29/08/2022 From Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica to Bocas del Toro, Panama
From Costa Rica to Panama
The drive from Puerto Viejo to the Bocas del Toro was pretty straight forward:
- Take a shuttle to the border
- Pay the exit fees (9€) and get a passport stamp on the Costa Rican side
- Walk over the bridge with other backpackers
- Enter Panama by showing your passport and proof of vaccination
- Take a new shuttle to the port
- Take a small boat to Bocas Town on Isla Colon
- Walk to ATM (our island doesn’t have an ATM and doesn’t accept credit cards)
- Take another taxi boat to Isla Bastimentos
- Arrive at the jetty of our hotel “El Jaguar”
- Chill in the hammock for the rest of the day and be happy that you’ve made it to the Caribbean Islands in Panama
What to expect
Isla Bastimentos
Stay at Old Bank
Spread along a bay on the island’s western tip, between the ocean and forested hills, is a colorful, crowded, poor collection of simple wooden buildings known as Old Bank. It is a predominantly Afro-Caribbean community where Guari-Guari—a mix of patois English and traces of Spanish—is the lingua franca. Most people live in elevated wooden houses, some awfully rudimentary, that line sidewalks and dirt paths instead of streets. Old Bank doesn’t have a proper sewage system, so avoid swimming in the bay, even though the local kids do.”
fodors.com
Dolphins right in front of us
In the evening we walked two houses down to the main restaurant of the island called “Lysset Place”. We sat on the deck overlooking the infinity of the ocean, eating lobster and fresh fish and right in front of us dolphins were jumping out of the water – just like in a movie!
Kids playing outside
After dinner we walked further down the “main road”, which is one small path. (There are no cars on this island, you either walk or take a taxi boat.) On the walk we watched kids play basketball or soccer, mainly barefoot. I had to think of the kids back home where so many are just sitting inside in front of their Playstation or computer for hours. Here, on the other hand, the kids are outside all day and they are actually playing WITH EACH OTHER.
At one point a little smiling girl was standing in front of me and gave me the biggest hug which melted my heart!
30/08/2022 Isla Bastimentos
Our day started where our last day had ended: in the hammocks on our deck.
“No cars, no stress!”
The island’s mantra is: “No cars, no stress” which we took very seriously that morning. Around noon we walked to one of the two supermarkets on the island (they are rather mini shops with very few items). We had decided that after one and a half months into the trip, it was time to cook for the first time. After that we enjoyed muesli with oat milk and fruit on our deck while watching the different taxi boats picking up kids in school uniforms.
Walk to Wizard Beach
We then walked to Wizard Beach, which is on the other side of the island. The 35-minute-walk went through thick forests and muddy grounds which was quite the adventure.
Hello, paradise!
When we arrived at the beach, we couldn’t believe it: we had the entire beach to ourselves! Picture a golden sandy beach in between green tropical forests and crystal-clear turquoise water. We were in paradise!
The worst type of flies
There was just one negative part about this perfect beach and it was called: sandflies! The last time we had experienced them this badly was in Mexico in October 2021 when we let out baby turtles into the water. You usually don’t feel them. But two days later the itching is that bad that you want to scratch off your entire skin (no exeggeration). Mosquitos are peanuts compared to them. Usually coconut oil helps against them biting you and (we tend to hope that) mosquito repellent helps, too.
Being real backpackers
In the evening we truly lived the backpacker lifestyle and cooked pasta with veggies and tomato sauce. Eating it on our little deck right next to the water was actually really nice. During dinner we had an interesting conversation with the local hotel owner who is also a high school teacher on the island. Sadly, we learnt that the government in Panama is corrupt as well, just like the one in Nicaragua.
Protests in Panama
There were some major protests going on three weeks ago with a lot of road blocks all over Panama, mainly about the high gas prices and inflation. I guess our timing – once again – was pretty lucky as we haven’t had any road blocks or other troubles getting around yet. (We are only at the start of our Panama trip of course. But as far as we know the main protests are over.)
31/08/2022 Isla Bastimentos
Do a boat trip to Zapatilla Cays
After another relaxing morning on our deck with the smell and taste of fresh coffee and the sound of boat engines and people talking in Guari-Guari in the distance, we were ready for a great day ahead: a boat trip.
Watch some dolphins
The boat picked us up at 10 a.m. and together with five other internationals we went to our first destination right on the water: dolphin watching. I’m a big dolphin fan, so I was quite excited when we (and about five other water taxis) watched many dolphins coming out of the water.
My favourite animals
When our boat driver asked us next: “Who is ready to see some sloths?”, I was (surprisingly) the only one who screamed very loudly: “Meeee!” – Just like a little girl who was going to see Santa for the first time. I’m sure the other tourists just didn’t understand him acoustically over the engine. Otherwise they would have been just as excited 😉.
About three months ago they changed the island of where to see sloths. Apparently, most of the sloths died on Sloth Island because of some disease. It was very sad to hear but luckily, we still got to see one sloth relaxing in one of the trees right by our boat.
Rain on a boat trip – again!
The clouds were starting to get greyer, especially in the direction we were heading at. By the time we were on the wide-open sea again, it happened: it started pouring rain really heavily with the wind pushing the rain right in our faces. Good that we were more or less only wearing our bathing suits…
By now I’m almost thinking boat rides and us do not fit together: The same had occured to us on our boat ride in Tamarindo, Costa Rica, when we went on the “very romantic sunset cruise” that happened to turn out really really wet.
At some point our driver stopped the boat and said: “We have two options now. One: we go snorkeling here in the rain now. [I was already waiting for no. 2.] Or two: We drive to Island Zapatilla where it’s sunny.” We didn’t have to think twice about it. So he drove us to the island, on which we could spend about two hours on our own.
