Bambu Hostel David

... kept me awake. Just past midnight the <br>biologist let us know that it was time to go. <br><br>We headed down to the shore and boarded the boat. After cutting across <br>the open water, we entered the mangroves once again. Because the <br>openings were so small, two men navigated from the front of the boat, <br>yelling directions back to the driver. An almost full moon lit up the <br>night enough to clearly make out our surroundings. Thick jungle, <br>mangroves, and forest ...

... on your back and your thighs are not used to hiking yet. After about 20 mins we finally made it to the top (me weazing and red faced) and were met by Cat, one of the volunteers working there. This is the kind of place where you plan on going for a few days, and end up staying for a few months, case in point being the three volunteers they had there, Angelo, Cat and Anna. None of them had planned on staying as long as they had but here they were, doing reception work ...

... w/bags<br>10:20am: realize Panamanian policeman sent us the wrong way. <br>10:30am: catch taxi and ask him to find us a hotel<br>10:40am: find hotel with no rooms available<br>10:50am: find hotel that allowed us to check in after seeing the look of sheer misery and desperation on my face<br><br> ...And about 27 hours after departing from Nicaragua, we made it to our present destination.<br><br>I'll skip the part ...

... kept a somewhat busy schedule, just so peaceful here. The view from our cabin, the cabin itself, the sounds of the rain and when it&#8217;s not raining the birds keep a quiet and rhythmic symphony going. Every night at 6:30, like clockwork, this tree near the tilapia pond fills with probably 30 white as snow, egrets. The clouds roll in and just hang over the mountains like a forest. We could stay here for a very long time.<br><br><br><br><br>

... they could not help us. In the end we found a woman who called for a taxi, and we came to ...I cannot remember the name of the village...but somewhere between Volcano and Cerro Punta. We were ABSOLUTELLY WET. Amelia has just a jumper which was dry, and I had part of my jacket (the inside was however wet) and my underwear. We went to a laundry and let everything to dry. Amelia had just the (fortunately) long Sweater to covered herself, and I had my raincoat. Marcus had ...

... so the rumor goes) put Canadian flags on their packs (If Aussies wanted to escape the bad wrap we get as 'Bali Bogans' and we put Kiwi flags on our packs, it wouldn't work as no one can tell the difference).<br><br>The bus ride was ok, I was annoyed that about half an hour into the trip the bus kept stopping at the request of some patrons so they could run across the road to the store and get some snacks, and later on 15 minutes after a toilet break (where people ...

Wednesday wasn't much to report back on since it was mostly a travel day from Bocas to Boquete. Of course there was another stop in David for shopping. As to avoid some of the pain Jaime and I went to TGIFridays (*sigh* yes, I know this is a horrible thing to do in a foreign country) for some food and drinks. Even after wasting an hour there watching futbol and American baseball we were still subjected to another hour at the Do It Center (home improvement center ...

... for over an hour, we were finally greeted by our luggage not turning up! Pretty much worse case scenario. We calmly filled out forms and went to our hostel. Thankfully a while later Charlotte got a call....they had our bags and were sending them to us! Quite a relief! Panama City is extremely hot and sticky, and the sheer scale of the place isn't immediiately apparent until you can look from afar upon its sprawling cityscape, where everyother block has a new skyscraper ...

... makes organizing these things so much easier. Thank you again Bill Hartman. On day 5 of being back I was out networking, shaking hands and trying to make some new connections outside of the ones I already have. It was nice to be happily welcomed back by the shop owners where I buy my stuff, and for the first time in along time I am somewhere I feel really good and comfortable and familiar The fit, as far off as it is from where I was expecting my life to be, just feels right ...

... we can't sleep comfortably. With a kid, it isn't like we can just party until we pass out if the room is lousy. So this is new territory for us. By far our worst accomodations in all of the places we've stayed across all continents. The mattress was the best part - it was a functional mattress. The sheets were too small for the mattress, and were thinner than a hobo's underwear. Hopefully cleaner. The pillows were thick bags of reclaimed asbestos insulation ...