Day 12 + 13 Bocas del Toro - Bluff Beach - jungle tour and return journey

Today is the last day before departure, the weather is mixed between clouds, light rain, and sun. We have planned a 4-hour jungle tour for today. After a hearty breakfast, we spend some time on the terrace and will be picked up at 10.00 am by Corinna, a German biologist. We put on our long, dirty pants and also got rubber boots from Carina. She decided to emigrate from Germany 15 years ago and after several trips around the world, she decided to move to Panama, specifically to the beautiful Archipelago Island. She and her boyfriend live in a small house behind the hotel, but she has bought land in the jungle and wants to build an ecological house there. She works as a guide for tourists and also as a real estate agent in Bocas Town. The real estate market has also grown significantly in Bocas del Toro, and so have the prices of land and houses. We left the hotel and already saw the first sloth sleeping in a treetop after 100 meters. It is amazing how observant one can be while walking through the world. We would not have recognized it. But she reassured us and said that we would see it immediately after the tour, and she was right. We continued through the town and she told us a lot about the flora and fauna of the archipelago. Bluff Beach is the beach with the highest waves and the strongest current. That's why only professional surfers go there, and it's not as crowded as other spots. At the end of the town, we turned into the jungle and walked along a path that was developed for ecological construction. Corinna told us that land prices had quintupled in the last 15 years. She proudly showed us her property. By now, we had already seen 5 sloths in the trees again and I had learned "the look" for them. In the meantime, it was me who saw the sloths and pointed them out to the others. 😊 We also heard and saw the most interesting birds in the trees and their nests. Then we went deeper into the jungle, up a muddy path. Corinna explained the entire life and behavior of the "Red Frog," a species that is only native to some Central American countries. She knows this species so well because she wrote her doctoral thesis about it. Sometimes I felt like I was getting the entire doctoral thesis explained. The "Red Frog" is a small, poisonous frog that comes in different colors. In Bocas del Toro, it is green-yellow with black spots. You can find one on almost every leaf. However, it is not dangerous to humans. You just must not touch your face or open wounds with your fingers after contact. We admired some of these specimens and then continued up the mountain. When we reached the top, we saw a roughly assembled observation tower, which we climbed and could see the island. We took some photos and admired the view. Then we went back down. We were back at the hotel around 2:00 pm. We said goodbye and went to shower and change. Then we went to the beach with cocktails. In the evening, we had a delicious dinner as always.

The next day, unfortunately, it was time to leave. We spent the morning on the terrace and at the beach. Although we had to vacate the rooms by 10:00 am, we were allowed to stay there and use the outdoor shower at the hotel to rinse off the sand. Our taxi driver arrived at around 1:00 pm and we said a very heartfelt goodbye to the hotel owners Wendy and Simon and the very nice staff. We drove to Bocas Town to the airport, where we flew to Panama City at 2:30 pm on time. There, we had to change airports, from the national Albrook Airport to the international Tocumen Airport. Once again, a driver from our Airbnb landlord Rudy took care of the transfer. Unfortunately, we couldn't get off at the same terminal because Pauline had to fly back with a different airline. So we said goodbye in the taxi and wished each other a good flight. Unfortunately, we had to wait another 1.5 hours until we could drop off our luggage at the Air France counter after the security check. We used the time to change into comfortable clothes. When we saw that Terminal 1 and 2 were merged after the security check, we looked for Pauline's gate, with the Air Europa flight to Madrid. We saw her in front of an Italian restaurant with a big pizza. We joined her and chatted for a while. Then it was time to find our gate to Paris, as the distances between terminals were very long. We took off on time at 9:20 pm with the Boeing 777-200 to Paris, where we landed on time on February 11, 2023. Then there was a traffic jam at the EU immigration control. But we were lucky that 3 automatic immigration counters were opened, so we arrived at the departure gate to Hamburg 10 minutes before boarding.

Finally, we all arrived home on time, exhausted but very satisfied.

It was a beautiful trip, which was short but intense. Everything went smoothly as planned. Punctual flights and transfers, great hostels, apartment, and lodges. Super friendly and helpful people.

In retrospect, everything was worth seeing and interesting. But I especially liked South America, Ecuador, and Cuenca. Ecuador has a very beautiful landscape and a lot of culture. The people are very open-minded and interested. They exude a certain relaxation, even though you can see a lot of poverty. However, the gap between wealth and poverty is not as noticeable as in Panama. In Panama, the Americanization is unmistakable. Large American companies are mainly located in downtown. Ecuador has a certain charm and more culture. But we met great people everywhere, and that remains in memory.