Dec 24th, Christmas Eve:
Last night I got bit by at least three mosquitos while sitting at the dock, one of the bites raised a section of skin that looked like a blister as big as a quarter. The last time I had a reaction like this was in Africa; I found out that the hostel manager was sick with dengue and "still working" so - that means there will definitely be infected mosquitos around the area... I am not liking the way that sounds...
I went to bed at 5 am, last night was fun, except that someone stole my phone (it fell out of my pocket but I noticed it right away; but process of elimination I guessed who had it- a local) and I had to use psychological military tactics to convince the person to give it back for money.
I set my alarm for 9 (that was as late as I could set it and still have a clear conscience if I missed my snorkeling time) but woke up at 8 am without an alarm. When I woke up at 8:30 I had an hour and a half until the time I remembered someone saying the snorkeling tours were... I got a couple things done: 1. I went for a run 2. I ate breakfast 3. Found a travel agency and signed up for a snorkeling tour 4. I dropped off my laundry 5. I bought waters at a grocery store 6. Caught up with some friends from last night. Man last night was fun, this is a really small fiesta town but also a very calm and relaxing as an island should be; no taxis required here and everyone ends up at the same places - you don't want to be here too long or it will be boring I'm sure, unless you like this type of "smallness".
Once I got onto the boat, the day was in the record books; my roommate Vudant (Punjabi from India (which reminds me a lot of my friends in California)) and I thoroughly enjoyed our time, sonia from Switzerland joined our group and then two guys from Mexico: one was a mechanical engineer - we got along well very well. The last two to jump on were an older couple from where else: the Netherlands. I am not sure their age but he still scubadives, does all kinds of recreational sports and keeps his mind young; he reminded me of an older me and I really enjoyed talking to him and gaining his perspectives. He's done a lot of the things I want to do and I asked questions to gain data on how I thought it would make me feel versus how it made him feel, he basically confirmed my thoughts and added some much appreciated insight as well.
First we went to a bungalow restaurant, next we went dolphin watching (I got a really cool video!), then snorkeling (Vudant got the biggest cramp I've ever seen while we were working on his breathing through the snorkel). Next we went to a beautiful island beach that everyone agrees was one of the coolest places they've ever been (up there with Mallorca, India, turkey, Greece, Tel Aviv, Thailand, Maldives, and Cancun or anywhere else you could think of as people in the group had been to them all). We investigated the island then went for a swim, I put my t-shirt an sunglasses on a branch next to a group standing beside us in order to avoid putting them in the sand. When we finished swimming my stuff was gone and so was the group; I don't think anyone would purposely steal my dirty shirt or sunglasses but wow is it annoying to lose those types of things when traveling, easily replaceable but the quality isn't the same - I can't buy that tshirt down here even though it's cheap- and now I have to go find another pair of $5 sunglasses. The rest of the day was a bit rougher without sunglasses or a tshirt- I put on sunscreen that Sonia had let me use and that made the sun a little more bearable; it felt like I could "feel" a difference in a burning feeling after putting on the sunscreen.
On our way back we stopped and saw some sloths, ate some food, chatted more and got back around 4pm. What a day so far! I had found exactly what I was looking for... the blue water, the bungalows, the island white sand, snorkeling, and an added bonus: interaction with dolphins (the dolphins actually followed the waves of the boat and I got a video of it).
The skipper of the boat had his son with him who was about 10 years old or so, and I had a really strong appreciation for his ability to boat and help his father out- it reminded me a lot of me when I was a kid boating with my dad.
I got the contact information from Sonia and Berry (the older Dutch gentleman) because they wanted the videos and I had pictures of them. Tonight we will all end up at aqua lounge and let loose, dance, have fun again. I forgot to mention last night, everyone was playing some sort of ping pong elimination game with books (the bar was called bookstore). I didn't play the group game but after They were done Dan wanted to play and we really went at it. Dan was very good and the table / paddles / ball were really working well for me, i was able to play at a higher level than I'm used to, really picking out my shots and having some great luck. We played four games, he won three out of four but they were real close and I mounted some impressive comeback streaks. After we were done Dan (from Australia) and his buddies were my right hand amigos: you don't play that kind of ping pong without forming strong bonds.
I met the girl that sat next to me on the ferry ride over (I believe her name is "Velena" from Germany who really turned my first impression of her around from being a total introvert awkwardly carrying on endless "efforted" conversation to really being quite naturally fun and easy going once we were out and about.
The performer at the bookshelf was very original, he sang some very strange songs and some really good songs but all written by him about psychology, politics, plantains (the song was about how much he hated them and I added in what is a plantain !!! I've been wondering that so much as I push them to the side of my plate each day). I enjoyed the plantain song and the song about presidents on money as well as the vibe in the place - normally I do not like bars but this was more of a little hangout / arcade (they had street fighter on Super Nintendo at the actual bar on an old tv) / ping pong / stage for performances.
The "disco" iguanas was actually really fun and by design very enjoyable; It had an authentic Mexico spring break feel to it (but when I went to Cancun on spring break I couldn't find a place like this).
The town was so small, I kept running into the same people everywhere. I ate two cheeseburgers and an Empenada with Doug and talked to him about real estate as he was a local that just sold two properties. He told me the backstory on my hostel coming in and taking all the business putting small hostels out of business- the hostel used to be a place a billionaire owned and had other plans for.
I am going to go pick up my laundry, shower and get ready for the evening shenanigans. Tomorrow I will check out maybe one more beach and then take a bus to Panama City (merry Christmas).
