The Carribean, Universities and the Final Days

After leaving the land of Lakes and Volcanoes I spent two days travelling all the way down to the Carribean coast of Panama, passing through Costa Rica in one fell swoop. The long journey was well rewarded once I arrived in Bocas Del Toro, Panama.
We spent one cramped night in the over touristed over crowded town of Bocas, but left early the next morning for the tranquil, less visited island of Bastimientos. On this island there is one carribean village, and two smaller native villages. We stayed in the Carribean village, which consists of a single road, only wide enough for walking, biking and I imagine the occasional horse. Its about a kilometer long, slighty longer than half a mile, and has just a few little spurs running off further into the forest. Most of the rest of the island is forested. On one of the beaches we came across the remnants of an old television set, the remains of the latest installment of Survivor.

Much of our time here was spent in hammocks, on the beach or cooking fresh fish. There's a gorgous beach about half an hour from the town, aptly called 1st beach. If you were to continue down from there you could hike to several other beaches, crossing over the rocky headlands that seperate them. We spent our first afternoon hanging out there, swimming and a bit of snorkelling. This is where we found the Survivor remnants, a strange looking fort type structure. We met two young americans, around my age, who had recently bought some land on the island and were in the process of constructing a home. They also bought a horse which I got to ride up and down the beach for a while, which was fantastic. I also got a little sun poisoning which wasn't so fantastic.

Our second day, we found oursevles a boatman and caught a ride to the other side of the island to a beach called Polo Beach. Polo Beach is named after its owner, Polo, who is a man of inderminate origin who claims to have bought the beach over 40 years ago. He's been living there ever since, in a small house, on his own. He's a bit crazy. But, he gets plenty of visitors, who often bring him beer, which is what we did. Once he decides you're cool his beach is open, and its beautiful. Pristine, and exactly what you would picture when you think of the carribean. We all brought our snorkels and spent the day visiting friends with scales.


The next day I spent out of the sun, and in a hammock, reading Joyce's Dubliners.
That night the rains started and we knew it was time to go.

We woke up early, heading back to the bigger island and then finally back to the mainland, where we caught a taxi all the way to the border. I sat in the front of the cab, with the swiss couple sitting in back. So, I was delegated to talk to the taxi driver, who was actually half Costa Rican, which was his explanation for talking so much. We had a nice conversation, and I understood most of what he was saying until we got to politics. I asked him who the current president was, and that opened up the whole Noreiga story. And somewhere in there, I heard a story of a man who's head was cut off and never found, and another man slashed open by a large knife. This I don't have any pictures of.

From the border we caught a local Costa Rican bus, and headed to the carribean town of Puerto Viejo. They say its lovely, but we never saw much of it, since it never stopped raining (I heard it did finally stop about 2 hours after I left). But, we had a great pizza dinner there.

I headed back to San Jose, spent a night in a hostel there, and then made plans to visit the two universities. A Costa Rican girl I met travelling in Gautemala offered to show me around, so she picked me up and we headed first to the main university, nearest to the capital. My plan was to spend today walking around and getting a feel for the campus, and also finding the office I was supposed to visit the following day for my appointment with a professor. I was planning on visiting the second university the day after that. I walked around the campus, watched a bit of a soccer match, and then tried to find the office. We had a bit of trouble finding the office, mostly since the office was actually at the second university and so was the professor. So in the end, there was no reason to visit the first university, but it was cool to see it.
That night we went out to one of the only two jazz clubs in Costa Rica. The vibe inside was great and the musicians were good, mixing straight standards with latin grooves.
The following day I visited the proper university and had my appointment, on Tico time, about an hour late (the professor was "delayed"). The program sounded quite interesting, and balancing out the crumbling conditions of the university's campus, the field work throughout Costa Rica sounds wonderful and beautiful.

Having taken care of all my "responsobilities" I headed out to the beach for my last few days. I went to Manuel Antonio where my father's friend's family lives. I actually was able to stay in an empty neighbor's house, and use another friends car while I was there, so I was really living in luxury. I spent my days lounging on a secluded beach, and horseback riding, which I have to say was a lovely end for the trip.

I'm writing these final words here in Brooklyn, and I have to say, its not as cold as I feared. I guess Jesus really does love me.

Be well everyone,
I hope to see you all in person sometime soon,
Oren