Beaches

When we woke up today, we decided we should get back to Costa Rica, which in some ways was a gamble since I had only been out of the country for 48 hours and not 72. But we decided it was a risk we were willing to take. We started our morning by grabbing breakfast at the neighboring restaurant, Bibi's on the Beach. We were privileged to have table-side entertainment since the thatched roof was being repaired. It was really cool to watch. There were three men standing on a makeshift scaffold, while a fourth guy was in the water handing up palm fronds. One by one the palms were placed onto the roof to hopefully repair the leak.

Once breakfast was finished, we walked around Bocas Town one more time and picked up some presents for the family. Then we were back on the water taxi and on our way to mainland panama again. It is really hard to tell the beautiful Caribbean goodbye, but I had to get back to Costa de Oro since there had been rumors of dogs getting into the hatchery. I will catch everyone up on the dogs once I get back to the beach and see what is going on.

Unfortunately, when we got to the border we were reminded of how unorganized the immigration office is in Panama. It was crazy because there was only one line for the coming and going people. We waited for almost 3 hours to get our stamp saying we were leaving Panama, but once we got to the front it took just about 1 minute for them to stamp and send us on our way. Luckily, Costa Rica was much faster to let us in and we were on our way back to Costa de Oro.

Banana workers' houses

Bananas as far as the eye can see

Chiquitia banana processing plant

Truck ready to be shipped to the USA

At around 8pm, we decided we weren't going to make it back to Costa de Oro today and began looking for somewhere to stay. We reached San Jose just before 10 and found a hotel to stay at for the night. I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open, so I better get some shut eye because we have another 5 hours of driving before we get back to the beach tomorrow.

We stopped for a minute at a chocolate plantation.

The Chocolate was yummy

Bars

Yesterday, when my dad and I got off the water taxi we were greeted by a local man who was eager to take us to a hotel and sell us a tour of the island.  Since we hadn't been there before and didn't know where to stay, we went ahead and followed him to the Las Brisas hotel which was located right on the water. The hotel was a great price and we got the best room in the whole place because it was connected to the dock.

After we settled in my dad and I decided to explore Isla Colon and grab some lunch at locally famous restaurant called The Reef. Looking at the menu, we realized we weren't in Costa Rica anymore; it was so cheap. My dad and I were each able to order great seafood and beer for less than a typical meal in Costa Rica. When the food arrived to the table it was amazing!!!

My dad getting ready to eat some great seafood.

Local catch off the restaurant's dock

 

Once we finished lunch, we wandered around checking out what the street venders were selling. Panama has some of the coolest local art, one of my favorites is all the mole. Mole is the handmade tapestries which often times have colorful fish and birds on them.

Just a few of the mole artwork.

Afterward we took a quick siesta at the hotel and around 8 we headed back out to town to enjoy local music and drink. I was able to find a passion fruit margarita and it was fabulous! As we were on our way back to the hotel we stopped by a meat cart and each got an incredible beef skewer for only $1. I could get used to this great food at an even better price.