After Jenny and Stacy left Costa Rica, I got on a bus and headed down to Panama. The bus trip was supposedly only going to take 5 hours, but it turned out to be closer to 10 to get from San Jose to Bocas Del Toro.  The border crossing here between Costa Rica and Panama was the craziest I´ve ever seen.  After you get stamped out of Costa Rica you have to cross a long rickety bridge made of random pieces of wood nailed together, which would have been fine if there weren´t semi trucks trying to share the narrow little bridge with you!  After a lot of bartering, me and a few other backpackers set off for Bocas via a minivan and then a speed boat. 

Bocas is a cute little island off the north east coast of Panama, in the Caribean Sea.  It has a very laid back vibe to it, and is a great place to chill out.  I stayed at Hostel Heike, which was really good.  There was a great group of travellers from all over the world staying there, so it was fun to hang out, chat, and relax. 

Unfortunately, the weather wasn´t the best while I was there.  It rained every night and for at least a few hours in the day too.  I still managed to go to the Bocas Del Rocas beach and go on an all day boat trip around a few of the islands, though.  The beaches were pretty nice, very natural (virtually no hotels or bars or anything on the beach).  My boat trip was very cool, too.  We went out and saw a family of dolphins jumping around in the waves, then went snorkeling, and went to Red Frog Beach (which is famous for having little poisonous red frogs on it).  I did see a few frogs, but they were ones that local kids had caught and were showing to tourists trying to get some tips. 

After 3 nights in Bocas, I made the long trip down to Panama City.  The bus was super nice (reclining seats, air con, movies), so the journey went quickly!  I had a whirlwind day of sighseeing here.  I went out to the Miraflores Locks in the Panama Canal, which was pretty cool to see.  Then I had an adventure at the bus station trying to buy a ticket to head up to Nicaragua.  (The most popular company was sold out on the 9th of Jan, but I found another company that will get me to San Jose. Then I can take local buses from there.) 

In the afternoon, I went exploring with a Canadian and French guy from my hostel.  We went to Panama Veijo to check out the ruins from a city there in the 1500´s that Captain Morgan (the pirate) had destroyed.  Then we went out to the causeway to see a great view of the city and chill out near the ocean.  (Panama City has a lot more skyscrapers than I expected.  Our taxi driver told us that the planners were modelling it after Miami.)  Then we checked out Casco Veijo which is the old historical part of town and has a lot of beautiful old buildings, but its also next to the slums so we had to get out of there as soon as the sun started to set. 

For New Years Eve we went out to Calle Uraguay, which is supposed to be ¨the¨bar and club street in Panama City. It was surprisingly dead though!  It turns out that New Years is more of a family holiday in Panama, so we ran in the New Year with all of the other gringos in town.  We eventually found a place to go dancing that wasn´t charging a crazy cover charge (all of the clubs were charging $50-$75 just to get in!!).  It was a pretty fun New Years. 

Tonight I am taking a 14 hour bus ride back up to San Jose, Costa Rica.  Then it will be about 3 more short bus rided until I finally make it to Nicaragua.  I think my first stop will be the beach, than Isla de Omtepe, followed by Granada.