Hotel MaccaBite Isla Bastimentos

Everyone wished me a happy birthday bar the Sun. She decided to have an afternoon in front of the TV, while her close pal Mr Cumulonimbus donned his favourite black jacket and proceeded to accompany us all day! So by 1pm we did the only thing we could, I mean if the rain is pouring then it seems fitting that the rum should be pouring alongside a ice cold mixer of Canada Dry.<br>At 4.30 I was treated to a "happy birthday ...

... share whilst sipping some fresh squeezed lemonade. We got some dog and cat time in as well, before taking the back way down the hill, through the free range chicken fields, then through the neighborhoods. What was interesting to me is that this was the first time we saw people with dogs on leashes. I was happy to see this.<br><br>People live in quite a bit of filth and have very little here. Most of the inhabitants in Old Bank seems to be ...

... the assistance of the generator.<br> <br> We asked Gregorio to take us by boat out to the Zapatilla Islands today. They are two islands that form a national park along the Caribbean coastline. They are, from what we gathered, the location for one of the previous Survivor episodes. The islands are quite pristine considering how much trash is around everywhere else. He kindly drove the boat right up onto the beach and let us off with a cooler full of water ...

... to find out where we should go/what we should do - all we knew about Panama City is that it was close to the canal. Ben ventured out into the street for about a minute - inside the hotel we had less prostitutes and unconscious people rolling around in the gutter so he came back in pretty soon. Needless to say we had a night in.<br><br>The next day we got a taxi to Miaflores before our flight to Bocas.Miaflores is where you can see the big ships go ...

... but had no luck. They are VERY hard to spot, live in the trees and are almost pre-historic looking. We did see a lot of butterflies and other flying bugs. The MOST amazing event is that of the LEAF CUTTER ANTS! They travel a very long distance, climb a tree, chew a leaf and carve a piece about the size of a dime. They then head all the way down the tree with the small piece of leaf it in their grasp. They then walk the distance of ...

... 3 weeks. Finally, they roast the seeds for 30 minutes - much like coffee. Then they grind the seeds, discarding the husks. Further grinding produces a more fine powder, and eventully it has a consistency of thick chocolatte cake batter. This is 100% chocolate. Plain and simple. Chocolate that we are accustomed to is a percentage of real chocolate. The first thing most ...

I am in PANAMA!!!!!! We are in this island town called Bocas del Toro and it is nice little surf town. Even though its an island there is not a bunch of beaches. so tomorrow we are going to take a water taxi to this place called wizard beach and it should be awesome!! We left for panama yesterday and leaving rocking j´s was kinda hard becasue we made some good friends there and it was awesome!!!. the last full day we were there we rented bikes and road them down the road to the small ...

... and therefore without expectation. We nipped out for an early tipple bumped into the Frenches, of course! Then spent the night back at the hotel, who out of nowhere produced a huge amount of alcohol and some music, with the Frenches, the lucky Belgians and a selection of others chatting the night away. Nadia achieving in the aim getting me drunk, having to escorted me to bed at 1. Next day we were up and away. Direction uncertain and our feelings towards Bocas mixed.

... of the beach was the ferocity of the breakers. Trying to keep your shorts on gave an extra dimension to the challenge of jumping the waves! Bocas town was really nice and a very laid-back place, but with the mostly **** weather and a pressing itinerary we decided to head for Costa Rica sooner rather than later. We took the boat to Changuinola, where we were bundled into a minibus and driven at breakneck speed to the border. The Guabito-Sixaola border crossing was ...

... them back to the hostel through the scrub was at an all time low. The next day was a relaxing day just playing guitar and swimming. I laid in a hammock all afternoon listening to the sounds of the Caribbean and sweating like a mo fo. That night Tom and myself hit the town and low and behold the tempo was turned from luke warm to sizzling. We went to an awesome bar and took it all in. I was running around like a madmen and managed to meet a mixed group of travellers ...