Bocas del Toro
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Scroll down for reports about 4 islands in Bocas: Isla San Cristóbal, Isla Zapatillas, Isla Bastimentos and Isla Colón!
Isla San Cristóbal
Strolling through the WorkAway website my attention was suddenly attracted by a rather discrete ad from some self-appointed eco-farm at the Caribbean coast of Panamá.
“We have a couple of little lagoon front jungle huts and a jungle house on a piece of land (60 acres) on the beautiful Isla San Cristóbal in the Bocas del Toro area of Panamá. We are a 30 minute ride by boat from the town of Bocas, away from all the tourist madness! [...] We like to attract the adventurous, eco-friendly souls that seek a unique experience in a wild and off the grid environment [...] Come with an open attitude! This is a rustic place in the jungle so be prepared for an adventure.”
Although the farming lifestyle and I couldn’t be a worse match and in my opinion stinging insects are the cancer of fauna, some inexplicable force pushed me to write them an email.
Isla San Cristóbal
Strolling through the WorkAway website my attention was suddenly attracted by a rather discrete ad from some self-appointed eco-farm at the Caribbean coast of Panamá.
“We have a couple of little lagoon front jungle huts and a jungle house on a piece of land (60 acres) on the beautiful Isla San Cristóbal in the Bocas del Toro area of Panamá. We are a 30 minute ride by boat from the town of Bocas, away from all the tourist madness! [...] We like to attract the adventurous, eco-friendly souls that seek a unique experience in a wild and off the grid environment [...] Come with an open attitude! This is a rustic place in the jungle so be prepared for an adventure.”
Although the farming lifestyle and I couldn’t be a worse match and in my opinion stinging insects are the cancer of fauna, some inexplicable force pushed me to write them an email.
Weeks went by... And then, when I almost forgot about it and mentally prepared to leave Panamá for Costa Rica, the Belgian Lazare sent me an email to check if I was still interested in helping out with some projects he thought I might have a talent for. After ten times checking if I really, REALLY think I could handle the seclusion and tropical discomforts of this location, he was so convinced of this cooperation that although he usually accepts only one volunteer at a time, he agreed that I bring my new date: The rice-with-ketchup-eating vegan Orestes, who I snatched away from my last WorkAway project in Boquete.
So after a rather awkward and disillusioned departure from Hostal Nomba, where a broke and alcoholic owner refused to pay us the little money he still owed me, I let the wind blow my sorrows away during the boatride to Cristóbal.
So after a rather awkward and disillusioned departure from Hostal Nomba, where a broke and alcoholic owner refused to pay us the little money he still owed me, I let the wind blow my sorrows away during the boatride to Cristóbal.
Nothing could have prepared me for the scene that was about to welcome me.
Sailing over the pristine crystal clear waters I saw a wooden bamboo dock equipped with a bar, barbecue, two Robinson Crusoë cabins and countless hammocks slowly appearing in the distance.
A girl in a colourful Hawaii bikini ran off the diving board sticking out of the cabin and jumped straight into the Caribbean Sea wearing a snorkel mask, while I saw someone else chopping open a coconut with a machete. When we slowed down I noticed the brightly coloured reef surrounding us, decorated by pink-blue-yellow fish in all shapes and varieties.
Bienvenidos to CocoVivo!
Sailing over the pristine crystal clear waters I saw a wooden bamboo dock equipped with a bar, barbecue, two Robinson Crusoë cabins and countless hammocks slowly appearing in the distance.
A girl in a colourful Hawaii bikini ran off the diving board sticking out of the cabin and jumped straight into the Caribbean Sea wearing a snorkel mask, while I saw someone else chopping open a coconut with a machete. When we slowed down I noticed the brightly coloured reef surrounding us, decorated by pink-blue-yellow fish in all shapes and varieties.
Bienvenidos to CocoVivo!
