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Published: August 19th 2006
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We flew (on a TINY plane) from Panama City's domestic airport to Bocas del Toro, about an hour-long flight. The airport in Bocas consists of one large-ish room, Baggage Claim of a guy passing out bags on the sidewalk outside. We managed to avoid getting scammed by the many men offering taxi rides to town (which is about 4 blocks away!) and walked into town. The main town, Bocas, is on Isla Colon and is very touristy. We had planned on staying on a more remote island called Isla Bastimentos, so we walked alongside the water for a minute until a water taxi offered us a ride. The cost to Bastimentos varies from around $2-5 per person, depending on how many people are on the boat and what time of day it is. The boat took us directly to our hostel, Tio Tom - as we approached from the water we knew we had chosen the best place to stay. It is essentially a very basic wooden structure built directly over the water, with a thatch-roof covering a dock with hammocks and a table. They have beautiful plants and flowers (including orchids in bloom) all over the deck, where you can
eat meals. The place is run by a German couple, Ina and Tom, who couldn't be more chill. A room right over the water (you could see right down through the water to the sand under the floorboards) with "windows" on two sides cost $15 per night. Because that room was reserved the next day we moved to a slightly larger en-suite room for $17. All rooms share a single cold-water shower (but believe me, hot water is definitely not necessary, let alone desired, in Bocas!) in which crabs sometime run past your feet! We spotted baby roaches in there a couple of times, but they hardly detracted from the island atmosphere.
Isla Bastimentos is a world apart from Bocas town. It has no cars, no roads - there is a single gravel path that is the island's main "road" though you only ever see people, dogs, and the occasional chicken on it. Otherwise people get around by boat. Nearly every structure on the island is completely open to the elements - there are no glass windows, instead just openings that can be covered by curtains or wooden shutters. There are very few tourists on the island, so it
View of Isla Carenero
This was taken on our first boat ride to Isla Bastimentos, which is the next island after the one in the photo. Careneno looks like a beautiful island to stay on, and it's only 3-4 mins. away from Bocas town. feels much more authentic - the inhabitants are a mix of Panamanians (who speak Spanish), indigenous Ngobe-Bugle (who speak their own language), and Creole (who speak a patois to each other and English to gringos). It's a fascinating place to walk around. There is loud music blasting most of the time, usually reggae or what I hear is called
reggaeton.
The first night we walked all the way down the main path til it ran out near a restaurant called El Pelicano, which is actually a pizza/pasta joint run by a Sicilian. It is completely open-air and right over the water, perfect for watching the sunset. We had a pina colada and then bruschetta (which was more like a small pizza, served hot) and pizza. It was pretty good, the atmosphere far outshined the food though.
The next day, which was as beautiful as the one before, we decided to hike to Wizard's Beach which is supposed to be one of the nicest beaches in the archipelago. We were told it was an hour or so walk, and signs in town made it seem pretty easy to get to. We turned down the path, following the sign, and
View from our room at Tio Tom
This is from our first room, which I believe is the only one with windows on two sides. This window looked out onto the flowery deck, the others looked out onto the water. soon ended up in very dense, loud, muddy jungle. We slid down several hills, with only plants to hold on to, before realizing there was no way we were still on the path! We then reached the low point, where there was thigh-deep mud. I went for it, with Josh holding my hand, and my leg got completely swallowed up and stuck - I started panicking! We eventually pulled me out, and found a less muddy path out of that mess. We ended up on a lovely grassy (and dry!) trail which we were convinced had to be the path we were meant to be on all along. We came upon a house and a young indigena woman ran out to us, told us we were lost, and that she'd show us the way. We thought, great! Until she took us right back to the muddy swamp 😞 Which, by the way, she managed to navigate very speedily and without getting a single splotch of mud above her ankles (we both had mud caked all over our legs and splattered on our tops - I probably even had some in my hair). She got us to another path and demanded
Martina on Isla Bastimentos "main road"
As you can see it's a pedestrian path - it was a nice change from all the traffic in Panama City! $5, which we begrudgingly paid and eventually (after even more mudslides) got to the beach. It was a very beautiful beach, and (for obvious reasons) very empty 😊 We were the only ones there but a group of surfers and a couple of dogs. We stayed there until we were both properly sun-burned and then got ourselves geared up to get all muddy again. By the time we reached the point where our indigena "friend" had left us we were covered in mud again - and after walking only a few steps we were right on the main path in town. So basically, the sign in town was completely misleading, and there was a much, much shorter and more direct way to the beach that avoids the d&*? mudslides! Oh well, it was an adventure, and made the pina colada we treated ourselves to afterward all the more delicious!
That night we hopped on a water taxi to see Bocas town by night. Although it was a lot of fun, it was way too touristy for our taste. There are tons of restaurants over the water, but they have things on the menu like Caesar salad (?!) and are
Early morning view from our room at Tio Tom's
There were often pelicans hanging out on those rotten wooden stumps. two or three times more expensive than anything on Isla Bastimentos. We went to one place on the water (can't remember the name but it was sandwiched right between Hotel Bocas del Toro and Lemongrass) and had the best ceviche we had in Bocas - totally delicious. Then we had dinner at an Indian restaurant we had heard was great - the food was a let down and way too overpriced, but the service and atmosphere made up for it.
The next day we went snorkeling which was a ton of fun. I had never snorkeled before so I was a little nervous and insisted on holding onto Josh's arm for the first twenty minutes - finally I got comfortable and was swimming alone. Josh has snorkeled a lot more and said the quality of the snorkeling where we went (Hospital Point) was pretty low, but for me it was amazing - there probably wasn't as much variety as in some other places, but there were some beautiful, brightly-colored fish less than a foot away from me, which was pretty cool! And the water was crystal clear and the perfect temperature. Tio Tom rented us snorkeling gear ($4 per
View from deck at Tio Tom's
This is where we had breakfast - you can see the orchids on the right! person) but unfortunately it was pretty shoddy - our masks wouldn't stay on, and Josh's eventually broke! But it was still a really fun time.
That night we had dinner at Roots, which was by far our favorite restaurant on Isla Bastimentos. Like every other place it is totally open-air and over the water, but it serves traditional Caribbean food. Basically you choose the seafood you want (depending on availability) and they cook it with onion, peppers, and some delicious spices that are reminiscent of Indian food, and serve it with coconut rice and beans and fried plantains. Yum!!
We left the next day to spend a couple of days in a rainforest ecolodge - now that was a real adventure...
Love,
Josh and Martina
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