The Trail of the Broken Flip Flop

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We tried to like the archipelago of Bocas Del Toro, we really did. The problem was that, because of new year, we ended up spending way too much time there. Just as we started to like it, something else would go wrong.

Our room on the first island, Isla Colon (nice name!), was a bit grimy and very overpriced but as it was only a few days before new year it was all we could find. The rain was lashing down for a full day. Adding to this, the locals warned us of the vicious sand flies which can leave nasty itchy bites for weeks or even months - eeeek! Where had we come to?!! At least the town was quite nice and had a great party scene which seemed much safer and less seedy than Puerto Viejo. I guess the thing to do here is party! We decided to book our grimy room for a few days surrounding New Year and then headed off to a neighboring island, Isla Bastimentos.

We arrived on Isla Bastimentos in bright sunshine and checked into a lovely room which was much cheaper than the grimy one, located in a bright and cheery yellow building. Things were looking up! We decided to head straight to the beach while we had the sun. The only problem was that it was on the other side of the island, about a kilometer or so walk. Now, you are probably thinking we are just getting too laid back and in the swing of the Caribbean lazy lifestyle if we can´t manage a 1km walk. There were two things stopping us. First, the fact that the path was reportedly super-muddy and second, the fact that we were told there was a very distinct possibility of being mugged at knife point while walking to the beach. What?! Given how nice and sunny the day was, what else could we do but go for it.

We set off on the "secret" trail starting behind our hostal so that we could stop in at the hilltop cafe for a brownie. The path was a little muddy but not too bad. It was just a little hard as we had no bag as we were told we had less chance of being targeted by robbers if we were just carrying a towel and water bottle. Makes sense, but it is a little inconvenient! We made it to the brownie shop OK and took a break. The friendly Scottish woman who owns the cafe gave us a hand drawn map of the rest of the way to the beach: past a big rock, through a cow field, round the palm tree, and down to the beach. How hard could it be? Hmm...within about five minutes it turned into one of my dad´s famous wild-goose chases! We were sliding all over the place in the mud and I fell down and got it all over me, so decided to give it up and go back home to shower. As we trudged back through the Scottish lady´s property, we came to a standstill when we saw that the land was literally moving. An army of ants had been disturbed and they were completely blocking the gate and our way home. Scott had a few of them bite him and had the marks to prove it for quite some time - they really were vicious little suckers. We spent about 45 minutes just watching and waiting for them to move on. When finally they thinned out, we ran as fast as we could through the gate and made it back home in no time. We spent the rest of the day exploring the tiny colorful town and having a sunset beer at Roots restaurant - much more civilized!

The next morning was gorgeous and sunny so we decided we had to make it this time. Instead of going on the "secret" path again, we decided to just go the regular way in the hopes of not getting lost and not encountering as much mud. We set off with an Italian guy, Marcos, and within minutes reached our first mud pool. Luckily, we were able to make our way past the edge without too much trouble. As time went on, we started to meet people coming back from the beach completely covered in mud and guessed what was to come. In the end, we got to a patch of mud that was so big and so deep that we had no choice but to take off our flip flops and go bare foot. It was sooo gross! The mud squished up through your toes, and as you spent the whole time slipping and sliding, it went up your legs too, splattering all over the place. Our collective cries of "ugh!" and "eek!" and "eew" must have been hilarious to any on-looker! After about 45 minutes of muddy madness and after passing by dozens of abandoned broken flip flops, we made it to the beach - hoorah! Cheesy sounding Wizard Beach turned out to be quite gorgeous. It was a long stretch of golden sand backed by dense trees and creepers. The sea there had claimed many lives, though, as it is so rough with dangerous rip tides, so we were careful to not venture in too far. Later that night, we met some people who had had their backpack stolen, and another guy who had a bandage on his foot and had had to travel to the main island to get a tetanus shot after stepping on barbed wire buried in the mud. We had to ask ourselves, "Is it worth it?"

I guess not as we didn´t make it to the beach the next day, even though the morning rains cleared to become a gorgeous day. Instead, we spent the day in the small town doing free internet at the hostal and consuming yummy food and sunset Balboa beers at Roots restaurant, our home from home. A bit of a waste of a day, but it had been raining all night and we knew the path would have been twice as muddy.

So, the pros of Bastimentos Island:
1. Wizard Beach is postcard perfect
2. The hostel is lovely
3. Roots restaurant is cheap and good and has live music sometimes
4. The surf is good

The cons of Bastimentos Island:
1. Very changeable weather
2. The path to the beach is rediculously muddy and difficult
3. The path to the beach is a target for thieves with knives!
4. Unless you surf, there isn´t a lot else to do because of the beach path situation!