After devouring some fresh plantain and making friends with Capitán, Candy and their newborn offspring (the dogs) and Gandalf & Bubba (the cats), I carried my luggage up to my new temporary retreat on the hill: a big tent with a queen-size bed and merely existing of see-through mosquito nets providing some sneak-peek views on the lagoon, chucked away in the green bushes of the tropical wilderness. “Glamping” they call that nowadays right?
Carcasses of scorpions decorated the doorstep, sloths chilled out in the trees above us and the army of mosquitoes started their massacre.
Carcasses of scorpions decorated the doorstep, sloths chilled out in the trees above us and the army of mosquitoes started their massacre.
At Cristóbal counting bites is a group activity and scratching each other a date... it's a mosquito and chitra bloodbank out there! I sweated at places where I didn’t even know I had skin and the humidity made my hair instantly transform into the Einstein-look. Yes Axl, I know where I am, “In the jungle baby, I’m gonna dieeeee.”
Out of happiness maybe. From that moment on, every day I would wake up in a place of which I couldn’t believe I was there. I would have breakfasts with my feet in the Caribbean Sea while watching wild dolphins gently jump by. I would always wear my bikini under my clothes in order to answer every impulse to float in the warm yet refreshing waters, or maybe just for grabbing a kayak or stand-up paddleboard whenever I felt like it.
Out of happiness maybe. From that moment on, every day I would wake up in a place of which I couldn’t believe I was there. I would have breakfasts with my feet in the Caribbean Sea while watching wild dolphins gently jump by. I would always wear my bikini under my clothes in order to answer every impulse to float in the warm yet refreshing waters, or maybe just for grabbing a kayak or stand-up paddleboard whenever I felt like it.
Yes, from that moment on I would live in one big cheesy commercial... I would be that (maybe less fit) model laughing at you from the billboard advertisement you were glancing at while waiting on the bus in a snowstorm. Hatemail can be sent to this address.
It wasn’t all fun ‘n games though, I came here to work in the first place. The first week I helped out with a big Russian group that rented the entire property to do what they are best at: drink inhumane amounts of alcohol. At 8AM, before breakfast was prepared, I needed to serve the first rounds of beer to quickly build up their immune system for the vodka and tequila shots, served at 9:30AM. Looking at humanity getting drunk and wasted around me while staying sober myself certainly taught me some valuable life lessons. One of them being: If you drink to have fun, have fun - if you drink to forget, stay your nicer, steady, sober self instead and keep your dignity.
[Disturbing intermezzo summing up the alcohol-infiltrated spectacles I was urged to witness, taking the anonymity of the main characters into account:
- Grown-up people with jobs, duties and responsibilities pissing themselves in an alcohol frenzy.
- A semi-passed-out father lying on the floor next to his daughter, screaming the word ‘vagina’ over and over again.
- Drunken fights in which an impressive collection of smartphones and laptops was linea recta dashed into the water.
- Mature human-beings passing out in their own puddle of puke, after which their family had to drag them into a kayak.
- Violent accusations (uttered not only to me, but as well to my second half) of me having adult fun with someone’s partner, based on the fact that we were having a conversation in front of our tent, fully dressed. Relation-test-modus on!
... Yes, alcohol can make the stable mind pleasantly instable, but will drag down the minds of the already instable.]
[Disturbing intermezzo summing up the alcohol-infiltrated spectacles I was urged to witness, taking the anonymity of the main characters into account:
- Grown-up people with jobs, duties and responsibilities pissing themselves in an alcohol frenzy.
- A semi-passed-out father lying on the floor next to his daughter, screaming the word ‘vagina’ over and over again.
- Drunken fights in which an impressive collection of smartphones and laptops was linea recta dashed into the water.
- Mature human-beings passing out in their own puddle of puke, after which their family had to drag them into a kayak.
- Violent accusations (uttered not only to me, but as well to my second half) of me having adult fun with someone’s partner, based on the fact that we were having a conversation in front of our tent, fully dressed. Relation-test-modus on!
... Yes, alcohol can make the stable mind pleasantly instable, but will drag down the minds of the already instable.]
