Rescued to the sea villa

The next day we went to a place called "the Jaguar Rescue Center" fully expecting to see some jungle cats. When we got there, we found out that the place only once had had a jaguar, but it died in just four days after arriving and since then they renamed the place the "jaguar rescue center" in tribute to the dead jaguar, but they didn't actually have any!! We looked at each other in surprise, and thought, "wha? how can you call yourself something you don't do!!". I think we should open a "Turtle rescue center" but when people come to visit, we should only have mosquitoes! That might be a good business plan...

They had more sloths, birds, snakes and a bunch of monkeys to play with. The monkeys was by far the best part as they actually let you hold them and play with them in a protected enclosure... needless to say we took lots of pictures of us grabbing them and forcing them to love us. Most of them wanted to play and jump on this giant hammock, but a few were tired and enjoyed resting in our arms. The resque center did however have one wild cat in it. Not quite the size of a jaguar, but still about 32 pounds in weight or 14.5 kilos when adult. He was scared and stayed in his cage while we were there but still poked out his little head for us to see him.

After a few beautiful beaches, bike rides later from Peurto Viejo all the way down to Manzanillio, we decided, mainly due to high-costs of living, to leave and continue onwards to Panama. We had heard good things about Bocas del Toro, an island archipelago touching Costa Rica in the north Caribbean side. Our really nice lodge in Puerto Viejo had not only a swimming pool, but a massage table we could use and shuttles that would bring us directly from Peurto Viejo, over the border, and into Bocas.

When we finally found out about the shuttle, we nearly had to jump out of breakfast, make our bags and pack the shuttle all in about 9 minutes! Sadly Laura left a couple of items behind in the hotel room and we weren't able to see them before we left. Alas, loosing things sometimes happens while traveling. I just hope the items didn't end up in the trash somehow...

The border crossing into Panama was interesting. We had to walk over a bridge that was made of steel and half rusted and falling apart. To cover up the rust and barely allow vehicles over it they added lots of makeshift planks onto the top of the bridge so that you could walk over it and not completely miss a step and end up in the river.

We were guided across by a person hired as part of the shuttle service, and were easily moved over the border into our next waiting shuttle which then ferried us to our boat and drove us across open waters for around 30 minutes to our final destination. It was nice having all of these various transportation connections so well arranged for us!

Later on we were told that we crossed the border in the "correct" method, since the border is generally corrupt, if we had crossed it w/o a guide, we would probably have been held at the border for about an hour, given a hard time, and possibly been forced to bribe our way through... or be forced to buy a bus ticket we didn't need to prove we were returning. But with a guide to help us over, they know they can't hassle you because then they would get reported.

We then arrived in Bocas and we we're immediately greeted by Chucky. Chucky ended up becoming our human representation of Panama. He's a very sweet 20ish old man who helps tourists find good hotels, tours and boat rides.

Like most of the people who live here, they don't seem to go to school but instead learn from others how to work the tourism trade they primarily survive from. Bocas was more interesting than Puerto Viejo because you really felt like people live here, you have a church, places where locals go, the kids play baseball in the streets.

It has a poor feeling, but in a less despotic way than in Costa Rica.

In Bocas you get around everywhere by boat, there are lots of islands to visit, and each one has at least one thing special to offer: snorkeling, sand flies, dolphin watching, red frogs, more sand flies, beautiful beaches, a few more sand flies, thick jungle, oh and mosquitoes.

We've seen extremely rich luxury million dollar houses right next to trash laden poor houses, marinas with yachts and passenger boats that load a full set of passengers on them and only manage to stay a few centimeters above the water.

It's much hotter here, and Laura and I made the initial mistake of trying to live too cheaply. We paid for the bottom end hotel, with a fan instead of airco, and then we tried to stay in the hostel room the second night -- but we had sun burns and it was so noisy, and just generally a form of light self-torture... at this point we decided that we were not poor, so we shouldn't act it to our own detriment, and that we really do deserve better: so we scaled things up and checked into a slightly more fancy room with wifi and air conditioning! I don't think I've ever traveled with airco but the weather was so incredibly hot here I don't think I would have been able to think without it. Before I had airco it was so unbearably hot all I could do was vegetate. This vegetation felt good though, don't get me wrong, but it also feels good to be able to think and have enough energy to move your fingers on a keyboard. Typing felt like it would have taken all my energy and killed me right then and there, I couldn't have imagined a more unpleasant experience than thinking.

All I could do to feel good was to sit, sweat and stare off into a day dream. That felt good, I did a lot of that when I wasn't eating, being boated around, getting sun burned, eaten by sand flies, and swimming. It's a hard life being on holidays in the tropics you know...

We also came here with an idea: maybe we should rent a place for a week? It would give us time to feel settled, for me to do some work, and some book writing. And for Laura and I to have the benefits of a routine: regular reiki/meditation, reading time, our own kitchen, etc.

We found only one place that had everything we wanted, and more, and that wasn't insanely expensive. They fortunately still had space and we are seeing them now tomorrow to go to our new home for the week. The place has kayaks we can use for free, snorkel gear, an ocean view, wifi and a second computer we can use, a queen bed with a mosquito net, coral reef right outside the villa, a full kitchen and bathroom, full continental breakfasts, satellite tv with a dvd library, a boat we can use to travel to other beaches, restaurants or back to town and even a guest house (so if you are reading this and in the area, come on over! we have space for two more...)

It is secluded with nothing around us, just the sounds of birds, waves and other animals and nested between jungle and the sea... I hope its as great as I think it will be!

And here is our private dock: