Bocas del Toro (Panama) - Into the mouth of the bull

BOCAS DEL TORO (PANAMA) 

27 January - 29 January 2017

Heading south out of Playa Negra, driving through banana plantations, thick tropical vegetation and rickety wooden building collectives called 'towns', this part of the journey started to feel very Central American to me. Not that I had any really expectations of Central America, it was never really a dream destination but if I was asked to imagine what this part of the world could possibly look and feel like, a morning drive like the one we had would have been exactly what was in my mind's eye.

We docked at the border town of Sixaola on the Rio Sixaola a few hours after our departure from Playa Negra. A typically ramshackle place, par for the course with border crossings. Places like these seem to be the nexus for shady types, petty crime and all things dodgy. Not that we felt threatened or at all concerned for our well-being but border crossings always impart a degree of apprehension and up the level of anxiety in an instant. It’s almost like these 'apparently' well drilled border guards or customs officers will somehow have the ability to delve into your past and discover a deeply hidden atrocity or crime that you’ve suppressed for year, their skills are that good. Of course that moment of having to spill the beans for a crime you never even committed doesn't eventuate. You have nothing to declare of course, no dreadful event so deeply buried that it needs to make an appearance at this moment. Mentally you urge yourself to follow their process and protocol, do that and everything will be ok.

Entry stamp to Panama - let's hear that Van Halen song!

Rio de Siaxola - Costa Rican-Panamanian border

Bocas Del Toro - Panama

Barrbra BnB Over the Sea - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Barrbra BnB Over the Sea - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Crossing into Panama via the Sixaola River entails providing a Costa Rican exit tax, then standing in another line for an exit stamp, before walking across a bridge that acts a La Frontera, a span over the Sixaola River. I often wonder in these situations, when we’ve exited a country but not entered the next, where in fact we actually are? Of course here, just like everywhere else in the world, either country will have jurisdiction over  all activities up until the actual determined border, which I assume in this case would be the middle of the Sixaola River. So I’d guess that until such time that we hit the middle of the river, or the middle of the bridge, we were in fact still in Costa Rica even though technically we had exited, I assume,  based on the understanding that we were on our way out of Costa Rica. I guess its the intention that we provide to exit the country is what acts at the determinate that we will.

Border technicalities aside, on the Panamanian side they checed our exit stamp from Costa Rica and stamped us as having entered Panama – then hey presto, we were back on another bus and burning a line to the coastal town of Almirante, which would be our final stop on the road before taking a ferry out to Bocas Town on the Bocas del Toro archipelago

Barrbra BnB Over the Sea - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Barrbra BnB Over the Sea - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Barrbra BnB Over the Sea - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Bocas del Toro - Panama

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An island chain off the Panamanian Caribbean coast, the promise that we were waiting delivery from all the online guides was a place of seductive and primitive beauty, luscious forests and warm, crystal blue Caribbean water. Bocas del Toro was  tagged as one of those tropical destinations where every one of your palm tree, cocktail infused sunsets would come true.

In all honesty Bocas del Toro did not come across as exactly all of that, but, neither did the touristic tags altogether come across as being fraudulent. 

Bocas Town itself is colourful and full of Caribbean style clapboard houses. As our ferry transfer from the mainland pulled into the terminal we encountered a line of these houses built on stilts, hanging over the water, in some places precariously, painted a bright, buoyant style that is a familiar trademark for this part of the world.

We stayed in a great place named Barrbra BnBOver the Sea.  A two story house built out over the water. The rooms were cosy, comfortable and had access to a beautiful wooden terrace which in fact was the outdoor deck of the house, built on the water. With some comfortable hammocks to swing on and catch the afternoon breezes, lazing around here of an afternoon with a glass of wine in hand was a real pleasure. Marco is the host of the BnB, an open, warm and friendly guy, if not just a touch emotional when the mood takes him. His attitude and openness just added to our stay and made it memorable. Whilst the location is literally on the other side of the island to Bocas Town wasn't overly detrimental to the place itself. A walk into town, once we got used to it, was only 15 mins. Also, I found it kind of intriguing that the airport runway was probably three palm trees away from the back door of the accommodation. Not that there were frequent flights in and out of Bocas that did us any harm and when they did arrive they were mostly afternoon jaunts. But when they were lining up for take-off and going at full throttle, well, you definitely felt part of it.

Playa Estrella - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Playa Estrella - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Playa Estrella - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Playa Estrella - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Playa Estrella - Bocas del Toro - Panama

I would say the real highlight of our stay on Bocas was the day that we spent at Playa Estrella. Around a 40-50 ride out of Bocas Town to the north-west of the island, this stretch of beach was idyllic. Set amongst swaying palms & calm, tranquil, crystal clear Caribbean blue water, this I believe was one of the things we wanted to find in Central America.

Playa Estrella - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Playa Estrella - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Playa Estrella - Bocas del Toro - Panama

Playa Estrella - Bocas del Toro - Panama

With a line of small wooden shacks strewn down the beach serving cocktails of your choice, delivering them to you with just the slightest raise of the hand, coupled with the rays of the sun beating down our Factor 50 skin, days like these are rarities.

Carnenero Los Tres Pisos - Bocas del Tora - Panama

Carnenero Los Tres Pisos - Bocas del Tora - Panama

Carnenero Los Tres Pisos - Bocas del Tora - Panama

Carnenero Los Tres Pisos - Bocas del Tora - Panama

Admittedly our discovery of Bocas del Toro didn’t go much further than Bocas Town and Playa Estrella. On the day we left we did spend a few hours at Carnenero Los Tres Pisos, a hotel (or was it a hostel), located on the seafront at Brown Point, a five minute ferry ride across from Bocas Town. This place was like a cool mini Waterworld. Another place built on the seafront, it had a diving platform, springboards and trampoline that edged a ‘seafront’ pool, which in reality was a large whole cut out in the terrace to be made to look like a pool. Still, it was an interesting place and perhaps somewhere we could stay if we ever ventured back this way again in the future.