#and everything else (example the hobbit) would be 15 days

[raininyourblackeyes]

Genuine question: How much do you have to pay to use your public library (monthly or yearly basis) and how many books can you borrow at once and how long can you keep them before returning?

[howtohero]

#266 Controlling Your Fall

Phwoof what a day! You’re tumbling through the skies, the wind blowing through your hair, plummeting to your death. Somehow, either by luck or design, you’ve got this guide with you (Maybe it was in your pocket and you managed to pull it out, scan the table of contents, and flip to this page. Maybe someone else in the plane had it and it fell out with you and it just coincidentally opened up to this entry. It doesn’t matter!) so don’t worry, you’re going to be fine! (And if not, take solace in the fact that we’re going to be fine. Because our life forces are not bound to this guide and we exist separately from it.) People survive massive drops like this all the time. Sure, it’s not great that the plane or dirigible or hot air balloon or giant eagle you were flying exploded or unexpectedly dipped or got hijacked by sky-pirates who made you walk the plane, but by no means does it have to be fatal. All you need to do is learn how to make the most of this fall.

Now, depending on how high up you were when you began this one way journey towards the rapidly approaching ground, you don’t have a lot of time before we’re giving advice to a stain on the ground so we’ll try to make this quick. (That was a very long preamble {stop making unnecessary comments we are pressed for time!} If you were sooo worried about time you should’ve used a contraction there ya nerd.) First things first, are you wearing a parachute? If you are then you’re good to go and now would be a great time to open it up. If you’re not, for shame. You really should always be wearing a parachute. Superheroes live dangerous and thrilling lives. You never know when you’re going to be plummeting to your death. If you’re very small, like if you’re a shrinker or one of those new tehcnopunk hobbit superheroes that have started cropping up, you can try using the pages of this book as a parachute. That might work. (If you are using the digital version of this guide, which, I should point out, is the only version of this guide that exists at the moment, you cannot use it as a parachute unless a wireless printer is also falling alongside you.) If you don’t have a parachute, try sprouting wings from your back and simply flying to safety. Now, if you’re thinking, “this guide is a waste of my time, I can’t just sprout wings out of my back!” then I say, have you ever tried? While doing research for this post, we went around and interview people with wings and like 15% of them said that they first discovered their wings while plummeting to what they thought was going to be their death. (The majority of the people we interviewed were bird-people from Nimbus City and that was a genetic thing.) 

Alternatively, as with all things, it’s always best to be prepared. If you take a few rudimentary, relatively simple precautions before you find yourself hurtling towards your death, you can ensure that you come out of any crash landing alive and well. We’ve already mentioned wearing a parachute at all times, but a jetpack or rocket boots would work just the same. As would keeping your jetpack choir close by at all times. A good trick you can use is training some type of flock or swarm of flying creatures to surround you at a moment’s notice and carry you to safety. Now, don’t take my vague language to mean that just any flying animal will work for this. Bats, for example, can only operate at night, and you might fall out of a helicopter during the day. (Stranger things have happened; once I woke up and my toes were celery. {What.}) Birds, of all species, are out too. You just can’t trust birds. They’ll probably steal your wallet or peck your eyes out. (What? What’s the problem. {You know you don’t have to comment on everything right? Some things you can let pass by.} I’m gonna let my fist pass by into your face.) Most flying mythical creatures know they’re too good to be doing menials tasks for you. So your best bet with this is really just training a bunch of flies (every two-three days to keep pace with the lifespan of the average housefly) to fly to your rescue anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice.

If you don’t have a parachute and you don’t have wings and you can’t call a swarm of gross flies to help you out then you need to focus on landing correctly. Sure, I can tell you all about tucking and rolling so you don’t break your legs. Or I can emphatically warn you not to land anywhere face first. (You will snap your neck and lose all your teeth and then nobody’s gonna want to hang out with you.) But I’m sure you already know all that. That’s just common sense. Instead I’ll tech you how to use quick thinking and a willingness to think outside of the box to survive this predicament. The key, the number one guaranteed trick, to surviving a fall, and this is from any height by the way- You could jump from the moon and this would work- (that’s true) is to aim for the nearest bounce house. According to a survey that we just conducted, there are approximately 13 billion bounce houses inflated in the contiguous US at any and all times. (We’re still waiting for the data from Alaska, Hawaii, and the US territories.) All you need to do is find them, and position yourself so that you land on one of them. Luckily for you you’re starting off with a pretty high vantage point, so you should have no trouble locating the closest bounce house. To move while in the air I recommend flailing your arms about randomly and frantically. This will catch the attention of wind spirits or perhaps the Cloud Hoppers who will help guide you towards your destination. 

