Bocas del Toro

No pictures right now but I will have them soon.

Let me catch you up to speed first of all and lets see where we have been.

-San Jose, Costa Rica
-Montezuma, CR
-Jacó, CR
-Monteverde, CR
-Arenal, CR
-San Jose, CR
-Cahuita, CR
-Puerto Viejo, CR

And now where we are.

-Bocas del Toro, Panama

Bocas es el paraiso del mundo. I have a few juicy adventures to wet your pallet.

We are staying at Mondo Taitu a very laid back hostel owned by three San Franciscans, Daniel, Dan and Dave. Daniel and Dan have officially become like brothers. WE love em. We have been here for four days and I feel as comfortable as if it has been six months. The days generally go where you get a big group together and catch a boat taxi to one of the other islands and spend the day at whichever beach you choose.

In no particular order our days have gone as such. Mere and I had some confusion with a group and got disconnected so we waited for a friend Sabina from germany to arrive and we took of for a long trek. We knew it was gonna be long but none of us had any idea what we were getting into. Our understanding had been that you start at playa bluff and follow the road that turns into a trail through jungle and forest. It may be muddy so be prepared. Also there were to be caves along the way and frogs and such. Eventually we would arrive at playa drago and could take a bus back to the main stretch. That is what we thought.

It started out wonderfully. Three young girls on a deserted beach playing in the completely clear turqoise water. Then we decided to began our walk across the beach before we got on the road. It was about an hour down the beach and we saw that the road was not exactly close so we scrambled through the trees and stumbled upon this little ranch type home and one guy doing, something. Though there seemed to be a clear path so we continued on. A ways down the path we got our first glimpse of the mud. A little bit more than we had anticipated. More like a mini swamp. We are trying to navigate the best way around and I decide to just go for it. I see a log along the side that feels pretty sturdy. On the second step I go sliding in so I try to make a run for it. Thigh deep in mud I realize its not working and hurry back. Finally we scavange through the other side where it is a field of swampy grass. I figure I am already muddy so I lead the way. We made it across laughing histerically the whole way.

The mud simply continued from their claiming my left sure for its own. The great part was that for the rest of the way we saw scattered broken left shoes abandoned my their owners, claimed by the path.

The caves were awesome full of stalagtites and stalacmites and of course they would not be complete with out the fluttering bats picking a spot to hang.

So here we are covered in mud from head to toe, I´m shoeless and we have no idea how far we have gone or how far we have to go. Finally we hit a clearing and see the most amazing little beach. We walk out of the woods just in time for sunset over the ocean. One of my best swims yet. We got clean, said good bye to the sun and continued on our way. Around the bend we found a man fishing and a woman reading. Though I am sure we looked far more strange to them, showing up out of the woods from nowhere, then he did to us however we were still surprised. He laughed at us when we told him we were headed to Drago but directed us to the road. 10 minutes later he pulled up in his truck claiming we would never make our bus in time.

We piled in the back of his pickup and had a wonderful evening cruise. As we made our way we began to understand his laughter. It would have taking us well over an hour and there would have been no way we would have made the bus. As we pulled up the bus was just getting ready to leave so we boarded and made our way home.

Another day another beach.

If you ever make your way to Panama and find yourself at Bocas del Toro go to Zapatilla. It is a little island about an hours boat ride off the main island with not a single inhabitant. We loaded up a crew of 8 and made the journey. We were charged with snorkeling gear, a camera and more energy than a bucking bronco. You can walk around the island in about 20 minutes. The sand is white and the water is every shade of blue and green.

My first time snorkeling was spectacular.

Some highlights-

• 4ft baracuda that glared and me (atleast it looked that way) then gritted his teeth and moved on
• 6ft long eel castrating another fish then darting in my direction, thank god he was 7 feet below me
• I was looking at some fish straight ahead then suddenly all I could see was hundreds and hundres of foot long blue and white fish everywhere. I floated in amazement as they passed me
• The coral was huge and looked just like on national geographics. Not to mention the bright green starfish

The world under the sea is fascinating I understand my dads zeal for the sport. It was a fantastic day and I think I am gonna do it again tomorrow.

la vida de una vagabunda

Insight into Meagans random thoughts

-My backpack is my castle. The less I own the more I cherish and enjoy what is around me. When I look inside my backpack each night it feels like a world of jewels is opening up to me. I dont know I cant explain it.

