Panama, cont.

After I met up with the group we went for another boat ride, this time to Dolphin's Bay. Oh man, the dolphins there were awesome, they kept popping up and flipping around. Did you know dolphins eat jellyfish? I need a dolphin buddy to come keep me company in the water because some of these beaches are a little sketch. After hanging out with Flipper and co., and wasting my battery trying to capture a picture of one, we went to go scuba diving around the coral reef, then catch some lunch. The coral reef was cool since I'd never been scuba diving before, but it wasn't as spectacular as I thought it would be. It made me realize how humans can affect nature with all their boats and souvenier taking.

The rest of the day and night was my own so I rented a bike and went exploring. There was a nice beach with a great bar that had excellent watermelon daquiries where I journaled for a while. I found an Indian restuarant so I skipped group dinner and went to have some curry alone. It was cool because this was a tiny little cafe where this traveling musician started playing all this cuban music.

I realized that that was the first time I'd really had privacy in a while. Before, going to dinner alone would have bothered me but now I'm finding a lot of peace in getting away from everyone else and just taking time for me. It's not always deep and pensive but it's still nice to just have time to relax and reflect.

Sunday was basically a travel day that lasted 10 hours in a boat, taxi or bus. I think that I am done with packaged tours though. I enjoy traveling when I have the ability to choose what I do, when I do it, and whom I do it with. I'm really excited for my friends who are coming up in 18 days. We are going to have such a good time!