Ahh… taste that? A new brand of beer. I’m in Panama!
I left Samara, Costa Rica on a 4:30am bus to San Jose, where I switched to another bus that brought me to the Caribbean town of Puerto Viejo. I spent the night at a hostel called Rockin J’s, which is full of hammocks and tents. I grabbed a tent (with mattress) for $6 and caught up on some CS work before sitting around shooting the shit with some other travelers. I spent Easter in this town, and wasn’t really interested in exploring, plus it had been raining for so long that everything was flooded.
Up early the next morning I jumped onto another local bus that took me to the border. Here I had to sign all the forms, prove to them that I didn’t have swine flu (there have been 28 cases in Panama so far) and they let me walk across the bridge. I had been chatting with some of the girls that were in the same hostel the night before and after some bargining and playing the tourist drivers against the cabbies, we caught a $5 ride to the port. I was headed to Bocas del Toro, an island that is part of an archipelago off the coast of Panama.
45 min later we got to the boat place and hopped on board. A 30 min boat ride and we were there. This place is amazing. Crystal clear water, amazing shore line, and shallow reef filled bays. I am trying to get to Olrick’s island (a German guy who I met at burningman and again in Costa Rica) but was so worn out from travel that i decided to crash at a hostel here in town for the first night. After working out a pick up to the island I went to the beach.
Right now I am waiting for the pick up. Panama time is about the same as Costa Rica time -noon means anytime between noon and 2:00.
Ill post some videos and photos from the island while I am there. He has wifi and is trying to set it up as a remote work location.
-Ben