Panama: Bocas de Toro, Panama City and San Blas Islands
Travel Companions: Dad and Lauren
I started writing this blog about Panama at the natural spring Ojo de Agua on the island of two volcanoes, Isla Ometepe, back in Nicaragua. I’d just declined an offer of ‘would you like to go for a swim?’ from a guy selling coconuts, after my previous experience of ‘going for a walk’. I perhaps should have accepted his offer of a moped ride home since my bus subsequently didn’t turn up. I was determined not to repeat the Costa Rica bus experience so before I knew it I had leapt into the back of a pickup truck with some other Gringos who were also stranded – accidental hitchhiking! I need to catch up on the blog as tomorrow I’m heading somewhere without any Internet…
After a whirlwind week travelling from the Atlantic to the Caribbean in Costa Rica, we crossed the land border into Panama, heading straight to the Caribbean islands of Bocas de Toro. I was nervous about this crossing since Panama have become stricter on enforcing the onward flight and apparently no longer accept a bus ticket. This means that you need to produce a print out of your flight ticket home as well as a bus or boat out of Panama. I ended up booking a flight back to San Jose, Costa Rica, since I didn’t have my route planned. I’ve heard you can generate a fake onward ticket but didn’t have enough time to make this look realistic, also any of problems would have left Dad and Lauren to go on to Panama without me!
We left Puerto Viajo on a shuttle bus at 6am and still spent almost 2 hours at the border. Queuing to pay our exit tax, queuing to get our exit stamp and then the fun part, walking over the no man’s land bridge with our luggage to cross into Panama.
It’s pretty chaotic, although we had a guide to point us in the direction of the next queue. The Panamanian side scrutinised our flight details and stamped us in! No shiny border control here – it’s all ramshackle huts, broken roads and encroaching jungle. After queuing again to pay our entrance fee we got on the bus to Almirante, where a Lancha (little motor boat) was waiting to take us to Bocas de Toro. At this point I would have said it was a fairly rough ride – although a few days later after the San Blas lanchas I’d look back on this as an calm and tranquil sail.
Bocas is beautiful but busy. We took a private lancha for $1 each to a different island for lunch at a vegetarian restaurant – this is the life!
Then a lancha to the island of Bastimentos to visit the famous Red Frog beach. About 20 minutes away ‘if we go fast’ according to our boatman who had fallen in love with Lauren (and brought his mum to meet her when he returned to pick us up a few hours later). It’s great being able to converse with locals – we agreed he’d find a friend for me, no matter if he’s tall or short as long as he has his own boat.
We didn’t have a great night on Bocas as Lauren was sick and I tripped and stubbed my toe so badly I couldn’t walk – cue nursemaid Dad. My arm was also grossly swollen from an insect bite although I decided against the steroid injection a ‘doctor’ in the pharmacy wanted to administer!
The next day we needed to get to the city of David to catch our flight, several hours away on the mainland. We missed the boat and bus due to being invalids so we took a taxi all the way, with Willy the taxi driver and his shiny new pickup. Luxury living! Being Easter it turned into four hours of Evangelical Easter rallying on the radio by a Puerto Rican preacher. I was sitting in the front seat – preaching is actually very good for practising Spanish as he repeated everything several times, getting louder and louder towards a crescendo of HALLELUJAH!!! Definitely a unique journey.
Arriving in Panama City at night, it’s all modern looking sky scrapers. But on closer inspection the buildings are crumbling and the roads are potholed. There was just time to pack our bags ready for our 5am pickup for the San Blas islands the next day, where we would stay overnight with the Guna Yala people.
We didn’t know what to expect from this adventure but sure enough, a 4×4 turned up at 5 am with a couple of other passengers, to drive 3 hours across the San Blas jungle hills. This is the territory of the Guna Yala indigenous people. Bring on the craziest driving yet – up and down and speeding around pot holes on the wrong side of the road like a rally driver. We passed various Guna checkpoints – it’s tightly controlled with all visitors names written on a board.
