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Day 204: Entering Panama
Getting up at half-five wasn't too much of a struggle, since it was already light and rather warm. I packed up, and was ready for the off within half an hour, making my way down to the bus stop by the beach. Although the bus wasn't officially timetabled to arrive until half-past six, it's widely accepted that schedules are estimates and buses don't generally hang around waiting for their official departure time.
Along with a load of locals and two other tourists, I stored my luggage under the bus and managed to find a seat on the already crowded bus ready for the slow journey over unsealed roads down the coast to Sixoala to cross the border into Panama.
One of the more interesting border crossings I've come across; having got off the bus and walked up to the Costa Rica office to get my exit stamp, I joined the many other people traipsing both ways over a very long and old railway bridge, with gaps between the sleepers sufficiently large enough to fall through into the water below if you put your foot wrong (else trod on a manky bit of wood)! Whatsmore,
the volume of 'traffic', in the form of people crossing the bridge, meant that the harrassment to take a taxi/be offered a guide/escort started rather early. Reaching the border checkpoint in Panama, I got my all important entry stamp and went off to find the bus stop. (To be honest, I'm fairly sure I could have made it across both checkpoints without getting my passport stamped at all. It did seem to be a bit of a free-for-all. Possibly not ideal for those authorities trying to prevent drug traffickers!)
The level of hassle encountered whilst trying to just wait for the bus was quite impressive, with taxi drivers coming out with all kinds of impressive untruths that made the bus seem like an apocolyptic option that wouldn't get me to Bocas (my destination) any time before New Year. I know people are just desperate to make money, but when people are blatantly lying, it does make me very reluctant to get in a car with them!
Fortunately I was rescued by Benjamin, a wizened senior gentleman who lived in Panama but whose parents were originally from St Lucia. Aside from the unnessary hassle from people trying to make
a buck, I've decided I like waiting at bus stops, I certainly do get to meet some interesting characters, and pleasant to talk to, Benjamin also reassured me that after two buses and a boat, I'd get to Bocas with no problem.
In no time at all (as opposed to the prophesised several hours from the taxi drivers), an old American yellow school bus turned up and I climbed aboard, and with cheery music blaring out of the speakers, the bus made its merry way to Changinola where I had to get off and find my next bus, a shuttle to 'Finca 60', where I could get a boat from.
Unfortunately, shuttles are such that you are only allowed to occupy one seat (and they don't leave until they're full to bursting). This meant that I had to endure a joyous half-an-hour journey along bumpy roads, with farmer and bag of something on one side, and nursing mother on the other, whilst I had my entire backpack and daypack on my lap, preventing me from breathing/moving. It certainly made for an interesting journey. I'm not sure gringos take shuttles very often!
Squeezing my way off the bus
at Finca 60, I had just 20 minutes to wait for the next boat departure, and along with a group of others (who had taken a taxi), I was soon boarding the boat and motoring out to Bocas del Toro, a group of islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama. Unfortunately it was raining, so along with the spray splashing up from the sides of the boat, everyone got a drenching from above as well.
Turning up on the Isla Colon, the main island in Bocas, I made a beeline for a hostel recommended to me by Judith (the german girl from two nights ago), and was soon ditching my stuff in a dorm and racing out to get a rather late lunch in one of the local cafes.
After all my exertions early on, and with skies still looking a tad grey, I had a fairly laid back afternoon, sitting at the back of a celebration of the fifteenth anniversary of the town's school! Along with a list of previous graduates, there was a parade of lots of the towns younger girls (age 2-6ish), dressed in beautiful pastel coloured dresses, with hair neatly braided. All very cute.
It felt a bit wrong to take photos, it not being my town and me clearly not being from Panama (the majority of the population being Afrocaribbean, I couldn't really pretend to fit in), but it was entertaining enough to watch. After a short nap, I had dinner (refried beans galore) in one of the restaurants perched on stilts over the sea, before heading back to my mosquito-filled dorm to catch up on sleep.
Day 205: Flutterbyes aplenty
Another humid and overcast day, I didn't feel like lying on the beach being eaten to death by sandflies, and having passed up the opportunity to have a go at surfing (I really don't think I'd have the patience), I had breakfast in one of the waterside cafes, and got a watertaxi over to the nearby island of Carenero to visit the butterfly garden there. Only accessibly by boat, and infrequently visited, I met the owner, who told me I was his first visitor in over a week. Obviously pleased to see me, he gave me a guided tour of his enchanting little butterfly farm, pointing out the different species, the names of which I've pretty much forgotten, but
I do love the giant blue ones that proved near impossible to photograph! The spiky caterpillars were cool too. If it didn't look like such a lot of work, I'd be planning my butterfly garden in Brighton right now, I'm sure it'd be a good moneyspinner there! As well as a tour of the butterflies, I got to meet his very cute pet deer and the caiman that found its way into his fish pond (hence it's now just a caiman pond)! Having been provided with a free coconut for the journey, I waited on the end of his pier for my watertaxi to pick me up again and take me back to Isla Colon.
Although Bocas is very pretty, it really is party central, something that has clearly long been recognised by gringos, with Real Estate and posh resorts booming. It seems like everyone else here is into the party and surf scene, which is fine, and explains why noone's visiting the butterfly farm, but it's not really what I'm after right now, so I've decided to leave tomorrow. Wanting to goto Panama City, I can either spend all day on boats and buses, or I can cheat and get a plane. I'm doing the latter, and booked my flight this afternoon.
Having bought some food at the supermarket (which since I was shopping at the gringo deli, cost more than eating out), I had dinner and then watched a couple of films with a few other people at the hostel before getting some sleep.
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