This is precisely why it is a good thing to update this blog more often: so many stories to tell! Our adventure out of Costa Rica into dryer Panama took us to a place called La Fortuna Forest Reserve, in the highlands of western Panama. We stayed at Panama´s only Eco Lodge which was nestled awesomely in the jungle, with a 15 minute hike to the road (yes, when it was built they hauled in all the building materials on their sweaty backs). We didn´t even need to leave the hostel to see wildlife- including hundreds of hummingbirds, a Capuchin (white-faced) monkey, Cacomistles (like little racoons), Olingos (just a bit bigger then cacomistles), and my favorite: a Kinkajou! Apparently the English translation for Kinkajou is a honey bear, so we met Winnie the Pooh! But he looked nothing like he does on TV. He is domestic, because some family had kept him as a baby and then didn´t really know how to take care of him, so the owners of the hostel took him in, built him a cage, and feed and play with him every night (he is nocturnal). I have a great video, I can´t wait to upload my photos but can´t do it yet. I played with him every night and wanted to bring him home, he´s adorable. Anyway, we didn´t just stay in the hostel, we went on a couple hikes into the jungle, like climbing a stairmaster on very steep for a few hours, tiring! But beautiful, we found a swimming hole at the river and saw big Blue Morpho butterflies. Maybe one of the highlights of the trip though was what we found in our room one night. There was a big spider high on one of the walls, so I went up to kill it, which I did successfully (we decided we didn´t want it running around while we were sleeping), and then upon turning around, I actually started laughing at the sight of this and told Nate not to look... there was a tarantula on his shoe! Lucky for us one of the staff is there researching spiders and has a love for tarantulas, so I ran to grab him and he was like a little boy on Christmas with his new pet. And somehow after all of that, we were able to sleep without any spider nightmares:) During our stay in the jungle we also won a fooseball tournament and learned to dance Lindy Hop, good times!
After 3 days in the jungle we hopped a bus to Panama City to go meet Daryl. We walked the city, toured the ruins of old Panama City, sat while Daryl sketched, ate lots of yummy food (el sabor del barrio- the flavor of the neighborhood- street food!), and of course went to see the Miraflores locks at the Panama Canal. We even caught a Patriots game at a local restaurant! But after a couple days we were ready to get on the road again, actually in the air, we flew to Bocas del Toro, one of my favorite places. Bocas is an archipelago of islands on the caribbean side of Panama very close to Costa Rica. The main town is basically one street of shops, hotels, bars and restaurants, and it stretches all along the water so every meal is taken on what feels like a dock with a great view. We lucked out with the weather, it´s been beautiful the last few days which means we have taken advantage of the sun! The first day we went to a beach on the next island, got eaten by sand fleas, and had dinner in a gazebo over the water nearby, the food was good but in the end it probably wasn´t worth all the bites. Poor Daryl looks diseased. The second day we went on an island-hopping tour, starting with going to see the dolphins in Dolphin Bay, then snorkeling and lunch over the water, on to Red Frog beach which has developed SO much since I was first there 7 years ago, and finally to Punta Hospital, some of the best snorkeling in the area. We managed not to get stung by any jellyfish, something I failed to do in the past. On the third day we went deep sea fishing! I was a little put off when the guide suggested I go sit on the beach while the boys fish, just two fishing poles, right? WRONG, 3 please, he didn´t know who he was talking to, but I quickly corrected him. We (well, Nate) ended up catching about 8 lbs worth of fish- a nice yellowfin tuna and a mackerel as well! I caught a grocery bag, was hilarious but pretty bummed about that one, Daryl came up with an empty hand. But in the end we all feasted that night on our fresh catch, one of the guys at the tour company cooked it up for us with some rice and vegetables, it was delicious! On the fourth day we took a bus to the other end of the island, a beach called Boca del Drago, this was my favorite beach so far, SO beautiful and peaceful, no sand fleas, warm water, and not overpopulated at all. It was a perfect way to spend our last day on the islands. That was yesterday, and today we are heading back to Costa Rica, to Puerto Viejo not far from here, a laid back little town on the Caribbean. Hopefully the weather will hold out, as it is a bit rainy today, and hopefully Costa Rica will have cleaned itself up a bit by now, we look forward to some beaching, biking, and then volcano-ing in the near future!
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