We are John and Susan Pazera, last sighted in the U.S. in Long Beach, Calif. In 2001, we took our last sail out under the Golden Gate Bridge and set off on the trip of our lives: a three-year journey down the Pacific coast and through the Panama Canal. That sailing adventure has never left us – and it’s driven a passion for travel and new experiences that informs almost every major decision we make.

And now the adventure continues. After almost a decade of “what ifs,” dreaming, and planning, we moved ourselves lock, stock and barrel to the highlands of Western Panama on April 29, 2015. We came down with two sweet dogs, and not much more, to find out what lies around the next bend.