Blogs from Bocas Del Toro, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 12

Bocas Del Toro is a collection of small islands just off the coast of Panama. The main island is Colon and is actually a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a narrow, one lane road. We travelled there from San Jose on one of Costa Rica's local, long distance, high frequency buses. There was no toilet or air-conditioning and the side mirrors were duck-taped to the outside of the windscreen. It took about six hours to go from San Jose to the Saxiola border post. In all, about 250km, some of it over gorgeous mountain scenery but a lot of it through countless Dole and Chiquita banana plantations. The border is a river, over which is a rickety iron bridge that is held together chiefly by rust and goodwill. Somehow huge articulated lorries complete with wagons ... read more

Hello all, We are in the north of Panama in an archipelago called Bocas del Toro. We have extended our stay by five days as we are having such a good time here. At last, everything is easy here! We travelled from San Jose in Costa Rica with two german backpackers. We took a 6 hour journey on the bus together, then took a bus and then we took a water taxi to arrive two hours later in Bocas Town! What a day! Judith and Jan remained with us for five days and we had a lot of fun on a boat tour. We went to three different destinations on a small speed boat, visiting Dolphin Bay to spot bottle-nosed dolphins, Cayo Coral where we snorkelled (nage sous l'eau avec masque et tuba) and Red Frog ... read more

I have just returned from the most beautiful place- Peninsula Valiente in the Comarca Ngäbe Bugle in Bocas del Toro. This huge area juts out into the Chiriqui lagoon off the Caribean coast of Panama in Bocas del Toro province. It is a long way from nowhere. It took 3 hours by boat from Isla Popa, which is 1.5 hours from Bocas! Once I arrived, I had to carry my bag along a sidewalk from Ensenda to Gucamayo, about 1 hour from Kusapin. I ended up in a typical Bocas house- up on stilts made of wooden boards. There is an excellent ocean view from the porch and the hospitality was great. I was greeted in english by Steven, my friend’s brother. He has taught himself english mostly through books and a little help from random ... read more

EEKKK so finally made it to central america. Panama city not going to lie was a bit of a bore, not speaking the lingo and having frequent bouts of hola chicas shouted at us soon got tiring. We did however make it to the panama canal and a few plazas just to check some of the tourist boxes..have to say also sounds alot cooler than it was!! Especially the canal because unless you´re an engineering nerd watching a boat slowly pass through the lock wasn´t too inspiring. Next plan was bocas del toro which proved to be slightly trickier than we anticipated. After what seemed like a few hours in the bus terminal trying with our poor spanish to actually discover that the ticket office was closed due to the fact of riots in panama- uh ... read more

After leaving the scary jungle and entering the city for a couple of days, we headed south, crossed the border and ended up on Isla Colon in the Bocas del Torro region of Panama. Laid back is the aim, laid back is our game. As soon as we got off the boat and after checking out a few hostels we lucked out at a place where we had air con, en-suit bathroom, a nice bed and wardrobes… a good place to rest up after a few weeks of hard work and unfortunately both of us coming down with a fluey/cold/cough/chest thing. Hotel Brisas we love you, only meant to stay one night… but six later we’re still here. The most peculiar string of events have happened to us in the last few days, you wouldn’t believe*. ... read more