Adventures In Boquete: Bocas del Toro

April the 5th we went on a wonderful trip to Bocas. It was a beautiful drive. We saw 6 waterfalls on the drive there. After we arrived in Almirante we were guided by a man on bicycle to the boat taxis as we were at the ferry dock! oops! We left our car rental at a place nearby and they charged $6 per day. If you were back before noon than you were not charged for your day of departure.
The boat taxi made me nervous but once we got about halfway there I was OK. It was a 25 minute ride. The water near the docks in Almirante was very scary, but once we were in the Caribbean it was beautiful!
After arriving on Isla Colon we checked into our hotel, Hotel Angela. It was very nice and it was clean. We only had to pay $69 per night and we were right on the water and it also included breakfast! We were very satisfied with our stay. Hot showers, clean room, air conditioning, good breakfast and on the water!!!
Next we headed to lunch at Bocas Blended. It was amazing! This is an old bus that they have converted into a restaurant. We ate on top of the bus! FUN! The food was really good. The children and Jason had wraps and I had a Thai Salad, we all had amazing drinks.
After our lunch we met up with the Ronan family and went with them to a beautiful beach on Isla Carenero. The day was great. The children loved that they could go really far out into the water and it was only up to their chests. We found some pretty sea shells and walked along the shore for a long ways. Right next to the beach we swam at there was a restaurant called Bibi's on the Water. We had our dinner there and the food was ok but what was amazing was the Pina Colada that was $2.50 for happy hour! The boat taxi ride back to Isla Colon was beautiful, the sun was setting!
The next morning we went to the special branch visit meeting. It was awesome to meet new friends. We met some friends from Mexico City who we immediately fell in love with; Alfonzo & Guadalupe, Yolanda, and Maria Louisa. The entire 3 hour meeting was in Spanish but a dear sister, Rebecca Solotka, translated in English by typing onto the screen. She did so good, her hands had to be on fire! The meeting was all about our relationship with Jehovah and love. It talked on three main points: Higher Education, Bad Association, and Daily Bible Reading. Very encouraging and straight to the point! Brother Gerrit Loesch of the Governing Body was the main speaker, his talk was 2 hours!!!!
That afternoon we went to the famous Starfish Beach. We took the bus from the central park to go the 30 minute ride. It was a beautiful drive. Ocean and trees and all sorts of floral and fauna! When we arrived we ate at a beachside restaurant for our lunch, it was 2pm and we were hungry. I had a fruit salad that was incredible and the kids shared a chicken strip basket with a batido. Jason had the mackerel dinner. We walked to the beach after we ate. It was about a 15 or 20 minute walk. As we were walking we passed a couple of little restaurants and our friends from Mexico City were there eating!! When we got to the beach there were a lot of people there but we were so excited to get to swim with the starfish!
When we got back that evening to our hotel we crashed. We did not even go out for dinner. We munched on snacks at the hotel and just relaxed. The next morning we got up and went to this wonderful souvenir place where they had some beautiful bracelets. We got one for all the kids back in KV. We then headed back to the boat taxi to take us to the main land. It was a great weekend!
The Drive to Bocas