Having made it safely to our destination in Bocas Del Toro, Panama after nearly 12 hours of (sometimes sketchy) travel we are ready to relax! Thankfully our host at Tesoro Escondido immediately made us feel at home and offered a 7pm dinner of homemade plantain lasagna – completely unlike anything I've ever had; Alex and I agreed the sweetness of the plantains almost gave it a similar taste to french onion soup. The “Dolphin Cabina” we are staying in overlooks the ocean so I am looking forward to being put to sleep by sounds of waves crashing on the beach.
View from the Dolphin Cabina.
Caribbean Sea.
We woke up at 5:30am in order to catch our first shuttle bus of the day to travel from San Jose to Puerto Viejo. Around 11am we arrived at a nice local hotel to eat lunch and wait for the next shuttle transfer. While the food was pretty mediocre, we had time to check out the beach and local wildlife.
View of the hotel grounds during our lunch stop.
Beach in Puerto Viejo.
Turtles just hanging out.
It’s sea turtle season in both Costa Rica and Panama on the Caribbean coast so we are hopeful we will get a chance to see them heading out to the ocean during our stay.
Around 12:30pm our next shuttle bus arrived and we headed to Sixaola on the Costa Rican / Panamanian border. We had been warned that we needed all kinds of travel documents to prove we would be leaving Panama eventually (bus tickets insufficient) plus USD$500 to prove “financial solvency” so we were a little nervous about the border crossing. Our shuttle bus driver was extremely helpful in getting us through the various border stations and made a potentially uncomfortable situation go very smoothly.
Having said that, walking across the footbridge from Costa Rica into Panama was definitely an experience. Looking down I was worried I’d make one wrong step and fall through the many gaps and broken wood or lose my balance due to all of the weight in my backpack. During this journey, we actually passed a mother breastfeeding as she walked from Panama to Costa Rica; I was instantly inspired that if she could multitask across the bridge, I could at least walk without falling over.
Me and the other backpackers ready to cross into Panama.
Don't look down.
Once we made it into Panama, sweaty and exhausted from the high-noon trek, we boarded the next shuttle to Almirante. The drive was scenic but we were losing energy pretty fast as we headed down the mountains. Immediately upon arriving in Almirante we were shuttled into a “ferry boat” which looked more like a dinghy that could sink at basically any moment. Hearing “put on those lifejackets!” en Espanol before starting the engine did not really allay our concerns but it was definitely too late for second guessing.
The boat ride into Bocas Town was about 20 minutes and actually the most enjoyable leg of our trip today. We were able to see some of the other islands near Bocas get some much needed fresh air.
View from the ferry boat.
Bocas Town is a small beachy town with colorful shacks and restaurants all lined up along the docks on the water. Since we are staying about 20 minutes outside of town, we got a cab for the final journey of the day. The two cab drivers were very friendly but after listening to them blast island music, yell obscenities to random friends on the street and offer us “the ganja and the cocaine” we were ready to arrive at our destination. In addition to a very lively cab ride, the road that connects Bocas Town to Bocas Bluffs (where we are staying) literally hugs the ocean and is often washed out during high swells - I am very glad we didn’t have to “ford the water” on our own! Tesoro Escondito already seems like the perfect place to unwind and we are really looking forward to exploring more of Bocas Del Toro over the next few days.