Swan`S Cay Bocas Town

We he*ded to Boc*s on * r*iny d*y. We were * little concerned *bout this due to the f*ct th*t if you go to Boc*s *nd the we*ther is b*d there is not * lot to do there *nd you could be w*sting your time... well, we decided to t*ke our ch*nces. Lucky for us th*t we did *s it w*s *n *m*zing three d*ys.

The trip to Boc*s del Toro is through the winding hills of P*n*m*'s exotic jungles... houses on stilts between b*n*n* pl*nt*tions, v*lleys of green *nd friendly ...

... gets me to th ferry, another $4 to get to Bocas so im quickly burning cash and getting annoyed but I finally arrive, get a water taxi to the second island in Bocas for $1 and check into a hostel where Ben and Rob the english lads from San Juan and Montezuma are staying. I arrive to find Ben in a hammock nearly dead from the night before, apparently throwing up all morning and never moving from the hammock. Rob returned from ...

... 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.

People live in quite a bit of filth and have very little here. Most of the inhabitants in Old Bank seems to be ...

... chicken with coconut rice, mashed pea and coconut milk, yucca fries, and a chicken ratatouille. OH.MY.GAWD. was it good. Everything was home made by either the local Ngobe women who were the cooks or by Steve and Karen (the temp. caretakers). We took a day trip to the local bat cave. Our local Ngobe Indian guide named Milton, showed us an incredible amount of wildlife that neither of us would have been able to spot. This ranged from Cayman and owls to ...

... trip on the "Andiamo".

Went out in Bocas again for the second night and it was much better. Ate at a beautiful restaurant called 9 degrees right on the water and enjoyed great service from our server. Afterwards, went to a place calle El Mondo Taitu which was a little hostel bar with dollar beers and it happened to be Martini Mondays which meant 3 dollar fancy martinis. We had a few drinks, I introduced Kim to a Hookah, then we ...

... out of their holes and when you walk, they sense the vibration and slowly retreat into their shelter. It is like the earth lowers an inch as you walk past as so many exist, a very interesting event to watch. We found a fresh (still very green) bunch of bananas that had fallen or dropped so we picked them up and took them back with us and placed them in the sun to ripen. The weather was again, perfect so guess what? TIME FOR THE BEACH ...

... for the machete. Erwin's wife heard the rucus, and went over and jumped in between them, keeping them apart from each other. According to Erwin, without that action, Ronaldo would have surely cut them apart. Heck of a start to the trip. So, Ronaldo was replaced by Erwin's 8-year old daughter, Nicky. Next, poison dart frogs. These are the guys that secrete poisons that will kill ...

... i have been making jewelry since i guess i´m going to need to bring home the bacon. we´ll see how that goes!! i also think i´m going to start volunteering at the smithsonian tropical research institute next week which should be really cool to get some more experience in marine conservation field work. maybe with coral this time? we will see!! no pictures today but hopefully soon! hope everyone enjoyed the update, come visit us!! we have lots of extra space!!

The overnight bus to Bocas del Toro had seemed like such a good idea - saving another night in Panama City and arriving fresh-faced and raring to go at this tourist town on a Caribbean archipelago. Things didn't quite go to plan though as our seats right at the front of the bus were blasted with the drivers latino accordian music for the full 8-hour trip. He also stopped frequently to let people on who would come and perch in the aisle and lean on my already cramped ...

... on the way out with the mud, a lorry that was passing offered to take us with our bikes so we happily accepted (see video). We did cycle all the way back though! As you can observe from the pictures and video there is ************e on the long stretches of beach. The water by the way is very warm, so jumping around in the waves for extremely good fun. We spent most of the day along the different beaches...a real luxury! Nothing else for the time being...cheerio.