Bocas Del Toro

Buenas dias a todos!
Another breef bit about life in Latin America, from Panama this time. At 4.30 am friday morning, the 20th of october, I had to get up and say goodbye to my Tica mum and Tico dad. It was a bit awkward, because after breakfast and packing it was after 5 already and we were going to meet in San-Jose city centre at 5.30 to take the bus to the Panamanian border at 6.00 am. So I had to say goodbye and thank them for everything in a few seconds. Bueno, the trip was long, but nice. We followed the Carrabian coast and passed by Limon, Puerto Viejo and Cahuita. The latter two looked like very nice little villages which I will certainly visit next time I go to Costa Rica. When we got to the border in a little village called Sixaola, we had to get of the bus and walk our way into Panama, over a bridge. Fortunately, they did not ask us for any return tickets, we got in quite easily. I have heard stories about people having to buy a ticket back to Costa Rica, just to proof that they were going to leave Panama again. Then, we took the taxi to the boat and after a beautiful 40-minute boat trip, we finally arrived in Colon, the most touristic island of Bocas del Toro. It was lovely there, but there are a bit too many tourists. Next day, we rent bicycles and cycled our way over sand paths with puddles and mud. A few did not make it without falling, but it was good fun. In the end we arrived at Playa Bluff, which is a broad tropical beach. It is very beautiful and in the beginning, we were alone there.

Next day, sunday, we took the boat to Bastimentos, another island of Bocas that has less tourists on it. We found a lovely little hostle, owned by a Sicilian, where it was so quiet and the view was wonderful. There were three hammocks on our terrace, brilliant for relaxing a bit. We walked our way to Playa Wizard, which was about 20 minutes from our hostel, on the other side of the island. Again, this was a lovely beach, it was a bit crowded though, as it was sunday, so there was a lot of locals playing football and volleyball and drinking.
On monday, we took a boat tour that took us to the most beautiful island I have ever seen. Zapatillas is a very little island and it looks better than any island you have ever seen in magazines, on television or in films. We walked all around it, took a long swim in the chrystal clear water and ate some fresh coconut before we were picked up by our taxi boat again to go snorkling. The snorkling was quite cool, too, a lot of fish I had never seen before, and seastars and reefs. To finish, we passed by Playa de las ranas rojas, Red frog beach, which was a bit of a disapointment, as we only had time to stay there for 40 minutes and it was not as beautiful as Playa Wizard, although it is much more popular among tourists.

Tuesday was our last day in Bocas and we did not do much more than relaxing. We went to Playa Wizard again to take a swim, a walk, to lay in the sun and read, just relaxing. I went to search for a coconut as well, and found one. After a lot of time and hustle and a woonded finger, I finally managed to open it, and it was well worth the hustle.
Bueno, eso es todo. More to come soon.

Que les vayan bien. Pura vida.

Besos