Journal Tuesday 2 April 2002 Isla Boca Brava, Chiriquí, Panamá Today was the official day off. Since I had missed last week's trip to David, I went in with Frank and checked email for four hours. Relevant news: there's an undergraduate interested in doing an honors thesis on the manakin parasite stuff; IB has already allotted travel funds & will not be giving me any this year (they sent out an email in early March saying that the deadline was March 8, & I got to town on March 11); Eileen & John got home safely. I purchased $5 worth of screen for the seed collection experiment, caught the San Felix bus, & had the incredible luck to catch a lift with Marcello (?) all the way to Boca Chica. I had already steeled myself for walking the 17 km road, so it was a pleasant surprise. The guyaba are ripe & the drivers shared theirs; the marañon are (cashew fruit) also ripe, so we picked these during a brief stop along the route. Pablo, Guillermo, & Luis, who are working on a gas station on the dock in Boca Chica, shared their dinner of frituras and fried hotdogs. Frituras are fried dough made with egg & flour - a cross between hojaldres & pancakes. Pollo & Ely's mum [gave me] a cold slice of sandía. A wonderful end to a long day. Doval, E.H. 2002