Last Day in Paradise

Tomorrow morning we fly back to Panama City and get ready for Wednesday's flight back home, so today we are savoring our time here in the islands.

This morning Alfredo the gardener took us for a walk through the jungle. It was rainy and a little bit chilly, so we were all decked out in our raincoats and ponchos. Alfredo showed up with a HUGE machete. The jungle grows up so quick here that the trails can use a little haircut whenever he walks through. Alfredo led us down several trails and he was looking for wildlife to show us, so he stalked through the jungle - slow and quiet, swinging his machete every now and then. It was kind of funny and I imagined we were brave explorers in the jungles of Central America, going where no gringo had gone before in search of ancient treasure! It was raining too much for the monkeys to come out and play so other than a few birds and several wicked looking spiders we didn't see much. The trip through the jungle was really cool and something I have never done before, but I don't think I'd want to spend the night out there - way too much potential for creepy-crawlies! We made our way back to our villa where we dried off and settled in for a bit of relaxation.

(My aunt Karen mentioned that when she traveled in Costa Rica she had to get used to everything in her suitcase being just a little bit damp - we now understand exactly what she meant. "Dry" becomes a relative term, and so does "chilly"!)

This afternoon the sun came out and chased every cloud out of the sky. Dad and I pulled out our snorkels and masks and swam out to the coral reef that is just off shore. The visibility wasn't very good because of all the rain lately but we still saw some cool fish and had a great time. After snorkeling we decided we still wanted to keep playing so we hopped into the sea kayaks and paddled up the shore in the other direction from where we went before.

The coral reef actually sticks out of the water in a few places here and sometimes we had to be careful when paddling over because there wasn't much clearance. I think we could have puttered around out there all day except we realized that maybe we didn't put on quite enough sunscreen and we were both feeling a little crispy. No need to ruin a perfectly good vacation with a nasty sunburn so we paddled back to the dock and came inside for some ginger ale, limeade and maybe a little nap!

So here we are for the remainder of our last day in Bocas. It's been a grand adventure and we are both so thankful to have had this chance to go play and explore the world together. Many thanks to the Keepers of the Lighthouses in Montana: Michael, Mom and her sister Karen; and to everyone out there who has been reading and adventuring along with us. It's been a once-in-a-lifetime experience - truly.

Hopefully things have warmed up a bit in Montana - the last we heard it was something like 16 below zero... get real... we'll hop right back on our plane if that's the case! We may check in and add a few notes here and there, but I think for now we'll sign off and say "Hasta Luego!"

Jenn & Herm