Chapter 23: Bocas del Toro

So after a 10h night bus and a quick boat we landed in Isla Colon, in a district of Panama called Bocas del Toro (Bull's mouth). It was as we heard it, another Caribbean paradise:

Looking for a safe place to set our tent, we were blessed to be directed to Elisabet's house. She is a middle-age local woman, the Caribbean "mama", as sweet as my mum's apple pies! Everyone knows her in the village for her kindness apparently... She warmly offered us to put the tent in her garden, saving us from having to set and unset it everyday.

2nd day we rented bikes and rid to playa Bluff, where the waves were ridiculously huge! No need to precise Tom spent less than a minute into the water haha! But it was actually impossible to swim, the waves were able to kill you, not joking! Afterwards we discovered that it was indeed not really a beach for swimming, but very famous for surfers, and that there is what they call the killer waves that can swallow you in the ocean in less than 5min!!! And it's quasi every day of the year... Look:

After a couple of days Tom had to find strategies to make oney because Bocas del Toro is a district very expensive of Panama, probably more expensive than Europe in general. So he went into restaurants and good luck, a place called Lemongrass offered him 3 gigs a week! Plus every monday at Aqualounge to lead the open mic, plus a gig at Bocart, fancy restaurant... Well, that wasn't so hard in the end =) And as an extra bonus, we got to eat lobster and other fancy specialities for free in most of these places! Mmmmm lobster....

Afetr a week, Elisabet asked us to move, and magically the same night at Aqualounge we met Chuck, martial art teacher  retired from the US, who offered us a private room unused in his flat... We were again so lucky that it was hardly believable! The flat was in Casa del Sapo on Isla Carenero, just a few yards from Isla Colon. So $1 of taxi boat and we arrived in what would be revealed to us as Casa del Muerto since a girl was assassinated in the same room we were staying in, a year ago. It even reached the UK newspaper, maybe you heard of the story? But no panick, everything was perfectly fine in that house, apart from Chuck's more than ridiculous music hahaha

And so went life for a month, Tom playing almost every night, learning martial arts from Chuck, eating coconut from the tree outside every morning, swimming in the Caribbean every day in the beach some 10m away from the house... What else???
We met lots of lovely people, including Lady Gaga's double and her friend Laureen, both from Arizona. They both became super quickly part of my Bridget team (only Bridgets can understand) and I was so blessed to have them around when Tom was too busy with music. Love you Bridgets =D

One day Brom, the Dutch manager of Lemongrass, who has always been so good to us, offered us a lift in his private boat to Isla Bastimentos so we could enjoy the famous Red Frog Beach, where he's building a new restaurant. We even got to see one of the red frogs:

One night on my way back from Aqualounge to the house, happened a scary/funny thing: a young local tried to rob me by snatching my tobacco purse attached to my dress, ripping the dress, and ran away. But before he was to far I had shouted several time that there was no money in the purse (I had actually no penny with me, what I didn't say is that Chuck's keys were in the purse, to my horror). And to my surprise the thief stopped and walked back in my direction. Reaching him, I ask for my purse but the only thing he was interested in was money, obviously, so I told him about the keys in my purse and show him the house 10m away and swear I'll give him money if he follows me to the house... And pffffff, he believed me haha! So we walk to the house, I make him wait outside (what was he thinking then, no clue! I could have come back with a knife or a gun...), and discretely wake up Chuck, telling him the situation. Here I saw stars lightning in Chuck's eyes, totally exited to have an opportunity to use his martial art skills... I can't describe the face of my thief when he saw massive Chuck coming outside the house instead of some money hahaha... In the end he was too fast to be caught, but we had a great laugh with Chuck at least!

Well enough for today my friends, more adventures to come very soon! Oh and by the way, Tom finally bought his return ticket, he'll fly on the 24th of November from Cancun to Madrid! So now time is limited for us, it's getting more exciting =D

Chapter 22: Paradise of the Caribbeans

From Medellin we took a $25 bus north to Turbo, which we heard was a quite unpleasant place, so we headed directly to the port and jumped in 3h speed boat (another $25) to Capurgana, just before the Panamean border. And there, OH MY GOD!!! This is the most beautiful place we both had ever seen in our life, check this out:

It used to be a holiday destination for former cartels of Escobar. Now it's totally abandoned and only local people live there, and let me  tell you that you can feel the Caribbean spirit! Spanish with strong African accent, finally some good reggae (Tom was in paradise; a couple of days before he still didn't realised we were going to the Caribbean! Aahhh Tom's sense of Geography! He thought that Jamaica was next to Thailand!! Now he knew we were so close he was ready to do anything to go there! (But unfortunately and because of some fucking tensions between country and a strong protectionism policy, it's impossible to fly from Central America to there, you have to go first through the US!)

