Bocas del Toro
My first night bus experience was the 12 hour journey from Panama City to Bocas del Toro. I had heard the stories of how Central America’s nightbuses were freezing cold…but boy this one was ice cold, with freezing air con pumping out all night. I had to mummify myself to try and keep warm! Note to self: next time buy a woolly hat.
The bus arrives at Alimirante on the mainland around 6am where a row of $1 taxis are waiting to take you to the nearby boat dock to get the $4 water taxi across to Bocas Town. It takes about 30 minutes by boat before you approach the first of the wooden buildings over the water on the edge of the island.
Bocas is a fun, laid-back and pretty town full of colourful wooden houses with a Carribbean feel. It’s close to the Costa Rica border, a good surf spot and the party island of Central America.
I stayed at Heike which is a great spot on the main street complete with a rooftop terrace and chill out area. After checking in I was all set to go and catch up on some sleep after the night bus when at 8am the parade for National Bocas day started up. The drumming went on for over 13 hours!! The celebrations, dancers, musicians and parade circled around the town until well after nightfall ending in a firework and flare extravaganza, with one of the central spots being right outside where I was staying. The celebrations were impressive, even through the immense heat they carried on and on… As sleeping was completely out the window it was a case of joining in and getting on the streets.
Walking back from a local store in 35 degree heat to hear Bob Marley’s ‘Buffalo Soldier’ blasting out of a bright green house was a fitting moment with the sun beating down and the music filling the street. I’ve never been to Jamica but that moment in Bocas and it’s colourful wooden houses is how I’d imagine it could be.
I met a bunch of guys from the Netherlands and Belgium and headed out to sample the famous Bocas nightlife. The Mondo Taitu bar is a good starting spot for the night before getting a water taxi from the dock across to Aqua Lounge on the island opposite. The outdoor club set on the island’s edge has plunge pools and swings over the water. With a girls drink free promo on the place soon filled up. The music was a mix of European dance, reggaton and Latin American…the same songs I’d heard in the clubs in Cuba (and would do for the rest of my trip it seemed).
The second day I met up with some new friends from Israel I’d met in Panama and enjoyed a day on the nearby Red Frog beach. Accessed by a water taxi to one of the nearby islands and short walk through the jungle to the beach trying to spot the tiny red frogs along the way. Had my first great meal in a while at Casbah, a small mediterranean restaurant. Slightly more pricy than most of the island’s restaurants but worth it for fish and a really tasty salad of mixed vegetables that I hadn’t come across since leaving England. Things like asparagus, spinach, aubergine and cherry tomatoes tasted so good after all the ham & cheese sandwiches on the lunch menus in Cuba.
The supermarkets on the island were great…they had everything and even a gourmet deli shop at the end of the main road.
The next couple days we hit the beaches again and passed through Dolphin Bay watching the dolphins pass by our boat. Then it was back to the bars, every night there is a different club or bar that is the place to be… normally the one that is ladies night draws the biggest crowd. If you’re in the market for that kinda thing Bocas is great, and coupled with the nice beaches and laid-back town it’s a cool place to hang out.
Panama City
It was time to head back to dry land after four nights sleeping in wooden huts and open air showers and toilets on the San Blas islands.
Panama City itself felt a little unsafe, away from the banking district and upmarket areas it’s got some pretty dangerous parts, you can walk a street or two too far at times and find yourself somewhere you shouldn’t be. There are armed police guarding certain areas and just out and about on the streets, occasionally they or locals would stop you and say to turn back and go another way. I had no trouble whatsoever in my time there but other people’s stories did leave you a bit on edge…
The old town Casco Viejo is one of the tourist friendly areas. Reminiscent of old Havana with colonial buildings and a regeneration scheme in progress. It’s still very run down, the housing down some streets is close to wooden slums as you start walking out of Casco Viejo to the neighbouring districts.
I stumbled upon a cool design/fashion shop, gallery and cafe called Diablo Rosso. It was nice to flick through some design books and check out the exhibition and be back in a familiar creative territory.
