What I did in March 2018

[squirmelia]

March was full of amazing adventures as I went on holiday to Panama!

Other things I did also:

I became Melissa, the Performer, and went to Blade Runner Secret Cinema, which was excellent.

I went to see the Gursky exhibition at the Hayward Gallery with my mother and we then had a look at the exhibition on at the Oxo Gallery and then a wander to stare at graffiti at Leake Street.

I saw The Squash at the Tate Britain - a strange exhibit/performance with someone dressed as a squash.

I attended sbp’s birthday party and had a fun time!

I went on a tube walk from Russell Square to Holborn.

I saw My Own Private Hell at the BFI with doseybat

I went to see an interactive Beowulf with Leeky, which was excellent and kind of like a spoken text adventure.

I stared at the new Fourth Plinth installation, made of date cans.

I had lunch with verlaine, jacquic and pinkdaisy.

I ate pandan nitro ice cream with marshmallow fluff.


Ingress:

I had a proposal for an Ingress art installation / portal accepted for an event at a castle in Germany!

One evening I went for drinks with colleagues and then drinks with Ingress friends.

I took part in an Ingress op, helping with the creation of a big green field over London, although mostly ended up drinking coffee in Clapham and then attending drinks after.


Panama:

Panama City:

I first saw the Panama canal from the sky, as my plane approached the city, and the forests surrounding it. I saw the skyscrapers then too.

It was dark by the time I got through customs and found the city though. The taxi driver sang along to an upbeat song and I stared wide-eyed at glittering buildings and brightly coloured billboards from my window.



Breakfast at my hotel included small fried yellow corn tortillas, little ears, yuca frita, and various other things.

The first full day I spent in Panama, I got the local Oyster card equivalent (with help from the police!) and took a trip on the metro and then caught a bus to the Miraflores locks. I tried a simulator of controlling a boat on the canal, going through the locks, and read about the history of the canal. I stared at it and marvelled at it then.

I went for a brief swim to cool down as it was about 32 degrees that day. I swam outside, looking up at the skyscrapers.

I then got the metro to the oddly named 5th of May station and walked to the old town. It was a busy shopping area, full of people and shops and construction work and bright colours and I felt a bit overwhelmed. There were stalls with queues selling what looked like pieces of paper, but I later realised they were lottery tickets.

In the old town itself, I wandered around and ate delicious soursop ice-cream. I stared at the water and the skyscrapers on the horizon and admired the view. I saw trees that looked hairy. I listened to blackbirds, but they were a different kind of blackbird. I visited the supermarket and then ate tres leches cake and soursop yogurt. I marvelled at the American products- Tang! Grape drinks! Eggos! (I hadn't realised they were a real thing and not just some kind of Strange Things invention!)

On the Thursday, I took a boat ride on Lake Gatun and to Monkey Island! (And I didn't even need a rubber chicken with a pulley hidden inside it!) The Gatun Lake forms part of the Panama Canal and is surrounded by rainforest. I saw three kinds of monkeys – white-faced capuchin monkeys, tamarin monkeys and howler monkeys. Some of the monkeys jumped onto the boat I was on, so I fed them some grapes, before they jumped back into the trees. I also saw some distant sloths and various birds. I walked through Soberania National Park and visited the Pipeline Road. That day, I saw bright blue morpho butterflies, tiny frogs, orchids, an agouti and various birds, such as snail kites and squirrel cuckoos and red headed woodpeckers. I walked up the observation tower at the Panama Rainforest Discovery Centre and stared at the tops of trees. I watched hummingbirds hover near by and listened to them and it sounded kind of like purring. Purple crowned fairies, purring!

Oh, it was good to be out of the city temporarily and in the rainforest.

Back in the city, I ate hibiscus ice-cream and Marie biscuit ice-cream and wandered amongst the skyscrapers until I reached the sea. “¡Cocodrilo!” a woman looking out at the water said to me, pointing, and it was then that I saw a crocodile swimming in the sea.

Mount Totumas Cloud Forest:

The next day, I got a flight from Panama City to David. I didn't realise at the time, but my plane suffered from hydraulic failure! I did realise something was wrong when the plane stopped abruptly not quite at the airport, and getting off the plane, there were people wearing silver hazmat suits and an ambulance there to greet us, but I wasn't sure what had happened as I didn't understand enough Spanish. We stood on grass and then buses picked us up and took us to the airport. I was panicking at this point as my flight was quite late and I thought my 4WD taxi driver would have left without me and I didn't think I'd ever get my luggage back. It all turned out okay in the end, my driver was still waiting and my luggage arrived after the aeroplane was towed to the airport. It was only later, searching for news articles did I actually find out about the hydraulic failure.

So, I got in my 4WD taxi from David to Mount Totumas, which was along a very bumpy unmade road and we went through three rivers to get there, but when I got to Mount Totumas, wow!

I arrived to find a group of birders excitedly staring at an ornate hawk eagle through a telescope and they let me have a look.

