Kristin explained the mayhem that was the Caribbean side land border crossing from Costa Rica to Panama, so I won't dwell on it other than to add that I need to do a better job of listening to my instincts - after all that's why we have them. New rule: never take water transport unless we book it directly. Let's just say that the water taxi we used to leave Bocas town had a compass, two radios and an abundance of life jackets. I would only recommend the land border crossing to those travelling on a restrictive budget or to those who enjoy self-flagellation. I commend our children's resiliency.
Once you get past the moody immigration officials with their arbitrary rules, the travel scammers and the physically challenging obstacles lays the beautiful island of Colon. We stayed just outside of Bocas town by the gas station (there's only one) in a condo building surrounded by a local neighborhood. Rosie and Muhammed made our stay as pleasant as possible despite the presence of the local rooster and its early morning antics that pretty much spilled into the entire day. The only upside to the occasional heavy rain was that it seemed to dampen the rooster's spirit more than ours.
While preparing for this trip, I read that the most memorable part of travelling is often centered around the people you meet and less so the places you see. That has been my experience during previous travels and it has been reinforced on this trip. We met some lovely and interesting people in Bocas. Kristin's friend's niece, Victoria, was so generous with her time and advice. Bocas is definitely a place where knowing someone can make a big difference. Long before we arrived, Victoria was answering emails and responding to all sorts of questions. We rented 4-wheelers based on her recommendation, traveled to a couple of great beaches and ate at numerous awesome restaurants including El Ultimo Refugio, Bibi's on the Beach, La Casbah and Alberto's Pizza. By the way, I am horrible at taking photos and making notes for my foodie write ups. I was hoping that Kristin would help to remind me, but she is apparently suffering from the same affliction.
We met Steve and his wife, Rhonda, at The Flying Pirates. The couple moved from Los Angeles to start a flying business. They are 'can do' people and unafraid of taking risks. Their business branched into renting kayaks, Jeeps and quads. I wasn't initially convinced that renting the quads was a good idea, but soon changed my mind. I highly recommend it to others.
All is not perfect in Bocas. Definitely a tough place for many locals to make a living, so you have to expect occasional 'gringo' pricing and aggressive 'fixers' especially when you look like prototypical tourists as we do. Kristin stood her ground with the taxi drivers so they would not overcharge us - kind of reminds me of someone else in the family. Medical care is spartan, but the farmacia helped us out when we needed drops for Maeve's apparent ear infection. Bocas was not a cheap place for us, but I think once you settle down there for a while and learn to live less like a tourist, things would get better.
On a side note, we challenged the kids to make a scary movie for Halloween that we will post on the blog. Their travels for the next couple of months will be the set.
