PANAMA!

Since we were already so close, we decided to take a side trip to Panama. There is a town on the water that we heard was very beautiful, so we took a bus, a taxi and then a boat to Bocas del Toro. I guess it has just recently been discovered by tourists in the last 5-10 years, so though it is very touristy, it is not built up too much yet. We took a trip one day and went to a dolphin bay, went snorkeling in two spots, and went to a beautiful, secluded beach. As you can see, I had my hair braided before we came, so I look very Caribbean now. :D All of the kids laughed at me on the bus because I´m sure they´ve never seen a white girl look so silly.
The dolphin watching was awesome. When we were first roaming around in the boat, I was upset with the driver because he kept driving fast right past where the dolphins had been, so I thought he was scaring them off. However, we went over to another location and he did donuts in the water and the dolphins started swimming behind us and playing in our wake. There were 3 of them and they just swam and played and jumped behind us for quite a while. They loved it! It was really fun to watch them moving around so playfully with us.
The first place we went snorkeling was the most beautiful and colorful underwater world I could have ever imagined. Alex - this would be YOUR heaven! I so wish we had underwater cameras because I don´t think I can describe how incredible the sights were. I felt like I was in a cartoon watching underwater plants that were purple, blue, pink, orange, red, green and all shapes and sizes that you can imagine. The fish were very cool, but the underwater plantlife was even more amazing. This would be a snorkeler or scuba diver´s paradise. We went to another snorkeling location that was still pretty cool but not nearly as colorful as the first location. At the second place, the water was a little deeper and there were some huge schools of these little tiny fish. The bottom depth dropped off dramatically into a big black hole, but I stayed away from there. I didn´t want any sharks chasing after me. Every time I saw a bunch of fish swimming away quickly, so did I. :D
We also went to this awesome private island and beach that this guy owns and allows people to visit for a small charge. We arrived by boat and then walked through the island where you could find cute little red frogs (hence the name red frog beach), crocodiles in the water and tons of leaf cutter ant colonies. At the end of a trail was a beautiful beach. You can see new friends of ours here relaxing in a swing on the beach.