Bocas del Toro (1/24/11-1/28)

off the Almirante dock

Casa Amarilla

Once I reached Almirante, I used Eva's directions to her favorite secure parking spot in town, $3/day. A man feverishly follows me on his bicycle for almost a mile wanting to help. You can imagine how desperate he must be for any income to do something like that, and his name was Mariano. He helps me get to the parking area and then walks over to the boat dock to point me in the right direction. Completely unnecessary really, but giving him a dollar was the least I could do. Literally, the least I could do and I feel bad for him, to tell you the truth. I hop on a small speedboat for $4, a boat that manages to hold some 20 people, and we zip off to Bocas Town, the main hub of the islands. It's about a 30 minute ride over smooth water.



main drag at Bocas Town

typical view about town

When I get off the boat there are, of course, other guys wanting to help in any way they can, but they soon find other potential "clients". I've seen Bocas Town described as charmingly dilapidated with mostly woodframe buildings, and that's pretty accurate. My first goal is the Cocomo by the Sea, a small 4-5 room hotel on the water and away from the main noisy drag. Eva had asked if I would deliver a cd to the owner, Doug, and she said he might have a room for me. I talked to Doug for a while - he didn't have a room - and I'm invited on a snorkeling trip two days hence with a couple of others to an off-the-radar kind of spot. Then it's over to Casa Amarilla where I had previously booked a room. Dennis and his wife are from Denver and they also have a small place of 4 rooms, and I settle in. Doug had mentioned a Mexican restaurant called Gringos that might have what I'm looking for. They do.



Gary at Gringos...good food

The restaurant owner, Gary, had 6 Mexican restaurants in Denver back in the '80's!, called Fajitas something-or-other. He knows how to cook good food and he doesn't put sour cream or tons of cheese on everything. Ask him to give you the hot salsa, the regular is for wimpy tourists. I came back here for dinner a couple of nights later. He also has some good stories to tell about a certain Denver radio personality from back in the day.

 


the only fish I was able to photo.

starfish

I lost one full day when a muscle in my lower back tightened up for some reason to where I couldn't even take a deep breath. Nothing to do but lay around hoping and waiting. I wasn't encouraged by people's opinions of the local doctor but things slowly improved into the next day to where I was able to go on the snorkeling trip. The swimming helped, too. It was Doug (his boat), myself and Brandon (from Albuq.) and a local named Giselle. Doug took us over to Dolphin Bay which has a lot of small mangrove islands and there are coral reefs around some of them. After a short break to drink beer and pass around some kind of funny cigarette (how does this stuff always find me?), we jumped in and floated around a couple of the islands. There weren't any great quantities of fish, lots of pretty coral and starfish, though. Not the best snorkeling experience, to be honest, but it was a beautiful day to be in the water.



a view off the small beach



in Dolphin Bay



On my fourth day here it's raining so I do some blogging and then schedule a massage therapy session with Georgina, a neighbor of Doug's to check my back. She concludes it may be a spine issue due to all the driving I've been doing. Because of the rain I decided to stay one more day so I could at least get a taste of one of the beaches. I ended up catching a boat  ride with a young couple from Utah, Shane and Alicia, and their little daughter Stella. It was a small beach with quite a few visitors; it's pretty enough, but nothing extraordinary. I enjoyed myself more talking and drinking some beers with Shane and Alicia.

I've been in Panama now for 26 days, having only been given 30 when I crossed in. I didn't get to see the beautiful beaches of Bocas since you need to pay a bus or taxi or boat to get almost anywhere worth going to (a real hassle, if you ask me) and between my back problem and snorkeling and rain, it wasn't to be. It might be worth a re-visit some day to give it a fairer assessment, but as it stands I don't think Bocas would be my favorite Caribbean destination. Besides, there's the rest of the world to see. On the other hand, lots of people I met love it and would never leave. And I was told a small waterfront lot (no beach in town here) goes for just under $500k, if you're interested. So, there's lots of demand. If I were to come back, I'd splurge for a resort on or near one of the good beaches. Bocas Town has limited appeal for me. Next, it's back into Costa Rica.