The trip to Panama was an experience in itself. We woke up bright and early on Saturday and made our way to downtown San Jose. We got on a very nice and un-crowded coach-style bus and made the drive to Panama. It was smooth and pretty sailing until we got to the boarder, where some of the kids in our group were unprepared. One of the girls is a Jamaican citizen and didnt have her visa and wouldnt have been allowed back into CR with out it. So we arranged for her to be sent to Puerto Viejo where another group of us were staying. A few other kids ran into problems with not having a copy of their flight ticket proving they wouldnt be staying in Panama for long.. they just had to buy an extra little ticket though. So after the boarder, we found a taxi driver to take us to the launching doc for our boat taxi to the island chain of Bocas del Torro, specifically to Isla de Colon. This water-taxi ride was about 45 minutes and it was beautiful. We finally got to our island and checked into our hostel.
The afore mentioned mosquito bites came from being in my first hostel ever. We paid $12 a night and got a twin sized bed and a locker.. it was totally like a dorm.. there were computers and pool tables and foosball tables and TVs and hammocs and a bar right down stairs from our room.. We slept with the windows open, hence the bites. The bathroom and the showers were shared between guys and girls but our bedroom only had girls in it. I didnt take any pictures, but our room had 3 sets of bunk beds in it and lockers, and thats it. Overall, my first hostel experience was a good one. I would definitely do it again. This first picture is the downstairs of our hostel, the other is a shot from outside. It was called Grand Kahuna Hostel.
After this, we went to dinner and had some drinks, then went to a party on a different and nearby island. This bar was so much fun. It was called Aqua Lounge and it was ladies night!! This bar had a pool and a diving board and it was filled with awesome people. We met our "room mates" one girl from Ireland and one from England who have been traveling together for about 5 months. The irish girl has been traveling since December! It was so interesting to hear their stories- they just up and left their jobs and started traveling just for the hell of it. So awesome and so interesting. We met so many people like that on our trip- "backpackers". After a fun night of swimming and dancing and talking and high-diving from the board, we headed back to our hostel for the night.
The next day we got up bright and early to try and pack as much into our ONLY day there as possible. We found a guy who took us on a boat tour for $15 a person. This tour lasted from 10 am until about 4pm and included the following: a visit to the place where
dolphins live (we saw tons and it was AMAZING!), snorkeling, a stop at a restaurant, sloth viewing (we didnt see any!) and an hour long stop at the beach. It was the BEST $15 I EVER spent! So worth it! Here are some pictures! We burried our canadian tag-along in the sand, and had a good laugh about it. We gave him both boy and girl parts and made him pregnant. :) I seriously laughed about this for about a half hour, after which he was ready to get out of the sand because 
"something was biting him". LOLOL. 
This little boy stole my heart, and because of this, I left this island with no money, food or water. His little job is to catch these frogs every day and show them to tourists for money. I felt so bad that this little 7-8 year old was working that I ended up giving him way more money than he was used to ($5) and I saw him show his little friends his "bank roll". I ended up giving him my water too. It's so weird to see kids working here, in the States it would never fly. I am sure any parent anywhere would rather their child not work at this age, but it just goes to show you how bad they need the money.
On our boat this day, we met 3 French girls who ended up hanging out with us the rest of the night. We went to a "nicer" restaurant for dinner, got a bottle of wine, and just sat at our beautiful table just feet from the water and laughed and talked about different cultural things (like did you know that it is pretty much forbidden to take leftovers home from a restaurant in France?!) After dinner, we went to a few bars and we danced and laughed and had a great time. I finally learned the "superman" dance after about 3 years of wanting to learn it. (I know, 2007 called and they want their dance back..)
This morning was another adventure. We got on our water taxi off of the island at about 7:30 to make a 9am bus for San Jose. The bus wasnt as nice as the first one, and was much more crowded, but we made it.
It was a great weekend and a real eye opener to leave Costa Rica. CR is fully developed, not huslter-ish and Panama is different. Everyone is out to get a buck. The landscape was beautiful and the islands were so neat. I loved how they were so close together and each one had something different: one was where everyone stayed, one had the party, one had a beach, etc. It was very cool, and very fun. I am so glad I did it.
As for my future plans, they are still unclear. I am staying an extra week, but I dont know where we will be going yet. I wanted to go back to Bocas originally, but I think staying in Costa Rica (pacific side) and maybe going to Nicaragua for a few nights will be better. I have to consult Lilly for this decision. I only have 3 days left in San Jose! We are leaving on Thursday night for Jaco (a surf tournament is there next weekend, and rumor has it, JACK JOHNSON is there too!) We planned this trip with the rest of the Independents (the group of kids we were with the first two weekends) so that should be a good time. Then after Jaco, my tica mom said I can leave my luggage here and go explore! I was supposed to be coming home this sunday but I am SO not ready. I cannot believe how fast time has flown (I have already been here a month!) and how much has changed in my life. This was the best decision I have ever made in my life and has truly changed me forever. This is not the last of my long trips, and for this reason too, I CANNOT wait to be a teacher! 3 months off + $ = mucho vacations. :) I love and miss all of you.
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