One of the most crucial things to remember as you pull off the perfect, death-defying landing, is to look cool while you do it. Remember, you’re a superhero, an oftentimes controversial public figure. You don’t want headlines the next day to read “Superjerk Ruins Orphan’s Birthday Party by Destroying Bounce House That Had Orphans In It.” So make sure to shout something when you get close to landing, so people know to vacate the premises. But don’t just scream like a baby, shout something cool like “Look out below!” or “Just thought I’d drop in!” or “This is your friendly neighborhood superhero, requesting permission for an emergency landing.” If they grant you permission, they can’t get mad at you later. Also, think about how you’re going to pose when you land. Since you’re landing in an inflatable bouncy house you can really do anything without having to worry about shattering any of your surprisingly brittle bones. (Once I woke up and my bones had been replaced by actual peanut brittle. {Again with the- did you upset a witch chef or something?} I can’t imagine how you could possibly think that that’s any of your business.) You can do the classic three-point superhero landing. You can put your hands behind your bed and cross your feet as if you’re just lounging about. You could do a backflip. The world is your oyster! Then all the headlines will read “Superjerk Makes Incredible Surprise Appearance at Orphan’s Birthday Party: Orphan Quoted As Saying ‘God That Guy is Cool I Wish He Was My Dad.’”

Nobody wants to fall from the sky, but that’s just life sometimes. As a superhero your likely to be wrestled out of an airplane, lose your powers mid-flight, get shot out of the sky for violating somebody’s airspace, crash into an invisible sky-city, or fall asleep while flying and start falling to your death. What you do next is up to you, but your situation is incredibly survivable as long as you take the proper precautions, or follow our certified and smart (and good) tips! 

[transienturl]

the first half of the ask post you didn't reblog because you're doing them all anyways

Thanks, me!

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?Option 7, None of the above: highball glass. I looked up the glassware model I like; apparently the manufacturer calls them “nordic cooler glasses.” I much prefer glassware made of glass to any other type, and dislike the ridges/patterns on a lot of drinking glasses. Yep, I’m this picky.

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?Chocolate. I like chocolate’s texture and the way it melts, and I don’t like eating bits of paper.

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?Cotton candy. Bubblegum is gross.

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?Uhh… hm. “Smart,” probably, which wasn’t particularly helpful. They probably had a bunch more to say but I don’t remember what anymore.

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?I like this ask post! As mentioned, glass cups. I like how soda cans feel in the hand but the drinking experience is just alright. Plastic is just unpleasant.

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?I had to google “boho” and I’m still not super clear on what it encompasses, but it seems kinda neat! Also I have no idea what grunge really means. If I had a feminine body and thus felt like dressing up, I’d definitely pick boho out of the google image results of each of those terms.

7. earbuds or headphones?Both; if I wear either for too long I switch to the other for comfort. But I’m at least somewhat an audio enthusiast, so I could go on for a long time here. Ex:

The soundstage of open-back headphones is really unparalleled for one. Apple’s earpods/airpods actually fit me and have basically no microphonics, which usually are a big issue with IEMs for me, plus their resolution on the high end is surprisingly great.

Insert the rest of this discussion here.

8. movies or tv shows?I watch either of these not from seeking them out but from circumstance, but often wind up liking them. I’m one of those people who thinks, “I’d watch that,” and then never watches whatever that was. So I don’t really know which I do or would prefer.

9. favorite smell in the summer?Uh… hm. That’s a really good question. What’s most interesting about it, I think, is just the list of smells people associate with a season. Of course there’s environmental ones like rain, but for summer I assume you have to go with, I dunno, fair food or something like that.

Anyway, no idea! I can’t think of a lot of meaningful smells that aren’t food, honestly.

10. game you were best at in p.e.?I remember enjoying capture the flag a lot. I dunno if I was actually good at it, though. I did have pretty good short-duration speed, so I was a decent defender. I don’t really remember what else we did.

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?Nothing. (I don’t like most American breakfast foods much, though that’s not why.)

12. name of your favorite playlist?I called it “the playlist which is entirely fire” because why not. Alternately, the playlist with all of my music is just named after me.

13. lanyard or key ring?Key ring; I’m not a… yeah actually that joke would only work for people who went to my high school and follow this blog (hi Xander).

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?That’s also a really good question and I’m positive I have an answer, but I can’t think of it. I eat candy once every like 3 months, so it doesn’t exactly come to mind easily. The candied pecans I just tried are pretty good, though. Insert reference to my halloween fanfiction.

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?Y'know how there are some things that you remember deciding at one point were your favorite, but don’t remember well enough to properly consider now? A lot of my favorite pieces of media are like that, but I have at least some confidence in the decision I made at the time. Not so much here. I remember thinking with surprise that I enjoyed The Mill on the Floss when I read it in class, so that’s what comes to mind, but I think it’s the wrong answer. I’m pretty sure there are some books I really enjoy that I’ve forgotten were originally for class. Random example that I think is also wrong: The Hobbit. The Giver is pretty darn good, too. Fahrenheit 451. I don’t remember this being the case but we might have read A Wrinkle in Time in a class. Et cetera.

