What else could an adrenaline junkie ask for? Today was jam packed with enough fun and activities for a week. Somehow we managed to slam it into one day and hope for similar excitement in the future. After two sloppy days of rain and no sun, we woke up early to a brilliantly bright blue sky. The air was pleasantly cool, while the water around us sat still and calm. I enjoyed my Panamanian pressed coffee and wondered what today would have in store for us. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought we could squeeze in a jungle hike to natural hot springs, paddle through a wild, crocodile-infested river, tour a recently shut down Panamanian prison, and have lunch on Cisnecito with the local police, AK-47s included. But then again, one should never doubt the power of an adventurous spirit and spontaneous attitude.

Our original plan was to tackle our second river and continue with our recent crocodile craze. On our way towards the mouth of the river I noticed a small sign on shore, so of course we headed over to check it out. Sure enough it was a sign for a short jungle hike. Splash! went the dingy's anchor, and we were off tramping through the thick black mud, hopping over large fallen trees and thick bush, and forging raging streams. We made it to the end of the trail to find natural hot springs, which apparently the prisoners used to bath in years ago. Oh darn, I forgot my soap, so I guess I'll pass on a bath. We bumped into a bunch of howler monkeys along the trail and got a kick out of watching them jump from one branch to the next. We made it back to the dingy and headed out in search of more crocodiles, hoping to make it back alive to Cisnecito for lunch. As we motored over towards the mouth of the river, we noticed the Panamanian police boat in the distance. Oh geez, not again! We had talked to the officials a few times before and were starting to warm up to them, so we figured maybe they were coming over to say hello to their fellow gringos. Sure enough they turned towards us and greeted us with friendly smiles and wanted to know how we were enjoying Coiba. We chatted a bit and told them we were looking for the crocodiles in the river. They were extremely helpful and told us where to go, and when. Best of all was the fact that they gave us one of their freshly caught fish as we departed. Maybe the Panamanian police aren't so bad? To return the favor we invited them over for lunch, which they graciously accepted. Okay awesome. We are having the police over for lunch. This has to be good karma right? They didn't have a lot of time, so we enjoyed peanuts, corn chips, and beer, which is what all men like to eat, regardless of their country of origin. They were very interested in the boat and the equipment aboard, which Chris exquisitely explained with his 8th grade Spanish skills. Unfortunately the police didn't speak German, so I sat and smiled the majority of the time, giving a "Si, Bueno" every now and then. We laughed, joked, and enjoyed the brief meal with smiles and photographs, AK-47s included pursuant to my specific request. Were we really going to get pictures without the assault rifles?

Immediately after lunch we raced over to the mouth of a small river to find the highly sought after crocodiles. And find them we did!! We figured we might see a couple like the previous day, but ended up seeing close to 20 different ones, some of which were larger than the dingy. By the way, the dingy measures 11 feet: you do the math. We quickly learned the outboard engine was scaring the beastly creatures into the depths of the murky brown waters, much to our dismay. So we motored up the river, shut the engine down, and silently paddled downstream, in hopes to get closer to the deadly reptiles. For those of you who are questioning this particular tactic, I cannot agree with you more. Unfortunately at the time it seemed like an incredibly brilliant idea, but now seems on the border of brilliantly stupid. Regardless, we did manage to get up close and personal to a number of them and had difficulty containing our gasping, "Ooooh dude, look at that one!" Fortunately we made it up and down the river with all 10 fingers and toes, and chalked up another heart-pumping experience on the board.

From the river we headed over to the penal colony, where the now friendly police, are headquartered. Again we were warmly greeted by the guys we had over for lunch. They were anxious to show us the property and shook our hands with firm welcomes. The penal colony housed almost 2000 inmates until 1995, and is a bleak looking place. Thick concrete walls, barbed wire, and rusting steel bars can be found in the various buildings. Most eerie were the hand-written markings on the walls, still vivid from when the prisoners did time there. Some were "days left" calendars marked in black charcoal chalk, while others were of religious figures and girlfriends. Towards the end of the informal tour we enjoyed freshly cut down coconuts with the police, which tasted incredibly refreshing after our long adventurous day. I will obviously sleep well tonight and can only imagine what tomorrow will bring.