Thursday, August 28

10.00 O'clock. We wake up and after a simple breakfast we ly down on a white sand beach in the sun. We're enjoying the view of the other tiny palm tree islands in the distance and read our books.
11.00 O'clock. We're sweating in the burning sun and decide to go swimming. Suddenly a coconut floats by. The water is as warm as we would normally use for a shower. Then the bell rings that lunch is ready.
13.00 O'clock. After lunch it's time for siesta, so we ly down in a hammock in the shadow of a palmtree and instantly fall asleep.
14.30 O'clock. Time to do someting else; let's go snorkeling. The water is turquoise and very clear. We snorkel closely above the coral and see several coloured fish and a ray. After snorkeling we take a walk around the island. The island is called "Kuanidup Grande", but within 5 minutes we're back because it's no bigger than half a soccer field.
18.00 O'clock. We take a refreshing shower and watch a beautiful sunset. Then the bell rings that dinner is ready and we have a nice evening with the other guests.
22.00 O'clock. Tired from the whole day full of activity, we go to bed in our simple cabin on the beach. The bed is terrible, but with the sound of the sea and of the wind rushing through the palmtrees we quickly fall asleep and dream about what we will do the next day.

Does this sound like a bounty island story? Well, that's exactly what we did for 3 days :-)) We stayed on a beautiful Snickers island (Jeroen thinks Snickers is even better than Bounty) in the Caribbean Sea. Besides hammocking, swimming and snorkeling, we also visited a village of the Kuna people. They are the indigenous people that own the islands and surrounding area and they still live according to their original cultural beliefs. They live in very simple huts without western influences, and dress in beautiful coloured and very typical clothes, especially the women. Right at the moment when we visited the village, a presidential candidate came to visit the village as well to try to win their votes. The owner of our island told us the people don't give a damn about politics, but they all came from surrounding islands and gathered on the main square because it was a nice break from their normal daily routine.

The start of our time in Panama was a bit less idylic than the story above. We paid for an entry visa at the airport which later turned out not to have been necessary, then we paid a ridiculous high fixed price for a taxi to the city. Half the time the taxi drivers within the city don't know the address where you want to go, even though they are tourist addresses from our guidebook. And that is if they take you, because also half of the taxi's don't even want to take you if the address is too close by, too far away, if the traffic is too busy or for any other unknown reason.
Panama City is big and modern with a lot of very high apartment buildings. There is also an old part, where the original city was once built. The buildings are half ruins and restoration is going on, but actually the old cobblestone streets and ruined colonial buildings give the best atmosphere.

We visited the Panama Canal, where huge container ships carefully sail through the narrow locks (=sluizen) to the open ocean. They pay roughly between US$70.000 and 80.000 to pass through the canal and most ships are designed to exactly fit in the locks.

After our island trip we went to the town of El Valle de Anton. There we went horse riding, smudged our faces in mud at the thermal pools and visited a nice waterfall. Where we are now you'll read in our next update.