GERMANS LOVE TUNA SAUCE

Well it has been a while friends, or at least it feels that way to me. If days were marked in miles i have lived several hundred of them this week. Anyways, on Friday my sister laura and kim and i left San Jose to go to Bocas Del Toro in Panama because we heard it was cool AND to renew our 90 day tourist visas. So the 5 hour bus ride was fun, as was the border crossing, where we had to walk across an old railway bridge with 2 foot gaps between some of the beams. After crossing the border we took a cab to the water taxi that would take us to bocas. bocas is a series of islands.

Upon arrival at the main island we realized that our 5 or 6 year old lonely planet photocopies were a little outdated, because the place had gone from rooms for 14 bucks to rooms for 70. fortunatly we found one for 30. The first day we were pretty disapointed with things, because we thought it would all be cool and not too touristy and dirt cheap. it was not. So the second morning we decided to go and check out some of the smaller islands. We took a cab to the second biggest island of bastimentos, and wow... it was totaly different. very laid back, nobody wearing shoes and roosters running around everwhere. it reminded me a lot of hemmingways jamaca, for the bibliophiles out there. We found an awesome hotel there which was on stilts over the water run by really realy nice germans. there were only 5 rooms. about 80% of the hotel was filled up with really really nice germans. we at pasta with tuna sauce. it was delicious.
Actually it was one of the nicest places we´d stayed because every night they had 'family dinners' where eveyone in the hotel would eat (ocassionally pasta with tuna sauce) and drink all night. we met a lot of cool people there. mostly german or swiss german.
larua wanted me to include a story of our hikes into the jungle, so i shall. On our first day in bastimentos we decided to go to the beach, which is about 20 mins from the town. you cant swim right out front of the hotel for reasons you will discover in the next paragraph. so we heard from some girls that the trail was a little muddy, but basically just go through the graveyard and follow the path. so we get the the graveyard and there is a clear sign with an arrow saying wizard beach, so we followed it. the paved road quickly turned into a mud path which quickly tuned into mud above our knees. it was a long smelly and dirty hike. it was that sort of red volcanic clay that just covers your body so that you feel like you were in a spa, but its not as cool when you want to just go to the beach. so eventually the trail got to a road, although there were no signs to say which way to go. so on a hunch we went right, and ended up at the water on the bay which we shouldn't swim in (see next paragraph). So we turned around and went the other way. the road was long and we were muddy, but kim's medium-esque vibes told her the beach was close. finally we saw the water, but unfortunatly it was the same water we saw earlier. we had gone in a complete circle. i suggested we eat some bananas to celebrate our second time ever getting completly lost. laura and kim didnt thing potasium would make things better, so we charged on. we walked back on the mud path (somehow even getting lost on this, so that we ended up in a different spot) and decided to retrace our steps in the graveyard to see if we had missed anything. it is here god sent us an angle in the form of a balding, flea ridden, growth coverd dog, who i soon christened- blackey. apparetnly in the grave yard you need to get off the well paved path and go on another dirt one with no signs at all. blackey ran ahead and showed us all the right unmmarked turns. after about twenty minutes we arrived at the beach. when we got there i saw that there was another official sign saying that it was infact wizard beach. So one sign at the start of the trail, and one at the very end. way to go panama tourism board. we were muddy and went swimming. most of the mud came off. we also got muddy on the way back, although perhaps not as muddy as we could have been thanks to another angel, but that is a yarn for another day.

after three days in a paradise of snorkling, pristine and empty beaches and watching through the floorboards the things you flush down the toilet land in the ocean, it was time to say goodbye. (NOW YOU GET WHY WE COULDN'T SWIM THERE!!- although one swiss guy did. i would never let that guy near my alphorn if i were you.)

We ended up traveling with two german girls and a brit from Bocas back to Puerto Viejho that day to stay in the hammock hostel where we did the night before. Kims parents happened to also be in town, and we went out to dinner together. we ate argentinian food. it involved meat being eaten by all. The next day we went with kims parents to the beach and then spent the night spinning yarns together over tequilia sunrises and 'rolly specials.'
a great time was had by all.

today we will read and buy gifts. Talk to you soon.

LOVE LIFE
dave (and kim and laura)