Even stevens on the pros and cons. Time to try out the other island again, Isla Colon.

We arrived back at the grimy room we had reserved out of desperation because of the New Years Eve rush, and found that it had been given to someone else even though we had booked and paid in full for it several days prior! Luckily, we got upgraded - yay! Unfortunately, it was to the owner´s bedroom which was a little wierd as we felt as if we were intruding, but it was a better room so we soon got over it! About 15 minutes later, a couple arrived saying that they had booked the room online and the owner said we had to leave as it was booked! We reminded her of the fact that we had already made a reservation too AND had paid. She let us keep the room and went upstairs checking all her room and found one empty, which she gave to the other couple. I am not sure what happened when the people arrived who had reserved that room. I am sure someone was left out of luck! As it happened, our lovely upgraded room seemed suddenly less lovely when we discovered three cockroaches the first night - ugh! Milena, we thought of you 😉 Still, the mosquito net was fantastic so we felt safe if we tucked it tight around the bed. We had no choice but to stay and make the best of it as we had already paid and everywhere was full anyway. That night we made use of the great nightlife and had a few drinks to help us sleep!

Next day, we took the bus to the famous beach on the island, Bocas Del Drago. It took over an hour on a packed bus, but when we arrived we were quite happy...at first. The beach was partly washed away but there were tropical palm trees everywhere and enough sand to put your towel, and the sea looked calm and lovely. At last, a nice beach that we can access without trekking through mud and risking being robbed! It also had a unique feature, lots of starfish under the calm waters, adding a certain charm. We settled down on our towels to relax and catch a few rays. After about ten minutes, Scott looked at his feet and jumped up, they were covered in little black dots - sandflies! We had heard about them and had seen people in town with red itchy dots all over them. After having them in Malaysia, we knew how itchy and persistent the bites can be so we instantly jumped into the sea to get them off us. "Ouch!" Another hazard made itself apparent. Almost every time we went in the sea we ended up stepping on something invisible which left tiny sharp shards in your feet, making it feel as if you were walking on broken glass for up to a day later! We even tried it all again the next day, hoping another part of the beach would have less sand flies, and another part of the sea would have less invisible evil glass-shard-throwing critters, but it was even worse. After only 60 seconds on the sand, and a dozen bites, we gave it up and limped back to get the next bus home! We really did try to like the beach, you see, but it just wasn´t working for us.

On a happier note, it was a great place to spend New Year´s Eve as there were tonnes of lively parties. The best spot was a bar with a shipwreck lit up under the water. They were charging a $15 cover charge, which really separated the backpackers from the two-weekers. The two-weekers were practically banging the door down, and the backpackers were turning away in shock at the price! We ended up moving from bar to bar following the cheapskate crowd, but at midnight everyone spilled out onto the streets anyway to watch the fireworks. There is a law here, apparently, that fireworks cannot be lit after midnight on New Year´s Eve until the following year. Hence, any shop keeper that still has stock had to get rid of it at midnight, meaning LOTS of firework displays all around town. We were literally getting covered in ash and the air was thick with all the smoke!

So, pros of Isla Colon:
1. Great nightlife
2. Great surf (apparently)

Cons of Isla Colon:
1. Expensive hostals (at least at new year)
2. Expensive restaurants
3. Sandflies on the beach
4. Evil shard-throwing creatures in the water
5. Over one hour bus ride to get to the beach
6. Very changeable weather

Conclusion: If you are a single surfer who wants to party all night long and have cash to burn, come to Colon as it is great. If you are a beach bum, try elsewhere! Seeing as we fall into the latter category, it is definitely time we moved on. Hence, if it is not raining in the morning, we are off back to Costa Rica.

Happy New Year 2009 to you all!!!

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Photos

Wizard Beach, Bastimentos
I stole this image from the internet as I was too afraid of getting robbed on the way to the beach to risk taking the camera!

Comments

[Andi and Paul]

Mud & Flip flops
Your story of trekking to the beach in the mud reminded of me of the festival we went to in Byron. Do you remember? Similar situation - too much mud and totally unsuitable footware - kept leaving my flip flops behind in a pool of mud whenever I tried to walk. Think we had to drive our house mates car back, or something totally random like that. Oh, happy days : )

[Born to travel]

Of course I remember!
Nimbin was such a trippy place. The mud was rediculous! I think the Irish lads were so drunk that we had to drive home in their friend´s car for them...don´t quite remember either! Can you believe that we lived in Oz together? It seems such a long time ago! I heard a Red Hot Chili Peppers song yesterday and it reminded me of our nutty landlord, what was his name? Think I am getting alzheimers. I do remember him threatening to bury the Tracy Chapman CD in the backyard though - charming!!!