Wait, no, actually, I figured it out: Island of the Blue Dolphins. (Which, actually, goes in the “this might be too much of a childrens’ book to enjoy rereading” category along with Summerland, The Great Tree of Avalon, The Marino Mission, What the Moon Saw, The Secret of Platform 13, and Island of the Aunts, all of which I loved at the time of reading. And potentially also The Book Thief, although I doubt it. Can you tell I like award-winning children’s books, though?)

16. most comfortable position to sit in?With crossed legs or on my feet, which people seem to find weird.

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?I only have one regularly-used pair of shoes.

18. ideal weather?Still. I can’t stand wind of any kind. A range of temperatures is nice (not too hot; not *too* cold but snow is pretty so I’ll allow a wide range in that direction.)

19. sleeping position?In a ball, or at least partially curled up.

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?I haven’t written on paper in like a decade. I had to recently in order to leave a sticky note on something and had actual trouble making it legible. Essentially everything I write is on this 2013 Macbook Pro keyboard.

21. obsession from childhood?Um… existentialism? The pretend world my sisters’ and my stuffed animals lived in? Popular science topics and things from video game worlds, all of which went into said pretend world? Jet aircraft? Algebra and geometry puzzles? Configuring laptop computers?

22. role model?John Green. People who can communicate/present things effectively.

23. strange habits?I’m sure I have a ton. I’m not going to delay posting this to come up with any, but I’ll think about it. But especially if we’re using western society as the ‘norm’ for the sake of the question, I think there’s a ton of stuff I do that’d surprise people.

24. favorite crystal?Hm. I like the colorless ones like diamond, I guess? I just generally like gemstones, especially in fiction when they have powers. Oh, how’s this: I tend to like crystals that are (semi)transparent, so they have depth to them and change appearance as they’re rotated.

The other weird, mostly-unrelated thing that comes to mind is when I made a necklace for my best friend in elementary school and spent a lot of effort picking out the right sort of pendant, but I don’t think it was actually a crystal. (I often wonder what it would’ve been like if I hadn’t moved; I bet we’d still be close.)

25. first song you remember hearing?Neat question! I have no memory of a particular song being the first. My parents played music a lot when I was little, so a lot of their CD collection makes me think, “I’ve been listening to this since far before I noticed that I was.” The most recent one of those I heard and wrote down was Cathedral of the Pines by Tim Janis.

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?…complain about the heat? :D Hm, I don’t have a lot of outdoor hobbies.

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?…complain about the cold? :P I do like to ski somewhat. And I like hot cocoa.

28. five songs to describe you?

Eric’s Song – Vienna Teng

Doubt – Ruby Day

…hm. Looking through my playlists and the #media tag on this blog, there’s a ton of songs that I like, and where that fact tells you something about my taste in music, but it’s hard to find songs whose content particularly tells you something. Let’s just go with songs I find some meaning or relevance in?

Laughing With – Regina Spektor

Rainbow Connection – Kermit the Frog/various covers

Okay, I ran out of songs with particular meaning; let’s finish up with one whose meaning is arguably a lack of particular meaning?

Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell

29. best way to bond with you?Talking, I guess. Boring answer, maybe, but I think most bonding experiences I’ve had were just two people talking about something important.

30. places that you find sacred?My elementary school? Is that a weird answer?

Other than that… a lot of places, really. Depending how you use “sacred,” I think it could apply in my mind to lots of unique places, especially natural-wonder type things.

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?I haven’t got one. None of my clothes are things I’ve picked out to look good, honestly. The thing that makes me feel more “ready to go out and kick ass than usual” is, like, bringing a phone charger with me in case I run out of battery in the process of whatever ass kicking it’s going to be, and that’s not an outfit thing.

32. top five favorite vines?Remember vine? Good times.

1. A Legendary Argument (https://vine.co/v/enUmZjLFgw2/); the “just do it” “no” one

Yeah, that’s it. I don’t know of any other ones.

33. most used phrase in your phone?I… don’t know how to tell. That sounds like a cool thing to figure out but I dunno how to see that.

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?None, thank god.

35. average time you fall asleep?Too late.

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?No idea.

37. suitcase or duffel bag?I don’t really know what context to think of this question in. Like, is there a time both would be valid options? Anyway, suitcase. Honorable mention: backpack.

38. lemonade or tea?I only like either of these in moderation. Usually I’d say lemonade, but lately I’ve been disliking acidic drinks more than usual, so maybe I’ll say tea. Actually, what I like is chrysanthemum tea, which you can get at dim sum places sometimes.

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?I’ll go with lemon cake. I can only eat a really small amount of lemon meringue. If someone made more of a lemon meringue tart with a really thin layer of lemon (maybe 10mm or a bit less) and a lot of crust and meringue, that could be really good though.

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?If “bad” counts as “weird,” let’s just say it involved sexual misconduct.

41. last person you texted?My dad (a link to instructions to get free in-flight wifi; nothing interesting).

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?I prefer to put stuff in pants pockets so I have them if I take off my jacket, but then my pants fall down because I have no hips and my pants are all regular-person sized.

