Grab the Bull by the Horns in Bocas
Memories of Bocas del Toro, Panama, exploded in my mind after reading Christopher Reynolds’ article (“Last Chance for Eden,” Dec. 2). American expatriates in Costa Rica use Bocas as a three-day refuge to renew passports.
On my trek, my Munich roommate belted out German war songs on the bumpy unpaved road through Dole banana plantations; pimply-faced 15-year-olds in fatigues wielded M-16s at the border; we drove in a tiny Peugeot across a bridge that looked like the one in “Apocalypse Now.”
But once we were on the islands, flying fish skated across the waters as Hurricane Mitch pummeled Honduras, children in blue-and-white uniforms took dugout canoes to school in front of our $10-a-night cabin on stilts, and we found total isolation on a brass-colored beach two miles long. The islands were Eden.
I wish Panama would close the border on the developers, if just to allow the poison dart frogs a few more weeks from extinction.
DAVID GORMAN
Pasadena
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