Bocas del Toro 2012

Another 90 day visa run - another excuse for a vacation from my extended vacation :)  The last time I went to Bocas del Toro, Panama was Feb. last year with Larry, Jeff & Sharon, Kealy and Desirae........this time I was with Kealy and Desirae again, along with Jeff from Florida & Mike from New York.  Kealy drove his small Terios, so with all 5 of us, 3 surf boards and all our stuff -it was a very cosy 6 hour ride to the boarder.  After a long day of traveling, dealing with customs & Immigration, buses and a water taxi, once you get to Bocas Town on the main Island of Colon, all you want to do is get checked in, get a cold beer and eat.  The guys had plans to get up the next morning at the break of dawn in search of waves.  Instead of staying at the place I have always stayed.... clean, quiet, reasonable price, on the water......Kealy decided we needed to stay in a rat hole to save them a 5 minute walk in the morning.  Needless to say, there was not much sleep that night with all the noise, the fight in the courtyard in the middle of the night, a very uncomfortable bed.  On the other hand, looking back.....the fight - it's hard to explain but as I lay there in the dark, with my windows open and hearing the fight below me, it occurred to me how the men actually sounded like animals.  There was some yelling, but it was the sound - something from the throat, deep down that really stuck me as primal and powerful.  If you have heard a howler monkey, this was similar.......very interesting.

In the morning, Des and I met up about half an hour after they left - not at the break of dawn as planned.  We had an awesome breakfast over the water, then caught a water taxi to "The Pickled Parrot" a bar/restaurant close to where they planned to surf.  We walked a beautiful 20 minute trail to get to a point that looked down on the bay they planned to surf.  Waves were big and beautiful, we did not see the guys.  What we did see was the zillion bug bites were were dealing with.  Des had Mike's camera with a telephoto lens.  I was standing above her calling out surfers.... "outside, inside, up.......down - barrel" - in between slapping and swearing at the "no see umsssss"  After about 30 minutes, no sight of the guys, we called it quits, walked back to the bar, sat there soothing our wounds and watching the ocean for another hour.  Hotel check out time was 1 pm.  There was no way I was staying another night and so we got back to Colon about 12:30.  The guys were already there wondering where we had been.....  The waves they saw were nothing like what we had seen, maybe to early, I have no idea what the problem was, but they had come back early.

Next stop was Isla Bastamentos.  That night we stayed in a hostel that all the gang stayed last year.  In the evening, the guys surfed the same morning spot, I took out a kayak like I do everytime I am on this island.  After everyone was back at the hostel, showered up, we headed out for a much anticipated italian dinner.  Along the way, we stopped at a very small convenience store - by small I mean about the size of my living room.  I purchased a bottle of water and as I stepped outside, the electricity went off.  It was pitch black!!!!!!!  Immediately, the store attendant flicked on his flashlight and started closing bars across the entrance.  No one could get out, no one could get in.  I was at the top of the stairs and got right up against the bars and as close to the attendant as I could be.  Even tho there were not many people there on the outside, several were pushing up against me.  I had my bag with my camera, passport, money....everything important to me held tight infront of me and between me and the bars.  It was a very uncomfortable situation!!!!  Des and the guys were all in the store on the other side of the bars.  They were trying to buy a flashlight.  Finding batteries that actually worked and getting all that purchased took about 10 minutes - a very long 10 minutes for me.  As soon as Mike and Jeff came out, I was right there between them.  With the brand new flashlight that was fading with each step, we all worked our way back to the hostel and ended up having a lovely candlelight dinner at the new restaurant at the back of the place we were staying.

The next morning, we took a water taxi back to Colon and finally checked in with Lovinia at Dos Palmas - my favorite place to stay and the only place I have ever really known.  Once we all got settled we had a taxi truck take all of us to check surf breaks.  This was a fun adventure as I had never been to the beaches we went to.  We saw several places that looked like a lot of fun but it was obvious you had to know what you were dealing with before paddling out.....we saw a couple guys wade out and then pose on top of rocks until the right moment came and they could toss themselves with their board into an outgoing wave.  It was a very fun little adventure.  Then when we got back to the hotel, within the hour we headed back out - rented bikes and began the bicycle bar hopping tour that lasted till late in the night.  This was the day we all just enjoyed each other's company and had a great time.

Thursday morning we all had breakfast together and then headed out separate ways.  The guys went surfing, Des and I headed for Red Frog Beach - a very beautiful exclusive area I had been to my first time ever in Panama back in 2007.  It has changed dramatically since I first saw it but still just as breathtaking beautiful.  The evening was spent with all the guys checking out other places on Colon we had not seen.  For dinner we ended up at Rip Tide, a restaurant on a boat we discovered on the bicycle adventure.  Afterwards another stop for fooz ball, darts, pool.......Fun, fun, fun.

Thank God we had so much fun all those days in Bocas because the return was hell.  3 hours at the Panamanian boarder, standing in a line with no more than 50 people in front of us.....no one had any idea what took so long.  By the time we finally crossed over into CR, about an hour drive to Puerto Viejo, it was about 4:30 pm.  Here Mike and Jeff saw what they came for - waves and girls!!!  All 3 guys surfed and as the sun dropped, we said good-bye to Mike and Jeff.... who knows when they will return to EO!

And that was when the most terrifying night of my life began.  The long drive home.... in the dark, narrow roads, limited to no traffic lines, pot holes, pedestrians and animals, drivers who have no clue how to drive..... but the most terrifying of all - the semi trucks!  Limon is the biggest city on the Caribbean coast - it is a rat hole!  This is where coffee and produce is shipped from, where an endless number of cargo arrives.  Once we hit Limon there were trucks everywhere driving at speeds there is no way they could stop if they had to...and no way they would even try - and then there were the ones passing other semi's on the 2 lane road......headed straight for us.

Before you get to San Jose you must cross a very high mountain range.  It was here my heart just about stopped.  It could have been when the semi was in our lane coming full boar or at the very tip top when I was leaning over into the front seats helping look for the only visible small white dots on the side of the road that indicated the edge.......

When I walked into my house it was almost 1 am.  I was totally exhausted.  I didn't even leave the house that whole day.

Fun times were had - I considered the thought I might die on the way home..............I love my house, I love Esterillos - so happy to be back!!!!!!!!

Pura Vida