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?I immediately crossed off everything except hoodie and cardigan. With a different body I’d definitely pick cardigan.

44. favorite scent for soap?Unscented.

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?Eh, I mean, I think they all have potential. I’d pick sci-fi or fantasy over superhero; print comics have never interested me at all, though I’m sure there’s interesting stuff in there too.

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?I feel like it’s just whatever you’re used to, honestly.

47. favorite type of cheese?Maybe fresh mozzarella? Either way, it’s going to be something people who really like cheese would barely count as cheese.

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?If I were a fruit… not to take it too literally, but I can’t think of a better way to interpret it. Um… a ground cherry, because it’s cute and has a place to hide in.

49. what saying or quote do you live by?“Hope is the correct response to the human condition.”

There are probably better ones that correspond to things I live by more, but that’s the one I have a quote for. Guess who it’s by? I’ll give you one guess.

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?Not sure. Show of the Weekend (@outsidextra) definitely wins “hardest laugh that I can remember recently” though.

[whatsaboutalaska]

Bocas del Toro

This is going to be a very long Blogpost, because I spent a month on the beautiful Islands of Bocas del toro and I have a lot to tell you about :D

Isla Colon

It’s the main Island and although it’s one of the bigger ones, the city (bocas town - the capital of the whole Archipel) is very tiny. It won’t take you more than 10 minutes to walk from one end to the other, what might seem a bit boring, but there's always something new to discover :) !

Where to stay

Normally I don't give anti-recommendations for hostels, but although everyone I asked recommended me to stay at Selina in Bocas, it was my worst hostel experience ever. If you're like me, and more into cozy small hostels, where you easily feel at home, and not into party party, I'll recommend you not to book at Selina, especially not friday and saturday! You don't need to stay there to hang out at their dock, or join the parties at night. But I love to sleep. So these two nights were horrible for me :)!

Skully‘s House

I would have loved to stay at this hostel, but unfortunately it was fully booked when I was there. But I still spent a few hours at the place, and the dorms look amazing :)! The cheapest option for a night at Skully's are 15$! It is directly at Paunch Beach, it has a pool, and a very tasty restaurant, which unfortunately is not really cheap.

Fun Fact: The hostel in designed in Pirate theme and the owner is a bearded pirate with a real woodleg :D

Coconut hostel

It's the cheapest place I could find on the Island, and it's one of few places in Bocas where breakfast is included! Pancakes with fresh fruits! What else could you wish for? :D Although the bathrooms in the hostel are really not nice, I completely enjoyed my stay! The vibe is very family-like and they even have a rooftop full with hammocks for 5$/night if that's your thing :)! I meet an awesome israeli musician while I stayed there, who gave me a private concert the night before he left. Such an incredibly talented guy!

Pro Tipp: It doesn't matter where you stay, I really recommend you to use the loundry service at coconut hostel! They charge 3$ instead of for example 10$ at Selina!

Where to eat

Panaderia Alemana

For Germans and Austrians the hardest part while travelling is to find bread. And I mean real bread. I spent every free minute in this Bakery on Isla Colón, having breakfast, just a snack or my favorite pastries.

Pro Tipp: try the maracuya cheesecake!

Restaurante chitré

It's one of few cheap places in Bocas del Toro, and normally you just see locals eating there :)! For 4,75$ you get a huge plate of grilled chicken, rice and salad - and it's not just cheap, it's super tasty! It's also a good place to practice your spanish, while chatting with panamanians.

LaItaliana

Normally a bit pricey, LaItaliana offers a happy hour in the afternoon, where they offer a pizza plus drink for 6$! One of the best Pizzas I ever had! I recommend you to take a large pizza, the small ones are just for hobbits :D

Pollo Rosti

This little restaurant offers nothing else than grilled chicken and fries. But I can guarantee, that you won't find better chicken for this price on the whole Island! For 7$ you get half of a roasted a chicken, including fries and dips. The only thing which is bothering me, is that they serve their food on single-use plastic tableware. #savetheplanet

What to do

Rent an ATV

Flying Pirates belongs to the owner of Skully's House and is the company you want to go with, while racing through the jungle. It's definitely not a cheap activity, but by far the best I have experienced on this trip! Nearly the whole island is covered with jungle, but only Flying Pirates have access to it, because they pay rent to the owner of the land. To make sure, that no ATV drivers of other companies can enter this property, the pirate placed many traps along the trail! So make sure you listen carefully to his instructions, because you don't want to drown your ATV or die...