But back to our clown fish... First afternoon we met the lovely French Christine, who offered us to stay for free in the hostel she was renovating, the "Luna Verde". We stayed there a couple of days, eating "frutapan"at every meal (kind of yuka/pumpkin but growing in the trees), leaning a very approximate Portugesh from her Brasilian boyfriend, shaking every night in our beds to the sound of the thunder (it's rainy season here and it's quite impressive!) and of course enjoying as often as possible the sea as warm as the baths I take in December in France!

I don't have so much photos coz my brand new camera is shit and already broken, but here is a recording of a 5in walk in Capurgana a Saturday night. Close your eyes, and enjoy =)

(mmm doesn't work for now, will try again later, sorry)

2nd day we walked half an hour through the jungly mountain to go to natural swimming pools... It sound a bit boring said like that, but it was actually so exiting! The ocean crashing into the pools felt like a wave machine on full power! As fun as an amusement centre!

The following day we did a similar walk to get to Sapzurro-La Miel. They are beaches, the first before and the other just after the border of Panama (you need your passport to get there! They actually check it, but don't stamp it, because you can't go further in Panama, boats only go back to Sapzurro or Capurgana). In the end we didn't get to La Miel: we got to Sapzurro and it was a bit late... And also when you are there, do you really wanna leave for anywhere else?

On the way we came across a couple that we had met the day before on our walk. The girl was from Germany, and the guy, from England, was the perfect doppelganger of our beloved friend Robin Brown. (The week before we had Ali's one in Salento hehe.) They were very cool and gave us the amazing opportunity to use their snorkel the time they went for food. I didn't realise how great the opportunity was until we were actually in the clear-blue water... It was beautiful, one of the best experience in my life! Here is the kind of stuff we could see: (sorry it's only photos from the internet, camera broken :( ...)

Following day we came back to Sapzurro by boat with all our stuffs, where another boat would leave early the next morning to Puerto Obaldia first, do to customs stuffs (actually the first time they ask e to epty all my bags entirely!), and then directly to Carti, where the first road to Panama starts.
This was (and I've heard so many travellers telling me the same before) absolutely the most beautiful part of our trip. It was a (f***ing $120) 9h speed boat (in French we would say "tappe-cul", literally arse-tapper^^), crossing the San Blas Islands... Never heard of the San Blas Islands? Let me help you:

6h of exhilarting view, under the very hot sun but also totally soaked by the very warm water as a mild salvation. We landed too late for any car to drive us to the city, so we all spent the night at the indigenous of Carti, the last island of San Blas, just before the road starts.

Here is a beautiful photo (from the internet, sorry again) just to show you the traditional Panamean art. Women spend hours threading beads together and have them sew around the lower part of their legs, like this: ...beautiful, isn't it?

The following day a car picked us to drive us to Panama City, going through customs a 2nd time (emptying all bags included); and there we called Pedro, a contact that was given to Tom by Manon, that he met in Medellin... Pedro ended up being a super cool dude, welcoming us like stars, bringing Tom to party at weekend, sharing art with me... And surprise! Manon actually showed up the same night haha... What a coincidence!

We're now about to leave him to take a bus to a touristic place called Bocas de Toro, which we heard is wonderful... Tell you more in the next chapter =) Until then, peace, love and laughter dear friends x x x

PS: We're crossing Panama Canal tonight, so exiting!!!!

Chapter 21: Welcome to Columbia!

Oh Columbia, sweet Columbia,
With your tasty patacones and arepas (banana beignets and cornflour tortillas)
Your big bum chicks and wonderful fella's
We love you Coluuuumbiaaaaa!

We took a 20h bus direct to Cali, the birthplace of our beloved friend Pablo living in Scotland now (and also Salsa dance, but that’s nothing compared to our wicked friend).
We loved the city, probably because we just entered Colombia and met its friendly population. It is not a myth, people in Colombia ARE different, they ARE friendlier than any other country we visited until now, they ARE closer to you (the girls also DO have way more beautiful bums, says Tom).

Playing some music in San Antonio a Sunday afternoon I was never alone; altogether maybe 10-15 random people came and sat down with me for a chat, boy or girl… and NEVER had the feeling of being insecure, which happens a lot to me when it’s guys getting too close.It’s funny how in Europe you always hear “Watch out Colombia, it’s the most dangerous country blablabla”; but in fact, after being robbed in every country we visited, Colombia seems way friendlier!

After Cali we headed to Salento, a tiny village in the subtropical area, to meet my friend from the US that I met in Edinburgh, Mike. . The place was paradise, with plenty of peaceful walks to do around. Andres, the manager of our beautiful hostel, gave us his warmest welcome, together with Mike, who was so exited to show us everything that had to be enjoyed in the area.

