Guess what!! I experienced my first earthquake! It probably never made it to the news in Canada, but damn! It was scary! I was just starting to nod off on our first night here, sleeping comfortably in our hotel that jutted out awkwardly over the ocean, when I felt it. Just a slight shaking at first, until the earth was moving a good metre to either side.

I called out George´s name, but he wasn´t answering (which pissed me off) so I hit him. That made him answer. Just as he screamed out "What!?" the earthquake stopped. It was just a little guy that lasted thirty seconds. But it did knock out the electricity for the rest of the night, not that that mattered.

Now, you´d think that was enough for the weather. You´d think old Mother Nature would have had enough fun and hunkered herself down for some quality beach time. But no.

Only two days after we arrived in Panama, it started to rain. And then, it rained some more. Following this, it continued to pour. And if that wasn´t enough for ya, it lightly sprinkled in the afternoons.

Now I´m not complaining, but we have seen more rain than I care to ever see again. What we experienced was a sweet little tropical storm. On our island, Isla Bastimentos, it wasn´t so bad. We experienced far less bad stuff than Panama`s mainland.

You see, it wasn´t just the rain, it was the ocean. Usually it swells no more than a foot, which is why people build homes, hotels and restaurants a foot above the ocean. But this swell came in at a wopping 6 feet. That`s a bad combination.

As a result, the Red Rooster restaurant was swept away one night, with its owner sleeping peacefully inside. The water slid underneath the building and smoothly lifted it up, and carried it away in one piece. I guess they never nailed it down. Out on the open water, the waves proceeded to smash it into teeny little pieces. Before this happened, the man inside managed to leap out and scramble onto shore, so you can heave a huge sigh of relief now.

To keep the ocean at bay, the locals created three-foot-high burms of garbage. There were old pieces of linoleum flooring, bottles, flip-flops, freezers and washers, to name a few of the items that were used. I guess it was a good choice, as it served a double purpose: water safety and easy garbage disposal.

After two days of this, half of the people in our hostel voted themselves off the island. The next day saw another half leave. Until finally, last night, there were only three of us left. Needless to say, we drank a lot.

The locals were remarkable throughout the storm, which lasted an entire week. They partied from dawn to dawn every day, eating the usual fair of rice and beans with fried chicken, pumping out the reggaeton and letting loose. They have a great attitude that says "The world`s going to shit. Better party!"

They really are great people. Always warm and inviting, always chatty, always ready to dance. We went to a restaurant one afternoon for lunch, and found about twenty locals in there partying at 1 PM. Man, those women sure know how to move. I swear, their hips have minds of their own!

And the language is fascinating! It`s a unique mix of some African languages, english and spanish that is native to this island. Sometimes, I think I can understand it!

This morning, we finally followed the others and left Bastimentos. It`s beautiful, but there`s nothing to do, especially after the storm wiped out an entire beach and all the paths are washed out and knee-deep with mud. And with only two restaurants remaining and extremely limited vegetables to choose from in the corner-stores, we had to leave.

We returned to Bocas del Toro, which is only a five minute boat-ride from Bastimentos, but there are more tourists, more restaurants, and a working internet. The really bad news is that now we might be stuck here for a while. As I mentioned earlier, the inland of Panama was hit bad. The swell flooded whole towns which had to be evacuated, and the rivers have washed away very large chunks of road, while the remaining pavement is almost lost in mudslides.

So, the only way out of here is to fly. We don`t want to, though, so we`re stalling and hoping that something magical will happen. We know it`s just wishful thinking, but we don`t want to dish out $40 per person to get us to David, which is also surrounded by washed-out roads. But apparently it`s possible to get to Costa Rica from there.

Once we get to Costa Rica, we will try to leave very quickly as it is so expensive. This means we have to skip through to Nicaragua. But wait! More bad news! After their recent election, the people have begun to protest and rebel as they believe the election was rigged by Americans! There are travel warnings stating that if you`re American, avoid Nicaragua at all costs. And damnit, we look like Americans!

So what do we do, family? What do we do?