So go for it and enjoy this amazing adventure, but be prepared: you will get back very very dirty and maybe a bit injured. #dontflip #yesIdid

Cacao Ceremony

In Bocas del Toro I experienced my very first cacao ceremony! I'm not religious or spiritual, so things like that always seemed a bit strange for me but honestly I enjoyed it a lot! It's a gathering of different people who mostly sit in a circle, drink cacao, and combine that with for example yoga, sound healing or dancing. Since centuries cacao is used for physical and mental healing, it actually increases your bloodflow and produces endorphins. This topic is so big, it deserves a whole blog post itself, so if you're interested and want to know more about it, I share this article with you: http://www.balispiritfestival.com/blog/cacao-ceremonies-what-why-and-how

Bioluminescence Tour

This tour is definitely one big highlight of my whole trip, because it is so different than any other boattrip I experienced. You have to be a bit lucky to get the experience, because you're only able to see bioluminescence in the water when it's really dark, so tours just take place around new moon. I did my tour exactly on new moon, and it was a breathtaking experience for me. It was quite scary to jump into the sea, in the middle of the night, and I definitely overcame some fears on that trip! Because it was completely dark, our guide was whistling all the time, to make sure we find him in the water and don't get lost. If you want to know some more about the tour and about bioluminescence in general I recommend you to read following article: https://hellotravelpanama.com/packages/bioluminescence-tour/

Surf!

I'm not a very comfortable surfer, so I never tried it in Bocas. Butt everyone else does, because it's a great surfer destination! The waves are really high and often very dangerous, so it's not the best place to start with surfing, but you'll definitely love it when you're a bit more advanced. But don't surf at Bluff Beach! In the last years, a lot of people died surfing there, and nearly everyone who tries breaks their boards.

Zapatilla Tour

Although Bocas del Toro is a very expensive place, you can book daytours for not more than 25$/person! A must do is a tour to Cayo Zapatilla, which should include a stop at dolphin bay, sloth island, Hollywood (starfish island) and the coral snorkel spot. This tour is definitely a highlight for me so far! I've seen a lot of dolphins, but unfortunately you can't go for a swim with them, because the bay is full of jellyfish!

Stand Up Paddling!

From Isla Colon you can easily paddle to Isla Carenero, which is just one minute away if you take the boat. If you are not very familiar with surfing or stand up paddling, I would NOT recommend you to rent your gear at Selina, because they also have no Idea. So I ended up with a big surfboard, instead of an SUP board, sitting on it and trying not to fall. Well, at least the board was pink :D!

Plastic Bottle Village

I have no idea how I could have missed this place, but it's so amazing, that I definitely need to share it with you!

Years ago, a Canadian called Robert moved to the Island and started to collect water bottles, instead of throwing them away, and in the last years he built a whole village out of these bottles. He designed a huge castle, and even built little houses you can rent and live in, for a very good price! With his program he wants to draw attention to the excessive use of plastic, and with the money he earns he supports the local community and tries to educate children about this important topic. If you want to know more about this project, visit the website! http://www.plasticbottlevillage-theline.com/

Where to shop

Black Cat

This shop is not just my favorite for shopping clothes, it also sells very extraordinary souvenirs. Everything they sell is unique and nearly all their designs are self made. Unfortunately it's not backpacker budget friendly, but I love every piece I bought there! They also sell underwear with very special prints in four different sizes and three different shapes, which are 15$ per piece, but super comfortable and unique!

Tutty n Fish

Best place to buy fish and seafood to cook it at home! Unfortunately I never had the chance to buy the tuna because it was always sold out, but I heard it's amazing, and it's super cheap!

Farmacia el Javillo

It seems a bit weird to recommend a farmacy, but unfortunately I spent a lot of time in pharmacies and also been to the hospital in Bocas del Toro. Apparently it's very easy to open a farmacy in Central America, for which reason the quality and the prices of the products differ a lot. With this farmacies I never had any problems, they gave me good advices and they also speak a little english :)!

Isla Bastimentos

Because Bocas Town was a bit to much party for me, and I definitely wanted to stay at a beautiful beach, I moved to Isla Bastimentos after three days, and very spontaneously I started to work in an incredible hostel directly at Red Frog Beach!

Where to stay

Palmar Beach Lodge

Where should I start! I stayed one month volunteering at this place, had the most amazing people around me, spent Christmas and New Years Eve here and couldn't wish for a better time! This place is a very nice mixture of a hotel and hostel. They offer very luxurious bungalows and tents, but also cheap mixed 8-bed cabins which are the most amazing dorms I have ever seen! The only thing that doesn't really fit into the low budget plan of a backpacker, is that there is no guest kitchen at the hostel. So you have no choice but eating at the restaurant all day long, which is super super tasty and backpacker budget friendly :)!

What to do

Red frog beach

If you stay at Palmar this beach is directly in front of your door. It's the most famous beach in the whole Archipel, but honestly not the most perfect one for swimming, because mostly the current is really strong, and there's always a red flag. To spot a red frog you have to be very lucky, because they are super tiny!

Polo Beach

It's a 40 minute walk through the jungle and on the beach to get from Red Frog Beach to Polo Beach, and it's 100% worth it! There are no hotels - just Polo lives there. He's an old guy who built himself a little cabin and sells coconuts, drinks, and sometimes even fresh grilled fish.

