Stuck on the island

Trip Start Nov 2006
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Trip End Feb 2007


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Flag of Panama  ,
Thursday, December 7, 2006

Well, were stuck here for the night, so I figured I would do another update real quick. We had an easy day yesterday driving north to a little town called Boquete. Ran into another BMW GS rider who lives there. He took us up to his place that is in this beautiful little valley, which has this whole little community there called Valle Escondido. It was pretty wild. The whole place is this gated community that has it all. Feels like being back in the states somehwere. They were really cool, took care of us, and David showed us around Boquete, and took us to a great peruvian restaurant.
The owner of the little community told us about a road that wasn´t on our maps that would take us over to a little place called Bocas del Toro, or at least close enough to catch a water taxi out here. We had thought about coming here, but our map shows the only access being back up through Costa Rica, but we thought, ¨hell! that sounds easy enough!¨ The drive over was easy enough, but the town we found on the other side wasn´t exactly a picture perfect place to leave our bikes. We were assured they are safe enough, but we´ll see! Grabbed the stuff that seemed valuable enough to take with us, while the owner of the parking area argued with one of the guys that supposedly showed us the place over who was going to get a cut. I´m hoping I still have a bike when I get back.
We then headed over to the water taxi dock and climbed onboard. Damn this thing is full. I had my doubts when WE got on, but the boat waited an additional 15 minutes while no less that 7 or 8 more people got on. Holy moly this thing is going to sink before we ever get out of the little bay! One of the few times I made sure there was a lifevest handy. My first clue was when everybody on the boat put one on, which is normal in most places, but I´ve become accustomed to safety being marginal at best down here, so to see everyone put on a life vest made me think that these little boats sinking is a distinct possibility.
Full speed ahead, we bashed our way across the little bay to Bocas del Toro. Not exactly sure what the draw is here, as the town is not as nice as many we have been to, so there must be some cool things on the other side of the island. Unfortunately were are catching the 6:00 am water taxi back to the little town Amantila (I think?) and back up to San Jose Costa Rica for tires. After that its back up through Nicaragua and into Honduras to Copan!
Hope all is well with everybody!
Cheers!
Doug
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