Last weekend we took a trip to Bocas del Toro, Panama. We planned to stay three nights but enjoyed it so much (and had spent so much time traveling to get there) that we stayed a fourth.
Our trip was like the Central American version of planes, trains, and automobiles: taxis, buses, and boats. The journey to Panama from Costa Rica went like this: taxi-bus-walk across big railroad bridge-taxi-boat-taxi. (Same on the way home but in reverse.) Everything travel-wise went very smoothly, for which we were truly grateful. It's about 12 hours total door-to-door - Claire once again showed us what a world-class traveler she is and handled everything with aplomb.
Most of the pictures from our trip are here, but here are the highlights:
Since Bocas del Toro is part of an archipelago, we had to take boats most places, which was Claire's absolute favorite part of the trip. She would take a boat everywhere if she could.
We stayed at the lovely Hotel Lula's Bed & Breakfast - Claire loved the porch swing and all the hummingbirds. This is waiting for the water taxi to pick us up so we could go on a boat tour our first day there.
First stop on our six-hour boat tour: dolphin watching! They were very cooperative, even jumping a couple of times for us...
...and coming up for air right near our boat. This was a family of four - Claire was in heaven. She's been asking to see dolphins (and whales) for months and was a great spotter.
Second stop: snorkeling at hospital point. The coral and fish were just beautiful, and I had fun playing with our waterproof camera.
After lunch in a little mini-village on stilts was our third and final stop: beach time at Red Frog Beach. This is the first time Claire actually WANTED to play in the waves at a beach - usually the ocean scares her...
Day two: Starfish Beach near Boca del Drago, thus named because of the large number of starfish just hanging out there. The water was very shallow, warm, and had no waves, making it perfect for starfish and four-year-old girls.
There were signs everywhere in English and Spanish saying "Don't Touch the Starfish," but people being people, they either handled them underwater or worse, picked them up and posed for pictures with them. *sigh* Leave the gorgeous creatures alone...
Our last day there it rained most of the morning, so no beach time for us. We did visit a butterfly garden, which was accessible only by boat - we went through a tunnel in the mangroves to reach it. It cleared up in the afternoon so we walked into town to catch a...
...boat to neighboring Carenero Island for dinner. We ate at the Cosmic Crab - the view of the sunset over the town of Bocas del Toro was pretty spectacular, and the food was amazing.
We had a fantastic time and would definitely go back. If you ever plan to explore Panama, add Bocas to your list of places to visit - it's worth the trip.
The weekend before we returned to INBioparque (we went once before for my birthday) with a friend of Claire's - this time she was brave enough to pet some of the animals. There are more pictures here if you're interested.
Claire petting a baby bunny -she also fed baby goats and petted a calf and duckling
The sloth was particularly cooperative this time in terms of picture-taking
This is Claire's last week of vacation before school starts again. Her "summer" vacation is eight weeks - shorter than in the U.S. - but it's so that her "winter" vacation can be longer because the weather here is so nice (they consider it summer now, hence the quotation marks) and the Costa Rican school kids are off until February. She's excited to see her friends again and should now have a whopping class size of eight kids - they may even get their own room. Big difference from the two preschoolers at the first of the year.
We took advantage of her time off and went to the dentist for the first time here - it was a great experience. Dr. Gaby was thorough, very friendly, gentle (yay!), and did a great job. We all have clean, sparkly teeth now.
Claire talked Dr. Gaby's ear off
Back to normal on Monday - bye-bye vacation...it's been fun!
En español:
Nuestro viaje era como aviones, trenes, y automóviles de Centro América: taxis, autobuses, y barcos. El viaje a Panamá de Costa Rica era como así: taxi-autobús-caminamos por un grade puente de ferrocarril-taxi-barco-taxi. (Lo mismo cuando regresamos, pero el revés.) Agradecimos mucho por todo pasar bien con nuestro viaje, que era 12 horas puerta-a-puerta. Claire otra vez nos mostró que ella está una viajante súper bien.
La mayoría de las fotos están aquí, pero arriba están los mejores.
Bocas del Toro es en un archipiélago, entonces tomamos barcos de cada lugar. A Claire le encantan los barcos y los tomaría siempre si ella puede. Nos quedamos en el buenísimo Hotel Lula’s Bed & Breakfast – a Claire les encantó el columpio del porche y los colibrís.
Tomamos un tour de barco nuestro primer día. El tour duró seis horas e incluyó los delfines, nadando con un esnórquel, almuerzo, y dos horas en Playa Roja Rana. Claire ha pidiendo ver delfines (y ballenas) y era en el Cielo. Normalmente, a ella no le gusta las olas del mar, pero esta vez ella pidió jugarlas con Papi.
El segundo día, visitamos Playa Estrella cerca Boca del Drago.
Había muchísimas estrellas del mar en esta playa, y el agua estaba poco profunda, fresca, y sin olas – perfecta para las estrellas y las niñas de cuatro años. Había señales en todas partes que dijeron, “No tocar las estrellas,” pero la gente no escuchaba. Algunos incluso tomaron fotos con las estrellas. *suspiro* No moleste las creaturas maravillosas…
Nuestro ultimo día era lluvia, entonces, no fuimos a la playa. Visitamos un jardín de las mariposas por un barco que pasó por los manglares. Esta noche cenamos en otra isla – Isla Carenero – en el Cosmic Crab. La comida y la puesta del sol eran magnificas.
Nos divertimos mucho y visitaríamos a Bocas otra vez. Si planea visitar a Panamá, debe incluyo Bocas del Toro – vale la pena.
El fin de semana antes regresamos en INBioparque (visitamos una vez antes para mi cumpleaños) con un amigo de Claire. Esta vez ella tuvo mucho valor y le acarició a los animales. Hay más fotos aquí si quiere verlas.
Esta semana es la ultima de vacación para Claire antes de sus clases de la escuela comiencen otra vez. Ella tiene ocho semanas de “vacación verano” – más corto que en los Estados – pero es para que su “vacación invierno” puede ser más larga porque el clima es buenísimo aquí (ellos se llaman ahora verano, es por eso las comillas) y los niños de Costa Rica tienen vacación hasta febrero. Ella esta muy emocionada para ver sus amigos otra vez y su clase debe tener ocho niños – ellos pueden tener su propia aula. Mucho más niños que los dos en la primera parte del año.
Nos aprovechamos del tiempo disponible y visitamos la dentista por primera vez aquí – era una buena experiencia. Doctora Gaby era muy completa, amable, suave (yay!) y hizo un buen trabajo. Tenemos dientes muy limpios y brillantes ahora.
Vamos a regresar a normal en lunes – adiós vacación – ¡nos hemos divertimos!
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