Wizard Beach

To get to this beach it's quite a long walk through the jungle! Unfortunately I never arrived there, because the time I tried there were so many ants that I turned around. Make sure you get back before it gets dark, because you really don't walk this path at night! The last years there were a lot of robberies along this trail, so make sure you don't go alone and don't take valuable things with you :)

Up in the Hill

If you walk 20 minutes uphill from Old Bank, the main town of Bastimentos, you get to this cacao farm, run by a Scottish family. Unfortunately I never booked a tour there, but I hiked all the way up to bring back their lost dog, but apparently it wasn't their dog... (it was the dog of another cacao farm)

Pro Tipp: Try their selfmade brownies :)!

Marina

It's the place where all the private sailing boats and catamarans dock, and normally you're not really supposed to go there because it's a private property, so your only allowed there if you have a boat. But you definitely have the most beautiful sunset view in Bastinentos :)!

Isla Carenero

If you’re a fan of party and you want to join filthy Friday (it’s like a pub crawl every Friday, but they take you to different islands for this group drinking experience) you can just stay at Agua Lodge, and get Filthy Friday for „free“, because every group will stop there. I didn’t stay in this hostel, because I’m not really into party, but they have a trampoline where you can jump directly into the water.

Isla Solarte

Bambuda Lodge

This hostel is usually fully booked. Even in low season. So be fast, if you want to stay in this amazing hostel! I didn’t sleep there, but spent a full day at the island and had dinner at the hostel. It doesn’t have a guest kitchen, so there is no other choice than eating in the Bambuda restaurant, or going to the main island. The restaurant is pricey (one meal is around 12-15$) but i strongly recommend you to eat there at least once! You can pick out of four different meals, which change every day, and the food is delicious!

If you are not a guest, and just go there for Dinner or the Pool, expect to pay a fee of 5$.

Transportation

If you're not a friend of boat rides, you will have a hard time in Bocas. Around three times a week I took a shuttle from Bastimentos to Isla Colon, just because I really enjoy cruising between the islands. Fortunately all this boat trips were free for me, because it was a private shuttle from the hostel I worked at, otherwise you'll pay a lot of money on boat rides while you stay there. Don't hesitate to negotiate, all the locals will try to rip you off.

Tipps and Tricks

Just buy necessary stuff!

As I already mentioned, Bocas is super expensive. So bring everything you might need, and try to avoid buying medicines, technical devices and other things you can probably buy on the mainland or town, because the smaller islands are even more expensive!

Use the free shuttles

If somebody asks, I never told you about this! But there are many hostels who provide Free Shuttles between the islands, and they never really check if you're a guest or not. Make use of it and save some money :)

Bring a shopping bag

The whole Archipel of Bocas del Toro is completely plastic bag and straw free! Isn't that amazing? So if you plan on buying some groceries, bring a shopping bag!

Don't bring expensive clothes

Living in the jungle kills your clothes. It's close to 100% humidity, mold grows easily and you will never really have the feeling of fresh smelling clothes. Sad but true, make sure that you store your clothing always in the fresh air to prevent the worst.

Never buy tours online

It doesn't matter where you go, but NEVER ever book tours online, especially not on TripAdvisor. All the Tours you'll find on the internet are two or three times more expensive! There are so many tour companies, especially in Bocas del Toro, you really don't need to worry about saving a spot. Book spontaneously, that's where you get the best discounts!

Mosquitos!

Make sure to use enough repellent and don't spend to much time on the beach and the docks after it's getting dark. If you don't want to use too much chemical products, you can prevent Mosquito and sandfly bites with coconut oil.

Learn to say NO

Especially in Bocas Town, everyone tries to sell you tours, boat trips, food and mostly they are really good in what they do. When I started this trip I always had the feeling I need to be nice, and thought it's rude to just walk away. I learned very fast, that this isn't how it works, and that you clearly have to tell them that you're not interested. "¡No, gracias!" , will be your new favorite phrase.

I completely enjoyed my stay in Bocas del Toro, and definitely would love to come back some day :D

[purplefictionmom]

I'd normally be like "ALL THE QUESTIONS" but I'm really interested in 7 and 15 (but like if you wanted to do them all then hell yeah pls do)

You know what, Imma answer them all, cause I love you darling~<3

All answers under the cut, cause I’m sure I'll get long winded, as usual haha

1) is there a story you’re holding off on writing for some reason?I mean, there was a story that I had been sitting on for...10 years, I think? I just didn’t know how I wanted to tell the story. It started as a mockumentary type of thing, then when that didn’t fit the narrative style I wanted to tell, I moved to a classic modern fantasy style, but that didn’t pan out either.

Then, the game called “What Remains of Edith Finch” came out and it hit me so hard that I nearly passed out: that is the perfect narrative style for the book idea I’ve been sitting on!!

Incidentally, if you haven’t played/watched someone play it, “What remains of Edith Finch” is an excellent game and Jacksepticeye does a wonderful let’s play of it :D

2) what work of yours, if any, are you the most embarrassed about existing?Not as much anymore, but I used to hate bringing up “...And the Things That Followed.” Just for a short what-for: ATTTF is a Left4Dead/2 fanfiction, reader-insert that started as a sort of experiment: I perused lunaescence and picked a fandom that I was familiar with, but that didn’t have a lot of fanfiction to choose from. I mostly wanted to see if smaller fandoms stay active, even with very little content to choose from. And boy, did I get my answer.

