Isla Colon

We're really slowing down now. There's no need to rush and the sound of the waves are so relaxing. The water taxi took only 10 minutes to get back to Bocas town. We had time to kill before our apartment was available. Deanne grabbed a cappuccino while I walked to the airport only 500 meters from town!

There's a somewhat arduous overnight bus to Panama City that we're trying to avoid. In Latin America if you pay for an air-conditioned bus you're going to get it with a vengeance. We took it 8 years ago from Panama City to Bocas and it wasn't all that bad and was pretty cheap, but still it's a long winding, bumpy road for half of the trip and it's freezing.

So I talked to the guy at Air Panama at the airport and flights were sold out for several days. I saw this online but it's always good to check the airport sometimes because people cancel and there might be a few seats available. There weren't.

We booked a nice apartment right on the beach with a kitchen so we stocked up on groceries and then took a taxi to our place, which was 15 minutes north along the beach near Playa Paunch. We're above a restaurant and bar called Paki Point. The great thing about that is they close at 7 and we can get nice
beach drinks and meals for lunch.

The owner of our apt. has amazing taste. She must have been to Bali because there's a Buddha statue up front and some Balinese decor inside and some old surfboards decorating the wall. It's a loft design so it's one large room and there's actually three beds in it. For $77 we feel like royalty. It's right across the road from the beach. And by road I mean a sandy area that gets flooded by high tide twice a day.

We had a superb lunch of fresh tuna at the restaurant below yesterday and last night we went to a neighboring bar restaurant called Skullies. We both had amazing dinners there and we'll probably go there later to swim in their pool. It's an upscale hostel and they also rent ATVs. Those are really common here but they cost $140 a day. That's way out of our price range. Instead we're renting bicycles for the next couple days.

Feb. 7
This room was probably our best yet. We spent a lot of time here enjoying the ambiance and cooking facilities and the amazing beach across the road. And we spent a fair amount of time at Skully's, the bar down the road. They have an amazing chef.

Suffice it to say that we haven't done a whole lot except enjoy the beach and the views. We're approaching 2 weeks in Bocas del Toro and we're not tired of it yet.

But we did try to buy a flight online for Air Panama to Panama City That was a fiasco. I tried to buy the tickets online and after 48 hours we still were not confirmed. We just cancelled that and called visa to tell them about the pending charge. And we'll have to go to the airport to buy the tickets in person now. The alternative is that overnight bus which were trying to avoid.

Feb 9
We bought the flight at the airport, so we're all set to fly to Panama City today. We moved into a nice new hotel in Bocas Town and for the last few days, we've been beach bumming on Isla Caranero, the last of the 4 main islands to explore.

We walked around most of the small island and set up the hammocks again. There's a huge new bar we walked by called the Lost Boys Blues Bar. It's on stilts over the water and has a big stage and new sound system. But they're only hosting bands about once a month! That's so Bocas.

Taking the water taxis to the islands is fun. Last night, we went to a floating bar and had one last nice seafood meal back on shore before calling it.

All photos are here.
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