Besides assisting Lazare and his Dutch girlfriend Jody in their hosting-responsibilities, I set up their TripAdvisor account and applied for a GreenLeader recognition, subscribed them on Booking.com, gave some impulse to social media, updated AirBnB, did some research in order to put together a tourist information folder and started (& completed) the bigger project of building their new website: me organizing and writing the content, Orestes implementing his geeky digital knowledge he acquired during his years of computer addiction and gaming. Have a look!
Lazare, being a very generous host, showed his gratefulness by giving us free access to food (which wasn’t initially a part of the deal), allowing us to sleep in both the Hill House and stunning Reef Cabins when there were no guests (up to $150 a night), inviting us to daytrips to Isla Zapatillas and Bastimentos and even replacing my crappy old it’s-okay-if-they-steal-it travel laptop by buying me a new one.
Lazare, being a very generous host, showed his gratefulness by giving us free access to food (which wasn’t initially a part of the deal), allowing us to sleep in both the Hill House and stunning Reef Cabins when there were no guests (up to $150 a night), inviting us to daytrips to Isla Zapatillas and Bastimentos and even replacing my crappy old it’s-okay-if-they-steal-it travel laptop by buying me a new one.
Isla Zapatillas is Bocas’ interpretation of San Blas: Fairytale white beaches, azure blue waters and lush palm trees providing refreshing coconuts to quench the thirst.
Isla Bastimentos, another tropical beach surprise, almost caused a culture shock due to its high tourist population...
After living a while in almost seclusion, sudden civilization can be truly shocking. Nevertheless, the true Caribbean culture comes vividly alive in this piece of paradise, and I was therefore glad to visit this tropical surprise on two occasions. Once during my volunteership and one time when visiting the friends of my aunt and uncle who settled down to live here for a few years.
After living a while in almost seclusion, sudden civilization can be truly shocking. Nevertheless, the true Caribbean culture comes vividly alive in this piece of paradise, and I was therefore glad to visit this tropical surprise on two occasions. Once during my volunteership and one time when visiting the friends of my aunt and uncle who settled down to live here for a few years.
On several occasions Lazare took me out for a jungle hike. Don’t expect nicely indicated walking paths and a leisurely stroll through accessible nature: Equipped with a machete you have to cut yourself a way through the bush-bush, being prepared to skew some deathly snakes and spiders if you still have the physical ability to keep your eyes open (your eyebrows won’t be able to protect your eyes from the serious streams of sweat). In other words: Pure bliss.
While tasting the organic guanabanas, cacao, oranges, Brazilian cherries, oranges, limes, plantains, bananas, pineapples, mangos, passion fruits and avocados, or smelling fresh basil, vanilla, rosemary, cilantro, mint, lemon grass, thyme or ginger you realize nature provides you with everything you need as long as you keep it close.
While tasting the organic guanabanas, cacao, oranges, Brazilian cherries, oranges, limes, plantains, bananas, pineapples, mangos, passion fruits and avocados, or smelling fresh basil, vanilla, rosemary, cilantro, mint, lemon grass, thyme or ginger you realize nature provides you with everything you need as long as you keep it close.
They realise that all the better at CocoVivo and therefore they do everything in their power to minimize their ecological footprint: solar power, recycling of rain water, a composting toilet, and biodegradable products... keen to be green! Keeping up this spirit will ensure that the precious local wildlife won’t go extinct. I mentioned snakes, spiders, fish, sloths and dolphins already, but the list goes on. We had some sleepless nights because of the howler monkeys attacking our tent by throwing sticks and shaking it by jumping on the rooftop, meanwhile torturing Gandalf the cat... but then we would wake up facing a brightly coloured, seemingly weightless humming bird and these jungle discomforts would soon be forgotten. During cleaning sessions I had some 1-on-1’s with poisonous scorpions, solving this problem by putting pieces of furniture on top of the stingy bastards. I saw possums, red frogs, squirrels, turtles, bats and breath-taking butterflies... I could have seen toucans, pacca’s, kinkajoes, racoons, wild cats, agoutis and armadillos but I wasn’t lucky enough.
