Mouths of the Bull

Today I left the gorgeous Bocas del Toro in Panama after five lovely days. Actually it was raining on Monday when I arrived, following a few rainy days in Boquete, but all was forgiven when the sun (and heat) came out on Tuesday.

On my first night I ran into a couple of amigos from the Yoga Farm, Nykolas and Rosie who not only were in Bocas as well but in the same hotel and in the room next door, no less.

Bocas is an archipelago in the Carribean off the coast of Panama. Supposedly very touristy, and it is, but compared to the standards of many parts of the Carribean and I suppose Mexico or even Asia, it is pretty quiet and relaxed. It is the low season here though and May seems to be the quietest month.

On Wednesday, Rosie, Nyk and I did a boat cruise around the islands which went to various places to see dolphins, do some snorkelling and swim at the beautiful red frog beach. Panama, despite initially being low on my list of priorities in Central America, has turned out to be a really nice surprise. The people are really friendly but not over the top. The islands are mostly wild jungle except for a few towns and beaches and the cays are little mangrove areas. The snorkelling was great, beautiful corals and some of the most gorgeous fish. At one spot I reckon I saw up to 100 different species.

Known as a surfing spot, the water was surprisingly flat but I've heard that on the Carribean side when the surf is up it is really up, otherwise nothing. It was nice to be able to go for a swim on a white sand beach and not play the dicey game of watching out for consistent rips, getting in and getting pounded back on the rocks, or hit by an incoming coconut. Swimming on the Pacific side is fraught with these worries and often I chose not to swim unless I was with someone else.

After the boat trip I convinced Nyk and Rosie to join me at the local yoga studio that evening for a vinyasa flow class. On the walk back we saw this guy walking down the street pulling along a model airplane. It would have been about five foot long and the wing span took up a lane of the road, it even had lighting under the wings. Not something you see everyday!

On my second day I found a little local restaurant nearby the hotel which was a great place to sit with the locals (and Steve the American owner who did little else than hang around and punch out a few tunes on his guitar after a couple of beers). They had a good bbq going in the evenings and the beer was cold and it was a good spot to hang out on the street and watch the locals going for their evening stroll.

On my last night I was hanging out there, having eaten some bbq chicken and had a couple of beers when Steve decided to get out his guitar. His playlist is pretty short so I heard again all the tunes, some Cat Stevens and a couple of his own tunes. I wouldn't have thought Steve could make a career from his efforts but it was enjoyable to occassionally sing along, especially with the locals and their accents singing Moonshadow. But the piece de resistance was when he played John Denver's Leaving on a Jetplane and right on cue the guy walks past us on his evening stroll with the giant model airplane. The sun was setting and the clouds were an electric orange. It was just one of those moments...