Blogs from Bocas Del Toro, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 14

OMG.....5am bus....we didnt get to Panama til nearly 4:00. We took the 5am bus to the bus station...took another 6am bus that would take us to Changuinola, Panama. It was a crowded bus ride, the entire time. The first several hours of the journey the bus driver blasted spanish music. And I mean BLASTED. Ok...listen to the radio, fine, but WHY BLAST IT???? Luckily, I somehow managed to fall asleep, nearly the entire journey. Around 1pm or so....the bus breaks down. Carlos, a guy that is with I to I had ridden down from San Jose with us to make sure we got there ok. Well, Carlos tells us "the bus broke down, another one is coming" .... so we wait there....for an hour!!! I....fell asleep on the broke down bus....and finally, the new one gets ... read more

I have such a terrible memory , I need to make sure I blog more. Since Santa Elena: I went to Poas Volcano, an active volcano that is constantly emitting sulfuric gas. It was a nice afternoon trip. I left San Jose for the last time (as far as I know) and headed to Puerto Viejo. I started with this German chick, and on the bus I met a very entertaining Tica, who gave me advice on Puerto Viejo. I also met an Irish woman, Orla, who decided to stay at Pagalu (hostel) with us. The hostel was really nice, it kind of felt too nice, like it was out of my budget, but it was $10 a night. We went to the national park outside of Puerto Viejo, it was forest that bordered the ocean, ... read more

Today sun rays were coming through our window when we woke up. It was early yet the heat was already making us sweat. We headed down to make pancakes and figure out the days plans. After talking to a few guides and checking prices, we decided on heading to bluff beach just up island. The first taxi we tried wanted an outrageous price so we waiting for the next. It ended up being a pickup truck so we hopped in the back for a bumpy but cheap ride. The beach was empty with some great waves letting us ditch our stuff in a nice spot then head in. Matt and Morris stayed by the gear while Justin and I headed to the water. It was a really steep slope into the huge waves so we had ... read more

Today we were really looking for good weather because we wanted to check out a different island. It was not to be however as it was a blank white sky. We moped around the hostel in the morning debating what to do before settling on Red Frog beach. It is on a different island but has a few appealing features. Being a park it is undeveloped and a little out of the way from the main town. It gets it's name from the little poisonous red frogs in the marshes nearby. We were hoping to wander through and find some of the little guys as well as body surf and beach bum around. So onto the boat we jumped and headed through the mangrove covered water passages. Eventually we pulled up the island and jumped off ... read more

Today I awoke around 8:30am and wandered down to make another pancake breakfast. I settled in a comfy seat and read a book for most of the morning. The others came down later and went out for breakfast, opting not to eat pancakes. We all just hung out in the hostel for the rest of the day, alternating between sleeping and laying down in the common area. I wandered through town checking out the shops but couldn't sum up much energy to do more. It was cloud covered so we decided to chill and go to a different island tomorrow instead. Tonight is ladies night on a little island a minute boat ride away so we need to rest up for that. Oh boy, I will refrain from the details but we all got really drunk. ... read more