Bocas del Toro, PANAMA

Hey all,

Again, apologies for the delay in the post: firstly I was slightly inebriated on my birthday, and then yesterday the internet was down on the whole island! (We take so much for granted in the UK)...

Ok so we managed to travel into Panama (only 45 minutes at the border rather than the nearly 3 hours entering Costa Rica), to find out that we had missed our ferry by about 10 minutes to the island Colon, where the town of Bocas del Toro is. As we did not want to stay in the mainland town of Changuinola (a tip), we got a water taxi out to the island. It was absolutely brilliant fun. Our driver (in a small boat) went hell for leather around the canal network, only stopping briefly for the tiny wooden fishing boats. Made it across the open sea and checked into the Mondo Taitu hostel in Bocas.

Met some lovely people in the hostel and ended up going for a few drinks. Bumped into 3 British guys we´d met in Guatemala in one of the bars, which was brilliant fun. Lots of drinking games and antics, and a good practise for my birthday the following day!

Haz and J were lovely on my birthday (although chucking me out of the room to sort out my presents was a bit of a surprise), and bought me a gorgeous bag, beautiful wooden butterfly earrings and a lovely card made in Nicaragua. Thoroughly spoilt. Had another hectic boat ride over big waves in the sea to a stunning beach, Wizard Beach, on Isla Bastimentos. So rough the boat couldn´t moor up so we just jumped into the waist high water and walked ourselves. The sand was so clean, the waters clear and with really good waves to play around in, and the sun was... strong. (The lobster look has now died down). We all really enjoyed our day, it was truly paradise. One of my favourite beaches ever.

When we tried to get back into the boat, we had a few issues (no steps or anything). Managed to jump in, but J was hilarious: she jumped up and was leaning over the side of the boat... and then slithered like a slug face first into the boat. So funny - provided entertainment for the boat driver and his helper friend!

Birthday night was wonderful fun, a delicious steak in a nearby restaurant (the best I have ever tasted), which was a well spent splurge. Then drinkies in our bar, before we moved to a hostel on another island, Carenero, which is half over the water. Beers were 50 cents, the rum and cokes were free... wonderful fun until I lost my watch, got pushed into the sea, and had a slight run in with a boat... but no serious injuries so all was good!

Recovery on Thursday, and went to Playa de Drago beach then onto Starfish Beach, where we hunted down beautiful starfish. Joined up with 2 Israeli guys there, who were also highly entertaining.

Friday we went to the Red Frog Beach on Isla Bastimentos, which was also great fun. Not quite as big as Wizard Beach, and the waves weren´t quite as good, so we´re heading back to Wizard Beach today.

Absolutely loving being here, the sun is so strong that the factor 50 suntan lotion has come out, but it is wonderful to be able to jump into crystal clear waters to cool off. The Caribbean here is quite wavy, which is a fantastic change. We´re going to head to a butterfly farm in a bit before the beach, as want to also get some pretty photos.

So heading to Panama City on Sunday night on an overnight bus, for 2 days in Panama City before we fly out to Quito, Equador at 5am on Wednesday morning. We´re also finalising dates for our other flights, so once we know those we can let people know who want to visit us.

Muchos love,
Al, Haz and J xxx