Tropical oasis

Sorry we haven´t had access to a computer in a while. We´ve just been too busy hiking through waterfalls and basking in the Caribbean Sea and drinking coconut water straight from the fruit. Just a normal day in Panama.

After David, we headed to Boquete for 2 nights, about one hour north of the city. Although it rained both afternoons we were there, the mornings were beautiful. The first day, we took a 5.2 km walk around the area and got to see some indigenous villages and pretty views. We don´t all agree it was worth the 3 or 4 hour walk, though. The following day, we took a shorter, about 2 hour hike, that ended in a really pretty waterfall. While Boquete wasn´t our favorite place, we enjoyed the natural scenery, the over friendly hostal owner that was so energetic it looked painful, and the beautifully bright indigenous dresses that many women wore. We also ate 3.5 times at the same restaurant. A huge plate of rice, beans, salad, and platanos for 2 dollars. We couldn´t help ourselves.

After two nights in Boquete, we took the one hour bus back to David, then hopped on a 4 hour bus to Almirante. Our butts hurt a lot, to say the least. Then a 45 minute boat to Bocas del Toro, the main island. The island is known as being touristy and a party place, so we decided to go all out and stay at the most tourist, party hostel. Just for kicks. Our room was literally in a tree house, with walls and a door that did not go all the way from the floor to the ceiling. We had to climb up a ladder to even get inside, and then slept on mattresses on the floor, as did the lizards. Luckily Rose, the early riser of us all, was the only one to witness our shared accomdations with the animals.

At 7 PM that night, we went to our hostel´s bar´s happy hour...50 cent beers and 1.50 drinks. Rose went to watch the celtics game at another bar. A few drinks in and by 8 oclock, both Louisa and I were definitely done for the night. We walked around town and hung out on a dock over the water, but none of us could make it past 10 PM. Shows how good we are at partying. Mission failed.

The next morning, we got off Bocas as early as we could and took a 10 minute boat to Isla Bastimento. It´s a much smaller island, with less people and more beautiful beaches. We checked into a cheap hostel that is so beautiful...the building is directly over, well in, the water. There are hammocks in the back looking over the ocean. And only 8 dollars a night!

We immediately dropped our bags and took the 30 minute hike to the beach. Soaked with sweat, we jumped in right away to the warm Caribbean water. We stayed on the beach for hours, reading and swimming. It started to feel like a beach vacation. Then we realized it was 2 PM and we had no lunch. We got back, settled ourselves, and splurged on dinner with most of us eating Creole style fish (my dad would be proud to know I ate a whole fish and deboned it myself!).

The next morning, yesterday, our last full day here on the island, we decided to splurge one last time and take a whole day boat tour. A Chilean young woman guide took us snorkeling, where we saw neon bright fish and coral, and then took us to an abandoned beach that you can only reach by boat. We spent hours there, where we snorkeled, saw sloths in the trees, spotted little bright red frogs in the jungle, and drank coconut water straight from the fruit. Can´t get more Caribbean than that. Not to mention that the weather was perfect. We got back to our hostel, cooked in, and went to bed around 10. Hope I remember how to stay up past then.

Today, we read in the hammocks and then found a hostel with internet in an air conditioned room! We´ve been here ever since. We live a hard life, right?

Tonight we´ll take an 11 hour bus from Almirante to Panama City that leaves at 7 PM and gets in at 6 AM. Then spend our last day in the city, hopefully with our friend, and leave back for the US on Friday afternoon. I think we´re all excited to go back to the city where we will be forced to speak Spanish again, as people here on the island speak a lot of Jamaican English.

We probably won´t have internet access again before then so hope you´ve enjoyed reading our blog! Hasta luego.