Impromptu Yoga

Waking up to the sound of rain on the tin roof definitely did not excite me this morning. Since being in Bocas, I have learned to never plan too far in advance because the rain will come crashing down on any outdoor sunny activities you have in mind. Rather than spending the day enjoying the ocean-side bars, I opted to stay in the hostel with some friends from Floating Doctors. By the time afternoon rolled around, we started to stir with cabin fever and decided we were hungry enough to bare the rain and walk to Cafe del Mar.

One thing I would tell visitors of Bocas del Toro is that good food in Bocas is hard to come by. It takes a bit of time to find a good restaurant and food trucks are not to be trusted, however Cafe del Mar proved to be a surprising success. My delicious veggie panini marked the start of my day turning around. (Sorry, I forgot to get a photo of my food!) After lunch, I decided to turn back into a hermit and watch some Netflix while the rain continued to pound. The unrelenting rain still poured during the boat ride back to base where I found comfort in my dry, clean clothes.

My rain-dampened mood brightened back up when Jen and Islean asked me to join their impromptu yoga session. Yoga had been an outlet of relaxation during my last year of college and today it still proved to be a calming, grounding experience for me. At the end of our workout, we laid in shavasana breathing and listening to rain pounding down above our heads. I sat thinking of how grateful I was to have one last week in Panama experiencing the local communities and thought about how much I would miss this tiny town. I’ve been in an odd mood most of the weekend because I have been anticipating my final week in the amazing town of Bocas and with the self-less people of Floating Doctors. This little yoga session brought me the calm I needed before my last week of medical clinic in Panama to be followed by a hectic weekend of travel.

I will not have internet service until the end of next week since we will be on a multi-day clinic, but please be on the lookout for a blog post next week. And because this is my last week in Panama, I’ll be uploading loads of photos from my travels on the page titled My Volunteer Trip to Bocas del Toro, Panama so be on the lookout for this as well! In the meantime, enjoy my photos below from this weekend :)

- Nicole

Boat Captain Alexi in his natural habitat: