Part 2 cont.

I have been waking up exhausted every day which is a good thing...

Yesterday, caught a cab outside Dylan's building. The apartment is amazing but cabbies don't like to go where I want to be taken because they work certain areas or they think I am rich because the neighborhood seems to be rolling in dough...which means they charge me more. Se la vie. Travelling around by myself is hard and learning to navigate the towns buses in under a week would be a giant headache.The cabbie yesterday turned out to be a tour guide as well..literally. He took me to the old city ruins and the canal and fed me fun facts along the way. He also proved helpful in taking lots of pictures with me in them. We went to eat a very yummy tipico lunch. I liked the fried yucca rolls so he took me to the supermarket to buy some more to make at the house. The company was nice and the day cost me $60...which isn't bad considering he drove me all over the city. The canal is pretty far removed.

Today, I woke up a bit late and had the cabbie I found haul ass to the ferry terminal which is also pretty far out of town. I made it with 15 minutes to spare. The "tranque" (traffic) was bad. Panamanians love the word tranque and love saying para alla but they say it pa-lla. It's really funny. My spanish has gotten much much better..more fluid... which makes me happy. Travelling seems to improve it..the accents are crazy so it makes you work harder too. So far, I have been asked if I am Colombian and Brazilian :)

Once out on the island I looked for the most removed comedor which is a strategy that failed me this time. Breakfast here is weird...hamburgers are on the breakfast menu!! I had fried bread and fried egg. Thank goodness I took an apple with me to the island. (I sound like my mother...eek) I wandered out the beach then decided to do a hike which lasted about 1.5 hours. It was nice and found some really cool stuff (see pictures). Layed out on the beach, ate an amazing lunch, listened to great great NPR, Planet Money, and Freakonomics podcasts and finally got back on the barge at 4:30.

Tomorrow is T-Day. Only plans are to watch football, get in the pool, and eat at Casco Viejo (the last place I haven't seen in the city).