We got to the bus station at the very brightly colored mall, got situated at our "gate" and decided to go get some snacks while Sam stayed with our (way too heavy) backpacks. Dov, Amanda and I went on a mission to buy some sniggity snacks yet all of the stores were closed (it was 10pm... Claro!) We found a bakery that was in the process of closing and sort of asked (told?) them if we could come in and buy some bottled water which they of course agreed to. While we were there I saw some delicious looking bread products (Rios del Oro, aka "Rivers of Gold", and Integral "Wheat" Breadsticks) that I thought would be tasty along with our water. Later in the trip these snacks were compared to: the sand at the beach, the tree trunks we saw in the jungle, a spear to be used to reach the AC buttons in the bus, and "perfectly good" carbohydrates (according to Dov).
We got back to our gate to find Sam and tell him about our snacks, only to find a young local guy asking Sam if he had seen a girl with either a white shirt, or white skin (Sam wasn't "exactly" sure what he was saying). The conversation (in English) translated to something like this:
Local: "Have you seen a little girl?"
Sam: "No..."
Local: "She was right here (pointing)."
Sam: "...No. I'm sorry I haven't seen anyone."
Local: "She had a white shirt...?"
Sam: "No. Sorry."
Local: "She was a little girl."
Sam: "No."
Local: "The shirt had long sleeves."
Note to reader: there was no little girl around us. Not a little girl, a big girl, a girl with short or long sleeves, or a white shirt, or white skin for that matter! Unless he was talking about me since I was the only gringa there.
Sam: "No. I still didn't see her."
Finally this guy began walking away, only to turn around, and one last time (just in case):
Local: "Did you see a little girl?"
Sam: "NO."
After the local walked away I spent the next few minutes watching
Sam experiment with a fortune teller, scale-type machine (it was all-in-one to make sure you get your quarter's worth), while Amanda and Dov looked for 5 cent balboas to get us through the revolving gate to our bus. We boarded the bus and got to our seats (1-4, the entire first row across). Dov, of course, had seat "Numero Uno", again reinforcing the idea that he was our unofficial leader for this adventure to Bocas. Once we got situated, the front door dividing the cab from the back of the bus closed, which included screens that prevented us from seeing the driver (or him from seeing us??). However, we were able to peek through, and saw that the boy sitting in the driver's seat at that exactly moment could not have been more than 13 years old, and the entire rest of his family seemed to be living in the same closet-sized space with him. Hooray!
We quickly realized why we were so "lucky" to secure seats in the front of the bus. Turns out that the AC that is responsible for cooling the entire bus ONLY blows out of a vent right at our knees, creating an arctic chill that lasted for the next 8 hours to David. Our packing skills came in handy during this ride as Amanda snuggled into her sleeping sack ("sleeping sock") which turned out to be at the top of our "Glad We Packed..." list which will be blogged about at a later date. Within 10 minutes Amanda was curled into a ball and was fast asleep against the window (again!), and Dov was about 5 minutes behind her, snoring against his window... This left Sam and I with approximately 8 remaining hours of "leisure" time to get to know each other's life stories and share some tunes on our iPods. As a result Amanda changed the rankings on her "Glad We Packed..." list to give earplugs the #1 spot.
Once Sam and I started shivering from the arctic blast, we snuck some of the material from the end of Amanda's sleeping sack to try to create some warmth... To no avail. At one point I made the treacherous trip to the bathroom using only Sam's cellphone as my guiding light over the obstacle course of bodies sprawled across the isle. As I made my way to the back of the bus I realized the temperature quickly changed from glacial chill to sweaty sauna (apparently the AC didn't make it to the back, despite the bus driver's best efforts to freeze the four of us into popsicles). When I got to the bathroom I regretfully had to wake up a man who was sleeping on the floor right in front of the bathroom door. As I started pulling on the door handle everyone around me started saying "Duro! Duro!" (telling me to pull hard, and then even harder as the door wouldn't budge). The man I woke up took a couple pulls at it after I was unsuccessful by myself, and together we were able to pry the door open. All I could think about once I got into the bathroom were two things: 1. Don't drop Sam's cellphone! and 2. (almost more important than the first) Don't get locked in!!! (how embarrassing would that be?!) So I held onto Sam's phone for dear life, and gingerly held the door closed while I was in there.
A few hours later Amanda and Dov awoke to find us parked in the middle of a cafeteria. We were all disoriented at this time (either from lack of sleep or from being asleep), and it took us a while to realize this was a sort of "drive in" outdoor cafeteria. Likely at our 13 year old driver's middle school, where Sam had suggested he may have had to stop to hand in his homework.