The biggest reason that I ended up embarrassed over it was because I hadn’t intended it to be a romance fic (I mean...the two main characters are the reader and a Hunter, and what with necrophilia being really gross and all...), but I had readers out and out demand for it, to the point of going on strike from reading my fanfic. This was years ago, mind you, so I caved like a wet noodle and now hate that particular fanfic, to the point where I don’t even want to write the two sequels that I already had planned and half-written.

So, it started out as embarrassment, now its more I wish I could just delete it and forget it exists, but I’m one of those authors who has a really hard time deleting anything, even things I hate haha.

3) what order do you write in? front of book to back? chronological? favorite scenes first? something else?For the very first, ultimate scene I picture in each fic/story/novel, it could really end up anywhere in the final version.

After that first initial scene I see, I try to start as far back as I think I can get away with and move forward from there, so I guess the short answer is I write from beginning to end, no matter how it ends up being at the end, haha.

4) favorite character you’ve writtenI guess this is supposed to not include characters I don’t own, but that’s no fun so here you go:

OC: A supernatural Hunter named Silva and another hunter (who I have an rp blog for) named Theodora ‘Timmie’ Wilson

Non-OC: Writing Yusuke from YYH and Asgore from UT

5) character you were most surprised to end up writingI’m not quite sure what this question means, so I’ll just take a stab and guess it’s talking about how a character can end up differently on paper than how you first envisioned them in your head.

And that award goes to Silva. I expected her to be a hard, cold killer, but she had so much inner turmoil and hidden thoughts that she was definitely the hardest character to write until I actually started to understand her.

Which took an ungodly amount of time, tbh haha.

6) something you would go back and change in your writing that it’s too late/complicated to change nowProbably how often I use the double-hyphen. Its meant to be an alternative to using commas (which, I use to many as it is anyway haha), but now they litter my writing like popcorn on the floor at a midnight release, haha.

7) when asked, are you embarrassed or enthusiastic to tell people that you write?Honestly? A little of both.

I’m someone who sees fanfiction (and any fanwork at all, tbh) as legitimate art forms, but there are so many who not only don’t agree, but they belittle and question those who participate in fandoms.

There are days I have all my shit together and I’m ready to defend my fanfiction to the death, along with all my original content; I have my sources, I have examples, so on and so forth, but other days...

Well, let’s just say there are days I don’t even volunteer that information to people willingly haha.

8) favorite genre to writeOther than fanfiction, I love horror, fantasy, and scifi the best, though there are plenty of times it feels like I’m hardly writing for any of those genres at all, haha.

9) what, if anything, do you do for inspiration?Fanfiction, most of the time, but I also listen to songs on the radio, discuss ideas with friends/family (my step-dad was the only person when I was growing up who nurtured my love for telling stories and many of my ideas for novels came from talking with him over the years), or I also like to free-write.

At least, I think its called free-writing haha. I basically just put my pen on paper and just talk to the page with my pen. Sometimes, its just a rant, but more often then not, I’ll find a story or character hidden there.

10) write in silence or with background noise? with people or alone?All of the above, haha. In the perfect atmosphere, music is playing in the background, and I’m completely alone with no distractions, but since that’s not reality, I’ve sort of forced myself to adapt to what I can.

My computer (where I do 90% of my writing) is in the living room of my house, so my hubby is usually around, and if he’s playing overwatch, then its usually a few voices playing in the background.

If it gets to be too distracting, I just put headphones in, but I also write in notebooks and I take those everywhere, so for that, I just write when/what I can as I go along.

11) what aspect of your writing do you think has most improved since you started writing?Definitely dialogue, but also my prose. Honestly, all of it, haha. I look back at stuff I wrote years ago and I wonder how anybody thought I was any good, haha.

12) your weaknesses as an authorIf I had to pick one, its probably that I tend to either over-explain, or under-explain. There is no in-between, haha. My first drafts are often a mess of me focusing in on the details of one room and then not describing a setting for two chapters or more.

13) your strengths as an authorProbably my ability to logically follow order of events, even though I don’t plot, like, at all. This also makes it easy to see where I can divert from what’s expected and explore different avenues.

14) do you make playlists for your current wips?Not really? I tend to either put my whole library on shuffle, or I have a dedicated writing playlist that’s full of background music from video games and other things like that.

15) why did you start writing?It started as an outlet.

When I was about 10, my dad came home from work one day while my mom was still at work and while I watched, packed all his stuff into his car, called my mother and told her that if she didn’t get off work soon I’d be home alone, and then left.

I was in a complete and total depression from around then until well into my late teens (I have a little depression now, and a slew of other problems, but now for diff reasons). On top of my dad leaving, my mother, step-father and I all moved to a completely new state, where I started to bomb academically and had literally no friends until almost a year later.

