This weekend it finally happened. I´ve been putting off leaving the country for my entire time here and I finally had to do it. On Monday, I heard that we didn´t have classes on Thursday. So in two days, I planned to skip town on Thursday to leave the country and just miss my class on Friday. The only problem was with who I would go and where we could go. I really wanted to go to Nicaragua but that filled up before we even got to pay. Panama it was. As for who I´d go with, I´ve come to realize that you can judge a person´s character by how willing they are to help you out when they know your situation. Luckily, I´ve made some pretty amazing friends. So, Anna, Kristen, and I ran around to pack and get out US dollars and get ready. We left Thursday morning at about 5 am.
Exhausted and nervous was the best way to describe the ride. The night before, I stayed out a little late talking to my tico friend Melvin. By the time I got home and finished up packing, it was about 1 am. I woke up every hour because I was so nervous. Technically, I was rather illegal and didn´t know how leaving the country would go. We shared a cab and rode to the station to catch the bus. From there, we drove for about 4 hours to the boarder. Kristen, being as considerate as she is, gave up her ticket so a man with a cane didn´t have to stand the entire time. So we watched as she fell multiple times because the bus driver was pulling some pretty crazy stunts. It was so funny. I was able to eat an adorable little breakfast that Mamatica packed for me, complete with sandwich, napkin, straw, and drink. She spoils me. We got to the boarder where we had to get off the bus, get a stamp to leave the country, and cross a bridge that was a little on the sketchy side. We met one of the guys that was affiliated with our contact in Panama before we went to the bridge. We had no idea what his name was, so we called him lil Papito, because, if we understood correctly, he is the son of Papito, our contact in Panama. Yes, our contact se llamaba Papito. We crossed over while lil Papito carried our bags and talked to us. We had to wait in line to get the new stamps on our passports for entering Panama. In the lines on both sides, we made friends with some people from Sweden and Belgium who were staying at the hostel attached to the bar that we were going to on Saturday. After getting stamped and paying the $3 to enter the country, we quickly ran down to get some water from the corner store close by because it was boiling out. We were definitely gawked at by all of the locals in the market. It was a little uncomfortable. The upside, though, was that they use dollars in Panama. To be completely honest, it was a very weird feeling. Have you even noticed how small a dime or quarter is?? I completely forgot how to pay with that money. I even forgot how to look at a price and not immediately start to convert the price into dollars. It was a very odd feeling to know that something that used to be so normal was now so different to me. After a few minutes, we met up with Papito and he drove us in his truck to the port that would have water taxis to Bocas del Toro, our final destination. Papito taught us slang that they use in Panama. According to them, you can call a girlfriend ¨mi pastel¨ which is a cake. So not true, Papito.
We rode on the water taxi to Bocas and met the next contact that took us to our hostel. We arrived at about 3pm but were so exhausted. We watched some NCIS and CSI Miami and relaxed. Then, since our hostel had a kitchen, we went out and bought some pasta and sauce to make dinner. It was a nasty, dirty kitchen, but we had a feast of pasta, chips and salsa, and nutella. So good. After, we were so tired that we slept and watched TV. We may or may not have been in bed by about 7pm. No shame whatsoever.
We woke up the next day and got ready to go on the tour that was included in the package that we had. We made some amazing tortilla and nutella sandwiches for breakfast and nutella and bread sandwiches for lunch. We waited for our guide and went over to the boats. We got in and quickly made some friends with some ladies from Alajuela, an area about 40 minutes from San Jose. We went out and rode to Bahía de Delfínes, or Dolphin Bay. My friends had told me that there are always a ton of dolphins. I was a little disappointed at the beginning because I hadn´t seen any. We were about to leave and then all of a sudden we saw two groups of three. They were so cool. I´ve never seen dolphins in the wild before. It was pretty cool. We then rode to a restaurant that was on stilts over the water. We ate our little sandwiches and befriended some other ticos that were spending time in Bocas. They were so much fun. Our little group of three, plus Ron and Cintia, and another group of Natalia, Pablo, and Karen. We learned phrases ¨pachucu¨ which is like the gangster slang here. It was so much fun. We even laughed so hard that I spit water out all over Kristen. Poor girl. After lunch, we went back out and got ready to go buceo, or snorkeling. It was gorgeous. I loved snorkeling more than anything. We had and hour to go out and just explore. Anna even showed me a type of animal that grows out of a tube and when the water pressure around it changes, it goes back into its hole. So we spent most of the time looking for that animal. We were the last ones off the boat and so they pulled up to us to make us get in. Too bad, getting into boats is something that I have never been very good at. I was the joke of the boat ride because it took like three different tries. None the less, it was fun. We then went to Red Frog Beach and got to go swimming. The rip tide was really strong and we got pulled out a couple of times so we spent most of the time playing on the beach. Our group of 8 was now officially a group. After that, they dropped us back off on the island the we were staying on and we went home to shower and change. We made plans to meet up with our friends later that night so we decided to splurge and go get some dinner. We went out and when we were looking for dinner, we got yelled at from some people up on a balcony of a hotel. It was our friends. We went up and had some beers with them but were quickly kicked out for being too loud. Typical gringas. So we got some dinner and then headed to the bars. It was a great night. We got home at about 4 am.
We slept in on Saturday until about noon. Then, I´m ashamed to say, that we spent most of the day just watching NCIS inside our room. It was raining so a beach wasn´t really an option and we were just too lazy to do much. In all honesty, though, it was great. We went for a walk later during the afternoon and got some ice-cream. We looked out at the sea that surrounded our island for a little while also. We then got ready and went out for a great dinner with Ron and Cinita because the others had to go back home already. After dinner, we went back to get bug spray because the bugs in Bocas could almost carry you off if you weren´t careful. We then spent some time with Ron and Cintia but when they told us they weren´t going to the bar that we were planning on going to all weekend, we parted ways. We had to go to find the amor de la vida de Kristen, who was a bartender at this place, Aqualounge. She also had friends from San Jose that were staying there and our other international friends were there too. It was pretty fun. We met people from Panama and Uruguay. It was definitely a good time. We got back home at about 4 or 5. I hopped in the shower and we slept for 2 hours because our boat ride back was at 7 ish.
After packing, we rode back on a different bus that Papito hooked us up with. It was huge, and air-conditioned, and beautiful. We had some McDonald´s for breakfast and rode to the boarder where while we were waiting, joked around with lil Papito. Then, after passing through and paying $3 more, we got onto our bus and I slept almost the whole way to San Jose.
This weekend was so much fun. There is a saying in Panama when you are going to drink something that is ¨Try me and forget it¨. It means that you are drinking this for only a short time and then you can forget it after. After my friends left, I was pretty homesick. It kills me to admit it, but I really missed them as soon as they were gone. Going to Panama was exactly what I needed to remind me to have fun with some new people now. I definitely tried Panama and forgot about my homesickness, which was amazing. ¨Pruebame y olvidelo¨ was just what the doctor ordered.
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