Bocas Del Torro, Panama

Friday morning we left for Panama. We caught a shuttle to the border- which was a little hectic getting over. 

We had to first go to a shop (literally a clothes shop) to pay an exit fee of $7 to leave Costa Rica, then go to another building to get our passports stamped, walked on a super sketchy bridge over to Panama, got our passports stamped again, and finally headed over to a building behind a liquor store to pay an entrance fee. So yea, the border was fun. 

This is the super sketch bridge- with missing boards 30 feet over a river. Definitely not handicap accessible. 

The building where you get your passports stamped. Inside the cement room was an un-uniformed guy with a stamp and bag of money ... seems legit. 

We're here!!

Black Friday in Panama

After an hour water taxi ride we arrived in Bocas Town, which consisted of waterfront restaurants, bars, and colorful buildings.

 Our hostel had free bike rentals, so we biked around for a bit and realized that the only place to really see in Bocas town was the main street, the rest was mainly residential. 

We took a water taxi over to Isla Calenero for happy hour at Bibi's, a fairly remote restaurant/bar only accessible by foot.

Delicious margs and pina coldadas:)

Storms commin! We decide to hop over to the next bar before the rain came in.

Too late, we were running in the rain.

We came across a hostel and wait out the storm. 

Perhaps a little card game? 

Saturday we took another water taxi to Red Frog Beach, another island, where we stayed at Palmar Tent Lodge. Instantly fell in love with this place. From the dock it was a 10 minute hike to our remote ecolodge. 

This is our tent 

This is our bathroom 

This is the beach that was in front of the tent lodge 

We were invited to come hang out on a sail boat for the rest of the day. The owner of the boat was traveling with his son and daughter on a sail boat trip starting off in Texas and making their way down to Fiji, via Panama canal. 

Best view is from the crows nest

After a day of sailing, we came back to the tent lodge for a bonfire on the beach. The location of the lodge is very remote, the night sky was unbelievable, and I have never seen so many stars in my entire life. The beach also had bioluminescence which creates a glow in the water when the plankton are disturbed. Skinny dipping with the plankton! 

Sunday we took a little hike over to a good snorkeling spot and when it started to rain everyone congregated around the bar. 

Met some amazing people and saw absolutely gorgeous sites. I want to go back.