Cahuita and Panama

It is very difficult to stand in any spot in Cahuila, turn 360 degrees and not see some image of Bob Marley somewhere.

The Caribbean side of Costa Rica is very much a blend of both the Caribbean and Costa Rica. This little town, which sits right next a national park that includes both a forest and corral reef, is populated by as many Jamaicans as Ticos, and the majority of the music you hear played about town is reggae. The residents are in general much darker-skinned than the rest of the country.

We stopped here, about halfway between Limon and the Panamanian border, as a close jumping off spot for a day-trip to Panama. The weather here is not too hot, but extremely muggy, and you develop the perpetual layer of sweat almost immediately. The people here are very friendly and the town quite lively despite this being the offseason.

We awoke early to head to Sixaola, which contains about the smallest border crossing I have ever seen. One office and an old, rickety one-lane bridge leads you into Panama. Only one truck can cross the bridge at a time, and it looks like the thing could give way at any moment.

This crossing was far more simple than the Nicaraguan one, and Panama didn't even require a form. We were introduced to a friendly taxi driver named Salvador, who took us around Changuinola, the nearest city of any size to the border.

Primarily because of the Canal, Salvador informed us, Panama has a great deal of American influence. The Balboa is traded at 1-for-1 with the American Dollar, but we never saw one. All transactions were done in US money. Gas is measured in gallons, and the price is about the same as the US.

We wandered about a rather non-descript downtown for a couple hours, then Salvador took us around to see a Chiquita packaging plant and, on my request, the local baseball stadium, where he proudly told us Yankee Mariano Rivera (the Michael Jordan of Panama) once pitched.

Possibly because of the heavy American influence, Panama didn't appeal to me the same way Nicaragua did. It seemed a little wealthier, though not as well off as Costa Rica, but didn't have the character. It's ill-advised to judge a country based on one city for one day, of course, so will have to return and get a better feel at some point in the future.

Next up: Sloths and turtles.