flashpacker overload
There are a lot of beach towns overrun with backpackers--if you remember we opted to stay in Santa Marta rather than Taganga in Colombia, just so we could avoid all the other gringos.
Bocas del Toro was a huge disappointment. I have met many a backpacker that really enjoyed their stay there, and as usual the only reason I could see people really liking it was because there are just so many western amenities there and a big party scene. People go there so they can feel like they're at home while being in another country, and while i admit this is sometimes nice (especially when you're gone for a long time) it generally just annoys me having to be surrounded by these "flashpackers".
Don't get me wrong, it was a cute little place and I enjoyed the concept of having to get everywhere via boat. Even to go to the other islands you take water taxis. I also enjoyed our low budget accommodation which wasn't anything more than a shack on top of the water, but it was nice to wake up in the morning and have the water just there, or to hear the water lapping underneath the floorboards while you fell asleep. I lay in a hammock one afternoon overlooking the water and thought to myself that this must be what people wish they were doing back home instead of work.
So to my even greater disappointment, my next stop (across the border into costa rica) of Puerto Viejo was almost exactly the SAME THING. Except they had beaches.
We were staying at a weird hostel in Puerto Viejo called Rocking Js, which seemed to have very few dorm rooms, but a plethora of tents and hammocks lined up around the compound. I even had my very own little one person tent with a mattress inside, which I ended up being quite fond of after a few days. It was nice just having your own imagined space, even though in reality the next person was probably only sleeping a few feet away.
To our horror (i totally didn't remember how expensive costa rica was) living expenses there were extremely high. So high that we actually couldn't do anything, not even eat out. So we spent a few days making plans for the next few weeks (skip the rest of costa rica and head directly for nicaragua), doing yoga, and trying to fill our empty bellies with bread and sandwiches.
Bocas del Toro was a huge disappointment. I have met many a backpacker that really enjoyed their stay there, and as usual the only reason I could see people really liking it was because there are just so many western amenities there and a big party scene. People go there so they can feel like they're at home while being in another country, and while i admit this is sometimes nice (especially when you're gone for a long time) it generally just annoys me having to be surrounded by these "flashpackers".
Don't get me wrong, it was a cute little place and I enjoyed the concept of having to get everywhere via boat. Even to go to the other islands you take water taxis. I also enjoyed our low budget accommodation which wasn't anything more than a shack on top of the water, but it was nice to wake up in the morning and have the water just there, or to hear the water lapping underneath the floorboards while you fell asleep. I lay in a hammock one afternoon overlooking the water and thought to myself that this must be what people wish they were doing back home instead of work.
So to my even greater disappointment, my next stop (across the border into costa rica) of Puerto Viejo was almost exactly the SAME THING. Except they had beaches.
We were staying at a weird hostel in Puerto Viejo called Rocking Js, which seemed to have very few dorm rooms, but a plethora of tents and hammocks lined up around the compound. I even had my very own little one person tent with a mattress inside, which I ended up being quite fond of after a few days. It was nice just having your own imagined space, even though in reality the next person was probably only sleeping a few feet away.
To our horror (i totally didn't remember how expensive costa rica was) living expenses there were extremely high. So high that we actually couldn't do anything, not even eat out. So we spent a few days making plans for the next few weeks (skip the rest of costa rica and head directly for nicaragua), doing yoga, and trying to fill our empty bellies with bread and sandwiches.
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