(Back to the jungle, next post in a few days!)

I took off my backpack and threw it into the back of the taxi. Telling the driver I wanted to go to the bus station, I was propelled backwards as the taxi lurched forward. Fifteen minutes and 5,000 pesos later, I was directed by a man to the Brasilia bus ticket office. Using cash saved me 5,000 pesos, paying 25K pesos for my ticket back to Cartagena rather than the 30K I had paid for the trip to Santa Marta. 

I've learned that the bus exterior gives no indication as to which company it belongs to. On each ticket receipt, the cashier at the ticket office hand writes the bus number for the corresponding trip. Though I traveled with Brasilia both ways, both buses had the markings of another bus company on its external facade. The bus numbers, however, were dead accurate.

After a quick stop at an ATM, I hopped into a cab near the harbor. The driver initially dropped me off at the wrong hostel, but he was only a block off so it wasn't long before he dropped me off at the right one. There, at Makako hostel, I was happily greeted by Vicenta and offered a refreshing cold cup of lemonade. The heat covering Cartagena was unbearable. Though it was ~91 degrees F, the combination of humidity (75%) and sun (UV index of "12 Extreme") made it felt like 111 degrees F. See below for proof.

Warning: This is a rather long post, so get your reading glasses on. 

At 4:30AM, my alarm went off. The 4WD was supposed to pick me up sometime between 5 and 6AM. When the car arrived, there were already two other folks in there, David from NYC and Sonya from Amsterdam. We went and picked up five others who were only going to the San Blas islands. With everyone on board, we drove for about 30 minutes to a shopping center where Lam tours had an office. Since the captain of the boat had arranged the ground transportation for us, this was the first time I had heard of Lam tours.  We were greeted by an extremely energetic woman who gave us a quick overview of what was about to happen. We paid her thirty bucks for the transport to the Caribbean side of Panama, as well as $10 for the Kuna tax. 

The Kuna people are the indigenous population of Panama. Autonomous from Panama, the Kunas have their own laws. The woman from Lam tours advised us not to argue with the Kunas since we won't win and the minimum fine is $500. If we can't pay the $500, we would have to pay via labor. It was unclear whether she was joking or not, but she also mentioned that the Israeli tourists have a tendency to argue with the Kunas. Finally, should we need help, we were informed to mention Lam tours or "Los Chinos" since her family is apparently well appreciated amongst the Kunas.