-Every traveler has a different path. The comings and goings inside a hostel are very fascinating. Single travelers looking for someone to connect with. People from all parts of the world in completely different moments along their journey connect in this one spot and stop for a while. Get to know eachother. Laugh and become instant best friends. I love it.

-Life is so good right now I think I wont mess with it. Last night- 1am i boated from one island to the next. I looked up from the boat and saw the sky filled with more stars than I knew existed. You know when you see even the little clusters of stars that seem really far away. Then I looked down from the boat and saw fosforescents over the entire sea bottom. They glowed like stars so I was completely surrounded by one large night sky.

-I knew the sickness would come eventually. I have had my first bouts with strange illnesses and learned that the life of a teveler aint all peaches and cream. I got something, dont know what it is, but its something. Well it could be gone now who really knows these things. But throwing up after not having done it for something like 10 years is not the most pleasant.

-Silence is precious. A fellow traveler and I got onto talking about lessons of world, you know the usual. I came to understand that being silent is amazingly fullfilling. There is no need to worry that those are around me are being entertained. I get to spend a lot fo time being silent and I
rather like it.

-Meredith rocks. I lucked out on the company that I get out here. Meredith has proved to be an ideal travel partner. There is no way to avoid certain things when you are spending so much time with another person but for whatever reason I have no complaints so far. I can dish out some good crap and she handles it nicely. We seem to have a good even trade going on and it has added to my experiences immensly.

Gotta love it!

Sorry but this is gonna be a long one. If you have the patience I think you'll enjoy it though.

Well, traveling really exposes you to all kinds of adventures and experiences, you meet crazy other foreigners from all over the world, you try the most interesting food that you have never heard of before, you see beautiful landscape and oh yes I forgot, you get robbed. Now I know your freaking out right now but just calm down. Mere and I are perfectly unharmed and we have recovered all our stuff. It is 7:45 am and I have been up for almost 4 hours. Now I shall tell you the story.

Currently we are back in San Jose after a wonderful trip to Arenal. We are here basically to see our friend then we are taking off. It was getting late at the hostel on the fabulous friday night and I was getting tired so I headed off to bed. I'm reading my book and before I know it I am passed out.

At around 4ish my slumber was disrupted with a start and I look at the foot of the bed to find a strange face there. My first reaction: it must be Mere cause we are the only ones staying in the room. My second reaction: There is an EFFin stranger in my room with his arms full of our stuff. I jumped out of bed and let me mention that I was in this thin blanket wrapped around me like a sleeping back.

Out in the hall he hands me the stuff he was carrying and rushes off. I start yelling anything I can think of in spanish and go back in my room to discover that everything had been thrown everywhere. I instantly run after the guy and start pushing him asking him where all our other stuff is. He pulls out of his pocket my passport and tells me thats all he has. Along with my passport he hands me his ID card. His name: Norel Rafael Sanchez Diaz from Colombia. Inside my pasport though I discover that my two credit cards are missing.

This whole time I am yelling and yelling and waking everyone up. I follow the guy into the bathroom where he proceeds to relieve himself. I am thinking at this time that he must be dumping my cards in the toilet. So I start pushing him and he starts yelling at me saying that he doesn't have my stuff he didnt steal anything. (all of this in spanish of course). Finally he leads me to his room after the guy working at the desk hears me and comes to help. Everyone involved was very helpful by the way. Ok so my theif dumps out his bag to show me he has nothing then he starts crying. I feel no ounce of pity for this man however I am trying to be as calm as possible.

Finally the obscenities start. He gets mad at me because I am mad at him and then some other hostel resident comes to my defense and explains that he had seen the guy go into my room. Then the other complaints start coming more and more guests start saying they heard things at their doors and he had actually entered another room but woke up one of the girls too early and they kicked him out. Norel, we are on a first name basis of course by now, starts calling everyone names but he doesnt have a very strong defense.

Shortly there after the police arrive and they are on the case. I explain everything I can as best I can in spanish and do a little reenactment. Finally they ask where my friend was so I woke up Mere. She took control thank god cause I was losing my nerves. One police officer came with me while I scoured the room to look for my cards which were the only things missing at this point. Mere went with the other officers to Norels room where she verbally brutalized him, which was much deserved. She may have even subjected him to a minor physical reprimand.

