Weekend in Bocas del Toro

60 min plane from Panama city lands me on Bocas del Toro island - the largest in the archipelago. The modest hotels, restaurants, and local houses are built on or in the water.On Friday morning, I showed up at the hostel (Mondo Taitu) and joined up with 3 British girls going snorkeling for the day. We visited Dolphin Bay (and saw lots of Dolphins, including a mini-Dolphin), and a pristine island called Zapatilla (below) where a lone park ranger meets your boat as you come up onto the beach and charges everyone $10...but it is a pretty amazing beach.
...with limited infrastructure development...
This is also the beach where I got a diamond shape sunburn - the diamond being the area of my back that I couldn't easily reach.
This little guy is a pet of the hostel Mondo Taitu - he mostly runs around and hangs out by his little pile of bird-feed.
Ahhh....Bastimentos. I came to this smaller island to find a quiet hammock by the water to read in. This is Pension Tio Tom and is run by a German couple who warm up to you after a day.
Here is my little room that sits right on the water. Clean and simple. I escaped the weekend with only a few bug bites, which is pretty good I think.
This is the view as you walk up and away from the main-town, past the island cemetary towards the beach on the other side of the island.
The beaches here were very quiet and the only non-natural sounds I heard for two days were the occasional motorboat and reggae floating from a few bungalows on the water.
I took a nap here.
smile...
This is the main "road" through the village.
Here is me before I left to go kayaking (20 minutes before it started to rain heavily for 2 hours).
Luckily, I slipped under this dock during the worst of the downpour. The water here by the mangroves is the temperature of a hot bath.

Spring for Philly!

A tiny cafe near my house will sell Ethiopian food if somehow you are able to figure out that they sell it. I recommend eating it under striped shade.
Here is a work in progress... there has been more painting that cooking in the kitchen recently. Partly because the easel blocks the refrigerator.
This is just how I pictured by room when I ordered those cardboard boxes.
But wait! someone put pieces of shaped wood in my cardboard boxes...whatever could I do with a bunch of awkwardly shaped and stained wood?
thai-food / build-me-some-furniture party = bedframe!
The following is a warning sign for those with seasonal allergies.
There were hundreds of people in Rittenhouse square this weekend. Highlights:
* A young man intensely painting a canvas in the grass with the Utrecht bag from his recent purchase resting beside him.
* Three young men walk toward the center of the square with a boom-box to meet up with friends and give break-dancing performances for the next 3 hours to enthusiastic weekend-strollers.
* Lots of toddlers.

Massive victories on all fronts!

That's right friends, I now own both a full set of bedding and....a lamp. (Items are larger than in the image below - good thing too, since the only thing worse than no bedding is a bed that is only a few inches squared.)
Please note the attractive yellow tape outlines where future furniture will one day reside....yes, I am very satisfied with my progress, thank you.

Meanwhile I have been making friends and getting to know my new city. Recent activities include playing with dogs in Clark Park that I have learned to take the trolly to, going to a house party and another colorful venue in South Philly (picture below), going for 8 mi run and seeing tons of amazing neighborhoods, cute restaurants and hidden stores.

Last week of work (in Panama City) was fantastic. I feel great about how much I am learning and what I am producing for my team and the client. I was able to do yoga, go to the gym, go swimming outside in the morning, and eat at one of the top 100 restaurants in the world for free.

Stay tuned for next week when I might take action to fill in the yellow couch-outline and see a new friend's stand-up comedy show.

Cat at the Panama Canal

soon to be expanded to accommodate the big post-Panamax ships for 5.25Bil. We got to skip out of a little work after an off-site interview and visit the Canal. A 90 deg. wind was blowing stongly

Cats spend 4 days a week in Panama?

All in all, things are awesome - but some of the work days are uncomfortably long and I haven't been able to strike a perfect balanace yet between job-time and me-time when I am traveling. Work days Mon-Thur range from 18 hours to 12 hours, typically in descending order throughout the week, which would be less tolerable if the content weren't so fascinating. As always I am pulling out all my tricks to stay balanced and healthy including journal / doodling, snacks in out team-room, music, yoga in my hotel room, and trips to the gym.

On the home-front, my vision of a furnished apartment is developing in my head and although not physically apparent yet, is sure to be wonderful. I am making time to develop friendships in Boston and despite being gone almost 5/7ths of the week, I have been averaging 2-3 hang-outs with different people each week (all non-work people).

Here is a revolutionary war reenactor who I and my new friend Tom met while on a walk last weekend.

He showed us how to load the gun powder and how it would shoot. The rifle took about 7 attempts to 'fire' and I am afraid for the guys on the front lines, that this was close to the historical average for successful shots fired.

View of Panama City from the plane.This piece is pretty cool in person.