Blogs from Isla Colon, Bocas Del Toro, Panama, Central America Caribbean

After Panama City, I had decided to do Bocas Del Toro, considered by many as the best location on the Caribbean coast in Panama. Many give that credit to the San Blas Islands, I tend to agree. So I decided to do Bocas Del Toro before San Blas (save the best for last logic), even though it's a roundabout way of traveling (follow your heart, not the map). I flew to Bocas from Panama City and stayed on Isla Colon (the main island). Bocas has multiple islands which are accessible by water taxis. My first day at Bocas was exploring food, I was craving some India food and found a restaurant run by an Indian lady from Canada. The view from the restaurant was stunning and the food satisfying. Later in the evening I went to ... read more

We wake up at – who knows? My iPhone is struggling to work out where the f*** we are and keeps randomly swapping between Panamanian and Costa Rican time. My watch is Bluetoothed to my phone, so the only way of finding out the time is googling ‘What time is it in Panama’? No matter, it’s impossible to sleep past dawn when the howler monkeys wake up anyway. So I get up and sit on the veranda and watch the monkeys, who are in the tree above the bar, until breakfast is served. It’s a very civilised affair – the owner lays the table on our veranda and brings pancakes with banana and chocolate, followed by eggs and toast. The old man is in 7th heaven as the fact the pancakes are covered in nutella means ... read more

Sun 9-Mon 10 December - Day 44 to 45 - Bocas del Toro My next story is very’ interesting’. Leaving our San Jose, Costa Rican hotel at 5.30am to catch the 6.00pm bus to Panama we travelled through some mountainous area through the fog before coming out the other side onto rural plains. We travelled for 5 hours to the boarder where we were required to pay a departure tax of US$8 and to enter Panama, we only had to show our departure arrangements from Panama before getting our tourist stamp in our passports. Australians don’t need visas to visit Panama. All was going well as we got off the bus and was walking to pay our $$ to leave Costa Rica. We noticed that the whole area was a building site. Backhoes, cranes, trucks, you ... read more

I'm currently sat at the airport waiting to say goodbye to Panama, so this is perfect time to catch up with my blog. Before coming on this trip all I knew of Panama was Panama City and the canal. In my mind it was a bit like Singapore - a big city, the impenetrable Durian gap and nothing much more. I was not expecting the beautiful islands, the dense rainforest and the abundance of animals on offer. First up was the border crossing - I don't know why but the Central American borders all seem to be stuck out in stupidly hot places, and usually involve a bit of a walk with all your stuff. This one was no different! After almost a month in Costa Rica where they have no army, I knew we'd got ... read more

Today might just be my first day in my 10 months of travels, that I am truly homesick. The first day that I really wish I had my family and my city. My internet is too shotty at my hostel to be able to FaceTime my family or to send out a text that doesn't take forever to send and receive without them thinking that I'm ignoring them or that I'm dead. But, I don't realize that Christmas is but five days away unless I look at the date on my phone. There are no Christmas trees here in Panama, and if there are, you don't recognize them on people's lawns. Being surrounded by heat and palm trees completely throws off the feeling of the massive family holiday that approaches, the one that I can't wait ... read more