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Published: March 11th 2007
BOCAS DEL TORO (Carribean Coast) - Thu 28/12 to Sat 30/12
Well after a bit of confusion at the Costa Rican border - them trying to convince us that we never left Nicaragua and us trying to convince them that we did cause there we were standing in front of them in Costa Rica, we finally got the exit stamp from Costa Rica, put our watches forward and hour and crossed the death trap that was a bridge into Panama. No problems at the Panamanian border and onto a bus to the boat that would take us to our first stop in Panama, Isla Colon in the province of Bocas del Toro. Bocas was a nice town but filled with tourists and it being 2 days before New Years Eve it was nigh on impossible to score accomodation. We checked out all the places listed in the Lonely Planet to no avail, after wearing down some more shoe leather we finally managed to get a very costly bed for 2 nights only - $35 per night.
So once settled into the hotel we set about arranging a tour for the next day. We managed to negotiate a good rate for
a one-day boat tour.
The next morning we got up bright and early and in true back-packer style headed for the supermarket to pick up our lunch. The boat trip was an enjoyable day which involved dolphin watching, snorkelling (for Maurice of course, I still haven’t gotten over my fear of the little fishes yet!!) and a trip to Red Frog beach. What do you expect to find on Red Frog beach - yes you guessed it Red Frogs!! I have to admit I had visions of lying on the beach and being tortured by the little buggers however, I need not have worried, when we got off the boat there were a group of people gathered around a tree with their cameras at the ready, looking at a single red frog. Considering we only managed to see 2 red frogs, when pointed out to us by guides, it’s clear that the red frogs are few and far between at this beach now, having been scared off by the tourists.
However, what is present at Red Frog beach is a very strong rip-tide which our guide failed to warn us about. It’s a lovely beach with huge waves,
when we arrived on the beach Maurice decided to go for a dip. He got into the water and I stayed to mind the bags, a short while later I looked out and couldn’t see him, however, his arm soon appeared between two waves so panic over. Then shortly after I saw a man waving about, I thought he was waving at his family but it soon became apparent when he continued to wave and the girl with him started to wave that they were in trouble. It was hard to believe that they could be in trouble they didn’t seem that far from shore. At that point some locals started running towards them to help them out. They managed to get them to shore safely however, the girl was completely shaken up. When Maurice came out of the water he told me that he got caught in the rip-tide, he said for awhile he was getting worried but followed advice he had read on rip-tides & swam parallel to the shore - so he did and thankfully came out unscathed. He said it was really dangerous out there, he was swimming really hard trying to get to shore and
looked up and had made no progress but was wrecked. Shortly after another group went in swimming, everyone on shore was trying to point the group away from the rip tide, however, another girl was pulled out and her boyfriend obviously went over to try to help her and got caught too. Another rescue attempt, the life ring was taken out to them and luckily they were pulled in to shore. Could you possibly believe it shortly after yet another girl got caught in the rip-tide, one of the locals got a life jacket from one of the boats and swam out to her and again another successful rescue attempt, thank God!! It was all a bit surreal, within 10 minutes of arriving on that beach we had watched 5 rescue efforts, it really shakes you up. There were no signs and no one around warning people how dangerous the water was, it was just an accident waiting to happen. Anyway back onto the boat safe and sound for the ride back to Bocas.
That night we went for dinner and drinks with some folks from the boat - 2 Irish guys and a girl from England, the 1st
Irish we had met since Cuba.
We realised that considering the time of year and the number of backpackers that were walking around for hours looking for accomodation it was going to be very difficult to find a bed in Bocas for New Years eve. We asked our own hotel if they had a room and they didn´t so we made a management decision to move on, we settled on a mountain spot that we had heard good reports on - Boquete. The bus journey to David enroute to Boquete was quite entertaining, I had the seat right next to our crazy bus driver who loved his music and liked to play the air guitar whilst driving - a sight to behold!!
BOQUETE (Northern Panama) - Sat 30/12 to Mon 01/01
Boquete is a scenic mountainous town with lush vegetation and a perfect year round climate. It has been selected by Fortune magazine as one of the 5 best places in the world to retire to. Maurice and I went on many beautiful walks around Boquete and it could be described as ´the garden of Central America´the colourful flowers are spectacular!!
We spent New Years eve in
Boquete and it was far from a wild night out!! New Years eve doesn´t seem to mean a lot to the Panamanians except for burning dummies - known as Muñecos - they are life sized and stuffed with firecrackers - it is an old Panamanian tradition. The life sized dummies are lit and beaten at the moment of the New Year.
According to local folklore, by beating and setting the dummies alight, the sins and evil spirits are warded off for the coming year. The fire crackers are added to help drive the evil forces away, as it is believed that ghosts are afraid of light and noise.
The dummies are generally created to represent well-known politicians or movie stars of the outgoing year. In the past these dummies have included Osama Bin Laden, Fidel Castro, and George Bush.
We noticed a lot of these dummies along the roadside on our journey to Boquete and didn´t realise their significance until New Years eve.
Our New Year consisted of a nice meal and then some drinks in a local funky bar called Zanzibar - it wasn´t very busy and at 12 midnight we went out side and
Bridge Border Crossing - Costa Rica into Panama
If you get over this bridge ok, then no questions at the border - it´s a test!lit some sparklers and called it a night shortly after that - bit of a let down really!
PANAMA CITY (Middle Panama) - Mon 01/01 to Wed 03/01
On New Year´s day we headed for Panama City. The skyline in Panama city is like no other skyline that we had seen in Central America, it is more akin to a US city. We stayed in the newer part of town and to be honest were not impressed, it seemed shabby and run down with plenty of neon signs.
No trip to Panama is complete without a visit to the Panama Canal, so like every other tourist before us we hopped on the bus to Miraflores locks to get a glimpse of this engineering marvel that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It is 80km long and there are a series of 6 locks in two parallel tracks that raise and lower ships between the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Ships pay according to their weight, the average fee is $30,000, the highest fee ever paid was $250,000 while the lowest fee ever paid was $0.36 by a guy - Richard Halliburton when he swam the canal in 1928,
Maurice was going to try this one but feared his fee would far exceed the $0.36!! The locks are about 300 Mts long & 33 Mtrs wide, so ships must be smaller than that to pass through. Many ships are built specifically to fit the Panama Canal. A new canal is being built to accomodate larger ships & meet growing demand.
Back in Panama city we took a stroll through Casco Antiguo (previously called Casco Viejo) and were pleasantly surprised at how beautiful it was by comparison to the newer part of town. Casco Antiguo is the old colonial part of town and much of it has been restored to it´s former glory. From Casco Antiguo there is a beautiful view of the Panama city skyline, we enjoyed a nice afternoon drinking coffee and taking photos.
The following day we headed to the airport to catch our flight to Ecuador.
And so that wraps up our Central American adventures, it´s on to South America once more where new adventues await us no doubt!!
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