Panama, por fin!

Some things you might like to know about Panama:

• They use U.S. currency (as well as their own Balboa coins)! Let me just say that it is so weird to see how tiny quarters, not to mention dimes, are after using CR colones monedas for months!
• Panama is one hour ahead of Costa Rica time.
• 35-passenger Coaster buses ("chivas") are commonly used instead of huge ones.
• Things are much cheaper than in Costa Rica (foods seem to be around 2/3 of the price), and slightly cheaper than the U.S., i.e. lodging, food, alcohol, clothing...
• It's fairly common to have uber-tinted front windshields. (Hey, I guess when the sun's hot and bright...?)
• Where we spent the weekend, in Bocas del Toro, water taxis are common, as the towns are built literally ON the water.

For those of you who are visually-inclined, map-hounds (Mom), and want some orientation, here's the area we went to:

Just google image search Islas de Boca. Tropical paradise. Mhm!

Why the education? Well finally, I have visited Panama! Last weekend (June 3-6), Bean, Em, and I took a trip further south, to where the sun sets an hour and a half later. Our viaje looked a bit like this... (click on the image below to make it bigger and see the points at which we stopped)

Through the TicaBus window at the frontera (border).

Water taxi to the islands from the Panama mainland.

• Thursday night: 11pm, leave San José on TicaBus, combating sickness (not just road sickness) and not sleeping as a result.
• 4:30am Friday: reach the Costa Rica/Panama border. Search the sleepy town for a baño (a.k.a. "servicios" lesson learned. ask me about it some time) since none were open at the border. Wait 1.5 hours.
• Spend the next hour and a half waiting and getting our passports stamped and bags checked in unorganized and confusing fashion.
• Get back on the bus. Get stopped at another immigration check.
• Arrive in David an hour later (9:30am, Panama time).
• Go to a busy bus station. Cram into the back of a 35-seater Cruiser "chiva" bus on a winding road for the next 3.5 hours.
• Get off in Almirante, take a taxi to the docks.
• Wait for a water taxi. 45 minutes in a boat. Dart in and around islands and floating tree groves.
• Arrive on Isla Colón in the Islas de Boca, in the Bocas del Toro provincia. It's about 5pm, Panama time.
• Food first. Feeling lousy. Sick with a head cold on top of little sleep, heat exhaustion, and no doubt dehydration.
• Shower. Real sleep for the first time in about 48 hours. Ahhhh, even though it's humid and hot in our hostel dorm room.

Waking up on Saturday around 8am to the guys conked out in the communal dorm room around us, we dressed for the day: $15 to go snorkeling, boating, see islands, coral reef, see creatures, watch playful dolphins jump around and show off in the surf, eat lunch over/on the water, more snorkeling, and have time at a pristine, clear beach where tiny red frogs hop around in the nearby forest. Beautiful. So blessed to partake in such a wonderful day's activities. My big toe and foot didn't even mind the abrasions from an unfortunate collision with the coral! A fun night on the town followed, including reggae music, wine and bocas and elegant desserts at a chic restaurante, reaping the benefits of cheap Panamanian food in the Caribbean, water taxiing across the islands to meet up with some new friends, and more!

Life jackets didn't last long, but we were going on a posh water tour!

Red Frog Beach. Pristine.

Delfín!

Sunday morning, Bean and I went exploring in a bat cave. Really, it was a cave filled with nasty huge crickets. What an adventure. Some of it rather sad and including an incident that my EMT and nurse and pre-med friends would be fascinated to hear about.

In the afternoon, the muggy town--during this time of the year it's the low tourist season--was calm and dripping in sweltering humidity. We hung out, walked around town, and hopped from restaurant to restaurant, sampling licuados (natural fruit smoothies), eating a yummy thai meal, and topping it off with delectable brownies made of local organic chocolate, just as most of the town went strangely back as the power went out. We sat on the balcony of our Hostel Heike, overlooking the main street, just people-watching, journaling, reading, chatting with other guests and backpackers at the hostel. Quiet evening to round out our weekend.

Our hostel home for the weekend.

Monday brought another long day of travel:

Our bus at the border

Welcome back to CR with a gorgeous sunset

• Left at 7am. Water taxied out of the islas (islands) back to mainland Panama, took the 8 am bus back through the winding mountains to the other side of Panama, chatting with 15-year-old Omar for parts of the ride and learning about various Panamanian cultural topics from his adolescent insight.
• We were back in David by noon, where we killed time walking to our next bus stop and stopping for some food and exploring a supermarket grocery store.
• Then came the fun part. We waited. 2:00-5:30pm at the Super Barú bus stop. Watching noisy traffic whiz by us on the PanAmerican highway. Getting cat-called and whistled and hissed at as guys stared out their windows at us sitting in the shaded bus stop. We were just reading our books. And talking to truckers. And sitting in the sun. And running into nearby hardware stores to use the facilities. And waiting more. And wondering if TicaBus would ever arrive!
• It finally came, as the day was cooling off. Not even a half hour down the road, we were at the border.
• Two hours after that point, we'd finally crossed through the not-surprisingly inefficient and nonsensical aduanas (customs) back into Costa Rica, and I read some and was actually able to sleep on the way back to San José.
• After all the waiting, we actually arrived earlier than expected. Midnight. Back at home sweet CRC by 12:30, and in bed by one!
• (With a new roommate in the bed next to me! Welcome back to the CRC, Hannah! Hannah is one of our former Honors freshmen from our January term, and will be summer interning here for the next 6 weeks.)

In short, from our weekend, we happened upon the longest and rather expensive way to travel to Islas de Bocas. At least we've learned what NOT to do next time, and have discovered better traveling options for future trips south!

Stay tuned for video clips and media of our awesome adventures!
(And I've posted the link to my "Panama pics" photo album on the menu on the right-hand side of the webpage:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150197959362030.302693.507112029&l=4cd10c556c)