Bocas del Toro

Bocas del Toro is a fascinating cluster of islands on the northern Caribbean side of Panama. After about a week in Panama City, I went with my traveling buddy Trinh on what turned out to be an epic overnight bus trip across the country, filled with funny stories, upset stomachs, crammed local transportation, and insane driving. I spoke to a local electrician on the bus for a long time about life in Panama and what I had been studying. Although I was struggling to keep my eyes open, the man shared a lot with me about issues of employment, land rights, education, etc. in the country. He had very keen perspectives. We arrived at Almirante in the wee hours of the morning, where we took a taxi-boat to Isla Colon, the main island of Bocas del Toro. The network of islands is cool and you take taxi boats all the time. After free pancakes and a long nap, Trinh and I walked around the sleepy, subdued town, comprised of about 5 blocks in each direction. The island was not particularly pretty or impressive in any way, just incredibly laid back. What impressed me the most was the absolute clash of cultures in Bocas. The population is mostly black, or Afro-Caribbean, coming mostly from Jamaica but other islands as well. I encountered the influence when I first heard people speaking Patua and other local dialects other than Spanish and English. Apparently, Bocas has a completely different feel than other parts of the country.

While this reality made me somewhat hopeful for cultural immersion in a very distinct part of Panamanian society, I was met with a tourist black hole. I had great fun in Bocas with the happy hours, power hours, ladies' nights (I had friends pass me free drinks of course), and constant partying every night. One party was really good actually, with this Australian guy blowing fire and these people jumping on a trampoline. However, that lifestyle got old very quickly and I felt bothered by the "cater completely to gringos" mentality that swallows the creativity and aspirations of the locals. I understand tourism, but Bocas made me think, why would I travel all this way to just party with travelers? The closest thing we got to cultural exposure was the night we followed some locals to a small, hole-in-the-wall club blasting reggaeton. The star of the night was a woman who said it was her birthday (apparently she said this everyday), and proceeded to ask for everyone's drinks. People told me she was a mother of a wonderful boy and she was trying desperately to break a crack addiction. Unfortunately, when that's as close as you get to a place, you know the tourists have taken over.

Despite all this, Bocas was still a great time. We visited Dolphin Bay and watched beautiful dolphins leap from the water, I went snorkeling for the first time, and we visited an awesome, deserted beach called Zapatillas. I resigned to the fact that I wouldn't be introduced to the black experience here regardless of the number of black people I had met. So I enjoyed the cuisine, tropical drinks, lazy afternoons and competitions with Trinh regarding who could stay in bed sleeping the longest (Trinh always outlasted me). We met this newlywed Israeli couple on their honeymoon in Zapatillas. They were really nice and offered to drive me back to Panama City in the car they rented. We had a cool little road trip home, with a stop at McDonald's of course. And I listened to some Israeli pop music on the way. While Bocas is certainly a nice little holiday, I was a bit relieved to return to normalcy.