My email box is full.. so I am moving over some stuff to gmail..
here's an email I will share.. I'll leave it in its original state.
(I don't take pictures - at least I'll have these emails to document my trip.)
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I am being bitten all over here at casa del Carmen on the computer so I have to move quickly out of here. (written on Motzei Shabbos)
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(continuation from previous email Panama week part 2)
- Monday
I was so busy snorkeling looking out for the corals and fish and concentrating on my breathing and totally forgot about putting sunblock on my back. I got terribly burned. It is still hurting now.
I was thinking of hitting the road and heading to my next destination but I was a bit tired after being on the boat all day and figured I will enjoy the boat ride more the next day. So I had another wonderful night on the dock. I kept on turning, I couldn’t find the right position - my sunburn was so painful... However the view was so beautiful. The lights reflecting in the ocean and the islands lit up.. Caught a few hours of sleep and woke to a beautiful sunrise. In the morning I took a boat to Chinguila- the boat ride was beautiful we passed some canals.. I then walked- hitchhiked- walked some more and then got a ride with a family with teenage kids traveling cross country. It was a lot of fun.
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The mosquitoes were just too much and just then C- who I had been waiting to speak to showed up so that's the end of my email for that time.
I haven't written anything until now. Here is the continuation almost two weeks later written from my office
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Tuesday
I got to Pentoneme?? (according to the map this was the turnoff for El Valle but it wasn't.) I just had to be there I guess.
So, my barbed wire cut from the previous week miraculously got healed and I was ready for a new cut. (just kidding, G-d please don't let anyone suffer any pain any more - not even the tiniest bit.) The day before at the Island I was trying to find a coconut to eat - there were so many but all the coconuts I picked along the beach had bugs inside. So I bought one - 25 cents. I went to the park sat down on the bench, made a small hole drank up all the coconut milk and then cracked it in 1/2 and ate it. Tuesday while riding all the way I didn't eat anything besides for an apple. When I got to pento??- city I was going to eat the other 1/2 of the coconut. I broke off a piece with my hand and it worked. I then tried breaking it with my hand and this time I missed - the coconut cut right through my palm. I now had this huge deep cut down my palm. I flushed it with a cup of ice cubes to clean it freeze the pain. I gave up on the coconut and went to sleep.
Wednesday-
In the morning I took the buss to El Valle- my favorite place this trip. It's another beautiful hill town , beautiful mountains, waterfalls and streams. My sunburn from Monday was still burning me- and I just so wanted to soak in a cool swimming hole under a waterfall. The waterfall was a lot further away than I expected and after that long hike to find it - Chorro Mosas - "woman's waterfall" I was just dying to get in the water. When I finally reached it - It was so REFRESHING! It felt so good! Another wonderful night sleeping under the beautiful stars lying on lush grass surrounded by stunning flowers!
Thursday-
In the morning I prayed the morning prayers. I then hid my backpack under the bushes and headed out for my days adventure. I stopped at the grocery and got myself a small potato chip bag and coke. (A habit I had picked up for the next few days. That was my comfort food) I then went out to look for the orichidea - orchid garden. It was closed. Suddenly it starts pouring rain - like I have never seen before- I hoped it would stop as soon as it appeared but it wasn't - I remembered my backpack under the bushes and knew I have to go get it. Everything will be sopping wet. The backpack is not waterproof- it's even torn in a couple of places. Running all the way back in the heavy rain was fun! B"H not much damage happened to my bag. Some clothes got a little wet but that was it. A while later the rain stopped. This time I left my backpack in the supermarket so it would stay dry. I then hiked to EL Macho - the man's waterfalls in a beautiful rainforest. It was already late afternoon - it was getting dark and it was sort of drizzling so no one was there- I had this beautiful rainforest- waterfalls all for myself. I loved the swimming hole and the waterfalls- it was amazing! It was almost dark- I had no flashlight and didn't want to end up sleeping in the rainforest w/o some warmer clothes so I had to hurry out- and then again - it started pouring!!!!!!!!!
I walked and walked and then a pickup truck passed but he had no room inside. So I got in the back- I was already TOTALLY Wet. I couldn't get more wet than I already was. But the rain kept on coming down even stronger- (maybe it felt so because we were driving as opposed to walking so more rain hits you per second. I don't know :)) I had a great time!! (It makes my list of favorite trip moments.) The pickup truck dropped me off at the supermarket. I was sopping wet and felt chilly. B"H I had a change of dry clothes.
