Panama city and BCI (last one, i promise)

Next stop was Panama City, only a 7 hour bus ride from david, checked into hostel at 2 am. wandered the city the next day, successfully getting lost 4 times. not a huge fan of panama city. we walked past the bay, big mistake. all raw sewage of panama city is dumped untreated into the bay. that night we met up with a friend of melissa's, andrew, for a chill evening: beers, pasta and some illegal stuff on the balcony. our hostel did have a great view of the city lights, and the nearby casino. up at 5 am the next morning, caught hour long bus to panama canal, took ferry to BCI, arrived around 9 in the morning. beautiful trip through the canal. you can see for yourself. BCI is a research station, often thought of as a sister station to la selva. it is an island of about 15 km2. drier forest, no venemous snakes or large predators (the whole island thing...). at BCI we went for a hike to one of the canopy towers. its about 40 meters of scaffolding that you climb up, no harness. open on all sides. awesome view from the top. we were really high up above all the trees, could see a bunch of little islands and mainland across the canal. then was a hike through the forest. saw a ton of howler monkies who were none too thrilled to have us walking through. made it back to eat and catch the ferry back through the canal. and i discovered i had 23 ticks. mmmm. 23 ticks.

another nite in panama city, then bussed back to san jose. it was a 16 hour bus ride, including the 2 hour boarder stop, were we had to get past the panama boarder and through costa rica immigrations. shady shady boarder crossings. first we were herded into a run-down room in panama for the drug sniffing dogs to come check all the luggage (officials didnt even look at the id in my passport) then walked a halfmile down a gravel road, no lights (and it was at night) to the costa rica side, where we were herded into a little fenced in area for our stuff to get checked again. back in costa rica we made our way back to la selva (HOME!) and melissa got to see la selva in all its glory. including the lab assistant that inappropriately tries to pet me. and we went for a float down the river :). and la selva does feel more or less like home now, mainly because i have my hammock up. with mosquito netting. and stick nearby to try to hit the pecaries with if they come too close.