Borrowedmind

We found some little kitch cafe that has great coffee and even better keylime pie.

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Epic - so epic that I can do little more that sketch an outline for you here. The full tail must be told over several strong drinks in some dark and crowded bar.

Dr. Popoff was able to book us passage on a ship transporting through the canals - it was late, everything was closed yet he somehow managed to get us passage at 8am the following morning.

The canals are a strange cross btwn technology and art - beautiful and functional.

Contact was made at the halfway mark with the gunboats and submarine.

Well we survived the jungles of Costa Rica and even managed see the sun once.

Having spent the last week wet, dirty and constantly munched on by insects -we decided to check into the best hotel in Panama for a night or two, The Intercontinental Miramar. I love going from one extreme to another while traveling. It really wakes up the senses.

This could be my last entry - we are just about standing on top the last city that was completely destroyed in under two minutes. That is right folks - 4km of forest, town and country side destroyed in under two minutes. The town completely covered on hot lava and another town destroyed by giant boulders and gases.

Something behind us just went boom. Our guide is laughing a not so funny laught. That was an eruption we just heard. The clouds are so thick that we still can not seen the volcano -just hearing it is way more terrifying that being able to see it.

Rule #1. Park facing away from the volcano - no seriously Costa Rican law says you have to park nose facing the street so that you can quickly flee from the lava. This seems to only be in effect when you are 'down wind' of the active peak.

Our day started near the crack of dawn with a hike through the Hanging Gardens in the sun shine! I am slightly surprised more people do not die in this country. We found two pit-vipers within a foot of the trail this morning.

In twenty years this town and everyone in it will be dead.

Dr. Popoff is keen on taking the zip lines to see what clues we might find in the primary forest. I think he has something else planned that he is not telling me.

Well the Dr got his money worth, that is for sure. It is raining again today - this makes day 3 of rain so the zip lines where very fast. The extreme adventurer as always - Dr. Popoff took them hard and fast. Being the trusty henchman, I took the Tarzan swing in his stead which turned put to be an enjoyable little ride.

At 1pm a met up with our guide for the rafting trip. A squirrely little guy by the name of Javier. I now curse the Good Dr for invoking his water totem the other day. I have not been dry since - in fact my dry clothes are no longer dry simple due to being dry.....which is am unacceptable state when dealing with the rain gods while in the cloud forest during a tropical storm. Speaking of that - some might consider the wisdom of rafting I'm the middle of a trpocal storm. I am wet - so wet that I don't recall what it means to be dry. I recall being warm and wet - that was last night at The Springs. A new (just open 3 months) hot slings resort. More on this later. Today the river is raging - high muddy water that cries out to engulf our pitiful bodies. Fearless as ever we mock the gods of our watery graves and set forth with our grinning guide.

Did I mention how wet we are. My rainjacket is about as useful as a toaster in the bathtub. But our journy is not in vain. We see many a 3 toes sloth, several families of howler monkies and an array of birds - most too small to eat. The sloths are always found in one type of tree - a tree that's leaves are a slight narcotic or so that is what gets translated. After a couple more hours of being wet and now cold - we arrive at our destination ad have the good fortune to share our landing spot with a family of howler monkies. They are unconcerned with us as they go about their daily routine - in the rain.

Cold and wet with no sign of the rain ever stopping we return once more to the Springs to warm our selves. We have little time for tonight I have promised to do the fire dance for the natives to bring an end to the rain.

Returning to our tree house I find the locals eager for the performance to begin. Being rain worshippers none have ever seen a fire dance before. More people arrive - 10 in all to watch my performance. Having found fuel earlier incrhe day - I am set to spin two sets. The energy of the rainforest around me is amazing. I sense its amusement at my meager attempt to summon forth some warmth and clear skies. Never the less I give it my all andspin two fine sets. Everyone is overjoyed and exited - it was way more than they had been expecting. The social tension between groups broken - we sit and chat late into the night.

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I have no idea where we are. There are voices coming from outside the car. The Dr is ranting out pyroclastic flows and such.

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Ah they do not fill the tank by default. 2nd attempt at getting a full tank. This time Dr. Popoff is ensuring they fill the tank.

All stations are full service.

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The rents car place gave us a car with an eigth of a tank - how evil is that. So our first quest was to locate fuel. The damage report on the vehicle is so marketed-up I think we'd have to hit a semi for them to notice. I'll bet they try and scam us for damages when we return the vehicle. It also vaguely smells like something died in the car - I don't think I'll ask what happened to the previous renters.

Dr. Popoff is keep to drive. There is a fire in his eyes that I have not seen since Tibet. I fear be is coming unhinged.

There should be laws against playing Brian Adams first thing in the morning. The thumping, raging techno that was on first at least brought back memories of staggering back to camp on the playa at 7am. Oh yum - bland American breakfast, an omlet with American cheese wheeeee! Coffee good - all else trivial.

dr. Popoff is late for the morning meal. I think it has something to do with the anicent text he purchased in the old, decreped pawn shop. He was up late into the night reading the long lost texts.