Panama's disaster

Friday was my last day before my big trip to Panama. I consider three day a big trip, as the nursery will be out of my hands, and the last time this happened, we had a disaster (which hopefully had no real consequences, but I'm still expecting sneezing and scratching in the rest of the babies). The planning of the trip was rather simple, I let the hotel know that I needed a shuttle, and they booked the cheapest shuttle for me. All I was told was to hop on a shuttle at 8:30. I didn't ask for more questions, and I had a feeling this was going to be like the bus in Turkey all over, where I will have to rely on the first person who tells me he is my bus driver.
As my day at the center approached an end, and I would have to deal with the hard questions (such as "where will we be staying in Bocas Del Toro?"), Encar has one more favor to ask me. A cameraman and his annoying assistant came to do some filming of sloths. They weren't gonna be longer than an hour, she had told me, but she wanted someone to be able to handle the animals. I was to be that person. I delayed my lunch to be able to feed the sloths leaves and place them where they wanted, facing the camera, eating leaves, eating flowers, on the ground, cuddling with each other, away from the blankets, etc, etc, etc... All the while, the annoying assistant was making absurd sound to sloths as if they were puppies. When it came to Stanley, my poor little blind Kinkajoo, I had to tell her to stop, because the sound she was making was scaring him. Can you imagine being blind and hearing snake-like sound? Yeah, Stanley had to endure it. After I asked her politely to stop, she understood for about three seconds, so I had to let Stanley go right back to his blanket so he could calm down and continue his nap (he is a nocturnal animal). She then moved on to the frogs, which are another nocturnal animal that have no desire to be awaken to be filmed. Yet, I took a deep breath and let them film on of our red eyed green frogs. They actually ended up getting a really cool shot of one jumping. The kicker of the whole shoot was when they asked me to get the two deer together and to lick each other. They had seen it happen but their camera was not ready. I sat there, trying to think of what superpower they thought I possessed, all the while looking at Xai and Xo. I am not sure they realized that those were animals, which meant I had no power over them. After a few attempts, they got distracted with the return of the monkeys. This meant it was 3:00 pm. I had not eaten lunch, my babies had not eaten lunch, and the little owl (Buhito) had not eaten lunch. I saw Encar come down the stairs and asked her to take care of them as I dealt with my own responsibilities. After more absurd requests, they left happy and in ecstasy from all the animals they had been able to video tape. After the long day at the refuge, I was ready to go home and pack my bag.
That is when I realized I was out of clean underwear. I was gonna have to go to Panama in one pair of underwear, and my swimsuit. I plan things out so well. It was less clothes to pack, so for three days, I had to figure out how I was gonna survive underwear-less. The answer is with a lot of dresses.
Anyway, while I had my dinner at the restaurant in my hotel, the news blasted that they had caught the second Boston Bombing suspect. As glad as I was, I couldn't help but be surprised by the comment of other Americans in the restaurant, being derogatory towards Muslims. I understand racism exists everywhere, but to feel it down in a place where I have, personally, felt nothing but care and compassion, was shocking. I have grown a pair of balls for people who are disrespectful to others' face. Unfortunately, when no one is hurt directly by the comments, I feel no need to get into an argument with bigots. I can tell you how it ends, just like they can tell you how it ends. No side feels like they've won, but no side feels like they've lost.
They shut the TV off and went to bed after I made a comment about how there is bad people everywhere, and I went to bed shortly after. I had a shuttle to catch at 8:15.

On Saturday morning, the shuttle showed up at 8:45. How Costa Rican... After a short ride to the border, we arrived at this small building. The fruit and vegetable store down the street is bigger than border patrol. We got our passport stamped out of Costa Rica, and had to walk across a shaky bridge. It had been raining, and was still raining and all I could think about was how I could slip and drop my passport in the murky water. Once we made it to the other side, we had to get our passport stamped by the Panamian border and paid 3$ to get a sticker on my passport. Simen had to show his plane ticket twice and all I had to do was hand over my passport for the stamp. I was allowed to stay in Panama/ Costa Rica forever. Once we arrived, in the lazy traveler I had become, I didn't plan a hotel to stay at, and therefore, we went from hotel to hotel trying to find a private room with a terrace. We found a very nice man who took us around until we had found exactly what we wanted. The hotel was a little grimy compared to the one I was staying at in, but it had a terrace, two beds and a private bathroom/ shower that was promising hot water (I say promising, because it was barely lukewarm water).
The biggest problem in Panama was not the rain, that I could deal with, but the lack of update on Trip Advisor. I kept on finding amazing restaurants that were closed, which forced us to eat at other amazing restaurants, like Wine Bar and Tapas.Goodness, I was making love to me goat cheese over apple tatin on a puff pastry. I will forever hold the memory of putting that delicious pastry in my mouth...
Alright, back to reality, the rain was really an issue though, and dampen my trip. We were suppose to enjoy a boat ride to the dolphin lagoon, then snorkle for a bit, sunbath on the red frog beach and go to one last beach. This trip was starting at 9:30 and ending at 4:30. We came home at 2pm, soaking yet, and freezing. We did see dolphins, but the snorkling lasted about 30  mns (even though the reefs were absolutely gorgeous) and the red frog beach was spent at the restaurant trying to warm ourselves up. After that, we obviously wanted to go home, and the moment we arrived at our hotel, the sun came out. We spent our time wisely on the terrace drying off and reading. It was relaxing but not the most enjoyable vacations from the animals.
We finally made it home today (Monday), and I enjoyed a nice breakfast and a day back in my bed, on my computer and back in my familiar space. I went to do a bit of shopping and to enjoy the town at night.

The one thing I need to mention because everyone has been asking me for pictures of the animals. As much as people have enjoyed pictures of Palma, I must show you real amazing pictures. So everyone head over here: http://annapsalmond.com/#/160531 for Anna Psalmond's pictures. It is the photoshot I helped out and the pictures are magnificent. I am jealous of her skills with a camera, while I try my best to be artsy with the animals (and they even make fun of me for it).