Baggot’s on Tour 2025

So, to our onward journey…after Panama City, we feel we are not quite ready to return to Europe but feel a little ‘change of scenery’ might be nice. We could venture down into Columbia, but this involves an expensive island-hop with a few drug lords, so after much discussion, we have decided to continue our travels down into South America to explore Peru.  This trip comes with a little apprehension as most people plan this trip for months / years, so we will have to see what we can do with a quick google search, a pair of old flip-flops and a worn-out bikini 😳😂.  Any tips very gratefully received….. 🤔

Apart from the not wanting to leave Bocas, we also had the problem of how we were going to leave Bocas due to the continued protests in Panama. We toyed with several ideas, one being a flight out (but this was expensive and had subsequently crashed), or a return journey back to Costa Rica to fly out of San Jose to somewhere as Panama City was probably best avoided. We were still wanting to ‘complete’ our journey from Mexico City to Panama City so these options were disappointing, but thankfully we got wind that the locals had scuppered a plan and were helping tourists ‘escape’ with a string of ferries, cars, buses and taxis either side of the blockades. Tourists are of course very important in this part of the world, and we found all of the ‘escape assistants’ very helpful once again, and we were informed that Panama City was running well and safe to visit.  We decided to go-for-it but on a good day, this is a 12 hour journey, so how long would our journey take today from Bocas to ...

We arrived in Bocas Town, on Isla Colon, that forms a collection of islands called Bocas Del Toro, just off mainland Panama. There are around 170 islands, some of which are inhabited, but most consisting purely of thick jungle and  mangrove forests. We arrived at high speed by boat, thankful to have arrived in one piece after a hairy journey, as the throttle was clearly stuck on maximum and we were relieved not to have taken-off 😳.  Our first visions of Bocas Town were of colourful wooden shacks raised above the water on stilts, with clear blue waters filled  of brightly coloured fish, manta ray, oh and a massive human poo 😂….we better not snorkel here then! The town was a touristy hub filled with restaurants, bars, boutiquey shops and the usual Chinese-tat shops that seem to be everywhere in Central America. Apparently the town in usually packed from January to April but in May, and with the protests, we virtually had the place to ourselves  .  Tris...