Yesterday, Tesoro Verde was proud to host a visit from our friends at the Bala Beach Resort. Operations Manager Eric and his assisitant Diadira together with some key members of their staff took a day off work to get a small taste of the range of tours and activities that they will be offering to their guests on our behalf.

Their day started when Austin from Portobelo Tours arrived at the resort with our driver for the day, Kiké from Hostel Puerto Lindo. His busito (mini-van) soon whisked them up the coast to the little fishing village of José del Mar where a boat was waiting to take them to the pristine waters of Playa Blanca for a couple of hours of relaxation. Nothing beats a Monday morning snorkeling on a coral reef or simply bobbing in the clear water with a beer in hand when you know your colleagues back at the resort are hard at work! All too soon it was time to take the boat back to José del Mar for the short drive to Tesoro Verde where the wood burning oven was glowing red waiting to cook pizza for the hungry trippers. We quickly lost count of the pizzas we made but all were happily consumed. Two of the resort chefs took great delight in showing off their culinary skills and posed for photos with their first (very professional) attempts at jungle pizza. A little break to let lunch settle and then Heather and Austin took the party up the hill by way of the stream bed through the jungle to look at the view from our lookout platform. It’s a short steep hike but worth it for a terrific vista of the sparkling Caribbean beyond the forest below. Back down the hill to the busito pausing briefly to “tidy up” the last few slices of pizza then back to Bala. The work week starts tomorrow!

It was a great day with lots of laughter and we are looking forward to a mutually productive relationship with our new partners in tourism.