So, where did we leave you...argh yes, the bus trip from hell. Whilst in Nicaragua we realised that we were running very low on time and decided to skip Costa Rica. For us to do this we would need to get a bus straight through the country however we had to indure a 5 hour stop over in San Jose (capital of Costa). Ok...little bit of a pain but if thats what it takes, we´ll do it.

So at 8am we said our farewells to San Juan and boarded the bus that would start our interesting journey. To be fair, the trip to San Jose was fairly painless, even the border crossing wasn´t any more painful than usual so, so far so good. We arrived in San Jose at 5pm and with a 6 hour stop over there we decided to take our chances at a near by hostel and see if they would take us in to pass the time there. $5 each later and we were enjoying the facilities of the hostel. Luckily we made it there before dark, as San Jose is pretty dangerous at night and turns out our hostel was around the corner from a world renowned park that specialses in prostitution. Awesome.

Well fed we got a taxi back to the bus station at 11 pm just in time for the bus. We were lucky enough to sight see the prosi´s on the drive there. Felt like a safari tour loooking at wild animals....very interesting. I recommend it!!! It was on this bus however that brought the misfortune. We reclined our seats, snuggled into our sleeping bags and did our best to get in a few hours of sleep before we would be awoken at 3:30am for the final border crossing. This all went to plan and when 3:30am rolled around we were marched of the bus and with passports and declaration forms in hand, were ready to get things rolling. Lined up and ready, our bus driver anounced in Spanish that the border crossing didn´t open untill 6am and we would have to wait in the dirt. Any thoughts of sitting on the bus to wait were quickly extinguished as we turned around to see the bus driving off with luggage, books and anything that would pass the time. Confused and angry, there was nothing for us to do except suck it up and wait. Finally 6am crawled by and we were back in action!! Horay. Stamped and signed we walked to the Panama side of the crossing for entry. Mmmmmm. 2 and a half hours on that side, we finally had our bags checked and after been given the evil eye by customs officers, were allowed back on the bus and finally back on our journey. All in all the process took 4 and a half hours at one border crossing. Worst system we´ve encountered and there´s no use complaining because the authorities do not in any way whats so ever give a s***. Deal with it and move on!

So we made it to David where we swapped to a different bus where we travelled another 4 hours. Arriving at the port we toppled onto a small boat that would take 45 minutes to finally arrive at our destination....Bocas Del Toro!!! Not to mention that old mate sea sickness showed its ugly face to Lex again. Not our finest journey but was glad to check into a hotel and finally get some food. To sum up the journey took 32 hours, 3 buses, 5 taxis, 1 boat and we were running on 4 hours sleep that we had on the bus. ARGH!!!

And Bocas.......well it rained the hole time we were there. And when it rains, it rains some more. We sisn´t allow it to spoil our time though and we went on a tour that took you to nearby islands. We were promised to see dolphins, we waited 10 minutes at a bay and then left because there weren´t any. We were told we would see the endless amounts of starfish, our guide accidently killed one. And snorkling in the rain with poor visibility wasn´t too flash either. We asked to finish the tour early, arrived back to the hotel, showered and got ready to have dinner with our new American friend Alexa and Marvin.

That night we ran into Kate and Eric, an Australian and American couple who we made friends with on the bus from hell. We took a 5 minute ferry across to another island to party where we ran into a couple of friends who we met in Guatelamla and also a Canadian couple who we met on the bus trip too. Awesome night out and very messy. The next day we faced that messiness with an extreme hangover and treated it with reruns of seinfeild, friends and Nottinghill and a fat pizza. No need for guilt...the rain was still flowing.

Bocas has many beautiful beaches and islands, and we´re sure that on good weather it would be stunning! Not too worry though...San Blas will cure our need for the Carribean sun.

The next morning, rested up, we ran for our boat at 6am to leave for Panama City!!