It’s undoubtedly a pretty wild place here in Bocas.
We spent a few nights in “town”, which is the major settlement on Isla Colon. It seemed a delightful place to arrive after 12 hours of buses, taxis and corrupt immigration officers at the border. The gringo influence is strong, and consequently there are numerous sleeping and eating options.
The six of us wound up in an enormous room with a private oceanfront deck, and it was a fitting end to our time traveling as a group. We celebrated Jess’ birthday with champagne and piñata – the space proved to be an ideal venue.
Stories abound here of foreigners buying up land to live their caribbean dreams, years later encountering a corrupt judiciary undertaking land grabs on behalf of mates or other moneyed interests.
To be honest the concept of chasing the gringo tropical paradise here seems moderately insane. The barriers that exists even to such mundane tasks as having trees sawn into usable planks are enormous. Let alone the non-existence of western oriented industries such as competitive telephony providers, good coffee (ironically), and service to justify the ubiqutious service charge.
But – as always – great place to visit!
The rest of our group has since departed to Panama City, whilst we’ve boated over to Isla Bastimentos for a more serene pace.
Much less development over here, and a very interesting local culture comprised largely of migrants from the West Indies who speak an English / Spanish creole. An incredibly friendly lot, too.
We’ve hooked back up with Ryan and Daria from Canada – we’re going to chase coffee and good beach tomorrow morning, and well probably move mostly in step onto Panama City in the next few days.
