Flying into the mouth of the bull

Our final destination in Panama was the province of Bocas del Toro (Spanish for mouth of the Bull), an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea off the east coast of Panama. 

To start with we stayed at a hostel called Casa Verde in the capital Bocas Town which is on the Island of Colon. Our journey here involved catching a boat from Almirante across the bay. The ride across the dazzling flat stretch of sea was smooth albeit we all came off with numb faces, a result of the wind from the speed of the boat whipping our cheeks. I decided to term this boat stroke.

400 horse power twin engines!

Pre boat stroke...

Coming into Bocas harbour

Bocas Town itself is not huge, rather just a main strip of tourist bars, Chinese supermarkets (This entrepreneurial nation gets everywhere!), restaurants and a plethora of B&Bs, hostels and hotels. Oh and a hospital, a morgue and an airport which randomly we were able to cycle onto?! 

The white building is a restaurant called El Limbo on the Sea - very good!

Main square in Bocas Town

Local "Chinese" supermarket

Basically, we´d hired some bikes to familiarise ourselves with the area and whilst cycling along the beach front Id heard what sounded like a plane coming into land to our left. Thinking this couldn't possibly be happening  -we were in a residential area after all and where would a town this small have an airport?! I therefore initially dismissed my ears until I spotted a plane out of the corner of my left eye that was coming into land onto what looked like a row of houses. We immediately cycled over to clarify and suddenly found ourselves cycling onto the airstrip itself! There were no security gates or barriers and locals were walking up and down the edge. Feeling the urge to capture the moment I suddenly found myself in the middle of the airstrip taking a picture down the runway. Not the brightest of things I have done during my travels but I couldn't resist. All at once we heard sirens go off and a police truck started to make its way towards us from the other side of the airstrip. You've never seen me peddle a bike away faster, thankfully after a ride that could have given Lance Armstrong a run for his money we managed to avert the long arm of the law...

Guilty party with offending bicycle outside our hostel 

Locals just walking up and down the runway?!

RUNWAY!

Squished frog I saw during our bike ride... that's me with my lens looking face to the right : D

That evening we had a few drinks at our hostel bar which (very aptly) was on decking stretching out over the sea. Swinging in a hammock sipping on a Tanqueray gin and tonic (I couldn't resist one of my favourite London tipples) gazing at the giant starfish in the water 

I have to say I was pretty chillaxed : D

GIANT starfish