The first impression of Panama was amusing and back to bullshit. We got out the laptops to show the border guards our flight details then went on a hunt for a ride to Bocas Del Toro which is widely hailed as a party town on the backpacker trail. What isn’t hailed as a party town, I am not sure. But, the islands Bocas Del Toro sits on are beautiful and are home to dolphins and a diversity of wildlife and lonely beaches. We were approached by a taxi tout as usual who proclaimed that the bus rides would take at least 4 hours and cost a minimum of 8 dollars each, which was only 2 dollars less than we would pay for his collective trip. We were not the mood for another long bus ride so grudgingly got in, but didn’t pay anything. There was general annoyance amongst the travellers in the bus that we were obviously being ripped off so they got out to organize something else. They managed to get a 5 dollar deal which is still 2.50 more than the bus ride to Bocas. So we got out and persuaded the last two tourists to get out to and make other arrangements. The annoyance of the touts and the driver was evident and filled me with Schadenfreude. The ride took 2 hours and took us to a little port where we handed over another four dollars for a speedboat to the island. When we got there, more touts. We told them to bugger off and when asked where we were staying said none of your business which shut them up for once! Bloody Touts.
The town of Bocas is dusty and colourful. The hostels and hotels ranged from cheap and dumpish to not too cheap and quite nice looking, we opted for one notch above cheap and dumpish paying a whole 2 usd more each and enjoyed a/c AND hot water and a nice bed. The difference between our hotel/hostel Brisas and the most commonly known one was enormous and well worth spending a little extra. We met up with the others we had been travelling with and enjoyed Rum and coke for a dollar a cup, jumping into a pool and partying till late. The hostels and clubs had personal checks for weapons and things, but nobody seemed to check or kick out the very obvious drug dealers who constantly offered cocaine and marijuana, it was irritating!
The next day we headed out to sea; dolphins and red frogs on a beach. The trip was fantastic, cruising around the islands in a small boat we found some dolphins and tried desperately to take photos, unsuccessfully it turned out. The boat spun around creating waves and the dolphins jumped the waves and did spins, it was fantastic. Who needs a Marine park when you have that? Further highlights of the trip were a new marina in which we saw amazing Super yachts, sailing and motorized ones, and enjoyed a beach on the shores of the Caribbean Sea, waves crashing into some exquisite soft sand, a couple meters behind us the rainforest. Idyllic it was, and hopefully remains as such, and a total opposite to Bocas itself. The local communities might be doing ok from tourists, but once more the majority of developments were outside investors and stranded travelers who had decided to stay on, although I am not sure why. Bocas didn’t impress as a town, and the surrounding seas may have once been host to numerous life, but snorkeling around it was evident that the fish life was being depleted quickly. The area has a lot of potential to be much more for both tourists and locals, but needs more in the form of control for the developments. I wasn’t sad to get on a boat again and head towards the mainland.
The next stage was a day long trip to the Pacific coast of Panama, where we headed to the best coffee plantations in the world in Boquete. The bus trip was long, and cost all of 7 usd and took us to David, from where we took another chicken bus to Boquete. It was delightfully cool and the rain was a great change to the hot sun. On arrival we checked a few places out, and found the locals to be very friendly indeed and accommodating! Venturing out we found a terrific Mexican restaurant that was cheap and the owner cooked and served her food with a flourish. If you head there see if you can find it, head south on the main road from the main square, then turn right at the first major crossing, it is on your right hand side.
We booked a trip for a coffee trip the next day, which we highly recommend, with a firm called Café Ruiz which is apparently one of the top 5 coffee producers in the world. We were shown how the farm produces coffee and uses the similar conditions to grow rare coffee varieties. They also used fruit trees and other food producing trees to provide shade and provide their workers with food during the picking season. The workers, our guide started at 10, are all indigenous Indians who are housed in fairly nice and new accommodation during the six month picking season and tramp between the coast between Boquete and the Caribbean coast where they live in the dense jungle. I was extremely impressed with the coffee plantation and their ethics, and I feel I learnt a lot! For example, the beans they discard – that float or are slightly off are apparently favourites for producers such as Nescafe and others who produce freeze dried coffee. Sadly, a lot of the farmers are selling their lands for short term profits to retiring Americans primarily who like to build beautiful gated communities. I would have thought a coffee growing region could sell Carbon Credits and earn more per year than the short term income generated by the land sales? Anyone fancy a project?
We left after the coffee tour as we had booked an exciting sailing trip in the San Blas and needed some time to organize things like insurance documents and so on in Panama City. We took a bus back to David and then got a bus to Panama City. It took a while as a tree had hit a truck, wrecked it and blocked the road, adding around 2 hours to the journey. Nobody was hurt which was good, sadly a beautiful tree was destroyed. MT
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