The next part of the journey is by lancha boat. We’d been warned we might get wet and had come prepared with bin bags to cover our backpacks. What they actually meant was we would get absolutely soaked, slapped in the face by the waves on waters so rough that we left our seats every time the boat slapped down on the ocean. Everyone on board was screaming – but with laughter! It certainly made us feel alive.
Arriving on Isla de Aroma made it all worth it. These islands actually took my breath away – this may well be the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen in all my companions travels. I’m talking about paradise islands so small you can walk across them in under a minute. Uninhabited islands with only a handful of palm trees. Islands with little huts scattered between the trees. And nothing else but crystal clear water.
Our Guna guides were Ian and his brother Kevin – unexpected names! They really looked us after throughout the trip. Leaving at 5 am means you get here at 9, with a full day ahead. We visited several other islands, my favourite being the Isla de Perro (dog island) where we snorkeled around a sunken gun boat. Dad had his first go at snorkeling – unfortunately it was only when he tried my own non-leaking mask he realised you weren’t supposed to be able to breath through your nose.
We stopped at an incredible area of shallow water in the middle of the ocean, where we could climb off the boat and stand knee deep looking at starfish. My photos are on my underwater camera so it will be a nice surprise when I get home.
Third stop was a picnic lunch on another island and hours more of swimming. Dad found some local boys to play football with while Lauren and alternated between searching for starfish and buying souvenirs from the shy local women – their traditional dress is just beautiful.
We slept in our huts with just the sand for a floor – the doors don’t even close here. There was a guy keeping watch in army uniform all night so we felt very safe! Dad has an ants nest in his hut so bunked in with us since we had a hut with 6 beds to ourselves.
Island time and going with the flow are key to enjoying this experience. Dinner is served when the bell rings (rice and salad without the fish). Ian told us that the boat was leaving at 8 am next morning. What time is breakfast? Some time between 6 and 8. Actually the boat is leaving between 9 and 11. But please be up at 5! 😎
Getting ready in the morning is instantaneous when you just need to put on your bikini. But we obviously missed the memo on the trend of g-string bikinis with your arse hanging out – the Guna men didn’t know where to look and I couldn’t stop staring!
Bringing snacks and water is also crucial – we lived on rice and peanut butter sandwiches. You can buy a coconut and if you ask nicely they will cut it for you – coconuts are used as currency.
The second day was yet another day in paradise – snorkeling and swimming all day long. I highly recommend our tour company San Blas Amazing Tours – our island was not over crowded and we felt privileged to share the island with the Guna rather than a tourist overload. It also helps to be able the communicate in Spanish – we learned that they rotate to do different jobs such as sweeping the sand or fishing. No office jobs or rat race for these people. I was sad to leave – do they realise how lucky we think they are? Are they satisfied with this life?
Back in Panama City two days later, with matching bruises on our backs from the boat rides, we did our own sightseeing tour via Uber. First up, the Miraflores canal center. I’m fascinated by the canal that cuts right through the country from Atlantic to Carribean. Probably any products we buy that are exported from Latin America will have come the huge container ships we watched navigate the locks. It’s an engineering masterpiece – at what cost to the environment? Although the government has had to protect the surrounding rainforest if only to keep the canal water levels up.
Next stop, the ruins of Old Panama. Mostly a series of convents, the old city was burned by the British pirate Henry Morgan, a fact lamented by every taxi driver. We had the ruins completely to ourselves as they are actually closed on Monday but we just walked in – probably when security were at lunch. All the more smug since a loud American woman had told us she’d tried and failed to bribe her way in 😎
Last stop was Casco Viejo, a maze of beautiful crumbling buildings at the waters edge. As usual there is a Bolívar square to pay tribute to one of Latin America’s heroes.
Casco Viejo is the more touristy part – $25 for a basic main meal, the most expensive meal of my entire trip.
Just under a week in Panama isn’t nearly enough, but it’s enough to fall in love with the city alone – I’m already planning my next visit!
Maz On The Road 