EL Valle was a great place but somehow I just had this itch to move on. Besides the choice was really either that night or the next morning since I have to be in Panama city anyways for Shabbos. I tried to get a bus - but no bus in sight. The rain stopped so I started walking. I walked a few miles and I got out of the town. It was pitch dark NO lights at all. Not even some light from the moon - it was a day before the new moon. I was walking quite slowly by now - since I could see nothing - I was trying to tap around to feel where I am going..I walked more and then I heard a car coming so I tried to make sure he would notice me - he stopped and gave me a ride until the InterAmercian highway.
From there I took a 2 hour bus to Panama City. I dreamed of sleeping that night at the locks watching the ships moving across the canals so I tried catching a bus to Miraflores locks. My Spanish is nada non-existent a young African /Spanish kid helped me - his English was good- turns out he is from Brooklyn.. I caught the last bus but missed the cutoff time by 10 minutes. The locks at Miraflores locks get locked at 11:00 and they wouldn't let any visitors in. So I just slept nearby.(I couldn't watch the ships.) I took out my wet clothing from my backpack and spread them out to air-dry them.
I woke up the next morning and I was really excited it was Rosh Chodesh that day and Shabbos Rosh Chodesh was coming. It was 6:30 and the gates would be closed for visitors until 9:00. I found a nice spot to pray with dried raspberries smelling lovely all around. When I finished my morning prayers I asked the security guards what time it was. I was surprised to find out it was 10:45. The locks were open by now. - WOW- Panama Canal really is one of the wonders of the world.
I got back to Casa Del Carman and got ready for Shabbos. Shabbos has been wonderful with Beth El Community. A member of the congregation was making bar mitzvah his son so the synagogue was beautifully decorated with flowers and invited us to the Bar Mitzvah Shabbos Day. At night the Rabbi invited us all to his house. They loved my trip stories and all asked when will the book be available book..
Back to the traveler's hostel - I was so excited to see my Shabbos Candles still burning! I fell asleep in their light. It was nice. A guy from Germany named Christian saw my candles and prayer book - he is married but travels by himself the entire year and parties non stop... he came to panama to buy an island, his marriage is terrible and he married a jewish girl.. I felt really bad about this. Shabbos afternoon I thought I would have a chance to talk to him but he wasn't there. When I got back from Synagogue after Shabbos was over I was getting ready to leave but I first hoped I would have a chance to speak to him. (I didn't really know what to tell him - it was none of my business but maybe it is! We are all one! We are all responsible for each other. We are one body.- and if for some reason I meet him and I was thinking about his situation and it hurt me - I should tell him. It might not make a difference.. There are is so much confusion, lost identities intermarriages, unhappiness, pain, conflict, dreams not fulfilled, .. loss of direction... darkness,... but I should still say something even if it's to only one person. Who knows! We are here in this world To Do. G-d takes care of results! Thank G-d he didn't bite me. In fact he felt much better after talking about it. I hope and pray that he and his wife have light, clarity and blessings in their life.
After my conversation I was heading out but didn't really know where to. I went to the central bus station prayed for a good week full of blessings and light and then read my lonely planet. I decided to go to Portobello and from there to Miramor and take a boat ride to San Blas Islands. I took the 4 am bus to Colon. From there I waited an hour to take a bus to Portobello.
Portobello has nice forts, ruins.. also an international triathlon was going on that day. So I watched it. The 1st prize winner was from NY. As much as last week was bad with the sunburn burning me- this week was just as bad or even worse - the itch was unbearable. I just couldn't wait to be in the water. There were beaches all along but I was looking for cool fresh water very clean(for my sunburn blisters) swimming hole. Later that day I found a stream which ends up flowing into the ocean. A nice place. I went swimming there. Later I started walking heading towards Colon and the Gatun River. Someone said it was a nice place for swimming. I didn't walk a lot and then got a ride with 2 people who came to watch the triathlon and were now heading back to Panama City. I mentioned Gatun River and said that it wasn't safe swimming there. Crocodiles have eaten some kids. When they said that Gatun River was unsafe I had no other place calling me- (It's weird - somehow I just totally forgot about my plan - that I was going to go from Portobello to the San Blas Islands. ) so I continued to Panama City. I got avocados hoping it would relieve my itching and some veggies to eat. I then checked in at the voyager traveler hostel. They were so overcrowded and only had a bottom bunked available in an extremely stuffy noisy room with tons of travelers so I decided to find my own place to sleep. Found a real nice spot B"H outside.
My ticket was for Thursday I love traveling and this trip has been amazing but somehow - I can't explain it- I just wasn't interested in going anywhere here- seeing anything ... no place was calling me just the airport. I felt I must go home. I tried changing my ticket online but the server was down so I went to the airport. I hung around in the airport till the next day and flew back home. I have been so busy here in the office since then. There was so much work for me to do. This is the first time I have a few moments to write it up. -
THE END
(not really it never ends... we never know what one thing we did, said, heard, saw... leads to... may it all be for the best!)
All the best,