Salento's main square

2^nd day we did Cocora walk, with its cascades and butterflies.  The walk goes all the way up to the top of a mountain and back to the bottom, and you need to get e jeep to commit with the village. So we took the jeep and started to walk, and after maybe 30min we thought: “Wow, this place is so wonderful! Let’s have a break.” When refreshed we walked again for another 30minand got to a cascade: “So cool, let’s have another break!”. But after that, we had to take a decision: we had not enough time left to go to the top, in which case there would be no jeeps left to bring us back to the village, but too much time left to just go back… So I offered Tom to get back THROUGH the river, meaning properly into it! I already experienced canyoning in France, I know it’s a bit dangerous, but the river seemed totally appropriate to it, and I was sure we would have great fun… But such a work to convince Tom that it was safe and that we wouldn’t die hahaha Because I saw that there was no way to reassure him I just jumped both feet in the river and started the adventure, followed soon by a very clumsy Tom =)

In the end, apart from my flask that I lost in the river, we had a magical time, very close to the nature, with the sweet feeling of very cold water in our feet (water which took 3 days to dry, everything has a price hehe).

And the following day (Saturday), surprise! It was National Day! 20th of July, celebrating the Columbian declaration of independance. All Salento was vibrating of good energy, Salsa and Cumbia running their usual battle for which is gonna be danced the most, the only shopping street of the village filled with street artists and handcraft workers... The whole hostel was gathered for some drinks and after awhile the group headed up to the "main square", where we carried on drinking and jamming in the warm atmosphere of this magical night for Columbia.

On the Sunday happened to be the reggae/hip-hop day of a festival in the closest town, Pereira. We headed there with Mike and 3 other girls, struggled a bit to get in (they were asking for passport and many common things were forbidden in the festival, like usual alcohol, arms and drugs, but also cables as telephone cable, lighters, and even cigarettes!). We ended up seeing only the 3 last groups, which was still very good: one was "the Alcolirykoz" (link) de Medellin, kinda Columbian Cypress Hill... They were amazing on stage! They made up jump jump jump!!! And finally followed by, total surprise, Lutan Fyah! He was playing with a  bunch of local musicians, and it was very good... but after the full power of the Alcolirykoz I have to say something was missing.

After the festival we headed to some clubs in town, where we met the beautiful Paula, with who we spend the rest of the night drinking in town. She offered us to come and visit her in Manizales, where she lives, the next day, which fitted perfectly our plan to go to the hot baths there. We walked to the bus station early in the morning, still drunk, Mike and the girls were heading back to Salento, and while waiting for our buses, something scarry happened: the driver of an empty bus took the turn in the station, and we heard the very loud noise of the breaks of the bus breaking down, and then the bus was projected away of the asphalt to crash on side on the trees! Mike acted like a hero and ran to help, followed by Tom. We girls stayed away, a bit scared. In the end, the driver had been thrown out by the window and was injured, but not to death. Strong Mike came back all white and feverish. Life's hard sometimes...

In Manizales we went like planned to the hot baths... which were closed! Well, saying closed meaning only that there was absolutely no one there... not that the place was actually close hehe... So we sneaked in the expensive place to enjoy an hour of hot swimming pools in the open air of the mountains! What a treat!

At night we met Paula at her place, along with her 3 flatmates, Johana, David and (oups, I forgot). The next day I went with Johana to a beautiful park of Manizales, and offered her to come back with me to Salento for a couple of day, while Tom would go directly to Medellin to make some money in preparation for the cross to Panama. She was a great companion and together we enjoyed one more time the peacefulness of Salento.

      


I left a week to Tom to get rich and met him in Medellin. While he was being a star in the city, I went for a free city tour and leaned a lot about the city of Pablo Escobar: 10 years ago it was the most dangerous city in the world, it was even safer to go to Tel Aviv where the war was open! But you probably know these stuffs, we ear them everywhere, still now, which is where the problem is, because in realiy Medellin is now the most innovative city in the world, with its recent and beautiful metro, its 9 new library to induce better education, etc... A nice fact for example, was to see the old square for junkies and prostitutes, formerly called the Square of Fear, was now rebuilt in a enlightened square, called Square of Hope, hosting the new Secretary for Education. A nice way to turn bad vibes into good energy for a better world! So conclusion, Medellin is safe AND beautiful!

Chapter 20: The Ecuadorian Dream

We indeed left on the Saturday. We discovered that our postponed departure was due to the fact that another boat for the same destination arrived on the Monday, so the 2 boats would travel together. Both boats were sooo ugly, totally packed. Steven, a 40-years-old English guy who looks 10 years less and who became soon our good friend arrived 2h before departure and struggled a lot to find a spot for his hammock; and I was sleeping under Tom’s and next person’s hammocks. The food consisted simply in porridge in the morning, rice and chicken for lunch… and porridge again at night. Didn’t help improving my health.

