Bocas del Toro

Giant golden webbed spiders dining on dump flies

On the way towards Almirante, port to Bocos Del Toro city, we climbed a lot of hills. Some were VERY steep so we had to push our bikes.
Near the top of the first hill, a dump was burning garbage attracting many flies, and the smoke and smell wafted along our road. Further on, nearer the top, many spiders gathered to harvest the flies. The spiders must've been 4 inches long with gold and back backs in a micro-golf ball like colour pattern. The webs were very thick too, with obviously yellow colour.

Bocus overview map

Had lunch at the top after only 15 km at the mirador (view point) restaurant. Finally made it to Almirante at around 2pm, found out the ferry only runs at 8am. A fellow named William convinced us to take a ride with the boat company taxi 25. Went off without a hitch, and very quickly we were in Bocas town.

Fire dancers in Bocus town

Bocas del Toro is definitely the Caribbean, and more than half the people speak with a Jamaican accent that makes you think of marijuana, coconuts, fish, and white sand. The town is set up almost as much on the water as off the water with pilons resting in the sand supporting the many dockside businesses that are now predominantly tourism related. After wandering around for a few hours, we decided to stay at Heike hostal and dragged our stuff up to the second floor room. Then we went out for a belated lobster birthday dinner at the Reef Restaurant. At 3am the rain started again and pounded quite hard. We didn't see the sun again until almost noon.