Wow, this is way overdue, but I´ve finally got enough time to sit down and write about my vacation back in April.
After the long journey just to get to Panamá, we were able to relax and enjoy the beauty of Bocas del Toro. Bocas, I´m told is the most naturally beautiful part of Panamá. It is an archipelago of islands on the Caribbean side of the country. We stayed in Bocas town on Isla Colon (the main island). The town itself is rather touristy, filled with hostels, Spanish schools, eateries, everything you´d expect from an economic tourist attraction.
Luckily, that is just the first few blocks of Bocas Town. Once you go about three blocks away form the docks, you are in a Panamanian town that is relatively gringo-free. We took a walk one evening, and after about 2 minutes we realized that there weren´t any more hostels, restaurants, or water taxis. We were in the Panamanian Bocas. We saw a baseball game going on. I´m not sure, but I think it was part of the Panamanian League (I know they have a team in Bocas). One one walk we ran into a local guy who was very friendly and was telling us about the bars, games and places to get good deals on the island since we were clearly willing to break out of the touristy* zone. We followed him for a little while and eventually went to a pulpería to get some ice-cream. I bought a trit (pronounced treat, an ice-cream cookie sandwhich). Trits were one of my favourite snacks in Central America, but this one was disappointing, because it was missing a bite. Clearly someone had taken it out of the freezer, bitten it and returned it.
Most of the Bocas province seems to revolve around water taxis. So each little adventure included a taxi ride and views of the islands and the piers, like the one above ( from our day of surfing) and the one below (from Bocas town).
On two occasions we got to go snorkeling. One day we took a tour and went to Hospital Point. The area got it´s name because the original regional hospital was on the tip of the island. We snorkeled around the calm water near Hospital Point and we saw lots of small fish of all different colours, especially blue and green.
Later that day we went to Red Frog Beach, which was a small private island. When we got to the far side of the island we were greeted by a couple of kids with red frogs. They were about the size of a penny, and were being held in leaves. I think that the kids wanted to be paid, but we were all out of cash.
The next day we got to go snorkeling further out in open water, where we saw larger fish, and lots of starfish. We saw sea cucumbers and dolphins from the boat. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of the coral or fish, because I was afraid of my camera getting wet.
On our last day in Bocas, we went surfing. We had a teacher who was from Argentina, and had the stereotypical surfer mentality. We spent a few hours trying to surf. I was able to get up on the board a few times, but fell flat on my face each time, but it was a lot of fun. I would definitely try again.
*I am surprised that touristy is accepted as a word by my spellcheck.
