This past weekend was my last weekend trip to take. We decided to go big, so we went to Bocas del Toro, an island off the Caribbean coast in Panama. We were so excited to go to this sunny, Caribbean island and soak up the sun all weekend...until we got there. It was overcast all weekend and poured buckets on Saturday for half the day. We were disappointed but tried to make the most of it. Friday while taking a walk we stumbled across a Smithsonian Reasearch Institute, and we happened to find it during the window when they give tours. It was really cool-they study frogs, birds, and sea animals and we got to see all of that.
Saturday, since it was raining, we decided to go on a boat tour that took us to four different places around the island. I thought by "boat tour" they meant some sort of speed boat or something. After being here for three months, I should have known better! It was a tiny lancha that bounced around on the rough waves. I was pretty sure it was just going to crack in half at any point! It didn't help that the driver was drinking a beer and lighting a cigarette when we could smell gasoline. I began fearing for my life at one point, but we lived through it and I'll know better next time!
The tour was pretty cool-we went to Dolphin Bay and got to watch wild dolphins ride the waves of our boat! That was fun-they were cute and were definitely putting on a show for us. We tried to get pictures, but never could catch them when they were in the air. We also went to a beach and it was very pretty, although it would have been prettier with sun. The water is so clear there, though, and the beach was among the best I've been to since I've been here. So, even though it didn't turn out the way we expected, we had a good time!
Panama's culutre is different from Costa Rica's, but they both have American influence. It is strange to see the different areas of influence-Costa Rica's is more day-to-day cultural things, whereas Panama has more rules and regulations like the US does (except for on tiny tour boats, apparently). Panama's food also has more US influence, and they use American money for their currency. That was so strange to see American money!! I never realized how tiny quarters are, but they really are small in comparison to Costa Rican coins. It was also weird to go to the ATM and type in a withdrawal of $100. We laughed at ourselves because here, the equivalent of $100 is 50,000 colones. So the first time I took money out of the ATM, I had to mentally get over the fact that the number was so big. Now, when I went to take out $100 in Panama, I had to think about it because the number looked so small on the screen! I was afraid it would spit out 100 colones, which is the equivalent of 20 cents. We also got to eat American food in Panama-chili dogs, pizza, donuts, etc. It was nice not to have fried platanos and arroz y frijoles for the whole weekend, even though I love those things, too! Overall it was a fun trip and even though it rained, I'm glad we went! Here's a few pictures...
The veiw of the island from the water taxi...the beaches are on the other side. :-)
A starfish at the Smithsonian...you can't tell but his hand is underwater.
The group I went with, minus one of the guys. This is at the Smithsonian.
The spot our tour stopped for people to snorkel, which I did not take part in. I prefer looking at fish from behind glass!
Standing on the border of Panama and Costa Rica, which was smack in the middle of an old railroad bridge
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