Travels, Trails and Tales: Bocas del Toro, Panama

I went to a family reunion (and my great aunt's 90th birthday celebration) in 2007 in Omaha, Nebraska (this is where both my parents grew up) with my mom and sister. While at the reunion, I ran into a cousin of mine that I used to hang out with every summer as a kid and teenager when we went back to my grandparents home. I think we always got along because in our own ways, we were both sort of rebels. He now owned a home in Costa Rica and kept trying to talk me into coming down. After the reunion we spoke on the phone a few times and he convinced me (not that I needed that much convincing) that I must experience Costa Rica. We decided on the end of February through mid-March of 2008. I started researching places I wanted to see. He pretty much gave me free rein in planning the trip since he had already been to most places in the country...however, he did mention that he had always wanted to go visit some little islands off the coast of Panama called Bocas del Toro. That sounded great to me!

Bocas was our first stop on a 2-1/2 week road trip that would take us from the little islands of Bocas del Toro, to the wild and beautiful Osa Peninsula, to the Bohemian town of Montezuma on the Nicoya Peninsula, and finally to Arenal Volcano and Monteverde cloud forest. I flew down on a red-eye and arrived at 7 AM in San Jose. My cousin met me and whisked me off to a different airport across town to catch a Nature Air flight to Bocas. By the way, my biggest challenge for this trip was packing! At the time, Nature Air allowed one checked bag that could weigh only 35 pounds, and you personally had to be weighed with your carry on before getting on the flight. If you were over a certain weight (I think it was 200 lbs.) you had to buy a second seat and if the flight was full, you risked not being allowed on!

Here is the little Nature Air plane that took us to Bocas. We did run into a storm on our way over and we were pitching and rolling all over that sky, to the point where I was closing my eyes, grasping my cousin's arm and praying. Everyone was pretty nervous there for awhile. Luckily, we made it, much to my disbelief and relief.

Needless to say, by the time we arrived in Bocas and got through customs (where they put you in a tiny room with a bunch of other people and made you wait while they called you in one person at a time and questioned you), I was exhausted. I had not slept in about 48 hours and was ready to take a shower and fall into bed. We walked (with our suitcases and backpacks) to our hotel....Hotel Bocas del Toro. It is owned by an interesting American woman. The room was pretty cool with a balcony overlooking Bocas Town where we drank a beer and watched some of the locals. After that, I jumped in the shower and my cousin went out to make a questionable "business" deal...ha! This is our hotel from the street side.

Hotel Bocas del Toro from the water side.

The next morning we ate a quick breakfast and set out on an all day adventure to explore Zapatillas Cay and to do some snorkeling. Lunch was included. The picture below was taken from our boat leaving Bocas Town. Loved the stillness of the water.

Our arrival on Zapatillas Cay No. 2

Wow. This place was absolutely beautiful. I couldn't wait to get into that water.

Here we are posing for the camera. After this, we walked all the way around this little island stopping to swim in the incredibly warm water and take photos. The other side of the island was a bit more windswept, but still beautiful.

Here are a couple of other photos of that beautiful place. I remember I kept thinking, "am I really here right now?" Just the day before I had been busy teaching classes; quite the contrast. We started off walking along the beach...

turned a corner...and then there was more beautiful beach...with the perfect angled palm tree even....

turned the corner again, and there was a little mangrove island with a Blue Heron on it.

This shell photo was taken on the windward side of the island. I think someone must have set it up just like this to take a photo...so I took advantage of it. It is still one of my favorite photos from this trip.

Returning to the dock area. Unfortunately, it is almost time to go.

This was our lunch spot. A pretty place to have a good home-cooked Panamanian meal and a cerveza!

These fish must have been waiting for scraps?

I remember we ate with some guy from the midwest that thought it was so odd that we were cousins and traveling together...not sure what that was about.

I had to go use the facilities before leaving for our snorkeling adventure, and here is what I found.

Here I am with the bucket.

One more photo for the road.

I remember we went out to some place for dinner this night that our hotel recommended. It was at the end of a dirt road overlooking the water (of course). It turned out to be just an okay meal...the server acted like he understood everything my cousin said (he speaks pretty good Spanish), but our meals didn't come out at all like we requested...and the place was pretty expensive. We learned a good lesson this day...sometimes the restaurants have deals with the hotels in the area...and if the hotel recommends people, they get kick backs...or maybe the owners are friends. Anyway, we learned to read our books for recommendations and to ask locals (who have nothing to gain) for the best food places.

The next day was our last full day here in Bocas. We spent the first half the day on another boating adventure, this time to Red Frog Beach (pictured below) and the other half wandering around Bocas Town and getting lots of rest because we knew we were going to have a very full day the next day (flying back to San Jose, renting a car and driving at least part way to the Osa Peninsula). Oh, and we didn't see any red frogs this day, but there were scattered local kids along the trail that offered to go find one if you paid them...haha!