It started out as angsty pre-teen poetry (a lot of which actually still pretty good, even as I go back to read it), then it spilled into fanfiction and fandoms, and around the age of 13--once my step-dad found my love of writing and wanted to pull me away from fanfiction--I finally started writing original ideas out.

16) are there any characters who haunt you?Silva, and a few others. Not so much because their stories are left untold, but moreso because of the way they helped shape me as a writer and the things I was interested in writing about.

The debate about whether or not a writer should write about a certain subject usually stems from readers, but I tend to lean toward the argument from a writer’s point of view: there are subjects that I broached as a teenager that I needed to explore in order to be who I am today, as a person and as a writer. Not to say I have something horrible in my writer’s past that I wouldn’t be able to share, but more that it might be questionable about the age that I delved into those topics. (and no, I don’t mean just smut, though that is included in what I’m talking about)

17) if you could give your fledgling author self any advice, what would it be?Stop wasting your time trying to please family members with what you write. Most of them are going to ignore the whole of your writing and focus in on the one swear word you threw in for characterization anyway.

Write what makes you happy; whether or not its publishable isn’t the point. You’re just starting out and you need to write; to get better, to learn the ropes, so just go WRITE!

18) were there any works you read that affected you so much that it influenced your writing style? what were they?Oh geez...at the beginning, everything I read affected my writing style. Fanfiction, published novels, everything.

Probably my biggest influencers would be “The Green Mile” by Stephen King, “The Hobbit” by JRR Tolkien, “This Present Darkness” By Frank Peretti.

And while these are hugely different authors with different writing styles, they more influenced me in my way of thinking. Of expanding my imagination of what could be if I just had the courage to write it.

19) when it comes to more complicated narratives, how do you keep track of outlines, characters, development, timeline, ect.?I either have a notebook filled with notes about characters/information, or I use a website called Hiveword(dot)com. It’s a novel tracking website that also advertises its program (which you have to pay for), but the website itself is free and you can store all the information about your book, characters, timeline, etc.

20) do you write in long sit-down sessions or in little spurts?Both, but I get more done with longer sessions. I know that seems like a no-brainer, but its more because of how I prep myself for my writing time:

I have to have a glass of water or cup of coffee, I have to have my music playing (which, with spotify could take a few minutes to load), I have to re-read the last page or so of what was previously written so I can get back into the feel of it, then I can actually sit down and write.

the little spurts end up being in my notebooks and they’re a mess, honestly, haha.

21) what do you think when you read over your older work?I used to cringe and close it immediately, but I’ve been trying to analyze and see the biggest differences in my writings from a then and now standpoint. Sometimes its really hard, if its particularly bad or whatev, but its been a real confidence booster when I can see where I was and where I am now.

22) are there any subjects that make you uncomfortable to write?Not uncomfortable, per se, but I tend to try and think of things from a reader’s perspective at the same time I write, so there are times when I get a little too involved in what’s happening on the page, haha.

HIAPOTS was a terror to write at some points because of this.

23) any obscure life experiences that you feel have helped your writing?All of it, if I’m being honest, but obscure things specifically? Hmm...

I mean, probably the fact that I give all my pets personalities and conversations between each other? I do it without thinking, but there are times where I’ll find myself using lines or situations from this weird little thing in my actual writings, haha.

24) have you ever become an expert on something you previously knew nothing about, in order to better a scene or a story?OMG SO MUCH. Like, idk about ‘expert’, but I have so much useless trivia in my head because of being an author. Talk with me for an hour and see if I don’t throw ‘fun facts’ into the mix of our conversations haha.

25) copy/paste a few sentences or a short paragraph that you’re particularly proud ofOh ugh...umm...let me to look...

From a currently unpublished reader/sans fic I’m writing:You understand, don’t you, Sans? 

Sure, Sans understood. Sans always understood. He was the one who didn’t make waves, or overturn boats--you could always count on Sans to be the reassuring nod when you felt lost or the understanding ex who’s perfectly okay with just letting things die, even though the ending came as the greatest punchline ever written in history:

He hadn’t even seen it coming.

(I love delving into characters’ heads, and i love it more when i can do it well enough to feel comfortable with letting other people read it, haha)

From Part 6 of my Garrus/Reader serial fic:“They were my cases,” Garrus admitted, his eyes finally leaving Castis’s in favor of looking at the floor, “And I can’t watch it happen again.”

If Castis didn’t have such a steely reign on his composure now, Garrus might have been clued into his father’s line of thought. As it was, Castis was being forced to realize that he had been wrong in his assessments of his son.The older turian had always thought Garrus shirked the rules and regulations as a form of rebellion, since Castis stepped in and forced him to quit training for the spectres--as if to prove he didn’t care about what his father cared about. Now, Castis realized the reason Garrus pushed them aside so easily was because he did care, maybe too much.

(Honestly, the whole argument between Castis and Garrus in this part of the fic is something I’m proud of)