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| Entrance to Spanish by the Sea in Bocas del Toro, Panama |
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| Inside the Hostel |
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| Kitchen area in the hostel |
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| Inside the hostel |
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| Stairs to our room |
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| Inside the hostel |
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| Inside the hostel |
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| Kitchen area at the hostel |
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| Inside the hostel |
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| Inside the hostel |
Bocas del Toro
is a province in Panama, comprised of approximately 1,800 square miles, including
mainland as well as 9 main islands on the northwest coast of Panama.
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| Map of the islands |
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| Bocas del Toro archipelago |
After Ricardo
had prepared a fantastic farewell breakfast for us in Boquete, we walked the short distance to
the bus stop, luggage in tow. The bus
arrived at 9:15am and was already 3/4 full when we boarded. Ingrid purchased our tickets from the
driver. The fare is $1.75 one-way and is
included in the school tuition cost. This was a nice newer
bus, all red interior with red lighting.
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| Inside our bus from Boquete to David |
Between
Alto Boquete and the town of David I counted 20 stops, putting us into the city
of David at 10:12am. Here we changed to a smaller white bus that only seated about 30. The seats were very small and I found them to be somewhat uncomfortable. One annoying part of the trip was the incessant beat and volume of the music that played for the entire trip. I suppose if I was 20 instead of 70 years old this wouldn't have been so annoying.
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| Bus from David to Almirante |
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| Inside the bus. The big screen TV took 2 seats |
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| Selfie on the bus |
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| Ready to leave David |
At our fifth stop our bus was surrounded by locals trying to sell
a variety of items at our windows. Marci
purchased a bag with 4 pealed oranges at a cost of $0.50.
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| A stop with roadside vendors |
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| Pearled oranges |
Our lunch stop would finally come at 12:53pm and lasted exactly 21
minutes. I ordered fried rice with beef,
chicken and shrimp and also bought a cheese turnover and water. What I ate of the food really was excellent
and the total cost was only $4. Unfortunately,
I only got to eat about half of it before the bus was ready to leave. If I had to do this route again I would order
my food “go to” and try to eat on the bus as difficult as that may have been.
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| Ingrid ordering her lunch |
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| Nice and clean with plenty of seating at the lunch stop |
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| Fried rice with chicken, beef and shrimp. Also a cheese turnover |
Our bus pulled into the city of Almirante, Panama at 2:30pm. This town was
essentially built by the United Fruit Company as a port for banana exports. Valencia Tours operates a water taxi to Isla Colon and their office is located about 2km from the bus station. You could probably walk this but once again Ingrid had worked her magic and arranged for a private taxi to transport
us and our luggage from the bus station to the dock.
The cost for the taxi was only $1 per person and, like always, was included in
the school tuition fees.
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| Water taxi office |
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| Ingrid and Marci checking in at the water taxi |
Our boat from Almirante to Isla Colon would leave at 3pm. As a foreigner a round-trip ticket would run $10. The cost is included in the school tuition fees.
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| Our transportation to Bocas del Toro |
The boat would take 30 minutes, putting us into the town of Bocas
del Toro at 3:30pm.
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| Ready to go |
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| Arriving into Bocas del Toro |
From the boat dock Ingrid led us down Main Street toward the
hostel and school, which is located just 1 block off of Main Street.
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| Walking on Main Street |
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| Ingrid and Jasmine making their way to the hostel |
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| Sights along Main Street |
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| Sights along Main Street |
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| Sights along Main Street |
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| Sights along Main Street |
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| Turning right at this corner as we head to the hostel |
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| The entrance to the hostel in our sights |
“Spanish by the Sea” in Bocas was founded in 1998 and is the largest of four
hostels/schools owned and operated by Ingrid. This is a 2-story facility that can
accommodate up to 30 students. The Bocas school has a large front garden with fruit and
palm trees, tropical plants, lounge chairs and hammocks. The school is designed with 8 teaching
stations with a very relaxed environment for classes.
Bocas is noted for crystal clear waters, white sand beaches,
world-famous waves, colorful coral reefs and abundance of marine life. In addition to it’s vibrant nightlife, every
Friday is “Filthy Friday”.
This is a daytime island-hopping party crawl that includes 3
locations on 3 islands.
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| Photo: Public Domain |
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| Photo: Public Domain |
It didn't take us long to settle into our new environment.
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| Marci and I shared a room |
Once we had settled into our room and had finished
orientation, we walked to Mamallena’s.