Last night I got bit by at least three mosquitos while sitting at the dock, one of the bites raised a section of skin that looked like a blister as big as a quarter. The last time I had a reaction like this was in Africa; I found out that the hostel manager was sick with dengue and "still working" so - that means there will definitely be infected mosquitos around the area... I am not liking the way that sounds...
I went to bed at 5 am, last night was fun, except that someone stole my phone (it fell out of my pocket but I noticed it right away; but process of elimination I guessed who had it- a local) and I had to use psychological military tactics to convince the person to give it back for money.
I set my alarm for 9 (that was as late as I could set it and still have a clear conscience if I missed my snorkeling time) but woke up at 8 am without an alarm. When I woke up at 8:30 I had an hour and a half until the time I remembered someone saying the snorkeling tours were... I got a couple things done: 1. I went for a run 2. I ate breakfast 3. Found a travel agency and signed up for a snorkeling tour 4. I dropped off my laundry 5. I bought waters at a grocery store 6. Caught up with some friends from last night. Man last night was fun, this is a really small fiesta town but also a very calm and relaxing as an island should be; no taxis required here and everyone ends up at the same places - you don't want to be here too long or it will be boring I'm sure, unless you like this type of "smallness".
Once I got onto the boat, the day was in the record books; my roommate Vudant (Punjabi from India (which reminds me a lot of my friends in California)) and I thoroughly enjoyed our time, sonia from Switzerland joined our group and then two guys from Mexico: one was a mechanical engineer - we got along well very well. The last two to jump on were an older couple from where else: the Netherlands. I am not sure their age but he still scubadives, does all kinds of recreational sports and keeps his mind young; he reminded me of an older me and I really enjoyed talking to him and gaining his perspectives. He's done a lot of the things I want to do and I asked questions to gain data on how I thought it would make me feel versus how it made him feel, he basically confirmed my thoughts and added some much appreciated insight as well.
First we went to a bungalow restaurant, next we went dolphin watching (I got a really cool video!), then snorkeling (Vudant got the biggest cramp I've ever seen while we were working on his breathing through the snorkel). Next we went to a beautiful island beach that everyone agrees was one of the coolest places they've ever been (up there with Mallorca, India, turkey, Greece, Tel Aviv, Thailand, Maldives, and Cancun or anywhere else you could think of as people in the group had been to them all). We investigated the island then went for a swim, I put my t-shirt an sunglasses on a branch next to a group standing beside us in order to avoid putting them in the sand. When we finished swimming my stuff was gone and so was the group; I don't think anyone would purposely steal my dirty shirt or sunglasses but wow is it annoying to lose those types of things when traveling, easily replaceable but the quality isn't the same - I can't buy that tshirt down here even though it's cheap- and now I have to go find another pair of $5 sunglasses. The rest of the day was a bit rougher without sunglasses or a tshirt- I put on sunscreen that Sonia had let me use and that made the sun a little more bearable; it felt like I could "feel" a difference in a burning feeling after putting on the sunscreen.
On our way back we stopped and saw some sloths, ate some food, chatted more and got back around 4pm. What a day so far! I had found exactly what I was looking for... the blue water, the bungalows, the island white sand, snorkeling, and an added bonus: interaction with dolphins (the dolphins actually followed the waves of the boat and I got a video of it).
The skipper of the boat had his son with him who was about 10 years old or so, and I had a really strong appreciation for his ability to boat and help his father out- it reminded me a lot of me when I was a kid boating with my dad.
I got the contact information from Sonia and Berry (the older Dutch gentleman) because they wanted the videos and I had pictures of them. Tonight we will all end up at aqua lounge and let loose, dance, have fun again. I forgot to mention last night, everyone was playing some sort of ping pong elimination game with books (the bar was called bookstore). I didn't play the group game but after They were done Dan wanted to play and we really went at it. Dan was very good and the table / paddles / ball were really working well for me, i was able to play at a higher level than I'm used to, really picking out my shots and having some great luck. We played four games, he won three out of four but they were real close and I mounted some impressive comeback streaks. After we were done Dan (from Australia) and his buddies were my right hand amigos: you don't play that kind of ping pong without forming strong bonds.
I met the girl that sat next to me on the ferry ride over (I believe her name is "Velena" from Germany who really turned my first impression of her around from being a total introvert awkwardly carrying on endless "efforted" conversation to really being quite naturally fun and easy going once we were out and about.
The performer at the bookshelf was very original, he sang some very strange songs and some really good songs but all written by him about psychology, politics, plantains (the song was about how much he hated them and I added in what is a plantain !!! I've been wondering that so much as I push them to the side of my plate each day). I enjoyed the plantain song and the song about presidents on money as well as the vibe in the place - normally I do not like bars but this was more of a little hangout / arcade (they had street fighter on Super Nintendo at the actual bar on an old tv) / ping pong / stage for performances.
The "disco" iguanas was actually really fun and by design very enjoyable; It had an authentic Mexico spring break feel to it (but when I went to Cancun on spring break I couldn't find a place like this).
The town was so small, I kept running into the same people everywhere. I ate two cheeseburgers and an Empenada with Doug and talked to him about real estate as he was a local that just sold two properties. He told me the backstory on my hostel coming in and taking all the business putting small hostels out of business- the hostel used to be a place a billionaire owned and had other plans for.
I am going to go pick up my laundry, shower and get ready for the evening shenanigans. Tomorrow I will check out maybe one more beach and then take a bus to Panama City (merry Christmas).
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