November 21, 2012 was a day on the river that I will never forget. We started off as normal: picking the passengers up at 7 AM for a Mamoni River trip. Anyone that has been to Panama during this time period knows that you just expect rain every day. Now I am not just talking about a drizzle, I mean a torrential down pour almost every day. November 21, 2012 was no different. As we arrived at our put in site, we were paying close attention to the level of the river. It seemed to be at a higher level, but we felt we could safely go down as long as it didn't rise any more. We then unloaded our gear and started inflating our boat and kayak. ''This was going to be the best day on the river'', I thought to myself! After getting our gear ready, we lowered the boats and gear down to the rivers' edge, and waved goodbye to our driver. Just before entering the river we noticed clouds were coming our way. This wasn't a good sign. We decided to wait and see what the storm does. Within 15 minutes it rained so hard that you couldn't see but 15 or 20 feet in front of you. We knew that it was going to flash flood. We quickly carried all our gear to higher ground. Within minutes, this perfect semi-transparent river turned into an unforgivable gush of tree branches, river debris and ''chocolate milk'' (from all the sediment in the river). Even worse, the usually small streams were even flowing over the bridges. Our driver had left and was mostly down the mountain when we were finally able to make contact with him. He couldn't come get us because the bridges were over flowing with water. We had to wait for the water level to lower so that our driver could come get us. At this point we were not going to raft this river because it was just too dangerous. I was amazed at how quickly the water level rose, and with such force it commanded. Once our driver picked us up again, we loaded all our stuff up and were Pacora River bound.

My second experience took place December 4, 2012 through December 8, 2012. This trip was our famous San Blas excursion. Fabian, Rudy, and I accompanied two Canadian friends to these beautiful islands. This was my first time to these islands. Although it was explained to me, and I studied up on what it was going to be like, words and pictures cannot do justice to what the naked eye can see in real life. When I first arrived in this Caribbean paradise I was amazed at the different shades of colors in the water: greens blue, white, yellow, and orange were just common. The palm trees and other vegetation that flourished in this salty environment, added to the beautiful effects already amazing to the naked eye. Five days in this area allowed me plenty of time to reflect on how lucky I am to get to see such beautiful land in such a remote location. There is so much in this world to see. I feel bad for those that aren't able to travel and explore even just a little bit of this amazing world of ours. We traveled by boat from Carti' to our oasis (Perro Grande island) This is also where our gear was centralized. Every day we would explore by piragua, snorkel, and/or sea kayak in this beautiful landscape. Sea kayaks were also transported to other islands by piragua if we chose to do that. My two favorite spots are Isla Perro (Barco hundido) and a small island close to Isla Pelicano. The snorkling there was fantastic. I was also able to see many many starfish in the evening. One evening we counted over 20. I had a lot of fun. We ate great, slept great, and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings. I am grateful for the opportunity to guide with Aventuras Panama.