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| Entrance to Mamallena's |
Situated on Avenida Norte, Mamallena’s is only a 5 minutes walk
to Main Street and about a 10-12 minute walk from the school. After our first night at Mamallena’s we knew
this would be our “go to” spot for Happy Hour drinks.
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| Bar area at Mamallena's |
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| Deck area at Mamallena's |
Our first class in Bocas was on a Sunday. It was rescheduled from Thursday to Sunday to
accommodate a planned activity Ingrid had arranged for Thursday
morning. Class would run from
8am-12noon.
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| Our teacher Patricio |
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| L to R: Fellow student Jasmine, our teacher Patricio and myself |
After school we had free time to familiarize ourselves with
Bocas. The downtown area is relatively
small and very easy to cover in an afternoon. Happy Hour at Meramallena’s is nightly from 4-8pm. It’s a beautiful location right on the ocean
and a great place to watch the sunset.
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| Sunset on the patio of Mamallena's |
On our way back to the hostel we made a quick stop at a local grocery store. We were in bed by 10pm.
Tuesday after school was another free day. Marci, Jasmine
and I walked to Main Street and paid $1 for a 2 minute water taxi ride to
Caranero Island. Not sure I need to go
back here again. This island definitely
needs assistance with sanitary problems.
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| Our water taxi to Caranero Island |
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While on the island we decided to make a visit to the
bar that hosts the “Filthy Friday” event.
We each
had a beer here and then took the water taxi back to Bocus. We then walked down to the park and picked up a local bus to
Playa del Drago. The cost was $2.50 per
person and the ride takes about 30 minutes to go 15 km.
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| Bus to Playa del Drago |
Along the way to Playa del Drago we passed the Plastico Museum. Be sure and stop here.
In 2012, Canadian entrepreneur Robert Bezeau began a recycling program
in Bocas del Toro after realizing that locals were mostly filling
their garbage bags to the brim with plastic. His plastic bottle village consists of 83 acres of farm land that he purchased in
2012. It is laid out to eventually feature 120 homes in addition to a community
garden, a small boutique, and green zones for mini-parks and even a yoga
pavilion. Plastic bottles serve as the walls of every building, with tens
of thousands neatly contained within cages of steel rebar that builders
then stack on one another. Rocks also fill the cages to help
maintain the structure’s rigidity. A one-inch mix of cement plaster then
covers this interior armor on both sides to offer the illusion that these
houses are just like any other. Living in one, Bezeau claims, will be no
different from residing in a home constructed of more conventional material.
Each will feature standard plumbing, electricity, windows and doors, a septic
tank system, and gutters.
The bus route literally ends at Playa del Drago beach. The bus will remain here for 30 minutes
before heading back to downtown Bocas. Here you can find a small restaurant and
bar. We left the beach at 4:30pm and
arrived back into downtown Bocas at 5:05pm.
Once we were back in downtown Bocas, Jasmine walked back to the hostel for a Joga class. Marci
and I stopped at Mana Restaurant and Bar. This is a great little restaurant that serves a $9 pizza and $1 beers. We split a falafel appetizer and then ordered a
pepperoni pizza. The evening special included a
bottle of Chardonnay for $10 if ordered with the pizza. Our total bill was $25 so we spent $7.50 per
person on food and $10 for the bottle of wine.
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| Front of Mana Restaurant and Bar |
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| Outside seating |
We then walked back to the hostel making a couple of stops
along the way at some local shops. We were back at the hostel by 7:30pm.
There would be no school on Thursday as Ingrid had arranged
for a catamaran sail. The $59 price was
included in the school tuition cost.
After breakfast we walked a short 2 minutes to the boat dock
where we boarded Jager Knights, our catamaran for the day. The boat was operated by Bocas del Toro Catamaran.
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| Jager Knight's Catamaran |
Jager Knights is a 42 foot French-made catamaran and has been
successfully operating for over 2 years in Bocas Del Toro.
The catamaran features
- snorkel gear - fins, mask and snorkel
- two washrooms on board
- fresh water hose for rinsing off
- large heat-protective canopy over the
cockpit to provide plenty of cool shaded area
- high quality net webbing at the bow to relax on
& work on your tan
- cooler with ice to store outside beverages and
food (if desired)
- propeller protectors on engine props for people
& dolphins
- extra strong swim ladder for embarking &
disembarking the boat to swim and/or snorkel
- Bose music sound system for the perfect sailing
soundtrack
- ...and for those of you sail-savvy people who
know the lingo- 4 double berths, 3 sails, a draft of 3 feet, and 8.5' x
14.5' nets
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| Ingrid checking in with the Captain |
With 16 on board, Captain Maga set our course for Dolphin Bay Preserve, a
lagoon in Bocas del Toro that hosts bottlenose dolphins throughout
much of the year. The bay has calm waters and is surrounded by mangroves,
which draw an abundance of small fish and crustaceans into the water.
