Back now from Bocas Del Toro, Panama with a chica I met through Latin American Cupid. Last time I went to Bocas, around 8 years ago, I went to check out the scuba diving there. She doesn’t dive so settled for snorkeling this time around, but even that was hindered. She didn’t want to snorkel in water over her head. It’s surprising the number of women I’ve gone out with that can’t swim. I’ve dated Latinas that grew up in towns right on the ocean and never learned.
Despite what I heard about all the development since I was there last time it didn’t seem to have changed as much as I was expecting. For the most part it still has that worn-in funky Caribbean architecture. The places to eat are a pleasant surprise from the bland food you find in most Central American towns. Our hotel had an Indonesian restaurant and a couple of Arab restaurants were within spitting distance. One night we ate at an Indian (Hindu not indigenous) restaurant. This kind of selection of eating establishments is not normal in dink sized towns in Latin America, even the touristy ones. Since Bocas town is on an island there is a refreshing lack of traffic, fumes and car horns. The town is about the perfect size right now, big enough to have some variety but small enough to still get everywhere on foot. I liked it.
Prices were reasonable. Beers were only a $1 at our hotel and some places had happy hours with 50 cent beers. One night we decided to try a place we saw on a flyer. They had people pick you up at the central park every hour to take you to this restaurant/bar. We were the only two waiting when this dude picked us up to take us there. He took us out of the downtown area and to this place with a couple of dark houses and said here it is. I thought there’s no way any bar or restaurant is going to be around here. He got out and had us follow him. We walked behind the houses and I realized then they were right on the water. He had us wait on a dock and in a few minutes a boat came and picked us up and took us to the place on the flyer. It was a funky bar/restaurant built right over the water with a big hole in the middle of the floor that opened to the ocean just a few feet below. A whole smoked fish, potatoes and a beer were $4.
The most popular tour on Bocas is a day long boat tour that hits 4 places. The first is Dolphin’s Bay and we did see a load of dolphins, many up close. I thought they would spot one then jerk us to the next place on the tour but we spent a good amount of time checking them out. Next was Crawl Key which was basically a stop to extract money out of us by stopping at an isolated restaurant built over the water with overpriced food. We decided not to play ball and just ordered some fried plantains. Next stop with Cayo Coral which was some kind of underwater preserve for snorkeling. The group did the snorkeling from the boat far away from shore. It was much better than what was claimed to have the best snorkeling on the island, Boca del Drago, which was a waste of time. Next up was Red Frog beach. This is one of the nicer beaches around the islands but that’s not too hard since the majority of the shores around the islands are mangroves instead of beaches. It was a 7 1/2 hour tour that cost $15 each.
You’ll probably have dudes on the street hitting you up for this tour while walking around Bocas town. The price started at $24, then $20, then $15. It was worth it.
The only thing I considered overpriced were the rooms themselves. We paid $35 for a small room with private bath, hot water and a balcony shared with one other room. Nothing to the room except a place to hang your clothes. Should have cost $20 to $25 tops. You can flop in a hostel for around $10/night but if you’re with your lady friend you’ll want a private room. After checking places online $35 was about the bottom for your own room and they went up from there.