Buenos Noches de Bastimentos ! (Bocas Del Toro)
Wow, what a shock to the system going from English speaking Canada and USA to the Latino world of Panama. Although we did get a brief introduction to the supersonic velocity, dialect and slang of Spanish whilst in Miami, Panama City has tested our memory skills. Our pocket translation book has got us out of a few language barriers but the real credit goes to hand signals or sign language, helpful translators and saying "gangaroo, si gangaroo". Panama is a different world to Australia, the taxis drive like V8 supercar drivers but less friendly and less willing to give space on the road. There are no footpaths whatever, an abundance of meter deep potholes and rubbish everywhere you step. Having said that, we felt very safe walking around 17th century buildings of old town overlooking the panoramic high rise skyline.
After a brief stop to the canal, we took the 11 hour bus ride to Bocas. Getting the tickets was the biggest ordeal of all time. We were second in line and it took over an hour to get served. There was another line for David with 1000 people to one ticket booth, even worse. The trip may as well have been 400 years long as we were put into cryostatus with sub artic air conditioning. In the end, we are happy and settled in the little paradise of Bastimentos. There are a couple of small, all to yourself beaches within a short kayak and have reefs more populous than the Great Barrier Reef. Beautiful! They also have a muddy jungle trail to wizard beach where the water is so warm and a 100m sand bank makes the lack of red/yellow flags safe. Our hosts Rafa and Jenny have been great.
Today we undertook the hardcore snorkelling sport of deep boarding. They basically give you a hydrodynamic Perspex board on a rope and tow you behind a boat. Apart from feeling like bait on a line for sharks, you felt like a dolphin hammering through the sea. Up/down/left/right movements were done pretty easy with minute changes to the boards angle. We are waiting for the gopro footage to be put up online, hopefully tomorrow.
Only 1 more day before we are in puerto viejo. Hopefully it is as good as here
On a side note to the USA that I missed out on mentioning, the Florida keys are worth a visit. Miami beach is a bit like Vegas and should only taken carefully and in small doses, but the keys are where the money is. Sarah and I did the day trip from miami to key west and back. Lots of snorkelling, warm water and night life were had.