The city is full of cheap, tacky clothing shops along the main drag, it’s like one big market along the dirty, run down streets, every shop offering the same. Back over in the banking district you can find the upmarket shops and large malls on the outskirts with international brands.
I didn’t warm to the city as a whole but then it was the San Blas Islands and Bocas del Toro that had brought me to Panama which were both as good as I had expected. On my return from San Blas I stayed in a great place called Mamallena which had a great vibe. It was in a pretty rough working class area called Pereji…it was fine in the daytime but after dark not so safe.
The local “chicken buses” known as the “Diablos rojo” red devils are an experience to say the least! They are vividly decorated old US school buses, spurting out fumes and screeching around the streets that are only 25 cents a ride and cram as many people on as possible. There’s no other affordable transport for the locals so they are jam packed, it’s a case of jumping on and holding on tight! I’ve probably never been so squashed…there were five people, me included crammed on the first step into the bus alone.
Panama is obviously famous for it’s shipping canal and yeah we did nip to the canal ‘just because’ and saw some cargo and cruise ships passing in the short time I was there, but I can’t really see the attraction…the bus ride there was more exciting!
So after a few more days in the city it was time to hit the islands again, this time to Bocas del Toro.
San Blas Islands
After almost a month in Cuba arriving in Panama City was a bit of a culture shock being back in a fast paced city. The drive from the airport resembled what could be a New York skyline full of high rise buildings and skyscrapers.
I was staying the first night in one of the more modern areas of the city in Marbella, in amongst the banking district, malls and nightlife.
I met a group of people from France, Germany, Turkey and Israel who were heading to the San Blas Islands the next morning so I joined them for the trip. A 4x4 picked us up at 5.30am for the 3 hour journey to the boat dock across to Kuna Yala. The further you travel the road becomes less developed with uneven gravel as you head up through the red mountains on a bumpy, winding road - I can only describe it as a real-life rollercoaster ride!
We change to a small speedboat for about an hour across to the islands. The area is beautiful as you pass by picturesque isolated islands as far as you can see. There are almost 400 islands in Kuna Yala with only a handful with inhabitants and a few set up with huts to accommodate small numbers of tourists. Anyone entering the area needs to pay taxes as the islands are owned by the Kuna Indians and stand independent from the rest of Panama.
The first 2 nights I stayed at Franklins Island, a gorgeous white sand, clear blue seas postcard perfect island, complete with about 12-14 little wooden huts and hammocks for days lazing in the sun. It is one of the few islands with a generator so between 6-10pm there is some electricity and lighting in the main huts. After that it’s lights out and the experience of sleeping in the pitch black a couple of meters from the sea with the sound of the waves all night was wonderful. The only means of finding your way across the island at night is by torch, it’s quite eerie if you want the bathroom in the middle of the night!
There were about 6-8 of us on the island at one time, people coming and going each day. Whenever you are ready to leave or go to another island the owner would take you in his boat for a few dollars. He took a few of us across to the Kuna village island where the majority of the Kuna Indians live in a mix of concrete and wooden huts. Ladies dress in traditional clothing with vibrant dresses, arm and leg braids and a hoop through their nose. Every day all the men on the island have to meet at 7pm for a talk by the island chief in the main hut, anyone who fails to attend is hunted down. Likewise all women have to attend in the morning. The island is self equipped with some generators, a school and small hospital. A few Kunas make the occasional trip to the mainland to get supplies.
We got a little rowing boat across to nearby Innes island for the next 2 nights. A smaller but busier island spilt between the different Kuna owners. Some of the islands were owned my multiple families, Franklins for example was owned by 32 families. The vibe at Innes was more livelier with the locals socialising with the guests. The food was a lot better too with fresh lobster, crab and fish for lunch and dinner everyday, whatever you wanted the fishermen would go and catch it that day. However it wasn’t as picturesque as Franklins, it didn’t seem as clean and looked after. So we took a boat to Isle of Perro (dog island) for the day. An untouched beautiful white island surrounded by the clearest waters, lots of coral and an old shipwrecked boat. It simply was paradise.
