The end of the Americas....for now anyway

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We are in Panama, our last night in Central America :(

But before we got here, we were running short of time so decided to get out of Nicaragua and head straight to Panama. We tried to get one of the international buses with toilet and the works but they were all full, so once again, chicken bus it was. We were very optimistic, thinking we could get to Panama in one day. That was until we got to the first border crossing - it was the most chaotic thing we have ever seen, no signs saying where to queue to get your stamp, or where to get any forms to fill out. Manic! We ended up in the wrong line but thankfully did not have to queue again as we were there for over an hour. That was just to get out of Nicaragaua. A short walk later and we saw the even worse queue for entering Costa Rica. Seriously, there must be an easier way. And there is - get the international buses and they do all the work for you!! After all that queueing, there was then another massive queue to get a bus. We thought we could get a bus to San Jose, but that was ridiculously full, we would've been standing for 5 hours. So we opted to stay the night at the border town - so much for getting to Panama, we barely got into Costa Rica.

We got an early morning bus to San Jose, and got one of the first buses to the Costa Rican border which we got through in less than half an hour, now thats a good border crossing. And luckily enough, we made the last boat out to the most amazing place we've been yet. Bocas de Toro, oh my god, what can we say. We thought Belize was paradise but they have some of the most amazing beaches we've ever seen here - they have white sand, waves, not too many people, beautiful crystal clear caribbean water and that perfect temperature. We stayed on Isla Colon (strange name we know). From here we did a day trip which took us to some great snorkelling sights, dolphin spotting, and red frog beach on Isla Bastimentos which is fantastic. And we also went out to one of the nearer beaches, boca del drago.

After four days here we were sad to leave. We are now in Panama city, just after checking out the Panama Canal today which is a pretty amazing structure. And they're in the process of doing more construction work on it to make it even bigger. Tomorrow we will fit in the last of our shopping and then its Europe, here we come. Irish girlies, are you ready????

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