Sunday, May 2, 2010
Just like Gilligan - Stranded on a Tropical Isle
Sunday morning we were walking around Bocas, trying to get our day planned out, and stopped to inquire about express tickets to Panama City (they cost more, but get you there without transfers in a mere ten hours). We found out that we had two options, a day bus at 8am, or a night one at 7pm.
We went back to the hotel to swim and think about it, and when we returned like an hour and a half later, they were ALL sold out. Both trips. So, left with the option to either wait another day and leave Tuesday or still leave Monday and coordinate a trip on our own that would probably take a minimum of 16 hrs, we decided to stay put. One more day at the beach isn't all that bad, I guess......
We ended up getting a water taxi to take us to one of the other islands, arranging for a round trip ride. It was kind of sketchy because we didn't even know where we were going and simply asked to go somewhere where we could swim. Our driver threw in a snorkel mask and had us jump out of the boat at a beach surrounded by no tresspassing signs.... Someone can own the jungle, but not the beach, right??? We had it to ourselves for the first few ours and then a few small boats showed up with people to swim and snorkel. It was called Playa Ladrones and, luckily, our driver came back to bring us home ;)
Bocas del Toro
I don't know why at times I'm still surprised when my expectations of places in Central America turn out to be different than the actual place. The town we got off the bus in Almirante, is a small little town that sits on the banks of a canal used to transport Chiquita bananas. This is where we had to catch a water taxi out to Isla Colon, the main island in Bocas Del Toro. The water around the taxi terminal was not the brilliant bluish green color that is normally present in the Caribbean. This might be due to the floating trash, oil containers, and the outhouses that were built on stilts over the water.
We however moved on from that pretty fast and the beautiful Caribbean waters opened up before us as well as islands and mangrove forests. However, when we arrived in Bocas Town, the main town in the Bocas Del Toro, I was a little disappointed. This island was not a slum, but it was still pretty dirty and run down. Additionally, most signs were in english which Steph and I take to be a bad sign. And, as is typical in most tourist destinations in Central American countries, we were pounced on by young entrepreneurs looking to make a consignment from their hotel recommendations.
We walked down the main street past tons of Gringos, hostels, and Asian owned grocery stores to Hotel Las Brisas (the breezes). It wasn't the nicest hotel, but it was a big building on the water that was in our price range. Actually, the back third of the hotel was built on stilts in the water. The back deck was a dock complete with ladder! The hotel had rooms of varying sizes and prices and was occupied by young back packers from all over the world.
The restaurants were very Americanized and touristy; it was hard to find something authentic. We did manage to have the best seafood of our lives at a Caribbean restaurant overlooking the water and a few entertaining drinks at the shady local bar next door. The bar was dark and rambling and there were people passed out drunk on the tables at 4:30. People seemed very curious about us being there, but they weren't hostile. Some drunk kid actually tried to strike up several incoherent conversations with me. From what I can figure he wanted me to come drink with him. This is the first time in a long time I had no idea what someone was saying in Spanish. It might not have even been Spanish, it could have been the local creole language or maybe just indiscernible mumbling. On our way out I bought him a $1 rum and coke as an offering of good will.
Our other attempt for a local flavor resulted in a two dollar breakfast consisting of what could best be described as a cold corn dog and a yellow plastic tube filled with corn meal and margarine. It was pretty delicious...
Anyways, that's all that anyone really needs to know about Bocas Town. It's a good thing we took day trips to other islands and beaches, or else we would have been disappointed to say the least.
Corriendo con Parrotas
While at Ojo Del Mar, I ran every day on the dirt road that stretched between the national park and Puerto Viejo. After the energy sucking hills, uneven sidewalks and diesel clouds of Quesada, running here was a huge relief. It was, for the most part, pretty flat and the surface was nice hard packed dirt. Some days I ran alone, and some with my dad, but either way, it had to be early in the morning and you still came back drenched in sweat. We forded small streams, saw Jesus Cristo lizards run across water, heard howler monkeys, caused a stampede in a herd of escaped Brahman cattle (one eventually just bust through the barbed wire to get back with its fellows) and saw tons of parrots!!!
There was this one tree that must have been a nest sight, as it was loaded every morning. It was magical to randomly see pairs of huge red macaws soar overhead, raucously calling to one another. Flocks of small parots and parakeets swarmed past and groups of medium sized bird casually chattered and dropped fruit and seed pods to the ground below, unconcerned with my presence. I have always enjoyed running for the sights I see, but this blew everything else out of the water. I saw something like 30 macaws in a single 6 miler one day. It was unreal!
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