I'm in Panama!

I left Cahuita early on the bus to Sixoala, the border town with Panama. The bus largely doubled up as a local school bus with many local kids getting on and off on their way from jungle hut homes strung out across the border-bound highway to schools in the indigenous city of Bribri.

The road was spectacular, swerving through the beautiful, forest (and banana plantation...) draped foothills of the Talamanca Mountains all the way to the border.

The border was bizarre. First you have to pay an exit tax of 8 Dollars, in a clothes shop... then get your Costa Rica stamp before crossing an old railway bridge. Once you've done that, the Panamanians want to make sure no one overstays their welcome so insist you have a flight ticket away from Central America in order to enter the country.

After that it was an agonizingly long wait in a colectivo (minibus) as it filled with passengers before the lazy driver would finally take us to the port city of Almirante. As we headed, the heavens opened and our first Panamanian kilometres were washed away as we descended down the mountains to the coast.

Once in the shady, crumbling former banana-exporting port of Almirante, where we boarded a water taxi bound for the islands of Bocas del Toro. Bocas del Toro means 'Mouths of the Bull' in Spanish and are a collection of Caribbean islands in the northwestern corner of Panama.

The tourism industry is focused on the major islands, and the area was once a huge banana plantation area, and after the collapse of that industry tourism has come to replace it. Panama is as expensive as Costa Rica, maybe a little less, but Bocas is much easier to do independently than Tortuguero.

Soon after dumping my stuff in the hostel, I headed across the main island of Bocas to the beautiful beach of Boca del Drago. This has to be one of the most beautiful places I've seen on this trip. The views of the Talamanca Mountains across the bay were utterly phenomenal. Whatsmore, whilst the beach had a smattering of tourists, it was largely empty and the trail round the edge of the island to the beach at Playa Estrella was fantastic - the sound of waves lapping the beach on one side, the sound of Howler Monkeys on the other.

After the stress of the border crossing etc. it was fantastic just being out in the wilderness on what felt like a desserted Caribbean island. After making my way back, I brought myself a large Panamanian flag for my uni room next year and had a standard local fare of chicken, beans and rice. Time for an earlyish night to rise early to get the best of Bocas tomorrow.

Vamos!