Daniel, Danielle Ava And Ash
Britney came bounding up the stairs at Walaba ; “we are going with you to Panama tomorrow, we booked seats on the same shuttle, hope you don’t mind”. “How could I mind having the company of a couple of luvly young ladies such as yourselves”? I said. Kayla and Britney, a couple of nineteen year olds from Alberta, Canada, were on a 2 week jaunt in Costa Rica and like me, had decided they should check out Boca Del Toro. The following morning we were on our way, an hour to the border, an hour to get through the border and a couple of hours on bus and boat, arriving in Bocas Town on Colon Island at midday. We were headed for Bastimentos Island and a $5 water taxi got us there in 15 minutes. The islands, dotted around the Caribbean Sea, were mostly mangroves with deserted beaches. The girls were excited, I was thinking it was all very nice but I could see it was the beginnings of a resort; I wouldn’t be around for long. The next day Kayla and Britney went on a tour to Survivor Island, where they filmed one of the TV series, I hung around the beach for the day thinking, there was no reason to go further it was all going to be similar to this, I had already decided to head back to Punta Uva the next day. The girls arrived back from their tour a bit disappointed, they didn’t see any dolphins and didn’t go snorkeling and might as well have stayed here. They had also decided to head back tomorrow, they had lots to do, lots to see and only a week and a half left to do it in, we were back in Walaba the following day. Spending the weekend in Panama with a couple of young girls, full of enthusiasm, energy, joy and wonder at all that they encountered, was refreshing, I wondered when it might have been, when I lost all that joy and excitement and realised I never really felt that way, or if I did, I locked it away, to long ago to remember.
After one night Kayla and Britney were off to La Fortuna for more adventures and I was settling back in at Walaba. There were new people settling in also, Sonny, from Flagstaff in Arizona and the two sisters from Venezuela, Isis was living in New York and had come to meet her sister Patricia who was living in Caracas Venezuela. Another great week in their company and it was getting time for me to head over to the Pacific side to visit Daniel and his family. Sonny was going back to Arizona, Isis and Patricia were off to Bocas, before splitting up and going to their respective cities and I was off to Flutterby house, a hostel in Uvita just south of Dominical. Sonny had stayed here and thought I might like it, which I did but I have to say, Walaba, on the Caribbean, was going to take some beating. I rang Daniel who was going to Panama to renew his visa (a three monthly exercise) and would pick me up on Monday; I had a week left in Costa Rica.
It was wonderful for me to catch up with Daniel and to meet his wife Danielle and the girls Ava and Ashley. They are really getting stuff together here, Danielle has been doing some marketing on the computer and making a reasonable quid, Daniel is in the early stages of building a business with a partner who I didn’t meet, he was busy surfing somewhere south. The FJ 60 Toyota Land Cruiser was and still is a fantastic vehicle; they are getting a bit old these days, with no sensors or computers, Daniel and his mate are buying them, getting them spruced up to looking new again and are going to hire them out to surfer’s, who are heading this way in their thousands, from around the world, a winner I am sure. They are living on a farm with fruit trees, vegies, herbs, goats, ducks and all kinds of Fauna and Flora. One of their friends has had a shocking 3 months, instead of going to Panama to renew his visa; he paid someone to stamp his passport, a normal thing to do in this part of the world. Only trouble is, this stamp was stolen and he found himself locked up in Panama and having to spend $50,000 and three months getting out and back to Costa Rica. He told me he was indebted to Daniel, who played a big part in getting him out. I met a few of their friends and went to a party in honour of John’s new freedom. The party house, looking down a valley, overlooking the Pacific Ocean in a dream setting has just been completed by a Canadian guy who has decided to live here.
Costa Rica is my new Bali and I shall return, after leaning some Spanish!
I am…. THE LONESOME TRAVELLER….travelling east….BE HAPPY!