With a population of like 50, we cannot understand how a tiny village on a tiny island can produce so much noise! We cannot even say that it was from sun up to sun down, because it even continued during the night! The darkness brought on the symphony of howling from the nappy street driven dogs and the loud beats of the abandoned bar on the end of the island. As the sun came up so did the hourly screams of the baby living next to us and the 10 foot speaker that pounded reggae beats all day decorated with a group of locals sitting around it drinking alcohol. Everyday. It never failed. We could not understand how these troopers could sit in front of this speaker all day because as we walked passed it we had to pause our conversation and continue as soon as we were like 30 feet away from it. For those of you thinking in meters, figure out the measurements yourself, haha.
A little background info on the great island. United Fruit Company (Dole. the company that we get all of our tropical fruits from) employed 90% of the population on this island. I do not know when exactly but UFC decided that they expoited enough so they ran out leaving 90% of the population unemployed. So, you can imagine all the great things to do on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere for the 90% of the population that is not working.
Back another time with the rest....
Ok, so where was I... anyway, to make a long story short the economic situation is not great there. But what is great there are the beaches. Our beach days were nothing short of an adventure. A walk down the only walkway on the island and a 20 minute jungle hike brought us to one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Sprawling sand sat between a beautiful backdrop of thick junlge and large creashing waves coming forcefully from the Carribean. Because of its difficult access, we always enjoyed it with just a handful of other beach goers, mostly surfers. The Sand Flies were at attack and ate my legs alive and even now after 2 weeks I still have the nasty little red bumps and the intnense scratching that never seems to stop. Worth the beach though.
We also found the most beautiful home on 5 hectares of land and the lovely Scottish woman who lived there with her son and husband. She produces her own line of natural body products and is the core reason for my new obsession with coconut oil. Coconut oil in my hair, coconut oil in my food, coconut oil on my skin... I have learned the miraculous healing properties of coconut and I am never looking back on anything else. Well, she has a website, www.upinthehill.com and though you cannot purchase anything now, she is planning to get an ordering program going and when she does, I highly recommend you buy everything she sells.
So our lazy days in Bastimentos came to an end yesterday and we decided to ease our traveling a bit and fly to Panama City rather than take a bus for like 2 days. It was nice being on a plane again. It makes you appreciate all the long and painful hours you endured on bumpy bus trips.
So here we are in Panama City and are absolutely loving the fusion of modern skyscrapers with old rustic colonial buildings.
For those few who understand... there is a Zara here in Panama City. Yes, I know.. exciting.
