Bonding in Bocas

Now that I’m stateside, let me try to recapture my time in Panama.

Seventeen of us flew from across the globe to bounce along the potholed and muddy roads of Isla Colon, part of the Bocas del Toro archipelago off of Panama’s Caribbean coast, right up to the pale yellow gate of Bluff’s Beach retreat center, where hazy and humid air danced in the light of the tropical garden.

We were fully immersed, snorkeling through mangroves in turquoise waters, trekking into underground caves filled with bats, hiking the jungle to find poison dart frogs, cannonballing into the lap pool, riding horses to secluded beaches, body surfing in barreling waves, filling our bellies with as much local fish and fruit as we could manage. And of course, we started each morning with sweaty, energetic yoga and slowed down each evening with a restorative practice. At night we fell asleep to the bocas del toro, or the mouths of the bull, the sound of the relentless crash and roll of the surf just steps from our casita’s porch.

This trip renewed my soul in the best way possible. I think travel is one of the rare choices we have to actually step out of our own way, out of our usual routines, and discover who we are under new conditions.