red frogs

On our way to the train station to buy tickets from colon to panama city, we got sidetracked in this massive panamanian mall, where we ate cinnamon buns, saw panama hats for sale, and got eaten by a dinosaur.


after panama city we went to bocas del toro, an island arcipelago off the caribbean cost of panama. in bocas town, we got swarmed by annoying touts immediately and constantly, so we went back to the docks and got a boat to a smaller island, bastimentos, renouned for its red poison dart frogs. we were pointed in the direction of "wizard beach" and decided to go enjoy the last couple of hours of sun of the day, hoping to see some red poison dart frogs too. we walked along the malecon until a sign pointed inland. a small track culminated in a few private pathways to houses, one of which was playing about 25 dBs of bob marley. but no beach. we went back to the malecon, where a little girl on a balcony assured us that that was the way to wizard beach. back at the bob marley house, i spotted a small mud trail going up a hill. it didn't look like the way to a beach, but it was the only way we could go, so we went. at the top of the hill we met a local lady coming back down, who remarked at how muddy it was. we followed the mud trail past a couple of cow fields and into the jungle, where some intrepid travelers going the other direction told us that we had about thirty minutes of deep, flip-flop eating mud ahead of us before we reached the beach.

next day, we started out a bit earlier for wizard beach, knowing how to get there and armed with proper footwear. by this time, most of the mud had dried up. the fire ants were enjoying the drier ground to get off to an early start too, and were very pleased to have some delicious feet to bite.



this time we had our underwater camera along and when we finally reached the beach, we had a fun time taking pictures of ourselves underwater, until we realised that we'd gotten swept out quite far and tried to swim back to shore. the waves were pushing towards shore, but the undertow after each massive wave pulled us back out, and the sea wouldn't let us back to the beach until it had stolen my snorkel set and eaten it.





keeana cleverly found a much muddier path to get back to town so we were pretty mucky by the time we got back. we kept looking for red poison dart frogs, but i guess they don't like the mud.

next day, knowing the way to wizard beach, we decided to try and find red frog beach, which is supposed to be the next one along the coast. we walked along the muddy jungle trail once again, and arrived at wizard beach, and then started looking for the path to red frog beach. we found paths, but they all either tapered out or were washed out. eventually we gave up and went back to town.

losing hope of ever seeing a red poison dart frog, we went back to our room and got cleaned up for supper. on our way out of the hostel, beverly´s hill, keeana spotted one of the four hostel cats stalking something in the bathroom. she looked in and, lo and behold, it was a red poison dart frog! we helped him escape from the bathroom back to the wilds of beverly´s hill garden, whereupon we spotted a second and then a third red poison dart frog. after all that exploring and getting muddy, all those naughty little froggies were right there in our garden!