Bocas Del Toro Con Amigos

Bocas Del Toro is the shit.



Not to mention i was blessed to have friends from the states who wanted to come and meet me. Scott also met up for this trip too. There were 8 of us in a room which included a huge balcony overlooking the water, a fridge for us to stock our beer, and our own bathroom.

8 dudes in a room is a stinky ass room. Not to mention there was a water situation which limited our ability to flush the toilet, unless of course we filled up a metal bucket with sea water to aid in our sanitary managment. which was not the best alternative since we were not sure if the toilet water from the hostel was going into the ocean below us and we were just filling the bucket up with what we were flushing down. Gross right?

I actually decided it may be better to flush the toilet with disgusting 8 gallon jug of TANG we baught, but that resulted in a nuclear looking pot of orange brown toxic spooge which would most likely take 8 billion yrs to decay. (sorry for the imagery, but it was noteworthy)

Bocas has a water shortage issue so the water is only on for two hours a day between 7-8 am/pm

Becuase of the bucket situation you could tell when anyone in the whole hostel needed to flush their shit becuase they went to the deck to fill their bucket. I must say, the expressions on the girls' faces when they came to the deck to fill their buckets were priceless.

Water situation aside, bocas was a ton of fun. There are young people everywhere and it seems every night is either 80's night or lady's night. Plus, beers cost 60 cents. Paradise!

The surf swell was not that big which was perfect for me. We found a boat captain, Willy, to take us out everyday. He'd drop us off at a remote beach 30 min away, we'd paddle out of the boat to the surf, then he'd come back to get us 3 hrs later. Really cool experience. Plus i caught the best waves of my life on this trip. I've been improving.

One night we decided to play wizard staff. For those who don't know, Wizard staff is a geniously simple game that involves beer and tape. In short, you drink a can of beer and you duck tape your next beer to the top of your empty can. Eventually, you start to form a wizard staff made of your beer cans. If you drink enough to create a staff as tall as you are, you win. it was a tone of drunken fun and i incuded some pics for your viewing pleasure. oh, we made hats too.

The food situation was pretty good. It is super cheap and filling. for $3-$4 you can get a huge plate of food at one of the local cafateria style restaraunts. Or you can just do what i did and eat dim sum from off a rack at the local hardware store and for dessert, go straight for the carribean burger truck that makes sloppy joe type burgers consisting of the most delicious mystery meat ever.

It was a very successful trip. Oh, and did i mention we partied with the ex hells angel president Rodney Gee. He's a scary lookin fucker who likes to slam $1500 cash on the bar in panama. A good way to attract negative attention quickly. We did not stick around him long.

So all of the guys left yesterday and i said goodbye to governor this morning. Thus ends our adventures together as we both embark on our solo journeys. It has been an amazing ride so far and we both realize, in retrospect, what a no brainer decision it was to leave and venture out into the world. Tryuly priceless.

Originally i planned to take a boat from panama city to colombia, but i changed my mind. The boat will take a while and it costs the same as a flight. I figured i'd rather spend the 5 days in colombia than manning the helm of a boat while the captain is in a passed out drunken slumber. This has been a common story of this boat ride.

So i booked a flight and then decided i'd sell my surf board. I Surfed yesterday morning for one last session, then slapped a 4 sale sign on it and walked with it around town trying to slang it to whoever. I tried everything and everyone and no bites. My throat was dry so i figured i'd have myself a brew. I walked into this bar i know and ended up selling it to the bar tender for $100. which is only $50 less than what i baught it for. Now i am traveling a bit lighter and it feels nice. I don't have to worry about swinging it around the wrong way and hitting some random guy in the balls, or myself for that matter. AND, some guy in bocas will be cruizing around with a surfboard with a big ass profile of my face on the bottom. That makes me smile.

Now i am sitting in the airport in panama city waiting for my flight to bogota in 6 hrs. I got 20 or so days left on this section and i am doing it all solo into uncharted waters. I am really excited and will make the best of every minute of it.

Some reflections at this point: Since i made my decision to come back home i have found myself thinking more and more of what i am going to do when i get there. All the things that pass through my mind are enjoyable, and make me happy, but at the same time i still have 20 days left here. By making future plans and by having something to look forward to, I have to work harder to try and appreciate the present moment. When i had no where i needed to be and nowhere i needed to go, i was just where i was at that moment and that was ok.

Now i have to be somewhere at a certain time and that it is influencing my thoughts and actions as opposed to doing things on a whim because that is the way i am feeling at a particular moment.

I am not saying it is bad for me to have plans, but i noticed the difference in my outlook after they were made. Like i said, I have 20 more days and i plan to work harder at appreciating the present without letting the looming future hinder my ability to enjoy where i am.

That being said, i am really looking forward to seeing freinds and family again.

enjoy the slide show.