For the next few days, I stayed in a cabin in the trees, spending my time mostly hiking.

The first day I was there, I walked to two waterfalls, and watched as rainbows appeared. I saw a small snake that day as well. I stared at large cavernous trees and a wonderful rainbow over the forest. I saw coffee trees growing. I listened to the black-faced solitaire, the bird call unlike any I had heard before.

Hummingbirds fed on my balcony. I stared happily at waterfalls, wonderful rainbows over the forest, magnificent trees, orchids and bromeliads. I saw beautiful moths. I watched the clouds sweep in across the mountains and into the forest. I heard howler monkeys and birds chirping loudly. At night, I watched fireflies glowing and stared up at the bright stars. I got slightly lost in the jungle one day and felt a bit scared. I peered into an abandoned overgrown car, waded across a river and wandered in a national park. I went skinny dipping at the foot of a waterfall. I was stung a lot by a black furry caterpillar that was hiding in my trousers. I sat on Thinking Rock and marvelled at the rain sweeping across and mostly thought about bromeliads. It was very quiet - some days I hiked for hours and didn't see anyone.

Boquete:

The next place I stayed was Boquete, a small mountain town.

I visited a coffee farm that grows the “coffee of the moon”. I tasted coffee cherries, saw coffee trees and drank coffee cherry tea. I learnt about how the coffee is farmed in alliance with the phases of the moon, how it is processed and how it looks at different stages. I also drank the coffee of the moon!
I soared above tree tops on a zip line, drank geisha coffee, hiked to the lost waterfalls, saw a rainbow and hummingbirds and watched the clouds come down from the mountain and float through the forests.
I swung on a swing in a garden amongst the mountains, where everything had eyes, from the hedges to old sewing machines. I stroked a friendly dog and was given a pen made out of bamboo.
At the B&B I stayed in, I had a Pakistani breakfast one morning.
I walked past lemon trees and stood under a jacaranda tree and the purple blossom drifted over me.
I visited the flower festival grounds and admired the flowers and ate the most delicious strawberry raspado.

Bocas del Toro:

The first day I was in Bocas del Toro, I paddled in the sea at a nearby beach and wandered around town, but then fell over and was convinced I had broken my leg and panicked quite a lot. Luckily, it was fine and healed quite quickly considering it was very swollen and looked misshapen.

I had some amazing adventures in Bocas del Toro! Including bat caves, bioluminescence, snorkelling, tropical islands, sloths and dolphins.
I went for a boat ride through the mangroves and then a walk in the jungle where I saw a sloth close by and some orange frogs. I then waded through a bat cave and swam by a waterfall inside the cave! So many bats!
I went snorkelling in the sea and saw shoals of fish swim by and coral and was very much amazed at how the world looked underwater. I was fascinated with it and wanted to just stare at it all for hours.
I took a boat trip one night to see different kinds of bioluminescence! A glowing sea! I also saw rays and an octopus. I swam in the sea at night for the first time and watched the water sparkle as I moved my hands while snorkelling.
I saw dolphins swim past, one day, appearing out of the water for just a few seconds, before vanishing again. It was exciting to see them.
I jumped off a boat and floated above coral while snorkelling more and was amazed by the blue and yellow striped fish swimming close to me, just below the surface.
I visited Zapatilla Island and it was like the stereotypical tropical desert island you see on television, with a sandy beach, turquoise water and coconut trees. There was no dock and you had to just jump from the boat into the water and wade to shore. I swam there in the turquoise water and walked through massive spider webs strung between the coconut trees. I also saw sloths and starfish that day, and ended the evening in a jacuzzi.
I visited another beautiful beach just before I left Bocas del Toro- Red Frog Beach. I wandered on the soft sand before sipping a pina colada while watching the waves and gazing at palm trees.

Panama City:

My final day in Panama, I visited the Metropolitan National Park and watched the turtles swimming in the pond and then noticed Jesus lizards walking across the water. I then noticed a large snake slithering through the leaves! The largest snake I've seen in the wild! I also saw black and orange lizards and walked underneath a mango tree. Butterflies fluttered by and I was surrounded by trees, even though I was so close to the city.


A few photos on Flickr: Panama

Comments

[squirmelia]

A few thoughts on travelling alone for a few weeks:

Near the beginning of my trip I felt a bit lonely. I went on a few day trips with mostly couples. Older American women would tell me I was brave to travel alone. I stared at fireflies at night and wished there was someone to say, "wow!" with me. As time went on though, I chilled out and stopped worrying about being single and travelling alone. I felt lucky that there were people I could message or phone and tell about my adventures at least. (Thank you to those that listened to me worrying about caterpillars and injured legs and planes with hydraulic failure, etc!) I really had some amazing adventures on this trip!

[mrs_leroy_brown]

Thanks for writing this up! It sounds incredible :)

[clare42]

This entry was awesome. I felt transported as I read it, and questions rose and fell like the waves, although I'm not sure they were luminescent.