We left Cahuita with the local bus, which took a long time because of all the potholes in the road. There was even a spot where a landslide had devastated a house, it was totally burried in mud.
When we reached the bordertown Sixaola, it was quite a special bordercrossing. We had to buy an exit stamp for our passport to leave Costa Rica, (300 colonnes for a 200 colones stamp, just the bakshees way). After that we had to cross a bridge on foot over the river, but the bridge had some loose pieces of wood, we had to watch our steps. At the Panamian side, the customs officers just had their lunch, so we had to wait till they had finished. After that the cabdrivers made a lot of fuss, dragging people in and out off the taxis to get the right amount in his cab. We had a deal to go to Almirante, which according to the lonely planet was the only place to catch a ferry to the island of Bocas del Toro, and the guy at the border told us, you'll be straight going to the port, and won't stop at Almirante center.
It appeared to be a trick, because another boat company was running a service to the island, but from a place a lot closer to the border, so the taxifare was much more expensive. But there was also a good thing about it, we got an hours ride by boat through the backwaters before reaching the island. And the backwaters were beautiful, swamp and palms, the boat had to slow down several times because it was getting shallow in places, and the pilote didn't want to disturb the local indians in their dug-out canoes. Once we had a near accident with a dog which was swimming around... There were also a lot of pelikans flying around.
In Bocas del Toro the hotels all appeared to be full. We wandered around too long in the blazing sun, so we caught a kind of sunstroke. Headache and so on, but a streetkid showed us a place where we could spend the night, so we were saved.
In the morning we had recovered, and actually already met the (Dutch..) lady who owns the language school where we are intending to take our Spanish lessons. She is going to try to get a place for us, in the meanwhile we wandered around the island, which is as green as Costa Rica, only with fewer tourists and more garbage. We sat a while on a pier enjoying music and the landscape, while some locals where transporting a cow in a little canoe! The dolce vita / free feeling got on us once again!
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