The home of Ahren Osterbrink. My photos and thoughts.
// December 30th, 2004 // 2 Comments » // Bocas Del Toro, Panama, Pictures
Here You Go
comments, complaints, suggestions are appreciated!
Mostly from Bocas Del Toro
ah yes, the big fish is a Jew Fish… or some sort of grouper… it was caught by hand, with no pole… just a line and hook… fucking crazy man!
// December 28th, 2004 // 2 Comments » // Bocas Del Toro, Boquette, Panama
ok, we’re leaving bocas del toro today… we were blessed with 5 days of perfect weather and couldnt bring ourselves to leave these islands… the internet is cheaper in Boquette so i will write more there… death toll is up to 44000 already… what a disaster, Casey, any word from Aaron?
// December 27th, 2004 // No Comments » // Bocas Del Toro, Panama
we got blessed with another rain free day and i guess we’re spending it here in bocas del toro… i want to leave but i’ll stick around one more day so i dont have to travel alone… the plan is to head up into the mountains to Boquette for a few days then panama city for new years, though i may stay in boquette and climb a volcano for the new years… panama city just sounds like too much money and too much hoopla. theres cheap internet in boquette though so i’ll keep you updated…
off to red frog beach!
// December 26th, 2004 // No Comments » // Bocas Del Toro, Panama
this comes from my diary=
well todeay is eeautiful again… its about 10-11am… and is already super hot… this morning while waiting for the bathroom, i saw a little octopus in the shallow water. it was maybe 3 feet across or so… i never thought i would see an octopus besides in a zoo. neat. Sine it{s nice, we{re going to stay another day. breakfast i had a small bottle of water, and two pieces of cofee caked ($1.35) not too bad
we hired a boat to take us to Wizards Beach … i think there should be a map up by the title of this post… if it worked anyways. i went along with some of the other people from the hotel… in all about 8 guys or so. we first stopped to fill up with gas… we got out of the boat and in the boat next to us was the largest fish i have ever seen…it was honestly the size of a full grown pig if not bigger… 200 lbs or so… i believe it was called a June fish… though i{m not sure. the guy caught without the use of a fishing pole as well… just string his hands and i assume something the string wrapped around… crazy…
we then took the boat to the next island which is called bastillmentos or something … similiar… on the route, we saw two dolphins swimming about 20 feet off the side of the boat… neat.
we got dropped off at the beach… after taking a few pictures of some overgrown structures, i walked up to the top of a small hill… about 30 min walk or so… the view ended up being best from somewhere in the middle. i stepped on something that poked my toe pretty good… i{ll probably die. i walked back down and took the trail to the beach… simply perfect. their were waves that seemed to come from almost every direction while trying to swim… kindea crazy. the salt water makes my eyes hurt a bit.
we built a large sandwoman…. at around 5 we had to start to walk across the island to meet the boat driver.
the boat ride back was one of the absolute most amazing experiences ever… a great end to a beautiful day. i have never seeen a sunset like it… though two are never the same obviously. the boat driver rolled us a joint which i{m sure helped!. there wasw a large blue spike shooting straight up from where the sun was sinking…. the blue stripe gradiated into a matching orange spike on the other side… which had the island we were leaving in the foreground… to top it off, the moon was rising and it{s so damn near full it was insane… the sky honestly looked like it was split open like a coconut… one side was bluish the other half more red toned…
so that was nice… we got back and decided it was time to eat… we wanted to go to a pizza place but it was closed… so we walked and found an italian place… there was a buffet setup and everyone was dressed up… except us of course, we were in beach clothes and flip flops… the waiter told us all they had was a buffet and it was $5… we ate… it was the best food i have had since leaving by far!!! though when the bill came, it was $25 a plate… thank god for VISA!
so that was my christmas! i put up some pictures, though this computer doesnt have photoshop so they are HUGE… too large to post here… though you can see them at
if anyone (cough cough ryan) wants to resize them that would be great…
i have to run now to eat… hope you all had a great xmas… i would have traded mine to be with you guys!
