Yes, that's how we got to Panama.
Asap on Thursday after school we caught a taxi to the bus station, where we hopped a bus for Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica. We didn't get there until late, and our hostel was becoming more and more challenging to find with each step. Eventually, our hostel was deemed nonexistent by us and the locals, but luckily, we ran across a nice little hostel with the perfect amount of beds just in our price range. Puerto Viejo was BEAUTIFUL, definitely worth a weekend trip back, and it got me even more excited for the beaches to come at Bocas del Toro.
Just to get this straight in the beginning, Bocas del Toro is an archipelago of islands off the Caribbean coast of Panama, pretty close to the Costa Rican border. It is made up of several islands, such as Isla Colon and Isla Bastimentos. Bocas del Toro is also a town on Isla Colon, but it is referred to as Bocastown. We stayed on Isla Bastimentos, which is a 10-15 min water taxi ride away.
However, before we got to Isla Bastimentos, we had to brave a bus to the border, which was probably the sketchiest border crossing I'll ever come across. We bought a bus ticket on the CR side of the border in Sixaola, but after waiting in the immigration lines, we found out you had to buy the bus ticket on the Panamanian side of the border! UGH! So we bought another bus ticket and stood in line again! The sketchiest part though, was the fact that we technically left Costa Rica on one side of this SUPER rickety wooden bridge, had to walk across the planks over a pretty wide river to the other side, where the Panamanian immigration "office" was located. So technically, we were TOTALLY unaccounted for by any government while walking across the most unstable bridge ever. Awesome. Thankfully though, we made it.
After the border crossing, we took a "collectivo" which is like a van taxi with random people to Almirante, where we caught a water taxi. One interesting thing we saw there was outhouses that were at the end of little docks out over the water. Think about it....yeaahhhhh....yum. Other than that though, we saw where our Chiquita BA-NAH-NAHs come from! Right there in the bay near Bocas on a big barge!
Once we finally made it to Bocastown on Isla Colon, we were bombarded with offers for snorkeling trips and boat rides and ziplining! We caught a quick taxi to Isla Bastimentos, where the dropped us off on a dock in the mangroves, were we followed a path to our hostel in the jungle. 
The entire island is protected forests ringed with crystal waters, beautiful beaches, and coral reefs, so the first day was spent being complete beach bums. We laid in hammock under the palms, basked in the sun, played in the water, and explored the beach. We even saw some wild green parrots eating berries on a bush by the sand!
Oh yeah, and I climbed the rail at the little lookout deck on the point and pretended to be Pocahontas. I couldn't resist. Rail shmail. Ooo and I found a perfectly white little sand dollar on the sand bar as the tide was going out! :) Other than Kelly's INTENSE sunburn (he was almost purple he was so burnt), it was a very relaxing day.
The next day, Erica and Lauren went spelunking while Kelly, Stephanie, and I went snorkeling in Coral Cay. You were not allowed to wear fins since they can kill the coral ( I loved this - they really cared about preserving the nature's beauty) but we really didn't need them. We saw coral of all colors - mostly NEON colors!!! Electric purple and hot pink and neon yellow coral was everywhere! You think I'm kidding??
Yeah, it was some weird lookin' stuff (the coral, not me and Kejee duh)!! After diving here, our little boat driver took the three of us to another spot to play with starfish! We picked up starfish of all sizes, and there was even a HUGE starfish off the dock from where we ate lunch. I also couldn't resist sneaking in to pick it up too! It's the little adventures that get me.
Another wonderful day in Panama ended with possibly the most interesting cultural celebration I have ever witnessed/participated in. I told you a little about what I had read about Carnaval, and it was all right. Big scary men dress up in red and black jumpsuits with huge bedazzled monster headdresses and run around the streets whipping "hostages" (who seemed to be all the men dressed in drag...) with Rap/Spanish/Jamaican/Jungle music blaring in the background. The little girls all had braids with candies and lollipops tied to the ends too! Straight WEIRD if you ask me, but I'm definitely glad I got a taste of a very different cultural celebration.
This is the one where you can see the headdresses.
Look for the "hostages" in this video!
And these guys got really close to us!!
On the water taxis back each night from the Carnaval celebrations, you could see more stars than I think I've ever seen! One night, we even saw a huge shooting star that was so bright that it's streak in the sky stayed for just a moment longer than usual. We also met some cool people along the way, including Brits and Australians who played Bananagrams with us, a guy from Hawaii who made us palm frond roses while we were sitting on the dock of this awesome waterfront, treehouse styled bungalow bar, a local who "taught us to dance" (using only Spanish), and even a few poi performers (fireballs-on-chains dancers). Everyone stayed safe, luggage intact, and made it home after a generally smooth watertaxi-watertaxi(in the rain)-bus-footbridge-bus-bus-taxi trip home! YAY! Mission of renewing our visas (which was actually an excuse for a great birthday weekend trip) = ACCOMPLISHED.
Speaking of birthday, one last thing. I had a great 22nd birthday here in CR, thanks to the fact that 1. I finally got my box from Kamden (and I can't wait to get my next box from my mom!) and 2. My roommates surprised me in my classroom with a Tres Leche birthday cake and their rendition of "Feliz Cumpleanos." One of my students even brought me a little chocolate bar, and all my kids, family, and friends wished me a happy birthday! Yay, maybe 22 isn't so bad. (P.S. Can't wait for Al's 21st coming up soon!)
Hope you enjoyed experiencing Panama through me! :)
PURA VIDA,
Jessica
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