Panama North

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Chiriqui Province

Upon legally crossing the boarder with stamps in our passports, $5 for Americans but free for the British. We persuaded a coach driver to take us to David on a bus from San Jose and once there immediately took a bus up to Boquete which in the Chiriqui highland under Volcan Basu. The bus up there had the air-conditioning on full blast and not being used to this we both promptly froze as outside was in the high 20´s so we were dressed in shorts nd t-shirts. The scenery in the highland is very different, with jungles giving way to pine trees and coffee plantations, but a much more agreeable (less sweaty) climate. We caught a brief glimpse of the volcano before it was consumed by a thick blanket of thunderclouds that poured in down the valley illuminate dark purple by the frequent flashes of lightning. We stayed in Hostel Numba which was just ok, and headed out in the ensuing rain in search of drinks and food (specifically to nourish a pizza craving, but just had rice beans and chicken, what else!!).

Still raining in the morning we peeped out tentatively into a misty land with other obvious tourist walking around in a daze trying to figure out what there was to do in an outdoor capital in the rain. Answer is not allot. Our hiking plans squandered we though that hot springs would be a good idea, rain doesn’t matter when your wet. Walking to the tourist information centre was a mistake, for some reason known I imagine only to the person who built the place it lies a good 3 to 4 kilometres outside of town. A quite isolated building on top of hill next to the main road, as expected the place was void of tourist to inform and manned (or wommaned) by a girl that only spoke Spanish. Brilliant idea! Luckily Cesar spoke it fluently and as such got instruction to the springs, taking a bus then walking 5km down a track. Flagging down a bus, as is they custom here for they stop wherever you are leading to some agonizingly slow journeys where they stop every 100m, we got on and then it really started to rain hard. We got off at our stop and ran for the cover of the bus shelter, where we quickly decided that we had lost the desire to walk 5km in the rain to sit in water and watch all our belonging get soaked, so caught the next bus back to David and then across the country to the Caribbean. The journey was air condition but we weren’t fooled twice and had brought coats onboard with us, the scenery along the way was impressive with the typical steep sided cloud forested mountains which typify much of inland Central America.

Bocas Del Torro Province

Arriving in Changuinola which is a banana town and serves as a local hub with every shop on the main street being some sort of supermarket. We had to spend a night here as we were late arriving and found a hotel just in time before the heavens opened and the power went out. So of course we grabbed some beer and watched the lightning from our balcony, and it was quite a show. With the main street instantly flooded and the busyness’s immediately disappearing leaving a mere ghost town in its wake.
Heading to the islands (the main reason we came to Panama) is pretty fun and easy, firstly getting a local bus to Almirante and from there a boat to the main island. The 30min boat ride cost $4 and goes out through the calm lagoon with the mountains (and clouds) reflected in the water. We found our hostel (Mondo Taitu) which is a good place for a party with $0.50 beers at happy hour which is very welcome, the rooms are basic but you go there for the atmosphere. As it was once again raining we borrowed the hotel bike and set off along the Eastern coast road. The road quickly determinate into a gravelly sandy track which our beach cruisers struggled on, with no gears and only wearing flip-flops on our feet our speed was comparable to a cheater carrying a gazelle. Cycling in the rain was fun and we were soon drenched but pretty happy cruising along the potholed track, which by now had many surprisingly deep lakes across it. We stopped and swam at four beaches with massive beach breaks which were real fun. The track eventually fizzled out at a dilapidated house and a small river outlet, here we swam and milled around the small rock pools looking for small fish and crabs. The initial part of our way back was spent chasing little parrots that flew alongside on the path. Arriving back in Bocas after at five after our epic bike ride we showered off and made use of cheap bar. Playing cards and meeting people was a good way to while away the evening, we met two fellow Brits, George and Fran from near Shrewsbury, and many Americans. we grabbed some food at a local Soda and headed to la Iguana club where we sat on the pontoon over the clear water. Here George told a quite scary 35 year old that had been following us around that I liked her, not cool as i then spent the rest of the evening running away from her much to the amusement of the others we came with. As that club was closed down by the Mayor the party shifted 100m down the road to another bigger club where Cesar showed off his dancing skills whilst the rest of us went for a drunken swim off the pontoons. Getting back at 4am Cesar passed out and I soon followed suit.

Waking up late I saw the Cesar was still in exactly the same position as last night and I hence quietly left the room and headed down to cook some pancakes. Here I me Luke and Claire two New Zealanders who were taking a couple of years off to travel and work in a foreign country, with them was Leon who was studying medicine from the UK. The three of them had been on a nightmare boat trip together from Colombia to the San Blass islands and on to Panama, with there boat drifting off course and the motor failing, more similar stories quickly emerged from other travellers. We sat and played cards for a good couple of hours until the rain had passed by what time Cesar had joined us and we all went in search of food. The afternoon was spent at a local beach just chilling in the spattered sunshine. That evening we finally found an Italian restaurant that sold proper pizzas and ate there with Joan and Jonas from Indiana.

We awoke to the unfamiliar sound of no rain on the roof and looked out to see patches of blue sky. Quickly we got our stuff together and made some pancakes then along with Luke, Leon, Claire and Steve an Irishman who had also been on the boat trip with them. The six off us headed off and stopped at a local supermarket to buy some food for lunch and then set about haggling for a cheap boat ride across to Red Frog Beach which we got for $5 down from $10. The sun blazed through as we arrived on the beach with some small rolling waves, big rip currents and numerous palm trees. Beach Olympics followed swimming and lunch, with the first game being the coconut toss. Half way through this we head some screaming and just thought someone was having a really good time, but it continued and we saw a girl out in the rip. Asking if any of the others were good swimmers which the reply was no and with no one else on the beach being particularly hurried, or looking like a really competent swimmer, I jumped in. Got in the Rip elevator which I had swam in earlier and swam out towards the girl. Reaching her in first I did my best life saving imitation of turning her onto her back telling and putting my arm around her then swimming sideways. Getting out of the rip by swimming parallel to the beach I then started heading toward the shore, about 150m away. It was knackering and luckily the girl didn’t struggle at all, due to her exhaustion. After a couple of minutes I made it to a place where I could stand and walked into to shore. Life saving thing done I lay down on the beach to catch my breath and recover. Then continued with the next beach Olympic sport, hop scotch. We went the wrong way bag to the marina and nearly missed our boat back, after food and happy hour we headed out to Aqua Lounge which is a crazy club on another little island which is entirely over the water with diving platforms and swimming spots. Needless to say is was a merry night which concluded in another big storm with torrential heavy rain and Cesar and I standing out in it and showering ourselves and it was higher presser that the showers. A good time had in the party islands and now back to Costa Rica for the Caribbean coast.

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Photos

Reflected Stilt Houses
At the port on the way to Bocas

Boquete
A wet morning in teh Panamainian higlands

Storm Watching
Rain come and de men go home.

Windswept
Riding the speed boat.

Not up to Par
Rain, drizzle, spitting, pouring, cats and dogs, buckets, shower. Basically it was wet!

Red Frog Beach
One of the busiest beaches so far!

Queen Paris
After her inauguration her first decree was to ban Chinese food.

Zipping Past Mangroves
The speed boat back to the main island past pretty close to the trees.

Whats a few between friends.
Six of us managed to get through 30 beers in half an hour playing horse gambling, come on Diamonds.

Circus Try outs?
BOOM

Bocas Town
The main street through the regional capital.