Panama II

Next we went to El Valle and stayed at a great little camping place. Except, you know, it was camping. We listened to fantastic live music and played vollyball, and went to some thermal pools. Also, it was really really carnival, and so the kids were sabotaging pedestrians. They lined the streets with waterguns, buckets of water, waterballoons, everything, and they attacked mericlessly. It was so fun to see socially mandated chaos. And they loved nailing "los americanos".

We went to Panama City, which was big and wealthy. The cab driver got very lost on the way to our hostel, and when we got to a very small and poorly labeled little place, the lady told us, "ugh, they never know where anything is". I thought that she was being bitter and crabby, but it turned out that actually cab drivers don't know where ANYTHING is in Panama city.

We visited a little bit of Carnival activities, getting some slushies and getting pegged on all sides with handfuls of paper conffetti. We explored several parts of the city and had a bunch of great meals. Getting Indian food was one of those moments that fill a huge gaping hole inside you that you had gotten used to. We also went out for Italian, Chinese, Pizza, and good desserts. I bought a cute dress, which I continue to wear every time I need to feel reborn and a little bit chic. It's very colorful and has a funny cut, you know, just the kind of thing I go for. I think I wore that dress for about 6 days straight after I got it. I don't want to sound slatternly or poor or despicabl gross or anything, but new clothes ARE that exiting when you have only had about 5 outfits for 6 months.

We did the requisite canal visit. It was pretty cool. There's not so much to say, or to see. Modernity. Commerce. Big boats. You can fill a loch faster than a bathtub. I did learn that. And that was cool.

Before the canal we woke up at 4 in the moring to go to Parque Nacional Soberania. It was a lush big national park that was very close to the city. We went with Jose, a really lovely guide who has been to the Darien Gap many times. This makes him a huge bad ass, ok? And he was so gentle and patient as Jay and I huffed and puffed along behind him. We saw an eagle, howler monkeys, white faced monkeys, coatis, little duck birds, blue morpho butterflies, a poisonous snake (about 30 seconds after I mentioned to Jay how relieved I was not to have ever encountered a poisonous snake in the wild), and A PACK OF WILD BOARS which our guide was scared of but I, not due to ignorance but rather an Indiana Jones brand of bravery and fuck-all, was not frightened by at all.

That night Jay and I took a 16 hour busride back to San Jose. Then Jay became sick, and by sick I mean he was super feverish and felt malaise. However, he was a major trooper. Not only did he not complain about being sick, or about being in a kind of shitty hostel, but he also did not complain when I made him drink my adaptogenic herbal tea. To top it all off, he decided that just what he needed for a swift and comfortable recovery was a 6 hour bus-ferry-bus-bus-taxi trip to Montezuma. Trooper.

He rested for the rest of the day in a hammock, while I explored a river running on top of a lime formation, with pools and tons of iguanas and little fishies and polliwogs. Then I collected seashells and made a three-course dinner.

Montezuma was beautiful, but overpriced. Very hippy, small town, but a lot of tourists. Our lodgings were beautiful and our hosts were gracious. The food in town was magnificent.

We went horseback riding along the beach to a waterfall which is one of only 7 in the world that falls directly into the ocean. I galloped through the surf, which, just to let you all know, is the main reason why I was born and why I exist. To gallop horses on the beach. That is the meaning of my life.

I couldn't walk regular for the next 6 days.

Then it was back to San Jose to take Jay to the airport. I was sad. He was also sad but expressed it in a caring and manly way whereas I cried. The next day I went off to Nicaragua. But that is a story for another time.