omg, i left hawaii on wednesday morning and finally arrived to our final destination today, monday afternoon. it was a long way here and probably the most traveling i’ve ever done in such a short period of time. 4 airplanes with over 27 hours in the capsule, not including the transit times. i slept early last night, woke up fresh this morning, and realized that we were still very far away.

me the rest of the group of 5 from hawaii, loaded up the dive gear, and headed to the airport. what? airplane again?

this van ended up being loaded from bottom to top. the driver drove our gear 9 hours to the resort, we caught the 1 hour flight. thank goodness.

the flight was delayed 1 hour but 1 hour is nothing for me now. i learned how to be a very patient and understanding person this past week.

we flew over some cool jungle areas. then we got in another van, and started the 2.5 hour drive which took 3.5 hours.

there was a check point on the way. it was the check point near the boarder of costa rica. costa rica? wow!

back to panama city, i was amazed at this building. it looked like dominos and looked like the slightest earthquake will topple it down. scary.

we arrive at our resort in pretty much the jungle. there is absolutely nothing for miles away. felt so good to finally reach our destination and hear the ocean, birds, and other wildlife. i felt at peace again.

right out front in the 3 boats parked that we will be using for the next 4 days of diving. we unpacked our gear, got it ready, and headed up for dinner.

omg, this was only the appetizer. i felt like i was eating at a 5 star restaurant. the food was amazing! sushi and blackened ahi? OMG! i must have gained 10lbs in the past 5 days of traveling. but i know i will lose 20lbs in the next 4 days in the ocean.

good to see Palma here too! this is the funniest mexican guy i’ve ever met. or maybe the funniest guy in the world i’ve ever met. last year we dove together in mexico laughing all day long. look how big his gun is! almost as big as mine. haha.

and the best thing about traveling is meeting new people. take Stan for example. he’s from california and loves to dive. Stan hasn’t speared a tuna in his life before so that’s why he’s here. he said “i’m running out of time!” come to find out, it was Stan’s 78th birthday today! OMG! a 78 year old traveling free diver. that’s so cool! i hope his dream comes true this week. better get to sleep because i wake up at 5:30am and the boat leaves the beach at 6:30am sharp. we are going to hunt for some tuna! good night.

Watch out for the guns!!!

so i get 4 hours sleep! yeah! go downstairs and eat a healthy breakfast.

yes, not too healthy, but healthy for all you can eat buffet as i only ate this plate. usually i go back for round 2 and 3 but today i didn’t want to overdue it.

everybody told me not to take the yellow cabs on the streets. i asked the hotel cab to take me somewhere and he said $14. i said forget it. then paid $3 from a yellow cab. it was kind of exciting to be honest.

asked him to take me to the Mercado De Mariscos fish market. gosh, i could smell it as we pulled up. smelt like rotten fish.

so i take a walk through and the fish didn’t seem too fresh for some reason. the eyes were white, and the smell pretty bad. but i enjoyed checking it out anyway.

then i got hungry and wanted to try the ceviche.

cheviche is made by lime juice cooking the raw fish and killing all the bacteria. so it must be safe right?

if i was going to get sick, so would everybody else right?

so i order the tako cheviche. it was so good! $2 and a great snack.

i flag another cab down and as he was taking me back to the city, i told him to turn around and drop me off in the local downtown area. he asked “why?” i said, because i want to see it.

this is the dangerous area the hotel and drivers told me to avoid. they call it the black market area. it didn’t look too dangerous to me but i’m sure it is scary at night.

i walked around some dark alleys and pretended i knew where i was going. but really, i had no idea. it was a great experience going to places where no tourists go. it’s just the way i like to experience countries. dangerous, but exciting.

then tonight i took a walk looking for a local restaurant. i turned down a block and seen thousands of people waving flags yelling and screaming. there happened to be a president elect campaign rally. it was crazy!!!

then i came back and turned on the news and seen what i walked onto. i wanted to go back and stand in the middle and enjoy the excitement!

yeah, the hotel i’m staying at is pretty much luxury. feels safe here but at the same time, unsafe. if there is any kind of government demo, this hotel will get hit first.

and yeah, hope to get a good night sleep of at least 4 hours. tomorrow will be a long day. yesterday and today i was alone, but from tonight, i’ll be with our group from hawaii and i’m looking forward to it. should be arriving at some remote island tomorrow before lunch so see you then. good night from the sleepless city of panama!