Blogs from Bocas Del Toro, Panama, Central America Caribbean - page 3

Bocas del Toro to albo (i) nazwa regionu wraz z archipelagiem wysp u kraibskich wybrzeży Panamy, jakieś 80 km od naszego ostateniego miejsca pobytu - Puerto Viejo w Kostaryce albo (ii) nazwa "głównego" miasta na "głównej" wyspie archipelagu zwanej Isla Colon. Ja akurat ograniczyłam się do przesiadywania na Isla Colon. Samo miasteczko Bocas del Toro nie zachwyca. Ściśniete drewniane domki na palach wyglądają ciekawe, ale tylko z zewnątrz. W pokoju nietrudno było o atak klaustrofobii. Taras to luksus, który kosztował jedyne dodatkowe 20 usd :) Ale co najgorsze ... to kulinarna pustynia - mało knajp i jedzenie nie powala. Część naszej ekspedycji dotarła na przepiękną wysepkę nieopodal. Część naszej ekspedycji widziała też rozgwiazdy, z których słynie plaża na Isla Colon - Bocas del Drago. Wiem, nazw własnych więcej niż u Marqueza w Sto lat samotności - ... read more

This is how we crossed the border from Costa Rica to Panama without using a shuttle service. We went from Puerto Viejo De Talamanca to Bocas Del Toro on Saturday. 1. Catch the bus to Sixaola. In Puerto Viejo the bus ticket office is on the road next to the sea. Buy a ticket there costing 1,720 colones. The bus to Sixaola stops at the yellow house on the corner (Deelite ice cream shop/Caribbean Tours). We caught the 8:30am bus. At 8:30 2 buses pulled up, 1 was heading to Manzanillo and the other to Sixaola, the destination is in the front window. It arrived in Sixaola at 9:50am. The border crossing is not the last stop but most people will get off the bus and it stops near where lots of trucks are parked. The ... read more

We are staying on one of several island making up a small archipelago in the northeast corner of Panama, far -- very far -- from the glittering center. Not much of the $1 billion that supposedly comes from the canal seems to be spent here. "Bocas Town" is the center of business, with the airport, restaurants, little hostels and hotels, grocery, souvenir, and crap stores, plus water taxies and ferries to the other islands. We rented a four-wheeler/quad for the five days from a man with one leg -- auspicious, huh? -- which, from my point of view, was a great idea. No cars are rented here, because the road along the beach very quickly becomes the beach, and it's at least five miles of sand/coral/mud/rock road we'd otherwise be riding on coaster bikes. Hurray for ... read more

We left the Azuero peninsula (the Pacific coast) and drove inland to the mountains, to Santa Fe, not New Mexico, for three nights. The weather there was cooler and breezy, though it's still Panama. We were located near the top of the mountains that run like a ridge from the top of North America to the bottom of South America and could see the clouds stacked up on the Atlantic/Caribbean side. We had little misty rain showers and bits of fog that broke up the heat and made the warm days much more pleasant. We stayed at a small B&B called the Coffee Mountain Inn. Santa Fe itself is much smaller than Pedasi -- Tom was looking for a gas station, just in case we might need gas before driving back, and the B&B owner told ... read more

Who would have thought that a 10 minute boat ride would bring you to such a different place, but Isla Bastementos is very unique. The thumping sounds of reggaeton at night heard back on Isla Colon, are replaced here with roaring howler monkeys, deafening frogs and thousands of birds. Everyone is super laid back, dozing in hammocks while listening to Bob Marley and speaking Gali Gali, a Creole language that combines Afro-Antillean English, Spanish and Ngöbe-Buglé. Crazy characters are abound, and when combined with the natural beauty of the place, it really does feel like a totally different world to the one we have been travelling through. Shane said the place has a touch of Looney Tunes about it, and it is a perfect analogy. We stayed in Isla Colon until the Sunday in order to ... read more