A few
minutes before noon Captain Maga made the first of two snorkel stops. Several barracuda and oysters were spotted
but at least 5 were stung by jellyfish.
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| Marci enjoying the water |
At 12:40pm lunch was served which consisted of chicken alfredo and
bread.
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| Lunch onboard |
We left at 1:15pm and headed
to the second snorkel location, arriving at 2:15pm. We stayed at this stop until 3:17pm at which
point Captain Maga set the sail for our trip back to Bocas. We docked back in
Bocas at 4pm.
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| Fruit served on the wayback |
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| L to R: Marci and Sharon |
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| Sharon helping the Captain |
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| L to R: Sharon, Marci and Ingrid |
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| Ingrid taking over as Captain |
Back to the hostel and a quick shower and change of clothes before heading out to Restaurant Tom
for dinner. This is a local hangout that you may miss at first. You will need to head upstairs in a
concrete market building, walk to the back of the building and you'll find it
on a shaded 2nd-floor terrace overlooking the water. It offers great views,
tasty food and reasonable prices.
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| Dinner at Restaurant Tom |
They close at 5pm so we arrived at 4:45pm and were able to order
just before closing. Our total cost was $5
each.
After eating we walked to Mamallena’s for Happy Hour. At 9pm we headed back to the hostel for the night.
Ingrid scheduled salsa dance lessons for our Wednesday
activity. The class wasn’t scheduled
until 7pm so we decided to walk down to Mana Restaurant and Bar again for pizza and beer.
Our Thursday afternoon activity would include a tour of the
Smithsonian Tropical Research Center. Our tour was scheduled for 3pm. Through our tour guide we learned about the work of STRI scientists, were able to visit the lab
facilities, the touch tanks and also walk on the nature trail, spotting a sloth along the way. Admission is free but donations are accepted
and are used to support their education programs.
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| Our tour guide |
Friday would be a relaxing day with some local shopping, a
stop at a grocery store and a little relaxation. At 5pm a resident Argentinan couple began
making pizza for the group. Ingrid once
again prepared her ‘secret’ sangria recipe.
Pizza, sangria and conversation was the order for the evening as we met
students from around the world.
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| Ingrid's secret recipe for Sangria | |
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| Enjoying pizza and sangria with friends |
Saturday would be our last day on Bocas del Toro. Ingrid arranged for one final activity while
on the island and it proved to be outstanding.
After breakfast we walked to the boat docks for a 9:00am departure for
our day island
tour. This tour would include a trip
around sloth island where we were able to spot 4 different sloths. From here we headed to Bastiamentos Island
arriving at 10:30am.
Lunch
was pre-ordered at Jasmine Restaurant.
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| Jasmin Restaurant |
The boat then left for it’s designated snorkel spot. Marci and I made the decision to not go
snorkeling so we remained on the island soaking in the beauty of the day.
The group snorkeled in 2 different places and then returned to the
island, arriving at 12:30pm. Marci and I split a plate of rice and Creole Shrimp. The cost was $15 and beer was $2.25
each.
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| Rice with Creole Shrimp |
The trip took about 30 minutes.
We had been on the island about 20 minutes when I felt a
raindrop. As we began to move to the
island shelter the wind speed began to pick up and the rain picked up. Within 10 minutes it turned into a tropical
storm. Our group huddled in the small shelter
for over an hour. Most everyone was cold
so Captain Mikey made us some well received coffee. As the wind and rain began to let up a bit, Captain Mikey prepared
some beautiful fruit for the group.
After enjoying the fruit we made our way to our boat, leaving the
island at 3:30pm. It was still raining fairly hard as we raced toward Bocas at
high speed. We docked back in Bocas at
4:15pm. We were all soaked.
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| L to R: Sharon, Ingrid |
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| We all got soaked on our ride back to Bocas |
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| Drenched from the boat trip back to Bocas |
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| Marci - drenched from the boat trip back to Bocas |
After a change of clothes Marci and I walked a couple blocks to La Iguana Restaurant on Main Street.
They were offering a Happy Hour Special of a medium pizza and a drink
for only $6. We split the pizza and ordered
1 extra beer at a total cost of $8.
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