This weekend I felt what is was truly like to "border hop." It consisted of walking over a bridge that crossed a river between the two countries...quite easier then I thought. Minus a few delays at customs the trip was a breeze! Bocas del Toro is one of a series of islands off the Caribbean coast and it is breathtakingly beautiful. Instead of taxi cars, we had to take taxi boats to get most places - which made the trip that much more awesome!
Most of the restaurants and bars had decks over the water and needless to say, it was necessary to wear your bathing suit everywhere in case you wanted to jump in for a little swim. From experience, after a couple of hours of dancing salsa, bachata and other Latin dances, nothing feels better then a quick dip in the ocean! But if you are feeling particularly adventurous, Aqua Lounge is the place to be. Depending on your level of courage, there are two different high dives to jump off into the deep sea below (personally, I thought the higher one was more fun!).
Saturday we spent most of the day at Starfish Beach, where in the clearest water I have ever seen, you can see giant starfish such as the one pictured above. It was a day in paradise; sitting in the warm water sipping on a piña colada and absorbing some very strong Panamanian sun rays.
Sunday consisted of another beach day, this time at Red Frog Beach! This one I tried to spend as much time in the shade as possible. A few of us ventured into the rain forest in search of poison dart frogs. We managed to find a couple of baby ones that were so cute and tempting us but we knew better then to take our chances.
All together, it was a fantastic weekend and I would definitely recommend visiting Panama. Bocas del Toro was easily one of the most fun and prettiest places I have seen so far!