The Isthmus

The Central American Isthmus is a narrow subcontinent tying North and South America together in a land of steamy jungles, desolate coasts and rising nations. The Isthmus houses seven countries and many more cultures and languages. Join me as I explore the Central American Isthmus.

Websites & Friends

Xeno-Canto: Bird Sounds
Spanish Immersion
Expedia

The Pumilios of Salt Creek
isthmus | January 19, 2011
Walking in the forests of the strawberry frogs of Isla Bastimentos.

Isla Bastimentos, Panama

Moonlight Ferry to Zapatilla Cays
isthmus | December 16, 2010
I awake the Captain from his hammock at the edge of the dock, and we jump in the boat. The dock belongs to a small seven bungalow resort on the island of Bastimentos, where my wife, my son are asleep, and are the only guests. Bastimentos is a large island, but almost the entire island is preserved as a Panamanian National Park.

Zapatilla Cays, Panama

The Wise Glass Frog of El Valle de Antón
isthmus | September 24, 2009
Travel can seem dual acts of nostalgia and ancestor worship, with all our package tours to museums and churches and places that seem stuck in the past. I find that what is happening now, or about to happen tomorrow, reveals more about our world than tumbled-down bricks and aged parchment.
El Valle de Anton

The Coconut Train to Cuero y Salado
isthmus | April 15, 2009
There is a moment in all of our lives that it happens. When experience has beaten us down. When responsibility has trained us to caution above all. When our failures and losses in life finally make us bow our heads and accept the linear line of our destiny. This is the moment, I have always believed, we lose our youth.

Cuero Y Salado

Letters from the Canopy
isthmus | Updated January 8, 2009
"Atop Panama's Soberanía jungle and near the banks of the canal, I write a series of letters to a mysterious pastor,offering a conclusion to a long debate between us about monkeys, birds and beetles in the context of science, religion, intelligent design and the importance of preservation."

Soberania National Park, Panama

The Kuna Islands
isthmus | June
"Their land includes both these 400 San Blas Islands stretching for 160 miles along the coast of present-day Panama, and the nearby Panama mainland with all of its mountains and jungles and fresh rivers. Their land is called the Comarca da Kuna Yala, and the Kuna live as if this is their country. Few Panamanian laws affect them."

San Blas Islands

The Philosophy of Monkey River Town
isthmus | April
They are traveling long distances at age eleven, unguided, expected to make a profit, to hitchhike with people of unknown integrity, to be able to pay for their boat back home. They are inquisitive, polite, and comfortable in the company of adults.

Monkey River, Belize

Old Highways of Peten
isthmus | April
Army and police officers in Guatemala have begun a new campaign of abuse to cover the tracks of their past. Although from the left-wing that supported the demands of the Indian insurgents, Portillo has been unwilling to take steps against the new bloodshed. But all Guatemala's killings and bombings seem silly for a country of farmers.

Peten, Guatemala

The Howling Coast
isthmus | February
When French-born agronomist Clemente Poncon went to The World Bank for a loan to develop the Morgan's Rock property, The World Bank conducted a report, the contents of which recommended that the best solution for the property would be a golf course hotel mega-development.

Pacific Coast Nicaragua

Granada Libre
isthmus | February
In the hotel’s small courtyard, there's these two age-ripened Canadians feeding the hotel's pet parakeets. They had lifted them onto their table, to let them peck at their butter and jam. Margaret, who was wearing a medic-alert bracelet, lit up a cigarette.

Granada, Nicaragua

Jungle in the Sky
isthmus | February
"While the old toothless man describes the view, Ramón explains that to him, the old man sounds funny. He looks at him and laughs, and then looks back at us and whispers, “He is a country man, and his accent is very stupid to us city people."

Mombacho Volcano, Nicaragua