Life makes me smile.
I was all prepared to go to Punta Mona, an island off Costa Rica. I woke up in the morning with a fully planned itinerary for the day - my first time this whole trip. But when I looked outside something did not mesh. Yes it was rainy. Yes the town was becoming crowded due to the Semana Santa holiday week. Yes I was sick of closing myself off in order to block out Caribbean men. But none of those were the reasons my plans changed. And I cannot tell you exactly what happened, but I knew there would be something different in store for me.
I checked with the owner of what I thought was a communal living center and as it turned out NO other person besides the housekeeper would be on the island. I couldn´t handle it. Or probably I could have but I decided not to torture myself by going on an unintentional week-long hermitage. So somehow I found myself on the 8:30 bus to the border of Costa Rica, prepared to cross into Panama.
Throughout my whole trip people have questioned how I intended to stay in small Costa Rica for an entire 2 months and it never phased me. I owned it. But somehow I needed to do something different. So there I was, on the bus, with only a general idea of the town I was going to and how long it would take. No lodging, no guide book, no Panamanian currency (U.S. dollars, by the way!).
And I felt FREE.
I struck up a conversation with another traveler and we ended riding his coattails to Bocas del Torro, an island off the coast of Panama. It was quite entertaining to go through customs, which involved crossing a bridge by foot and then waiting in the sun for hours to get stamped. Plus I had to buy a bus ticket out of Panama that is useless - they make you do it to reassure them of your intention to leave.
I eventually made it to the island and wandered the streets with my new friend for a couple hours, carrying a 50-pound pack in the hot sun, in order to find a place to stay. We ended up finding a place on the water´s edge that had great common areas open to the sea. It turned into a 3-day vacation that was rather enjoyable. All meals were eaten seaside, I took a couple opportunities to dive off the hotel dock and the juice-bar dock and swim all willy-nilly straight out into the sea. Some Panamanian boys were geared up in snorkel masks to spear and kill the highly poisonous lion fish below the docks. Never one to miss an opportunity to play with the boys I asked to watch. They happily obliged and got me a mask. My ability to hold my breath for the duration of each individual spearing was meager compared to the killer, but it was quite an experience!!!
After a few days of uber-fresh tropical fruit - papayas, mangoes, coconut water, bananas, passion fruit - card games by the water and yoga on platforms overlooking the sea, I was ready to move on. My friend and I parted ways and I made it to my current town called Boquete. It is a delicious little town nestled in the mountains. I did not like the town initially, as is common when I first arrive somewhere, and was planning in advance when to leave. Every place I checked was booked and said there would be no rooms available in town, however, some girls heard me asking and recruited me to stay in their room because there was an extra bed. Nice!
I gave myself time to let the transition sink in, and permission to not need to have a plan, and another new opportunity popped up. I met 2 locals at the local food joint because I had questions on what to order from the buffet-like layout. One thing led to another and they gave me a tour of the town by motorcycle...hilarious! So now I love the place and plan to do some rainforest hiking or mountain biking while I am here, not to mention another bike trip Sunday at 9am.
Tonight there is a parade on the street where everyone gathers to watch for hours. It´s either Christian or Catholic, I can´t tell. All I know is there are huge church-y creations that look very heavy and throngs of people who follow them with loud, somber music blasting from speakers. It reminds me of Peru and makes me nostalgic for that particular trip with Sarah.
Hello Central America, I am here!
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