Island Zapatilla
Zapatillas Cays is a group of two uninhabited islands, surrounded by a coral reef, located east of Bastimentos Island, in the Bocas del Toro archipelago. […] Both islands are within the boundaries of the Bastimentos Island Marine National Park […].”
visitcentroamerica.com
Zapatilla #2 was so beautiful!! We bathed in the warm bathtub water and relaxed in the shade underneath the palmtrees and then did it all over again, until the little boat picked us up to drive us to our next spot: lunch.
Lunch was served (not included in the 30€-day-trip) at “Crawl Cay” on a little island that mainly consisted of four huts right on the water.
Go snorkeling
After lunch we drove to another place on the water where we could do some snorkeling. It was nice to jump off the boat into the water and snorkel with some colourful fish. However, if I’m being honest, the snorkel site wasn’t that special. Blake even said so, who is not a scuba diver, so that must count for something 😉.
See some starfish
Our last stop on our day trip was next to Starfish Island where we could watch lots of starfish (how fitting). Since the water was so clear, it was easy to spot all the yellow and orange starfish right from the boat.
The driver dropped us off at our jetty again around 5 p.m. We would certainly recommend this trip and both of our highlight was definitely Zapatilla Cays!
01/09/2022 From Isla Bastimentos to Isla Colon
Time for the next Bocas Island
Today it was time to say “Adios” to the local island and “welcome back to civilization”. We really enjoyed our time on this island with all the friendly locals, colourful houses and empty beaches!
Isla Colon
But there was one thing we did not want to miss. And for that we had to go back to the main island Isla Colon.
One last chance for Selina Hostel
After a 10-minute-taxi boat ride for $4 each, we gave Selina Hostel one more try. (We didn’t like it as much in Granada, Nicaragua but everyone always raved about this hostel chain).
We even gave the dorm room another chance. But as soon as we met our roommate in our 6-bed-dorm, I knew exactly why I don’t like doing dorm rooms anymore. The two Dutch girls and the two men from Chile were all nice. However, the one guy from Chile, who had the top bunk bed above me, suggested: “You might want to use earplugs tonight, I snore quite badly.” And he wasn’t lying!
First things first
What’s the first thing you do when you just got to a new island? Of course: find a local sports bar and watch Manchester United play – must be true love! Afterwards a very happy Blake (Manchester won) and I grabbed two coconuts and dinner by the waterfront.
Money in Panama
Panama’s official currency is the balboa. The rate of exchange for the balboa has always been tied to the US dollar—one dollar equals one balboa. Panama does not, however, print its own paper currency and instead uses the US dollar as legal tender. Panamanian coins come in 1, 5, 10, 25, and 50-cent pieces. They are the same size, color, and weight as U.S. coins and both are used frequently. While shopping or eating out, you may see prices with either a “$” or a “B/” before them, corresponding the dollars or balboas. They mean the same thing and have the same value.”
anywhere.com
Expensive dining in Panama
So far, we are not really happy with the food pricing in Panama. As of now, it’s been more expensive to eat out in Panama than in Costa Rica (compared to the local Costa Rican sodas at least). Maybe we do have to cook more often from now on…
02/09/2022 Isla Colon
And just like this, it’s Friday and every backpacker on the island seems to be doing the same thing: Party at Filthy Friday!
Party at Filthy Friday island crawl
Filthy Friday is Central America’s first and only island-hopping day-party experience – happening every Friday at 3 picturesque locations across 3 tropical islands in the Caribbean paradise of Bocas del Toro, Panama.”
filthyfridaybocas.com
We had already heard about this party from other backpackers when we were still in Nicaragua. It’s our third big party on this trip after Sunday Funday in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua and the treehouse party in Granada, Nicaragua. And we both agree: this one was the best!
Venue 2: The Blue Coconut on Isla Solarte
We started at 12.30 p.m. on Isla Colon from where we left about an hour later by water taxi to the second venue: The Blue Coconut on Isla Solarte.
The set-up was amazing: We were all dancing to the DJ’s music on a little wooden platform right on the water and people kept jumping into the ocean to cool off.
After four hours of partying on this island, the taxi boats picked us all up to go to the last venue: “Aqua Lounge” on Isla Carenero.
Venue 3: Aqua Lounge on Isla Carenero
At this venue people were jumping off a big diving platform into a pool with ocean water, while the rest was dancing to loud music and watching a fire show in the background – pretty crazy again.
After party: Selina hostel on Isla Colon
The “after party” took place at our hostel, Selina hostel. This was back on Isla Colon, the island where the island crawl had started about ten hours earlier. We got some street food on the way, soaked up a bit more of the party environment, watched lots of drunk people dance, and then went upstairs into our separate bunk beds, trying to fall asleep quickly before the snoring Chile guy would come in and pass out.
03/09/2022 Isla Colon and Isla Carenero
We woke up hungover free – yes to day-drinking! Since the weather wasn’t the best, we took it pretty slowly today, ate our smoothie bowls, relaxed around the hostel and later took a taxi boat to another island: Isla Carenero.
Isla Carenero
We walked along the beach for a bit until we found a nice place to lie down – at least that’s what we thought…
Do NOT lie on the beach
After three minutes of lying on the sand, we discovered them again: sandflies, those little cheeky buggers! Knowing how much they itch, we jumped up immediately and escaped to the closest restaurant by the water: Bibi’s.
Spoiler alert: they totally got us and bit us in so many places where we just shouldn’t be itchy, not just the feet!
Eat at Bibi’s
We had tasty smoothies and breaded shrimps at Bibi’s and enjoyed the ocean in front of us one last time before going to Panama’s mainland the next day.
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