Independence

Yesterday, I celebrated my independence (from eight hour bus rides in Panama.)

I woke up early in the morning to catch a bus to Panama City. The bus ride was pretty much an all day affair, and when I arrived at my destination I was exhausted and famished.

Kristian, my Costa Rican father, happens to be in Panama City for the week on business, and we decided to meet up for dinner last night. We ate at an Argentinian BBQ joint--it would have been very un-American of me to not have eaten some sort of grilled meat yesterday--and Kristian picked up the tab, which was completely unnecessary but very nice.

My original plan was to stay in Panama City just long enough to arrange a boat to take me to Colombia. When I arrived yesterday, the hostel explained that this whole "Boat to Colombia" thing isn't exactly a science. Basically, the hostels are in constant contact with boat captains who are constantly making the sail to and from Colombia. The problem, though, is that all of the departure dates are tentative, because at $400 a head the captains don't like to leave until all the beds on the boat are full.

The typical boat voyage is five days long--the first three days are spent hopping through the San Blas Islands (you can google a few images of San Blas to get an idea of how rough my next week will be) and the final two days are spent straight sailing on to Colombia.

Today, I arranged for a sail with a captain called Hernando on a boat called the Stella Luna. Hernando will leave once he has six passengers, and I'm passenger number '4.' So, it looks like we'll still have to wait for two more passengers to sign on.

Originally, I didn't really like the idea of having to wait around. But, I was sold on the idea once I was told that even though the boat may not leave for a couple days, I can still rendezvous with Hernando tomorrow morning and stay on the Stella Luna in the Islands until the boat is full. The total cost of the trip is inclusive of food and lodging for five days, and I won't have to pay any more for the extra days we have to wait until the boat is full.

Basically, the longer it takes us leave, the more free nights of accomodation I'll receive on an archipelago of tropical islands.

Yep. Life is rough.

I don't suspect I'll have internet access for the next week or so while I'm in transit to Colombia.

So, until then, I bid you adieu.