// December 24th, 2004 // 6 Comments » // Bocas Del Toro, Panama
beautiful weather here in Bocas so we’re spending one more day, taking a boat to a nice beach real soon… i may post more later… i saw an octopus this morning off the deck of my hotel room… about 3 feet across or so… so it was just a lil guy… still neat
in any case,
merry christmas eve… i would trade this gorgeus weather to be back home in the 30 below for the next two days…..
// December 23rd, 2004 // No Comments » // Bocas Del Toro, Panama
well today was nice and sunny… michael is a half stepper… we changed out of the shitty ass hotel to a nicer one… it{s basically a hostel… i{m on a stuipd spanish keyboard and haven{t taken the time to figure out where the correct punctuations marks are so i{ll just pretend i{m doing it correct.
neither me nor michale like this city much… the locals aren{t very friendly… they of course just want our money… i{m ready to tell the next one to fuck off.
we were going to go to a beach today though there isn{t any close… we{re on an island too… we would either have to rent a bike $5-day or take a boat to a different island…. which would be between $5 -10 per person… which is just bullshit to me.
we are going to leave tomorrow if it{s shitty, or stay another day if its nice and go snorkeling…. we need to take a boat off the island, then a bus to David, Pananama… then another bus to where we are going… I forget the name, but its a little town up in the mountains… it sounds beautiful from the guidebook so let{s hope… i just want to get out of this city… its like a little can cun.
we went to happy hour last night… it was for an hour… $0.50 beers was nice. though the beer is shit… its like miller lite or rolling rock… weak and shitty tasting… i miss the beer from costa rica… maybe there{s better here that i havent found… i hope!! so after happy hour, we went to a bar that in english is called the sinking ship or something close to that… it was interesting… a lot of 90{s dance music… which sucked… there was some salsa and i liked watching the people salsa dance, perhaps i will try to learn sometime down here…i doubt it though.
the bar had a deck that extended out over the water… in a U shape from the shore… in the open area of the U there were lights shining down into the water illuminating a sunken banana boat… it was neat as you could see different fishies swimming around it… other than that the bar was kinda lame… like a dance club from the states… lots of stupid people dancing to stupid music… it{s not my scene. we left sometime after midnight and went back to the hotel… i wrote a bit before bed….
today was spent mostly hanging out… i called home, and got some stuff from the grocery market… i wouldnt exactly call it a grocery store… the markets hear are filled with a weird stench that i assume is from the meet… almost enough to vomit from… well not that bad… but the meat counters are definately not up to my standards… though when i think about it, the meat is probably better… i highly doubt it came from a mass slaughter house… who knows…
so im going to go now…
// December 22nd, 2004 // No Comments » // Bocas Del Toro, Panama
I’m in panama… boca’s del toro (mouth of the bull) right now… and to be honest, i don’t really like it. it’s like a mini america… granted i’ve only been here for about 2 hours… everything is in dollars as that’s the currency they use… i guess they have their own quarters, nickles, etc… walked into a grocery market and the prices are the same or more than in the states.. i hope i’m not here long.. though it could get better.
I just met a kid from australia who’s cool… it’s me and michael traveling together now… probably till he leaves in january… we also just ran into Martin the kid from switzerland as well… small world i guess… we’re all meeting up again for happy hours…
to get here…. we left cahuita and took a long (~2 hours or so) bus ride to the border… we walked across a richoty bridge to panama after going through emigration or whatever it’s called. had to go through Immagration then;… american’s have to pay $5… no one else (germany, switzerland, australia anyways) didn’t have to pay… what a crock of shit… then we took a taxi/bus from the border to where the boat picks us up to go to boca’s… crazy beautiful boat ride… just amazing… white egrets all over… some small blue herons as well. we went past a few native type people and all the fuckers on the boat start taking pictures… pretty immature if you ask me. the girl from cali & costa rica next to me, just hid her head … i felt the same.
so the boat ride was awesome, then we got an overpriced ($15) hotel… i guess it does have air conditioning… but still… shitty beds and cold water…
thats about it.. .we have no idea / plans as to what we’re doing after this… a day or two here max i figure… then across northern panama through David, then up into costa rica again… who knows… panama city for new years? no idea… time will tell… well the internet is by minute here (though fast, at 2mb per second it’s over 3 times faster than i had in eugene…)
i have a few emails to write… i’ll update some more later!
ahren
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