I found out later that he had continued to try to prove to her by showing is clothe tags that he was not a theif and that he pays for his belongings.

Meanwhile I am getting the numbers for the credit cards and the police officer helping me starts flirting. I couldnt help but laugh. Once I knew what I was dealing with I couldn't get the smile off my face. My officer, Jose, first name basis as well, offers me a flower which of course made me blush and laugh at the ridiculousness. What's life if you can't just laugh at it, so i did.



My knight in shining armor Jose

I am finally able to put a hold on my cards and Norel is carted off with the police. We find out that he is here illegally and they can either process him or send him to immigration. I didnt really care that much. The police decided the latter because immigration could deal with it and leave them with less paper work. Who knows maybe we will run into him in Colombia.

I began to relax and go back to the room only to get rustled up again by a knock. Mere and I have to go down to the police station. We take a cab there and basically just hang out with the police for a little while. they joke with us and when they find out our travel plans Jose asks me if I will come back to San Jose soon so we can date. I explain to him sadly and as sincerely as possible that no, I would not be returning. I think he understood. After some sociallizing Jose and another officer drive us back in the big hefty police van. Before we took off however we got to snap a couple of great photos.

Our most corteous driver Alberto

When we returned to the hostel they had found my credit cards hidden in the bathroom. So all was recovered and now I am starving. Hopefully our sad little friend Norel is learning the error of his ways.

In retrospect I remember the feeling of "oh this is what is it like to have your stuff jacked." That feeling didnt sit too well with me. Now its over, we have our stuff, and a story to live on for a real freakin long time.

Arenal

How do I put this? Watching lava flow down the side of a valcano while you sip an electric lemonade soaking in the most spectacular hotsprings is something to experience.

Monteverde

I know it has only been a few days but the conditions around me have inspired so many wonderful thoughts and feelings that I decided I wanted to put them out there. (So Im writing now with a huge smile) My current mood is relaxed, filled, and stupefied at my own experience of wonder.

We are currently in Monteverde and as the name implies (green mountain) it is the greenest place I have seen since the hills of Ireland though these are a very different green. The bustling Metropolis of Santa Elena Monteverde is about 2 blochs and full of energy. We are currently here during the low tourist time of year though there are still many foreigners around us I think that it would be a lot more difficult to enjoy during high season.

We are staying at our friend's apartment which is very comfortable. Some of the luxuries that I have ejoyed here are that I am not sweating and sticky all day long and I can drink all the tap water my little belly can handle. I love it. Yesterday Mere, Kelsy and I took a canopy tour of the cloud forest which was incredible. It was a little bit of a hike and then they strap you to a cable and send you sailing over the tops of everything spectacular. Some of the cables stretched for nearly half a mile and the highest one was 100 meters. (The picture is of Meredith taking off through the tree tops)

We went for a drive in the evening and the scenery was breathtaking. I dont really know how to explain how good it felt to look out on the world the way it is presented to me out here. The forests are so dense and on these steep hills so it would be impossible to make your way through them which means they stand in peace for the most part and just grow and be. did I mention that I love it.

This morning We loaded up at 8am to head out to a hike to a waterfall called San Luis. On the way Zach's car started smoking. When we opened the hood we saw the battery had completely disconnected and the cable had snaped. We were all in a good mood about it though a little disapointed that our waterfall trip may be cancelled. A very nice man pulled over and helped us temporarily connect the cable so that we could get it to the mechanic. Afterwards we came back for Zachs other car and began our adventure anew. After a very nice windy and once again scenic drive we got to the stop and almost stepped on a very bright red snake (freaked me out a bit) then we hiked our way through many insects and the craziest, brightest blue and biggest ants I have ever seen.



The waterfall was awesome and the water was incredily clear and fresh. It was explained to me that all the water is collected from the clouds at the top of the mountain and runs down through where we were. When we returned home we said good bye to Kelsy for she had to head back to catch her plane back to Eugene then Mere and I got a chance to drive over these crazy, rocky monteverde roads. I loved that as well if you couldn't figure it out. Now I am gonna take some time to breathe and be where I am. I hope all is well with those who I am not able to be with. I love reading stories from home so please write me anything. I am sorry if I do not respond quickly but the internet will most likely not be even close to as available as it is to me here. I love you all as I hope you all know.

Catarata San Luis

A lovely little butterfly known by me as the stained glass something or other.