After a few passport "check-points" (did we take a wrong turn and cross into Costa Rica or Columbia??) and random stops later, we arrived at David at around 5am (we made it!). As we walked down the empty bus "terminal" I realized two guys behind us were getting awkwardly close to Sam and I. Dov turned back and in an effort to prevent any mishaps, shouted "Mira! Mira!" ("Look! Look!") as he mistook these guys as muggers trying to take my bag (when I was just moving it in front of me). After that awkward moment these guys fortunately and quickly forgave our misconception and directed us to the correct bus terminal which we had walked past about 10 minutes before. Easy to miss as the "bus" was more or less what we would call a decrepit, old, mini-van, which we would be taking from David to Almirante.
While previously huddling under the corner of Amanda's sleep sack, Sam and I had discussed what would have helped us be more prepared for the frigid trip. Once we made our stop we made sure we took out socks, pants, and my sleeping sock from our larger packs (that were under the bus) for the trip to Almirante. As soon as we saw our "bus" we realized we wouldn't need any of these additions though, as we would be lucky enough if all four wheels stayed on during our journey (needless to say, there was no AC to worry about).
Miraculously Amanda and Dov fell asleep once again, and even Sam nodded off for a bit as we made our way through the mountains on treacherous roads that had parts of them washed away from previous land slides. I, however, spent the entire bus ride hoping (read: freaking out) I would make it through this to write about this experience! Just to rub it in that Amanda can sleep through anything (in particular, all modes of transportation), she did not open her eyes once as her head ricocheted off of my shoulder as well as the seat in front of us. I think we disturbed the local Panamanians who seemed very confused as to why Sam had sweatpants around his knees (to keep warm, naturally). As we made our way from Almirante we realized why this portion of the bus ride was predicted to be so long. We stopped to pick up literally every single "villager" who was walking to who knows where through the jungles and mountains, and then stopped at a local grocery store to pick up water cooler sized jugs of milk, and small children as well.
We finally arrived at Almirante where we took a pick-up truck taxi to a boat taxi (note: if someone "offers" to carry your bag, you will be somewhat forced to tip them). We got on the boat and were joined by a television and full stereo system which looked straight out of 1987. Once we arrived at Bocas Del Toro, we had a personal "tour guide" who "worked for our hostel" escort us to Mondo Taitu, with only a few stops on the way to check out other hotels he thought we would like instead. Finally we arrived to discover our hostel also serves as a town bar, and our rooms were only a banana's throw away from the bar stools. How convenient! Another adventure begins...
We got back to our gate to find Sam and tell him about our snacks, only to find a young local guy asking Sam if he had seen a girl with either a white shirt, or white skin (Sam wasn't "exactly" sure what he was saying). The conversation (in English) translated to something like this:
Local: "Have you seen a little girl?"
Sam: "No..."
Local: "She was right here (pointing)."
Sam: "...No. I'm sorry I haven't seen anyone."
Local: "She had a white shirt...?"
Sam: "No. Sorry."
Local: "She was a little girl."
Sam: "No."
Local: "The shirt had long sleeves."
Note to reader: there was no little girl around us. Not a little girl, a big girl, a girl with short or long sleeves, or a white shirt, or white skin for that matter! Unless he was talking about me since I was the only gringa there.
Sam: "No. I still didn't see her."
Finally this guy began walking away, only to turn around, and one last time (just in case):
Local: "Did you see a little girl?"
Sam: "NO."
After the local walked away I spent the next few minutes watching
Sam experiment with a fortune teller, scale-type machine (it was all-in-one to make sure you get your quarter's worth), while Amanda and Dov looked for 5 cent balboas to get us through the revolving gate to our bus. We boarded the bus and got to our seats (1-4, the entire first row across). Dov, of course, had seat "Numero Uno", again reinforcing the idea that he was our unofficial leader for this adventure to Bocas. Once we got situated, the front door dividing the cab from the back of the bus closed, which included screens that prevented us from seeing the driver (or him from seeing us??). However, we were able to peek through, and saw that the boy sitting in the driver's seat at that exactly moment could not have been more than 13 years old, and the entire rest of his family seemed to be living in the same closet-sized space with him. Hooray!We quickly realized why we were so "lucky" to secure seats in the front of the bus. Turns out that the AC that is responsible for cooling the entire bus ONLY blows out of a vent right at our knees, creating an arctic chill that lasted for the next 8 hours to David. Our packing skills came in handy during this ride as Amanda snuggled into her sleeping sack ("sleeping sock") which turned out to be at the top of our "Glad We Packed..." list which will be blogged about at a later date. Within 10 minutes Amanda was curled into a ball and was fast asleep against the window (again!), and Dov was about 5 minutes behind her, snoring against his window... This left Sam and I with approximately 8 remaining hours of "leisure" time to get to know each other's life stories and share some tunes on our iPods. As a result Amanda changed the rankings on her "Glad We Packed..." list to give earplugs the #1 spot.
