La Vida Dura

I'm hanging out it a little village on the Pacific Coast of Panama called Santa Catalina. The population here is just a few hundred and there are only two roads. However it's the jumping off point for all the trips to Coiba, a national park with some of the best scuba diving in Central America. It's also full of surfers from all over the world who come for the beautiful beaches. During the day there's a sea breeze which keeps it cool and at night there's a land breeze to warm things up so it's pretty much always in the 70s.

I'm got in late yesterday afternoon and checked into little hotel right by the beach called Rolo's. Everything was closed so I spent the afternoon reading a little Spanish novela in a hammock and listening to the waves. That night I collected leaves with some surfers to use as chips and stayed up late playing poker and drinking rum. They told me about a secret grove with mango trees that I think I'll try to find tomorrow after scuba diving. I might also rent a board and try my hand at Playa Estero. It's gonna be hard to leave this tropical paradise but I think I'll head to the mountains the next day.