Fish Are Friends, Not Food

Panama!!

Right around the time everyone in Madison was finishing up pre- Spring Break exams, we were on our way to Panama, specifically the Bocas Del Toro Islands, our "Spring Break" destination. I feel like my whole experience abroad has been just one huge Spring Break, simply for being in this tropical haven and studying here. The day we left Parismina for Panama was a good day to be stuck on a bus for seven hours-- it rained the majority of the time. Along the way, we stopped at a grocery store to stock up on some much needed snacks, and we stopped at a house to check out some huge rhinoceros beetles. 

Me at the border

Getting through customs at the border was a breeze, and like the tourist that I am, I had to take a picture. After customs, we drove another hour and had to take a 40 minute boat ride to the archipelago. The rainclouds from Costa Rica followed us to Panama, making our boat ride a little bit wetter much to our dismay. Our gloomy moods changed when we pulled up to the island. It was simply beautiful. Shallow, crystal clear blue water all around, wooden huts with grass roofs, coconut and palm trees... everything you see in magazines, and we were there for four nights. 

I knew that the islands would be my favorite part of the field trip, despite not having done much of anything yet. We stayed in little beachfront houses with a communal sand volleyball net in the middle. Since biting sand fleas and mosquitoes were dreadful once again, we had to sleep with bug nets, but it wasn't a big deal. We were on a gorgeous island. In Panama. Our houses even had a sign of probably the most atrocious Spanish-English translation I've ever seen, which was pretty funny.

The worst translation ever

With a new location came new flora and fauna. The next morning (and WHOLE morning), we learned about the new life here on a hike. It was incredibly hot. Everyone was drenched in their own sweat. On our hike, I was finally able to capture a pic of howler monkeys on our way into the forest. In the forest, we found a few different poison dart frogs, one of which I held. Looks like I can cross "touching a poisonous animal" off my nonexistent bucket list. The frog didn't have enough poison to harm me, provided I didn't touch my eyes after or do something else stupid like that. 


My friend Jeff and I snorkeled in the reefs offshore during our free time after lunch. Then we took a boat to another island to observe nesting boobies (yes, the bird), frigate birds and red-billed tropicbirds. It was a neat experience to see them flying really close to the boats looking for squid and shrimp in the ocean to feed their chicks.  

Brown boobies

Spotted eagle ray

View from the boat-up restaurant

Our second night on the island concluded with a lecture on marine ecosystems because our third day was spent snorkeling the entire day. As much as I love snorkeling, it sure does tire you out. We were on the water from 8am -5pm visiting five different reefs around the islands. We saw a bunch of sergeant majors, stoplight parrotfish, and Christmas tree worms that retracted back into their tube when touched. Probably the coolest things we saw were spotted eagle rays, and even a sleeping nurse shark! Lunch was pretty cool-- we pulled up to a seaside restaurant with a buffet. 

The last day of our Panamanian vacation, we had the option of going snorkeling again, or going to town on the other side of the island. The majority of the group went to town, but I snorkeled. Who knows when I'll be able to snorkel in the warm waters of the Tropics again. Rain set us back an hour, but we had nothin' but sun the rest of the snorkeling trip. 

When the snorkeling group got to town, we had time to eat, shop, and had another opportunity to use the internet. After our time here, we visited two bat caves. Now, I don't consider myself a claustrophobic, but I really didn't like walking through the caves. Neither did my friend Genevieve. Our hearts started to race, and I began to sweat as we ventured deeper into the caves. The walls quickly narrowed, and we had to duck, climb over, you name it, around stalagmites and stalactites. 

Entrance to one of the caves

Dodging stalactites and wading through poopy water

What is more, all of this was done in a thigh-deep (at least for me since I'm tall) mixture of bat poop and water. Sick. I just felt so dirty. One of the caves even had hundreds of bats carpeting the ceiling. My friends and teachers laughed at me because I used an umbrella and my diving gloves in the caves, but ultimately, I was the one without a poop-covered head. That's a win in my book. I respect the fact that the caves have religious significance to the locals, but I just don't get it. It took me about 45 minutes of swimming in the ocean and then a 20 minute cold shower before I finally felt clean again once we returned to our houses. 

Our professors

That night, we had a talent show! Since there wasn't a piano, I sat and watched. After some of my friends did their special talent, be it belly dancing, playing guitar, or singing, the staff acted out stupid or funny situations involving us since our time in Costa Rica. It basically turned into a roast. It was awesome. They even made a couple "Top 10" lists meant to make fun of us. I was quoted numerous times. Throughout the show, on of our teachers had minute-to-win-it challenges for us based off the TV show. To close the show, the last challenge was only for the five guys. Imagine our faces when we each were given a speedo. Yeah. We had to sport only a speedo in front of the 17 girls and our instructors and dump a cup full of ice into it for a minute. Never before have we felt so visually violated. We were all able to last the whole minute and were rewarded with beer for our valiant efforts. 

We knew the time would come when we would have to leave the wonderful island, and when that time came, we did not want to leave. After taking some last minute photos and saying goodbye to the locals, we were back in a boat to the mainland to catch our coach bus back to Costa Rica. Instead of going back to Monteverde, we stayed in San Jose for the night, at Hotel Balmoral, where it all began. Being a larger city in Costa Rica, it boasted numerous American restaurants, of which Branden and I took advantage of in an instant. I'm not saying the food in Costa Rica is bad (it's actually delicious!), but sometimes you just crave McDonald's, KFC, and Pizza Hut with all that greasy goodness, especially if you've gone weeks without them. Branden and I concluded the night after our American food pig-out by sipping on some drinks in the casinos.

Some more awesome pics from our time in Panama