crossing the boarder into panama was literally a walk over a bridge (with gaps to fall to your death). nice.
after that was over with I headed over to bocas del toro, possibly the most popular beach town in panama. this place has received a lot of hype from fellow travelers but did not live up to my expectations. on the plus side i bumped into a friend i met a few weeks back, bocas local, carol. she took me in and prepared a delicious chicken dinner for us. mmm chicken.
also,
carnival is going down (more on this later). this is the largest celebration of the year for panama, and comes second to rio, brazil for intensity. i think the idea here is drink for 5 days straight, resting from 4 till 8am daily. beyond drinks, there*s a lot of music, water cannons, and monster costumes who lerk the streets whipping people... "it*s tradition."
on the second day in bocas, complications had ursina and myself out of accommodation. through a stroke of kind-heartedness another local, joshua, took us in for the night. he even weaved me a super headband in under an hour.
--side story--
i have repeatedly seen this couple throughout my trip. first time in northern mexico, a few times through the next 3 countries and finally in bocas. i screeched my bike to a hault infront of them while they were trying to cross a road and explained the situation. they loved it and took me out for a drink.
------------
due to ursina*s flight back to the states in a few days, we opted to head for panama city in class, by plane! trying to be a little more gucci, i sipped on scotch and smoked long cigarettes while listening to the course hum of the 40 passenger mini, completely satisfied with the idea of skipping 15 hours of boat and bus travel. still, i feel a great accomplishment making it from van to pan city by bus (with a small cheat..). i will live out the rest of my days here in panama city until my flight home and hopefully rendezvous with and old friend from mexico, ms. puerto escondido bikini contest winner, nicole kelly.
>>>>> fast forward a few hours..
and so i did, nicole is here and the last day of carnival is here, which was absolute madness compared to bocas. millions of people strong, it was all about confetti and throwing it in little kids faces. ha
