Every night is ladies night

Trip Start Feb 23, 2008
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Trip End Aug 23, 2008


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Where I stayed
Hostel Heike
(Bocas Town hotels)

Flag of Panama  , Bocas del Toro,
Saturday, June 21, 2008

I left early in the morning for the border. I had heard that you needed to pay $30 to leave Costa Rica and was pleasantly surprised when it was free (it was free to enter Panama as well which was a bonus). A collectivo was waiting at the border to ferry backpackers to where the boat would take you down the old plantation canals and then out to the island of Bocas del Toro for $5. On arriving at Bocas and met up with 2 travellers who i had overheard were going to do some diving (That was why i had come here). Lyall an american and Regina a german. We headed to Hostel Heike where for $9/night you got a dorm bed, unfortnately mine was at the front which would prove to be not the best place.
After some food we headed out to discover the night life - Bocas del Toro is full of travellers who mainly come here for the surf and as such there are many bars all offering happy hours at staggered times and each night one would hold ladies night wherer the woman can drink cheap rum or vodka free Bocas
Bocas
 . Tonight it was the turn of Aqua Lounge, a short boat trip across the water. However after a few beers, a long days travel and an early morning to go diving i headed back to the dorm for what i thought would be a good nights sleep. Unfortunately at 1am after all the bars had closed the only place for people to congregate at the hostel was on the veranda outside my room. Its fummy how in a crowd of drunken noisy people one voice always stands out and it is usually the most irritating.
     The next day the 3 of us went diving. The conditions were pretty good although visibility was a bit down due to large amount of recent rain but there were plenty of fish, sharks, lobsters, squid and crabs to be seen. In the afternoon we watched Germany v Portugal in the football and in the evening followed the crowds to that nights lady night bar.
I had switched rooms so managed to get a good night sleep after staggering in in the wee hours. The wooden carved dolphin i found on my bed was a complete mystery though, suppose it just like finding a traffic cone after a big night out back home.
We did another 2 dives this time stopping off at Red Frog beach for a few hours to lazy in the sun and watch a nasty shore break that people were trying to catch unsucessfully.
Tommorrow i was headed inland. Regina had found a pamplet on a eco hostel that was in a cloud forest and sounded interesting. It was in the general direction i was headed so i decided to tag along.

 
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