J-Bird & EmEm, 25 August 2009
Panama , Panama City

We got Panamania

Buenas!

Last time we wrote we were in San Jose, Costa Rica decided where to go next. We figured that we had to at least see 1 other place in Costa Rica before heading to Panama, which we were excited to go to. We ended up guilt-tripping (no pun intended) ourselves into going to a place called La Fortuna expecting to see half of a volcano (with the top always covered in clouds) and a load of tourists and the tourist traps and hawkers that accompany them everywhere in Costa Rica. La Fortuna turned out to be great, and we ended up spending 3 or 4 nights there... i don´t remember, but it was more than we planned for. The volcano Arenal is right next to the town, and the town´s name ¨La Fortuna¨ is due to the fact that this volcano has erupted every which way except in this direction. Currently the volcano is erupting on the other side of the town. We took a trip to that side of the volcano at night and were lucky enough to have clear skies. Here you could see (hear and smell) giant lava boulders tumbling down the volcano.
The day after we went to some hot springs on the side of the volcano that violently erupted just 30 years ago and wiped out a good deal of land in the process. Nevertheless they were able to build a hot springs resort called ¨Baldi Hot Springs¨. We spent the entire day here sitting at aqua-bars, going down slides, and cooking in a 67 degrees celsuis hot spring. All this with a clear view of the volcano.
The day after we were soooo relaxed that we were unable to leave La Fortuna.

After our stay in La Fortuna we started our journey to Bocas del Toro in Panama. This was a 2 day journey with a stop in Puerto Limon, a shady port-town in Costa Rica where you definitely do not feel safe at night.

Bocas del Toro is a town on an island on the carribean coast. The first day on this island it was pouring down with rain all day long. The next day we went on a dolphin-watching, snorkeling, beach-lying tour. Expecting it to rain all day long it didnt cross our minds to bring sunscreen. It didnt rain all day and the sun shone brighter than ever. We both got burnt bright red and as a result will return home nice and peeled. We did have a pretty good day though. The dolphins were playfull and abundant and we got to see poisonous red frogs. The snorkeling was ok - there was an abundance of coral and seacucumbers.
After this trip we had to stay inside all day, which wasn´t too much of a shame. There were nice waterfront bars, an amazing indian restaurant, and enough time to play card games. At night the island turned into a party island, with the place to be ¨aqua lounge¨, which was actually on the island next to it. The bar had a diving board into the ocean, which amounted to a lot of fun after a few cuba libre´s and balboa´s.

After Bocas del Toro we went to Boquete where we planned to go rafting. Our plans were thwarted, though, by those pesky airline companies that decided to charge 600 dollars for a one-way flight to Mexico City (where our flight home is from). We spent almost 2 days sorting the flight out, mostly because airlines love quoting 4 different prices for the same flight. We managed to change our flight home to go from Panama City rather than from Mexico City, and for 2 euros/pounds more are flying business class on the first leg of the trip. The nice thing about Boquete was the apple pie at the coffee plantation.

The next stop was Panama City. We spent the first day mostly recovering from the night bus that took us there. Later in the day we walked along the waterfront, which is pretty nice. The next day we went to the panama canal. We saw some big cargo ships go through the locks. It was super awesome. Jorrit wore his "Engineer" shirt. It was awesome.

After Panama City we went to San Blas, an archipelago of 365 islands. Most of them deserted. We spent 4 nights on a tiny island no more than 150 meters in diameter eating fresh seafood for every meal. Pelicans fly around this island occasionally crashing down at fish foolishly jumping out of the water. Our isolated cabana was located just 2 meters from the water and faced a tiny deserted island which we could swim to. 2 hammocks were placed in front of our cabana and were made good use of for siestas. We also used them to lie in for inspiration for our song about island pelikana which you may be lucky to hear a rendition of! San Blas was simply amazing, and words can not adequately describe how awesome this place is. At least not my words...


Island life has an incredibly slow pace, but upon return to Panama City we were quick to adjust to city life and went straight for dinner at Hard Rock Cafe. mmmmm.
Yesterday we went to the Albrook Mall which is equipped with a cinema, a bowling alley, a climbing wall, 2 food courts complete with merry-go-round, and about a gazillion stores. After about 6 hours in this mall our brains were officially fried.
Today we wandered around the old quarter and finally packed our bags. Can't believe we're going home tomorrow...

Its been a great trip! Or as they say in central america, "muy bieeeeen..."

Thanks for reading and replying!

See you soon!

prrr!

Jorrit & Emily