He gives us a lift and introduces himself as Juan. He explains how the coffee crop is damaged this year from excessive wind and rain. Most of the fine coffee is exported, leaving discarded beans for the locals. Juan drops us off about one mile from Boquete, at the top of a hill.
We limp down the slope to town and figure that the total trek adds up to about 20 miles. What a relief to reach Hostal Boquete, where cold beers in the fridge cost one dollar each. Sipping a cool drink on a terrace overlooking the Caribbean… now we have a view. The main island of Bocas del Toro awakens early and goes to bed late.
Water taxis maneuver to surrounding islands, and there is no shortage of boats to hire for day-trippers such as us. The sand on Starfish Beach cuts into your feet like shards of glass.
We snorkel in the crystalline waters among multicolored anemones, cucumber fish with starfish wrapped around them, sea urchins, stingrays and fishes.
Returning to the main island, we are treated to an unexpected festival which kicks-off Carnival. Crowds gather along the streets. Red, black, and white costumed devils dance down the road and crack whips sticks with ropes tied onto the end at constant confronters. After some persuading, I get lucky and a man agrees to explain this festival to me. He will not tell his name.
Nobody is supposed to know the true identity of a costumed devil. It starts with six years of training as a devil, marked by a totally black costume; then five more years of training in a red costume, followed by six years training in red and white.
Finally, the highest level devil is marked by a white costume. All devils have a small head attached to the leg of their pants. If a confronter steals the head, then the devil must remove his mask, get whipped, and go home.
The festival starts around February 16th each year, and ends on Ash Wednesday. On that day, the devils go to church for communion and salvation. After church, they strip off their costume revealing their true identity. Then they run home, through a crowd of people who crack whips and reap revenge on the devils for all the punishment they had doled out for years. After a three-hour, twisty mountain ride in a standing-room only bus, we sit alongside the Pan American Highway and catch a bigger bus to the Horconcitos turn-off.
Then we hop into the back of a pick-up, which bounces down a dirt road to a water taxi, where we outboard across a small bay to Isla Boca Brava, in the Golfo de Chiriqui. Monkeys follow us on this small tropical island, while we hike around the bush. We meet Mitch, who lives on his sailboat in the bay for free. He visits the hotel restaurant often for internet access and gold trading.
We are pleased to witness how a retirement dream of living on an island is possible. Colombia's coastline on the Caribbean Sea is situated on the nation's northern edge. Given its massive size, Russia not only borders the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans, but it also borders the Arctic Ocean. Russia has several ports along the Atlantic Ocean, the most prominent being St. Located in the northern part of North America, Canada borders the northern edge of the Pacific Ocean as well, as the northern edge of the Atlantic Ocean.
Panama's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is situated on the country's southern edge. The Gulf of Panama is also close to Panama. The country is considered to border the Atlantic Ocean because it has coastline along the Caribbean Sea on its northern edge. The Panama Canal is one of the most important waterways in the region, as it links the Caribbean Sea to the Gulf of Panama, and therefore ultimately connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Construction of the Panama Canal dates back to the 19th century, when France initiated the project in the s. However, the French government later decided to stop work on the project for various reasons, including a significant number of deaths among workers.
The United States government later took over the project and the canal officially opened in Honduras is considered to have a coastline on the Pacific Ocean since it borders the Gulf of Fonseca on the southern side. In addition to bordering the Caribbean Sea, Honduras also borders one of its primary inlets, the Gulf of Honduras. San Lorenzo is one of Honduras' main ports along the Pacific Ocean. The power of the Rio Chepo and Rio Chagres has been harnessed for hydroelectricity.
The major port on the Caribbean is Cristobol, at the Caribbean terminus of the canal, although there are several good natural ports along the Caribbean coast of Panama. These reach over miles. On the Pacific coast of Panama, the major port is Balboa. The Pacific coastal waters are extremely shallow, causing a wide tidal range. The variation of 70 centimeters between low and high tide on the Caribbean side contrasts with the centimeter difference on the Pacific side.
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