Tierra Verde

So I´m sure you are all hanging on the edge of your seats to find out how Panama has treated us since the last day I posted. It has been amazing. Paradise. We are at a little ¨hotel¨ right on the beach called Tierra Verde. I dont remember if i said already, but a couple of friends of Cassidy´s uncle, Cookie and Ivan, are the owners. It is not on the main island of Bocas, but rather an island with only a few resorts, houses, and restaurants lining the beach on one side of the island. It reminds me a bit of Venice in that the traffic between islands and such is in the water. There are water taxis everywhere to take you between the islands for just a dollar or two. So all the resorts and restaurants along the coast of the islands have docks so you can be dropped off right there by a taxi. Oh and the water is so clear, it really is what you imagine when you think of like tropical paradise.
So our first day we hung out a bit for the morning, then took a taxi ride to the main island, Colon. This is like the center of town where there are shops and markets and such. So, we grabbed a bite to eat at a sandwich/coffee shop. And I tell you I didnt think it was possible to beat tico time, but Panama is on its own schedule. I dont remember if i mentioned, but tico time is what they call the lack of strict time schedule of the costa ricans. They are laid back, 5 o clock means any where between 5 and 5:15. Nothing is on time. Well in Panama they take it to the next level. We waited in the sandwich shop for like 10 or 15 minutes before we were even greeted. When we eat, we wait for like 30 to 45 minutes for our food. The first night, we had an appetizer take 30 minutes and it was just bread with tomatoes and cheese. Crazy. However, back to the point. After lunch, we looked at some shops, got a few things at the market, and headed back to our little island. The rest of the day we pretty much just hung out on the dock and swam in the water, then had some dinner and then hit the sack. The main restaurant on this island is BiBis on the beach. It is really good food, with sandwiches and pastas, but their main thing is seafood. And, if you spend $10 on a meal, then you get an hours free use of a paddleboat or kayaks. So we planned to take full advantage of that.
Yesterday we hung out a little bit in the morning again, had their free fruit and toast for breakfast with some coffee. Then at about 10 we headed over to BiBis to use up our free paddleboat ride. It was pretty hilarious because it was SO SLOW but eventually we got going. We paddled along the edge of the island, half hour in we stopped and I had a swim in the perfect water, and then paddled back. We had lunch at Bibis, then rented snorkel gear for $4 for the day, took a taxi boat to a cove we heard was good on a neighboring island and snorkeled there for about 2 hours. It was really great snorkeling. There were a variety of cool fish and I even saw a small jellyfish which was neat. Then we headed to Bastimentos, another neighboring island where we had seen advertisements for a place called ¨Up the Hill¨. When you get to the island, you take a path that goes up the hill for about 15 minutes and get to a small hut. All of their shop items were set up and sitting out for sale, but no one was in the shop. So we were trying to call out for someone and walking around the shop for like 15 minutes before Cass went further towards their house and got their attention. Apparently this place was an organic chocolate farm, among a few other things. But they prided theirselves on their 100% organic chocolate items, so we each at a brownie and chocolate milk. It was crazy how trusting this people were. Besides leaving their shop unattended initially, they said they were going to go back and chill and they would leave change on the counter in case we wanted to buy anything. Not only could someone steal something in their shop, but the money too. So, it was neat to see people so laid back and trusting. After that little adventure we took a taxi boat back to Tierra Verde where we had plans to watch the Holiday which was on TV. The rest of our night consisted of popcorn, the holiday, then a quick dinner run to Bibis (which of course is never actually quick).
Today, the plan is to go into the main island town, change some colones to dollars, then grab some lunch and catch a bus to starfish beach, where there are supposedly tons of starfish. Then we plan on kayaking at around sunset. So im trying to upload some pics to facebook, hasnt been so successful so far but you can check, its a pretty sweet place.