The same than for the prospect of the departure time, the arrival time was submitted to Peruvian notions: they forecasted 4 days, then 5, and on the 6^th day we were meant to arrive every hour… 6 days floating up the river Napo, enjoying every breaks on the shores under the sun (until once in Ecuador where we discovered that an oil factory had burst further up the river! Bad stuffs happen!).

We finally arrived in Pantoja, where the only hostel was full of travellers waiting for our boat to arrive and go back to Iquitos… sooo we slept one more night on the boat, for a change! The following day we took another 2h boat to Rocafuerte, just after the border of Ecuador. It was a very small place with a customs office, 2 hotels and a shop only. So we went to the customs, bought food at the shop, and slept in one of the hostel, what else to say? We chilled there a couple of days with Steven, and then another 9h boat to Coca, the edge of the Ecuadorian jungle. We did it! And still alive (almost)! Coca is a town led by oil industry, there was not much to see. The only appealing thing was the free zoo some 30 min outside the city, so we tried. But unfortunately, the zoo, meant to be open every day even bank holidays, was shut because of a “very important football game against Peru”. They have a weird notion of holidays there Ecuadorians hehe.

The following day we took a night bus for Quito, the capital ($10 for 12h of bus, so cheap here! Probably because Ecuador uses the US Dollar so the petrol probably costs less…). We were first hosted by Paul, a cool couchsurfer who lives on a side of Quito in a very luxurious flat with terrasse and beautiful view on the city, 2 bathrooms, 2 flat screens and a private room for us. He was working everyday so we just had the whole flat for us the entire day!  Tom started to work a bit and came back the first day of work with a huge smile and almost $50 in the pocket!

After 3 nights at Paul’s we moved to the New Bask, THE hostel for travellers, where we met Franco and Niko, 2 musicos we hosted in Cusco; as well as Jose, that we also hosted in Cusco and went to Coroico with me; Ariana, that I met on the way back to Cusco; my Spanish friend called Jose as well, that I met in Scotland; and also 2 French girls and Agustin, alias Dr Angus, some fellows we met in Arco Iris in Iquitos. You will believe me when I say we directly felt home, with our brothers and sisters around =)

After that, we were more than blessed to find Ecuador Connection on Couchsurfing, an ancient social place that is not anymore but still welcome every year some German people getting involved in associations and foundations. So a big thanks to Gazina and Kathrien, who let us stay at their place almost 3 weeks!

Gazina and Katrien learning pois

View on Cotopaxi vulcan, from their terrasse

This period of time was focused on “how to help Tom to make money”. Every day he would go to play in the street with his brand new amp., he burnt CDs with 10 of his songs, I designed business cards for him, etc etc… I was also missing psytrance so he suggested organizing a party. ON. We found a bar the next day (we found it randomly; it was just full of UV lights so perfect pace for a psy night.) Spend the week doing decorations with almost nothing – painting a huge board used in the flat as table tennis table, the same with unused wooden shelves… well, I let you see on the photos.

The party was … well, for us, great! The decorations filled the space and music was good enough, you know Tom. I think where we failed was to organise the party to quick: even though we had very good key contacts for advertising the party, the message didn’t get to enough people and in the end only 10-15 people showed up… (Reminds me a tiny party we organized in the Galloway last summer! Conclusion: it is possible to organize a party in a very short time, but it takes more time to advertise it.)

The good think is that one girl who came to the party, Carolina, invited us to play the next day at a festival organized by her German friend Wind (yeah that’s his name!). So she picked us on the Friday and we headed together to one of the mountain surrounding Quito, at the very top where Wind’s parents own a tiny chalet. The festival was in fact just a small outside party with something like 50 people max., but the spot was sooo nice that we still felt blessed to be there (even after my computer, which was locked in the chalet, got robbed while we went for a 20 min walk… Again, bad things happen.). But now I’m writing to you from the new 2^nd hand computer we bought together the next week in Quito =)

View from the "festival"

Another week for Tom to make money and we decided to take some holidays at the beach of Pedernales. What a paradise! The blue-green and warmth of the Pacific Ocean, the calm and sun of the beach… A perfect place to relax!

 Walking the whole afternoon on the beach covered with beautiful stones, we end up on a tiny beach with almost no one, Tom playing the guitar all afternoon while I would be like a fish in the ocean… until a bunch of young guys of the village join us, all exited, because they came to buy weed from the guy living there… Yeah, we did end up next to the big field of marijuana of the area! So we went back to Pedernales with a group of friend and the pockets full of weed =) (weed that Tom later threw away freaking out during the standard police bus weapon search hahaha)

We enjoyed the beach for a couple of days more before coming back to Quito totally relaxed, ready and well exited to head for Colombia!