Hotel Occidental David

... We set up camp right outside of a circus and funny enough we ended up meeting one of the clowns in the show. Since we knew the entertainment we decided to go to the Circus the next day.

The next day went off without a hitch! The mechanic serviced our car and fixed the muffler, we saw the movie Metro 123, and finished the night off at Ronaldo's Circus. David was fun but it was time to get back to the beach!

... surrounded us. If that wasn't
enough, soon Dolphins were jumping in the distance. With a slight
change of direction, we headed their way. It always amazes me how much
dolphins love to play. They swam beside our boat, almost close enough
to touch, surfacing and diving for almost 15 minutes. The biologist
jumped in to play, but the dolphins weren´t interested.

Along the way our driver flagged down a passing fishing boat. We
pulled up next ...

... be the death of me one day. Stephen carried on going after I had called out, "go on save yourselves" huffing and puffing all the way. He kindly provided us with a nice cold can of Balboa beer when Al calmly reached the top and I wheezed my way to the patio area. I dont know why I paid all that money to go to the gym to prepare for this trip. Nothing can prepare you for those bloody hills!

We signed up to do the Organic Coffee tour the next day, for which Mike ...

... which was the second time in recent memory that I have ever been travel sick) I went off to find the bus station so I could book the tickets for our onward journey to David, Panama.

I went to the bus terminal, which according to my guidebook I would find a ticket office for trips to Panama, but of course it was the wrong station and I was directed by the guy behind the counter to take a taxi across town to another station. Of course that taxi driver dropped me ...

... expected and all in all we didn't really do much there. It is paradise if you like Piña Colada (and getting caught in the rain) and fresh fish. The tropic heat of Bocas was getting to us so we headed for the hills to cool down and enjoy fresh mountain air. According to our guidebook the best place to get that is the village of Boquete. Boquete was voted one of the best places in world to retire in an American magazine, so there is a lot ex pats, gated communities and lovely ...

... day. I was a little achy the next day, my arms more than anything else from leaning on my stick! I'm now back staying in Boquete and have begun my volunteering at Paradise Gardens. This mainly involves giving tours and information to the various visitors and playing with Tina, the baby anteater (!!!) and a few of the other residents. It's pretty cool. Anyway that brings us up to date. Keep in touch people! I miss you all!

... a fond farewell to the bubbly, if not slightly ditsy host, Jean. That evening we went to the local 'Fish Fry', a casual bbq party on the harbour where locals and tourists alike chat over Rum Bubba cocktail or two, some tasty food, whilst the reggae music pumps out and the sunsets in the distance. We left early to make the ferry back to Nassau, leaving the fliockering lights and muffled laughter behind us. Back at Nassau we explored more of its town, its watertower, fort ...

... and I practically in unison said we'd take it. It was HUGE with a double bed for each person and air conditioning. And to boot, it was right next to where the bus Cory was taking from Panama City would be coming in. We expected Cory around 9pm so Joseph and I waited outside from about 8:30 to 10. Bus after bus from Panama City came in and he wasn't on them. ¨Great,¨ we thought, ¨he's probably stranded somewhere in Panama City and we have no way to contact him.¨ After waiting for ...

... other two countries! From what we saw of Costa Rica through the bus windows, it was very green and pretty looking. This is all! We stopped for one night in Heredia to catch up with one of our friends, David, who we had studied Spanish with in Xela and then one night in San Jose where we then said goodbye to Mary and left to go to Panama. Well, hurrah for cheapness again! The journey to the border was easy, but crossing the border to get into Panama was not quite so easy ...

I had the most amazing magical time at the Paradise Gardens. As well as being a bird rescue centre the Brit couple who run it are so well reguarded by both police and wildlife officials that they now have a fair collection of rescued mammals too. So not only did I get to play with a 2 month old jaguar kitten the size of a small domestic cat (but with a much smaller ...