PANTRY OF PIRATES, GREATNESS OF SPIRIT. BOCAS DEL TORO, PANAMA.

In peace and in balance, as simple and as complex as that.  You only live to breath and stroll. The archipelago of Bocas del Toro, on the west end of Panama, has as a clean energy that surrounds and calms your soul. A place where my subconscious was carrying me to continually be humming the original sound track of the film “The Mission”.

I doubt that Father Gabriel came all the way up to these islands in his evangelizing feat, although, Columbus actually did on his last trip. He repaired his ships, filled his pantries and continued his way. It is said that the ferocity of the indigenous, natural obstacles and misfortune, prevented a complete take over by the Spanish to colonized the archipelago of Bocas del Toro. As a result of this, its uniqueness. Getting there is still hard even today. Travelling by aeroplane from Panama City, I guess it is the most comfortable and quickest option, I said “I guess”, because we chose to do it by night-bus, a cheap option , but sacrificed. Ten hour journey with constant stops and disturbing curves for sensitive stomachs that I overcame thanks to my good sleep and realizing of saving a plane ticket and a hotel night each way.

Once in the town of Almirante, a small boat takes you to the town of Bocas on Isla Colon. A paradise for surfers, nature lovers and adventurers. However, if you prefer the easy life, this is definitely not your destination. Bocas is a small town with all the amenities but no luxuries, no big hotels nor fancy restaurants. The most expensive hotels are around one hundred dollars, the cheapest fifteen per night but are really basic. Most of these cheap hotels are not found on the Internet, that’s why I recommend booking with just a couple of nights beforehand and then, once there, you can choose your accommodation. There are indigenous communities and individuals offering cheap and interesting options. We made ​​the mistake of booking everything in advance. The Hotel El Limbo is cozy. The breakfasts on the dock-terrace over the water watching the bay were amazing, moreover the visitors that came during the night were too. The balance was over sixty bug bites.

To move around the archipelago and to enter the Natural Park of Bastimentos, where several groups of dolphins live in freedom, you need to hire a boat or an agency tour, but beware of them, the same tours are available with significant differences depending on the agency. Some merely take you without giving any information and what is worse, without respecting the rules for dolphin watching, stalking and chasing the animals. We saw dolphins, yes, but the experience left me pretty bad taste and the belief that if this continues, soon will cease the dolphin watching in the bay. Something similar happens in “Playa de la Estrella”. The area is full of signs warning you not to touch or take the starfish out or they will die. Nevertheless there are people who do corroborate the warnings messages including Albert Einstein’s famous quote: "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity." Nonsense aside, this beach is spectacular: crystalline and calm water, soft sand, lots of vegetation and several beach bars run by local Indigenes to eat what the island produces, “patacones”  banana cakes, beans and fresh fish.

This is a peculiar land not only for biodiversity but also for its people. Spanish conquistadors never founded any sort of settlement in these islands and that radically marks a different from other cultures of Central America. Bocatorian population is formed by several indigenous groups; they are known for their good manners, secretiveness and shyness, so introverted that it is difficult to take out of them more than one syllable word. They communicate with each other in their own language and many have difficulty speaking in Spanish.

The other largest ethnic group is the Afro-Antilleans who came to the islands in the nineteenth century, mainly from Jamaica. It was them who founded the town of Bocas del Toro, also speak their own dialect “Guari”, of Anglo-Saxon roots. Unlike indigenous people, they are outgoing and talkative. Where you can best meet their lifestyle is on Bastimentos island, five minutes by boat from Isla Colón. Old Bank is a small town of a single paved street lined with houses built on stilts. Children and dogs play in the street, the clothes are hanging on the balconies and everything there seems to be made by a dawdling improvisation. In less than ten minutes, the walk along the road ends and the forest begins. From this very moment and for the next thirty minutes of walk, there is only silence, birds signing and a few growls of uncertain origin. That's when you get to Playa Wizard, the most magical beach that I have ever seen in my life. A secluded place because of the difficult access and for its bravery waves, where there is no trace of civilization.

In Bastimentos you can also find the opposite: Red Frog, a beach full of wealthy gentlemen, with restrooms facilities and Burger restaurants where you pay to get in. It all depends on your preferences, of course, but after seeing Wizard beach, I didn’t feel neither hot or cold. Another interesting island in the archipelago is Carenero, named after Columbus stopping exactly there to "carenar", which means to repair, his ship. Pantry of pirates for years, today is a paradise for surfers. Good waves, budget hostels and bars over the sea where to lay and kill the end of the day.

And talking about the end, I have to admit that Bocas del Toro has left a sweet & sour taste in my mouth. Before leaving the islands, a barefooted child of no more than 9 years old came to talk to us and in one sentence simply summed up what happens there: "We used to be poor, now the problem is the garbage." It shook the hell out of me!. Ten years ago Bocas had no tourism, the local population did not drink cokes, brought any food packages or sun-blocker to the beach, manufactured goods were very limited. Today, behind the bushes you find junk and tomorrow there will be more. The Papal Nuncio that allows the killing of Indigenous and Jesuits in the film The Mission, concludes with the message to the slave traders: "The world is not like this, we have made it this way" which I subscribe it.