09/23 Well, I’ve had crazy days before but this one takes the cake. Things ended well and that’s all that matters. The sun has set and I’m laying outside on a hammock with a cold Panama beer, the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea are lapping gently at the pillars of the rustic little hostel where I’m staying and three awesome German girls are in the hammocks next to me.

I was wrong about Costa Rica being an island. It is. That’s the only explanation for it being so profoundly different from everywhere else in Central America. To be fair, I’ve only been in Panama for one day but I love it here already and none of the things I disliked about CR seem to exist here. Drivers waved and honked, if I waved at someone on a bike or sitting outside they waved back and if I said good afternoon they actually responded. It was kind of amazing. The road from Bribri to the border ended up being (mostly) paved which was unexpected. No shoulder but traffic was very light. Of course as soon as I crossed into Panama the road was nicely paved and I had a shoulder all day.

Now for the border crossing. Of course I had no entry stamp into Costa Rica so I was freaking out a little when I pulled up to the immigration building. Sure enough they spotted the missing stamp. My plan to play the no habla Spanish card was foiled by an English speaking customs agent. He quickly launched into how serious it was that I didn’t have a stamp and that I’d probably have to go back to where I entered and get one. That made no sense and I could kind of tell where this was going so I drew first blood. I asked if there was a fine or something I could pay to resolve this. He went back inside to talk to his “boss” and then came back out with a little piece of paper. All it said was $50. That was more than what I had in my bribe budget so I countered with $20. His went back in to check with his boss. $20 did the trick and he came back out with my passport stamped. The next part was awesome. I had to go inside and leave the money in the bathroom. With the drop point established I went in with the $20 folded neatly in my passport and left it for him on top of the toilet (that was symbolic on my part). Walking out I did a casual head nod to confirm the transaction and I was off. Entry through Panama customs was no problem. I showed the agent my fake aitine ticket but I didn’t need it anyway.

The flat terrain I was enjoying ended soon after entering Panama but not before I had to ride around for half an hour figuring out how to get to the islands of Bocas del Toro. The Lonely Planet guide said there was a ferry that leaves from Changuinola every 45 minutes from some marine shop but I rode the 5km out of town and didn’t see it. My map showed another ferry crossing out of Almirante so off I went. After riding up and down 10 Guatemala-class hills (yes, I counted) I arrived in Almirante and headed to the docks.

A guy on a bike immediately rode up and said he worked for a water taxi company and I should follow him. Now this guy looked kind of thuggy and he asked a few times about my GPS and my necklace so when he turned down a side road I balked and told him I wanted to go check out the ferry situation myself. He was kind of pissed but whatever. Turns out he was right. No ferry until tomorrow morning. I went back to the turnoff and he was there waiting.

For $6 I secured passage on a boat and donned a life jacket. The ride over was fine but I wanted to go to another island that’s supposed to be more laidback so I went off in search of another water taxi. This one got me to my home for the next couple nights for $7 (I was the only one on it so I had to pay more).

The islands of Boca del Toro are pretty cool. There are 6 of them: the main island where the first boat landed was Bocas del Toro on Isla Colon. I opted for the village of Old Bank on Isla Bastimentos. There are no roads here, just a wide footpath that winds through brightly colored wooden houses. The 1500 people here are of West Indian descent and the place has a strong Caribbean feel to it. The place I’m staying is called The Jaguar. All the rooms sit over water so I can look down between the floorboards and see fish. I’m planning on staying 2 nights but that could change.

Broke 15,000 miles today.

If I write a book it’s going to be called The Gold Necklace and I’ll use the picture of me in Alaska for the cover.

Happy birthday to my little sister Stephanie and my cousin Zach.

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I ended up staying here today hoping that there’d be a change with my sister’s condition. No such luck though. Tomorrow I’m going to ride to the next town and make plans from there.

While walking to dinner tonight I’m fairly sure that I saw someone being kidnapped. A couple people on the sidewalk in front of me had stopped and were looking down a side street. When I got to where they were I could see a white mini-van with the door open stopped next to the sidewalk. Right next to the open door 2 or 3 guys were struggling with another guy and it looked like they were trying to get him into the van. I didn’t go over because that would have probably been a stupid move on my part. The Mexican guy standing next to me didn’t head over either so I figured he was staying out of it for a good reason. I didn’t stand there for more than 10 seconds because I kind of stick out here. First time I’ve seen any kind of violence in Mexico. It’s possible it was something other than what it looked like but I doubt it.

I just saw the Wikipedia entry for this city: “Escárcega was featured in fifth position on the 2002 Lonely Planet Guide to Mexico’s “worst of Mexico” list.”

Nice. I haven’t seen that much of the city but it doesn’t seem that bad (other than people being kidnapped). There is kind of a weird feeling you get here that I noticed yesterday. People don’t seem as friendly and even walking down the street I’m not stared at like I normally am. Maybe it’s because people are afraid? Who knows. Or it could be that everyone here thinks Americans are jerks because the dumbasses at Burger King thought it would be cool to stick up this huge obnoxious sign that you can see from miles out of town. No wonder some local kid back in Palenque used BK as an insult when he said I should go there to eat. To be fair he was drunk but still.