A step up...

The dock on the way to Bocas
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Pictures from Costa Rica and Panama:

http://community.webshots.com/user/marcswatson5

Have you ever missed things like absorbent napkins?  How about beds without bedbugs?  Crackhead-free streets?  Pavement?  Any of the above?

If so, then you've probably been living in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica for awhile.  The camaraderie among the "local gringos" in Puerto Viejo is commendable, and being privy to their barbecues, parties, inside jokes, and razzing was something that I surely enjoyed for awhile, but the quality of life, even among the Westerners, is pretty poor over there.

Playa Red Frog
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Enter Bocas del Toro, a series of islands off the northwestern coast of Panama.  Across the border, they use American currency (only prices are quoted in Balboas... 1 Balboa = 1 dollar, and they don't actually print Balboas.  They just use dollars), and American conveniences like streets without man-eating potholes are readily available.

I arrived yesterday over what was probably the sketchiest border crossing of my life.  A man with one leg followed us (me and a few Americans I met on the bus from Puerto Viejo) across, insisting he was our "guide" despite our protests and demands that he leave us alone.  Either way, we were escorted across and found a taxi to a dock to a boat to a port and finally to Bocas del Toro, where we marveled at things like Mailboxes Etc. and Twix bars.  Spent last night at a place called the Shipwreck bar, which is a shanty like most other buildings, but with a big sound system and a dock that wraps around--oddly enough--an actual shipwreck which lies on the bottom of the ocean.

The dock on the way to Bocas
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I spent today at a beach on Isla de Bastamiento with four guys from Vail and two kids from Wyoming.  They're all ski bums in some regard or another, just down here for the inter-season break, but it's been cool enough.  I hadn't expected too much out of Bocas (basically because everyone in Puerto Viejo told me it was more or less exactly the same), so I've definitely been pleasantly surprised.  It's cool taking water taxis everywhere, and the ride over from the mainland was through a mangrove forest and lots of little canals.  A good few days so far.  Looks like I'll have two more before jumping back across, grabbing my stuff out of Puerto Viejo, and heading to San Jose.  Good times.