Bocas Del Toro, Panama – Taxi to a Beach & Seedy Port City
Greetings from Bocas Del Toro,
As it happens I found myself an eco-lodge for a few days outside Bananito, Costa Rica since we last chatted. A recent tornado totally tore apart something and as a result, no interenet. At first I had jitters, than slight uneasiness before some disturbing sweats. It was a cool experience and quite enjoyed the rainforest nature hike, even saw a viper… Long story short, I still wrote daily and planned on uploading it from here. Turns out the moment I got to Bocas Del Toro and turned my computer on, it went haywire and died…
Trip to Bocas Del Toro
If you’re going into the rainforests, don’t bring your valuable electronics. My clothes were damp the entire time and I’m talking the stuff that was in my suitcases, my electronics didn’t fare much better but such is life and it’s an old laptop anyways. We were supposed to go ziplining up near San Jose but both of us had already done it and the mission in our mind was to get to Bocas Del Toro. To learn more about Bocas and the country, read these facts about Panama. Considering we were already so close to the border and on the Caribbean side, we just skipped it.
Thoughts on Bocas Del Toro
Bocas Del Toro is NOT what I thought at all. It’s basically Big Corn Island but with toursits aka a somewhat seedy Caribbean port city. Most of the tourists appear to be young and it’s sorta like Caribbean meets Pai meets Kuta. It’s cool that they have a scene with street vendors selling skewers and making shakes but really, it’s not my bag. That said, can see how it would appeal to some, particularly backpackers looking to party. Lots of spots have beer for about a buck and rum for not much more. Flipside is my first impression of Kuta was this place sucks and I ended up staying 3 weeks…
Bocas Del Toro Beaches?!
What’s kind of lame is that the “good Bocas Del Toro beaches” are a water taxi away. Red Frog which is the supposedly the best, a true tropical paradise but you have to pay to enter… Huh? Let’s get real, taking a boat and then hiking and paying to visit a beach doesn’t sound like paradise to me. Beaches are supposed to be free and easy to access, yes? As a result I am protesting and probably won’t bother checking them out, this place is an archipelago anyways so best done in a sailboat.
Leaving Bocas Del Toro – it’s time
A friend of mine lives on a sailboat here but as fate would have it, he’s in Panama City getting a hip replacement (ouch and good luck my friend) so not reason for me to stick around. We’ll visit him in Coronado after, I’m sure. As a result we’re moving on soon and I’ll be back one day when my friend is healed to hang out with him and hopefully tour Bocas the way it was meant to be, in a sail boat.
That’s it for now, off eat overpriced sushi and drink criminally underpriced beer.
Tips hat,
P.S: Typing this from an internet cafe and not thrilled about it.