Once Sam and I started shivering from the arctic blast, we snuck some of the material from the end of Amanda's sleeping sack to try to create some warmth... To no avail. At one point I made the treacherous trip to the bathroom using only Sam's cellphone as my guiding light over the obstacle course of bodies sprawled across the isle. As I made my way to the back of the bus I realized the temperature quickly changed from glacial chill to sweaty sauna (apparently the AC didn't make it to the back, despite the bus driver's best efforts to freeze the four of us into popsicles). When I got to the bathroom I regretfully had to wake up a man who was sleeping on the floor right in front of the bathroom door. As I started pulling on the door handle everyone around me started saying "Duro! Duro!" (telling me to pull hard, and then even harder as the door wouldn't budge). The man I woke up took a couple pulls at it after I was unsuccessful by myself, and together we were able to pry the door open. All I could think about once I got into the bathroom were two things: 1. Don't drop Sam's cellphone! and 2. (almost more important than the first) Don't get locked in!!! (how embarrassing would that be?!) So I held onto Sam's phone for dear life, and gingerly held the door closed while I was in there.
A few hours later Amanda and Dov awoke to find us parked in the middle of a cafeteria. We were all disoriented at this time (either from lack of sleep or from being asleep), and it took us a while to realize this was a sort of "drive in" outdoor cafeteria. Likely at our 13 year old driver's middle school, where Sam had suggested he may have had to stop to hand in his homework.
After a few passport "check-points" (did we take a wrong turn and cross into Costa Rica or Columbia??) and random stops later, we arrived at David at around 5am (we made it!). As we walked down the empty bus "terminal" I realized two guys behind us were getting awkwardly close to Sam and I. Dov turned back and in an effort to prevent any mishaps, shouted "Mira! Mira!" ("Look! Look!") as he mistook these guys as muggers trying to take my bag (when I was just moving it in front of me). After that awkward moment these guys fortunately and quickly forgave our misconception and directed us to the correct bus terminal which we had walked past about 10 minutes before. Easy to miss as the "bus" was more or less what we would call a decrepit, old, mini-van, which we would be taking from David to Almirante.
While previously huddling under the corner of Amanda's sleep sack, Sam and I had discussed what would have helped us be more prepared for the frigid trip. Once we made our stop we made sure we took out socks, pants, and my sleeping sock from our larger packs (that were under the bus) for the trip to Almirante. As soon as we saw our "bus" we realized we wouldn't need any of these additions though, as we would be lucky enough if all four wheels stayed on during our journey (needless to say, there was no AC to worry about).
Miraculously Amanda and Dov fell asleep once again, and even Sam nodded off for a bit as we made our way through the mountains on treacherous roads that had parts of them washed away from previous land slides. I, however, spent the entire bus ride hoping (read: freaking out) I would make it through this to write about this experience! Just to rub it in that Amanda can sleep through anything (in particular, all modes of transportation), she did not open her eyes once as her head ricocheted off of my shoulder as well as the seat in front of us. I think we disturbed the local Panamanians who seemed very confused as to why Sam had sweatpants around his knees (to keep warm, naturally). As we made our way from Almirante we realized why this portion of the bus ride was predicted to be so long. We stopped to pick up literally every single "villager" who was walking to who knows where through the jungles and mountains, and then stopped at a local grocery store to pick up water cooler sized jugs of milk, and small children as well.
We finally arrived at Almirante where we took a pick-up truck taxi to a boat taxi (note: if someone "offers" to carry your bag, you will be somewhat forced to tip them). We got on the boat and were joined by a television and full stereo system which looked straight out of 1987. Once we arrived at Bocas Del Toro, we had a personal "tour guide" who "worked for our hostel" escort us to Mondo Taitu, with only a few stops on the way to check out other hotels he thought we would like instead. Finally we arrived to discover our hostel also serves as a town bar, and our rooms were only a banana's throw away from the bar stools. How convenient! Another adventure begins...
No comments:
Post a Comment