We returned from Bocas del Toro, Panama yesterday around 3:00 PM.  Wow, it was beautiful there!!  I have taken almost 2,000 pictures while I have been here but of course the only ones I can post are the ones from my phone.   I will be posting them as soon as I get back.   I have had a few encounters while I have been here that I have to tell about.

There is a bar, The Point, at the end of the road we are staying on that we go to for dinner occasionally.   We went there last Tuesday night on our bikes for dinner and found out they have Woodstock night on Tuesdays so we stayed for awhile.   We met several Americans that haved moved here and talked to them.  We also met a local Tico man named Beniño.  Beniño doesnt speak a word of English and we barely understand Spanish but we learned that when they keep giving you free shots of some type of sugar cane alcohol it no longer matters.   You just talk and talk and everyone  thinks they understand everyone else.  (This is also the part where the bike wreck comes in).   We rode our bikes home that night (part of the way).   I was riding along and hit a pothole in the dark that was about a foot deep - I suddenly shot over the handlebars like a pilot who hit the eject button.  I landed in a ditch across the road.   I had skinned my knees and sprained my ankle - LOL!  We walked the bikes the rest of the way home!   Note to self: dont ever ride bikes in the dark on gravel roads that are full of potholes - also, find out what kind of liquor is made from sugar cane and refrain from consuming it in the future!

I will never go back to Panama by way of Costa Rica again - that was a nightmare from hell and you will understand why when I post the photos.   The bridge we had to cross was over 105 years old and rickety.   There were major holes all over the place that you could fall through and some of the boards were not secured down and would fly up when you stepped on them.   The only down side to the trip when we got to Bocas was worrying about going back across that bridge!   I am not usually afraid of anything but that was SCARY!

We went there with a couple from Nashville, Fred and Margaret, who are staying in a cabin right behind us on the same property.   We had a great time on Monday after we got there and then all went out on our own for shopping and sightseeing yesterday before we left.  We went to BiBis for lunch on another island.  There are several islands there and you have to use a water taxi to go between them.   The only way to Boca town is via water taxi, too.  It costs $1.50 per person for a one-way trip to any of the other islands.   We went for drinks at a great little place on the water and later to a dive shop/restaurant combo for dinner.  They didnt have anything vegan on the menu for Margaret and I (she is vegan, too) so they created something for us and it was delicious!!   John and Fred had the special - lobster tails with mashed potatoes.   They got 1 1/2 HUGE lobster tails for $15 each.  Food is VERY expensive in Costa Rica now but it is dirt cheap in Panama.   The most expensive bottle of wine we saw on the menu over there was $13 for the same bottle that would cost $30 in the states.


Bocas del Toro (mouth of the bull) looks like something you would expect to see in the South Pacific.  We loved it.   The Panamanian people are very unfriendly - even in the tourist areas.   There was a Tico girl on the return trip and her mother is American - she said they thought she was American because she was speaking in English to her friends and they were calling her names under their breath in Spanish.   She said that would never happen here.   I would have loved to hear her response!  They are not nearly as nice as the Costa Ricans (Ticos).  That is NOT a derrogatory term, they prefer to be called Ticos.

I have documented everything in pictures and will be posting more as soon as I get back about the whole trip!