She was so sweet and she warmed my heart so much.

Tangier

  • Saw Spain over the Straight of Gibraltar
  • Hercules Caves
  • Saw where Mediterranean sea and Atlantic Ocean meet
  • Walked by the beach

Marrakesh - Round 1

  • Roam the Medina
  • Saadian Tombs

Armoud

  • Hike to Gite
  • Hike into the Atlas Mountains to visit the shrine of Sidi Chamharouch

Ait Ben Haddou

  • Drove through the highest pass in the Atlas Mountains to get to Ait Ben Haddou a UNESCO world heritage site. Also many movies have been filmed there.
  • Walk through the Kasbah of Ait Ben Haddou where we saw a man painting with natural ingredients including green tea, and indigo. He put the painting over a flame and it made the tea color get darker. I bought a few small ones to take home with me - including the one he made in front of our group!

Zagora

  • Drove through largest date palm grove in all of Morocco.
  • Drove by the studios they have in the desert for filming different movies
  • Walked through town and went through a pottery production
  • Rode Camels

Sahara Desert

  • Drove into the desert to our camp
  • Watched the sunset
  • Campfire
  • Nomad Camp

Taroudant

  • Argan trees with goats climbing them
  • Gorgeous flowering trees at our lovely little hotel.
  • Tour of Taroudant medina

Essaouria via Agadir

  • Picnic lunch on the beach in Agadir
  • Argan oil cooperative with cute baby camel on the way to Essaouria
  • Tour of Essaouria
  • Esssaouria citadel

Marrakesh

  • Marjorelle Gardens
  • Jemma el-Fnna square
  • Koutoubia Mosque
  • Walk back to hotel and fly back home

Warm Thoughts

It has been (and currently still is) insanely cold in Iowa. Colder than Antarctica, believe it or not. Since I can't leave the country at a moments notice to go somewhere substantially warmer near an ocean, I decided to randomly pick a folder of photos to go through. 

The folder of photos from August 2, 2014 happened to be from my FAVORITE walk in Sydney, Australia: the Bondi to Coogee coastal walk.  I hope these photos warm you up, as they did me.

Family Reunion in Boston, Mass.

Back in August I flew out to Boston for a family reunion. I'd never been to Boston before, so I was extremely excited to visit! Some of my family lives in Beverly, Massachusetts and they hosted most of the festivities.  What a beautiful area it was. Their house is absolutely gorgeous. They have restored it from being converted into 6 apartments. Supposedly President Taft used to come over to smoke cigars on the top floor and play pool - everything and everywhere has SO MUCH HISTORY! There have even been some movies filmed on their street. It is that beautiful! One night there were some fireworks over the water that is literally across from their house that just happened to correspond with the last night of our family reunion. Coincidence? I think not.  It was literally one of the best family reunions I've been able to go to! On the way home, I got to drive back with my dad! It was fun to do some site seeing with him.  What follows is a breakdown of what we did.

Friday, August 4th

  • Flew to Providence, Rhode Island instead of Boston because my flight was majorly delayed and I wouldn't have been able to meet up with family until after 9 PM.
  • Dad picked me up and drove from Providence to Boston. (THANKS DAD! <3)
  • Drove to Beverly to see the house, talk to family and have a pizza party!
  • Salem ghost tour

Saturday, August 5th

  • Peabody Essex Museum and roaming around Salem on a rainy day.
  • Sailboat with family and dinner at an old rail station converted into a restaurant.
  • Candlepin bowling after dinner

Sunday, August 6th

  • Boston Freedom Walk
  • Chicken and Lobster dinner in Beverly
  • Fireworks and goodbyes (official end of family reunion)

Monday, August 7th

  • Whale watching tour from Boston Harbor
  • Drove to Amherst, Mass. to stay with family

Tuesday, August 8th

  • Breakfast with dad and family
  • Saw the family farm that my grandpa spent a few years growing up on in Cattaraugus
  • Drove to Niagara Falls: both the US and Canadian side

Wednesday, August 9th

  • Niagara Hornblower boat and journey behind the falls tour on the Canadian side
  • Drove to Detroit through Canada

Thursday, August 10th

  • Henry Ford Museum - Greenfield Village and National Park movie

Friday, August 11th

  • Rouge factory tour where we got to see some F150s being put together and the actual Henry Ford Museum itself
  • Drove back home to Iowa.

Frozen

I recently got a new camera, so I decided to go test it one afternoon at Saylorville Lake. It was only 20 degrees outside, so it was cold to say the least. When I decided to go to Saylorville, I didn't know what was going to be waiting for me.  When I arrived, I was pleasantly surprised at what I found. Take a peek below to see what I saw, and how I captured the gorgeous frozen waves on the shores of Saylorville Lake.