Bocas del Toro

Trip Start Feb 14, 2005

Trip End Jun 14, 2005

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Flag of Panama Bocas del Toro, Panama
Friday, May 20, 2005

Bocas del Toro is a set of islands off the Caribbean Coast of Panama very near to Costa Rica, and a 30 min boat ride from the mainland. There is the main island, Isla Colon, which has most of the bars and shops, and several surrounding islands varying in size. When we got there we (now having so much luggage) threw ourselves at one of the first hostels we found. This wasn't the best idea because it was incredibly musty with no windows and a cockroach in the bathroom that appeared in the middle of the night. The good thing about it was that it had air conditioning and cable tv. It's hard to be selective because we have such heavy luggage and are sweaty from the humid heat.

After we threw our stuff in our room, we headed out to soak in the beach town. About five minutes along a local named Robert approached us offering to show us a few things around town and give us any needed information

a) The bar outside our room, the Pickled Parrot

. Usually we shoo these people away, but there were some specific questions we had that we though we could use his help. This lead to Robert giving us a tour of the town and having us meet everyone, it was a bit uncomfortable because it seemed like we were his trophy tourists. But there was something sweet about him that we couldn't just excuse ourselves. One good thing he helped us with was finding lodging on another island. We took a short boat ride (as he makes commission on boat rides, lodging, etc.) to the next island over, also one of the smallest islands in Bocas. He took us along the sea edge to the few hotels that were there. At the end of "the road" we found a great bar on the water with a room available. We went and had a drink with the owner, a nuclear engineer from Florida, and decided that we could very much enjoy living there for a few days. After our decision (we were staying on Isla Colon that night) Robert wanted to take us to meet his other "friends". We figured out that he wanted to take us to all these places because they gave him a free glass of beer. It would have all been tolerable except for that Robert forgot to breath over the 3 hours that he was with us, he was talking so often. And often, talking about nothing. Once we got back to the main island we were able to ditch him and get some dinner at one of the great Caribbean flavored seaside bars.

The next morning we moved all of our stuff to the Pickled Parrot, where we would be staying

b) Getting pickled at the Parrot

. What we really wanted to do was swim in the ocean so we packed up our beach gear, which now included a beach ball, and walked halfway around our island until we realized that either the water was to shallow or to rocky. So, we went to George, our nuclear engineer friend, and Jorge, our bartender, to ask about other beaches to swim at. Jorge suggested Wizard Beach which was on yet another island, Bastamentos. We flagged down a boat to take us over to Bastamentos to get something to eat and go swimming. We ended up eating at Roots, which has some of the best Caribbean food... delicious. And cheap. From there we weren't exactly sure how to walk to the beach on the other side of the island so a couple locals offered to take us on their boat, and that they did. It was quite exciting arriving at Wizard Beach because it is a picturesque, solitary spot with Caribbean green water and soft golden-white sand. We played in the water for quite a while.

After returning to the Pickled Parrot, Jorge told us about what great Pina Coladas he made, so we had a couple each before we headed to the other side of the island for some great food at the Sunset Grill.

The next day we got up early and joined a tour for the day. As we were sitting at the tour company getting ready to leave, Robert appeared telling us that he had just come back from our hotel looking for us to join one of his tours

c) At night, watch your step for these critters

. Oops, we accidentally signed up with a different company. He told us not to feel bad, so we didn't.
The first stop on the tour was dolphin watching, which was a lot of fun. We saw about seven or eight of them playing around in the water, it was great. Our group of five people stayed there for about a half an hour and then went snorkeling for a couple hours. The snorkeling was beautiful, the reefs were all around and of course we saw such a diverse group of fish down there. Unfortunately, though we spread the 50 sunblock on ourselves previously, the sun got the best of us, mainly our backs and the backs of our legs. Right now it hurts. After we had lunch we went to another popular beach called Red Frog. It was similar to Wizard Beach, so of course we loved it. We played in the water, doing handstands, dragging eachother, seeing who could stay under the longest, throwing each other off our our shoulders, for about an hour and a half or so. Our last stop was off a small island to do some more snorkeling. We love snorkeling, so we had a great all-around time. Except for the sunburn of course.

That afternoon the rains had set in and we knew that if we stayed on Bocas for a few more days that we would be enjoying a lot of rainfall, so we headed to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica the next day, and that is where we are now. It is very Caribbean here, flavorful and fun. But no breaks in the water these days, so surfing is out of the question for now.

More to come later... stay tuned.