After our adventures in Boquete and Caldera, we headed back over the cordillera to the north coast of Panama, in the province of Bocas del Toro. The ride over the mountains was a breathtaking change from the dry chaparral of the Pacific side to the cloud forest and finally to the Caribbean rain forest to the north.
Our destination in the Bocas archipelago was the main island, Isla Colon, where the capital city of the province is located. We planned to visit a friend of a friend who owns a house on the remote northern coast of the island, so we decided to take our rental car along with us from the mainland to the island. This proved to be a questionable decision. The car ferry to the island leaves at 8 in the morning, and we were arriving in the mid afternoon, so we made arrangements for some local firemen in the town of Almirante to put our car on the ferry the following morning, and we took the water taxi to town.
The watertaxi ride from Almirante to Bocas del Toro was less than glamorous, but it cost six bucks and took less than half an hour. It saved us from having to spend the night in the nasty little slum town of Almirante.
Arriving in Bocas on the weekend of Carnival, the debauched, four-day event celebrated throughout Latin America just prior to Ash Wednesday every year (coinciding with Mardi Gras in New Orleans), was a crapshoot at best. Somehow, we managed to find a hotel room and settled into the kicked-back, bohemian orgy of cheap beer, deafening music, gyrating bodies and fire hoses being squirted on the crowds from the rooftops of local juke joints.
Our four days on Isla Colon spanned a range of habitaciones and activities. We managed to see and enjoy most of the beaches on the island, except, notably, the Playa Estrella, which is home to thousands of fat orange starfish. It is either a hike or a boat ride from anywhere, and we just ran out of time.
Here are some shots of Bocas Town and the surrounding sights…
One of the highlights of our visit to Isla Colon was the night we spent at Jimmy Weaver’s house on the remote north coast of the 15-kilometer-long island. Jimmy and our friend Doug Mason and a couple other folks bought this property almost 20 years ago and built a bodacious home there, an architectural tour de force totally off the grid. We had hoped to stay out there for another night or two, but our rented Toyota Yaris didn’t have enough ground clearance to handle the undeveloped road out there, so we chickeneed out and spent the next couple days in town.
Jimmy and Doug’s place was raw Panamanian coastal beauty, virtually untouched by the development that is rampant these days all along the undeveloped Caribbean coast. In a matter of a few years, we can expect to see huge developments all along this coast, with new roads, airports and other services you might expect with this investment in tourism. Here are a few shots of the house and adjacent coast. The weather that day was gray and the seas were rough, common for this time of the year.
After leaving Jimmy’s, the only room we could find in Bocas Town for the next night was at the fanciest hotel in town, where the president of Panama stays when he visits. The room set us back a pretty penny and had way more amenities than we needed or wanted. What a contrast from the rustic charm of Jimmy’s.
Another highlight of the Bocas visit was our snorkeling tour to Coral Key and the protected Zapatillo Islands National Marine Refuge, about a 45-minute boat trip from Bocas Town. Here are a few shots of unusual coral and sea life that we took with our little Olympus Tough camera…
The stop at the Zapatillo Islands was more of a beach trip, with fantastic photo ops everywhere. The waters were too rough to snorkel the reef, so we contented ourselves with a walk around the island and through the untouched palm forest that made up the interior.
The road back over the mountains from Bocas was a barrel of fun. We saw lots of local flavor, including this impressive pile of hot (not) peppers.
The road signs along the way kept us amused, too.
…as did the political slogans. With the presidential elections coming up in two months, there were flags, banners and painted rocks everywhere.
Our Garmin couldn’t resist a little deadpan humor, too. Good words to live by, if not always the easiest.
Nest stop, the Pacific Coast, then off to Santa Fe and El Valle, before our return to Panama City and a brief, two-day excursion to the San Blas Islands. We’ll be home in Pennsylvania by the time I get to write those chapters, but they should be worth the wait. Tonight, Candy and I celebrate our 36th anniversary in Casco Viejo, the old city of Panama City, and spend our night in a big hotel/casino in the heart of town. Tomorrow, we head home. What a trip!