We decided to leave today & head inland for a day & then back to the Caribbean. So, we're up early to catch the 7:30 am boat. Our morning was a little hectic due to money. We hadn't paid the dive shop yet because we didn't have enough Pesos to pay them, only dollars. So, we asked Ariel to change a couple hundred dollars for us to get us to Medellin & pay our debts. It took him up until the very last minute to come up with the pesos for us. So, it was a bit stressful at our departure time but Ariel gave us a fruit smoothie so we wouldn't leave town hungry. So kind. When the boat was loading up Geoff was running to pay the dive shop, we're paying Ariel, we're watching ... read more

All I can say is Wow! It was roasty toasty last night. I woke up so many times drenched in sweat. It's super muggy & there isn't the slightest breeze blowing into our room & the electricity goes on & off & when it's off, Wow! The fan doesn't work & the temperature in the room is probably 105. Seriously. Ugh. It was honestly one of the hottest nights of sleep yet & it's not really even too hot outside. Oh well! Free sauna. This morning we had a delicious breakfast here at our Hosepdaje. The owner is Ariel & he is super chatty & very sweet. His daughter, Maria Jose, is ridiculously adorable & sat with us at breakfast talking & talking. She's almost 3 & full of energy. A little firecracker for sure. Ariel ... read more

I woke up to the alarm going off, which it had been doing for several minutes. The next thing I heard is the cab driver telling the night guy my name. Crap. We went out & talked with taxi dude & he was totally ok with it all & said he'd come back later to get us. Whew. We went right back to sleep for another hour. Too early. We got up, got packed, & headed out to the airport. We're flying into a little town in the Kuna Yala called Mulatupo. We have no idea what we will find there but we will see. It's pretty well off the typical tourist path so it's kind of an adventure. At the airport we waited for over an hour for the flight. Delayed. One thing I do ... read more

Today I drank my usual numerous cups of coffee until Geoff woke up. Then we made some egg sandwiches & headed out to mail our last box home. Today was a very long day solely devoted to mailing that stupid box. Before we left we had to pack up all our stuff & move to the dorms for the night. Our room was reserved & we didn't mention that we were staying until this morning so we're S.O.L. & in the dorms tonight. Oh well! Hopefully tomorrow night they'll have a room for us. I booked our tickets to San Blas this morning. All on the phone. It always makes me a bit nervous conducting business all in Spanish on the phone. But I did it (the woman helping me did have to repeat things a ... read more

Travel day. Woohoo (said with very little enthusiasm). I guess I shouldn't complain. There aren't very many of these days left for us. We'll be home before we know it. The countdown is on, 22 days to go. Yikes. We packed up & made a quick breakfast sandwich to start us off right. We caught our first bus in Santa Catalina at 7:15 am. My favorite passenger today was the guy who got on the bus with a chainsaw & gas. They just set the chainsaw down in the aisle & we smelled the gas until he got off the bus. Gotta love it. We arrived in Sona at 9:30 & were placed on a direct bus to Panama City. Perfect! We thought we'd have to go through Santiago. We had about 1.5 hours to wait ... read more