Bike Ride in Bocas Del Toro:

On the Caribbean side of Panama near the Costa Rica border lies one of the funkiest places Lindsay and I have ever been: Bocas Del Toro. This small island has one town called "Bocas" and then everything else is basically dirt roads, beaches, etc. It has a really unique Caribbean feel with colorful buildings, unique people and sunny beaches. While there me and Lindsay stayed in a beautiful guesthouse that had recently been opened by an American women. The hotel was about 45 minutes outside the town and sat high upon a hill overlooking the ocean (I will definitely write more about Hotel La Coralina in another post). The owner rented beach cruisers to the guests and one sunny day Lindsay and I decided to take a ride. We were told about this fantastic swimming hole on the northern end of the island so we decided to go explore. The ride was absolutely beautiful; the dirt road hugged the ocean and the only other people on it were local villagers, children on horses and the dogs that decided to follow us. Every once in a while we would catch a glimpse of the incredible coastline through the thick trees. We would also stop along the way to see if we could spot any "sloths" in the trees and we did eventually end up seeing one. After about a mile of bike riding we came to this small farm house with a gate. Just as we had been told two young kids came running out, we gave them $1 and they opened the gate so that we could ride through their property. Then after another 1/2 hour of riding we finally found the totally secluded swimming hole and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming, snorkeling and taking in this totally undiscovered island paradise. By sunset we were riding back to the guesthouse along the beautiful and winding country road.