I’m finding that I enjoy areas of Panama exponentially more
the farther they are away from the City – this carried true for the
minivacation I embarked on to Boquete and Bocas del Toro (places that are near the border of Costa Rica).
The crew (which included Rose and two other ISA girls)
departed on a bus that left at midnight on Wednesday, and traveled for around 7
hours to David. We had really fun seats
on the upper level of the double-decker bus right at the front, so it kind of
felt like we were on a spaceship. The
excitement of our bomb seats made it a little difficult to sleep, that and the
fact that the bus was FREEZING COLD. I
have never been colder in Panama than I was on the bus ride, it was awful.
We arrived in David and found the Diablo Rojo that would
take us on the hourish drive to Boquete.
Shortly after stepping off the Diablo and getting my first glimpses of
Boquete I was charmed with the small tropical mountain town! It is a super cute little place based around
one main street and the couple of side streets that gently slope up to the base
of a volcano (which is a popular tourist destination because people like to
hike or jeep up it, but we didn’t schedule this into our plans – no time). We had a very tasty breakfast at an adorable café
called Sugar and Spice – it actually felt pretty Bouldery! The coffee was excellent, and it was the
perfect place to eat after that long bus ride.
Sugar and Spice is the little place under the orangey sign!
We began to see more and more expats, which was cool; there is a
sizeable expat community in Boquete, which maybe gives it the un-Panama vibe
and culture (that was very refreshing!!).
The climate in Boquete is much more pleasant than around Panama City, so
we didn’t sweat disgustingly when we moseyed around town, which is all we did
for the rest of the day after getting settled at the Music Boutique Hostal. There I enjoyed my first shower with hot
water since January – epic is the only word that describes it, I’d forgotten
how nice warm water feels! It’s a real
shame we only stayed a day in Boquete!
(We pretty randomly decided to hit it on our way to Bocas – if only we
knew how much we would love it!) We
stopped in at many little shops, my favorite being one called Organica, which
would feel right at home in Boulder: everything in the store was healthy,
organic (as you may have assumed), and there were brands that I haven’t seen
since leaving the States. I told the man
working there that it reminded me of Boulder, and he knew of Boulder and said
that they sometimes get Boulder products!!
So cool! For lunch we went to an
international restaurant run by a couple of Americans, and I had the best meal
I’ve had in Panama, a delicious pad thai!
We made arrangements with another hostel in town called Mamallena to
ride on their shuttle van to Almirante the next day, took much needed naps for
a couple hours, then went out for drinks and dinner before calling it a day. Boquete is really a cute town:
View from my hostel room
We found some random rock artwork...
The day we were in Boquete happened to be parade day...
Pic is stuck at this rotation but this is the delish pad thai I had for lunch!
The center of town
We woke early to catch the Mamallena shuttle, which left at
9 am. It was a full van, with a variety
of different languages being spoken by the travelers on it (I would guess that
everyone was in their 20s or early 30s).
The drive to Almirante took four hours, and once we arrived we boarded a
water taxi to Bocas, which was about a 25 minute ride to Isla Colon, the main
island of Bocas del Toro. Two of our
Panamanian friends met us as we disembarked, and we all grabbed a sushi
lunch. I noticed many expats and other
travelers around Bocas, and again a more “Western” feel.
Once we done eating, we walked around Isla Colon for a bit
before getting a water taxi to the island on which our hotel was on. We stayed at the Buccaneer Resort, which is
about as beachfront as you can imagine.
After setting our stuff in the room (okay, but damp bedding and mold and
filth is never the best…) we walked down the beach and swam in the warm clear
water. Bocas has the clearest water I’ve
seen! Once it started to get dark we
dressed and had dinner at Bibi’s, the small restaurant that was mere feet from
our room. We went to bed shortly after,
wanting to be well-rested for the next day, when we would be doing an island
tour (on the boat of man that one of Panamanian friends knew somehow)…
…and we woke up to grey sheets of rain dominating the
horizon – a rather uninspiring beginning to day I knew would be spent on a boat
and on beaches. Still, we left around
9:30 in the morning to explore the islands of Bocas. Luckily Tonio, our captain, had a clear
plastic sheet that he gave us ladies to huddle under to offer us some
protection from the wind and rain and we whipped through the waves. Needless to say it was a cold and rather wet
day.
Our little vessle
Our first stop was at Starfish Beach, so named for all the
starfish that chill in the shallow waters by the beach! I really enjoyed our time here. It was super fun to wade and swim and play
with the starfish (although we may have been told not to touch them…), but
still rainy and cold so we couldn’t really enjoy the beach as much as we could
have. The rest of the day we went around
the islands, stopping only once more because our friend got a bit ill from the
movement of the huge waves we were traveling through. I wish that the weather had been better so
that we could have swam more, but it was not to be. In the early afternoon we had lunch on a
dockside restaurant, and ate some truly Panamanian food (I had rice and veggies
with a healthy amount of the awesome hot sauce that was there). We returned to the Buccaneer after our lunch
to warm up and recuperate before heading to Colon for dinner. (I had started feeling pretty sick this
morning, and only seemed to be feeling grosser…more on that later…) A couple members of the crew went to a club
that evening, but most of us went to bed at a reasonable hour to prepare for
the looong day of traveling that was to come.
(Sorry I don’t have more photos of this day, I didn’t want
to risk taking out my camera too often because of the soak potentiality! But I’ll steal some from Rose and try to get
them up soon!)
Bright and early at 6:15 in the morning we got a water taxi
to Colon, then on to Almirante, where we boarded our return bus. We had totally opposite seats this time:
literally the very back, right by the fragrant bus bathroom. The bus left around 8:30…and after a few
hours of travel I had to make my way to the front to ask the bus to stop so I
could be sick. I was THAT girl. After that fantastic experience I was able to
dose on and off for most of the rest of the 12 hours we spent getting back to
the City. (I really don’t recommend that
long of a bus ride, but you gotta do what you gotta do I guess – but if you are
traveling to Boquete/Bocas, I would just take a 45 minute flight into
Boquete.)