Oh and one of the highlights - not technically an animal, but incredible nevertheless - glow-in-the-dark plankton! A midnight swim in the bioluminescent water is as close as you can get to real-life science-fiction. Isla San Cristóbal is as close as you can get to a rustic, earthly paradise. Forever a memory... or a new chapter in my life? The offer of a long-term position was one of Lazare’s goodbye gifts.
To be continued...!...?
To be continued...!...?
Isla Colon
Before I even heard of Isla San Cristóbal I had already visit Colon on a party-weekend-trip. Because that’s what you do there.
You can organize a 3-hour van ride from Boquete to Bocas del Toro ($30)… but if you have more time than money another option is taking a public bus via David right through the misty rainforest: a great way of treating yourself on a jaw-dropping ride that cost you only half price. As Bocas has quite the reputation I spent most of my backpack space on bottles of Smirnoff and Fernet Branca. The former exploded along the way and drained all the clothing I took, so I beforehand ensured to smell like an alcoholic during my entire stay: I was confident I would fit right in.
Before I even heard of Isla San Cristóbal I had already visit Colon on a party-weekend-trip. Because that’s what you do there.
You can organize a 3-hour van ride from Boquete to Bocas del Toro ($30)… but if you have more time than money another option is taking a public bus via David right through the misty rainforest: a great way of treating yourself on a jaw-dropping ride that cost you only half price. As Bocas has quite the reputation I spent most of my backpack space on bottles of Smirnoff and Fernet Branca. The former exploded along the way and drained all the clothing I took, so I beforehand ensured to smell like an alcoholic during my entire stay: I was confident I would fit right in.
I exchanged the bus for a speedboat and as the wind deafened me and the calm surrounding ocean views tempered the intensity of mentally registering impulses, I was left alone with my thoughts. The approaching sight of colourful clubs and discos brought me back to life and I quickly hopped out of the moored boat to set foot on the notorious party-coast. I arrived by 5PM and was drunk by 7. Holding an empty bottle of Fernet I met up with Couchsurfer Carlos, a hot muscular surfboy with a fantastic ass (I was told, of course). He drove me down to his helter-skelter boys-house where food clang to the wall, loud music burst out of the speakers, weed fumes blurred every sight and random roommates were scattered around the living room playing guitar and djembe. I felt straight at home, right back to my university years when I was living in a student house that looked like a hurricane made its way right through the living room: a happy episode of my life. A perfect spot to talk or not talk at all, and why not, open up another bottle.
This destination passed the phase of being just a bit touristy… in fact, English-menu restaurants, handicraft markets, all-inclusive-package tour agencies and for locals unaffordable discotheques are the four pillars that hold up Isla Colon.
This destination passed the phase of being just a bit touristy… in fact, English-menu restaurants, handicraft markets, all-inclusive-package tour agencies and for locals unaffordable discotheques are the four pillars that hold up Isla Colon.
It’s a loose interpretation of a floating Las Vegas pollinated with the noisy night-life/-mare of Lloret de Mar. I am sure families and fancy holidaymakers can fill up an entire vacation here, as money will allow you to indulge in any imaginable watersport or rustic daytrip. However, being in desperate lack of any discotheque-distraction in Boquete (my interim-home) and with only three days to spend here I didn’t have any ambitions to do something meaningful. So I didn’t. The days were lazily spent at the beach, where I anxiously took note of a shark bathing around close to the shore. The nights were wasted away in the tacky and vigorous party-hub where everyone seemed to celebrate everything and therefore nothing more but life itself.
Drink, f*ck, sleep, repeat: The mantra of Bocas, life can be as easy as that. Sleep more than once replaced by something white and powdery. Just switch off your brain, allow yourself to be simple and blow your time and money. Damn, that feels good sometimes.
Sometimes.
Drink, f*ck, sleep, repeat: The mantra of Bocas, life can be as easy as that. Sleep more than once replaced by something white and powdery. Just switch off your brain, allow yourself to be simple and blow your time and money. Damn, that feels good sometimes.
Sometimes.
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