A seasoned travel blogger has issued a stark warning after her highly anticipated holiday to a tropical idyll descended into what she described as a rubbish-strewn hellscape.
Paradise Lost: The Reality Behind the Guidebook Hype
Claudia Tavani, who runs the popular blog My Adventures Across The World, booked a two-week trip to Bocas del Toro, located on Isla Colón in Panama. She was inspired by guidebooks, including Lonely Planet, which hailed it as one of Central America's last tropical paradises.
"Perhaps this was the issue: had I not read the guide, I wouldn't have had such high expectations," Claudia admitted. Instead of secluded beaches, she encountered mounds of hard-to-ignore garbage. The promised hidden gem was overrun with loud, disrespectful tourists. "I felt like I had landed in hell," she said.
She found only one beach to her liking, Red Frog Beach, while labelling the others as dirty to the point of being akin to garbage dumps. Being from Sardinia, with its pristine coastlines, likely made the contrast even starker.
A Destination Plagued by Deep-Rooted Problems
The UK Foreign Office outlines significant challenges for visitors to Panama, including high levels of gang violence, dangerous roads, and pickpocketing. Although the Panamanian government lifted a 'state of urgency' in Bocas del Toro on 29 June following violent protests, a curfew for unaccompanied minors remains from 8pm to 5am.
Protests involving informal roadblocks can disrupt travel, including access to Paso Canoas border crossing into Costa Rica and international airports. The Foreign Office also warns of targeted gang assassinations, even in tourist areas, though these are largely confined to rival drug gangs.
The most visually arresting issue, however, is waste management. Bocas del Toro has no publicly funded rubbish collection, leading residents to dispose of waste in rivers or by burning it. Sarah White from the blog Read the Impact notes that 100,000 annual tourists significantly contribute to the problem, as most consumables are imported.
Local initiatives have emerged in response. A progressive plastic bag ban was implemented in 2017, and a recycling facility was established. In a striking example of innovation, Canadian businessman Robert Bezeau has been building a plastic bottle village since 2012, including a 14-metre tall, four-storey castle made from 40,000 PET bottles.
"It Was Gross": A Blogger's Blunt Verdict and Escape
Despite these efforts, Claudia's experience was overwhelmingly negative. She described Bocas Town, the main hub, as "FILTHY," with streets lined with bags of trash due to the irregular collection service. "Locals are desperate; they literally run after the garbage truck," she reported.
Further hazards included undrinkable water, which she believes led to a bout of food poisoning, and a overwhelming tourist scene. She also encountered open drug dealing, recalling a hostel receptionist offering her '"blanca" (a slang term for cocaine) upon check-in.
After ten days of fruitlessly searching for the paradise others described, Claudia cut her losses and crossed the border into Costa Rica. There, her experience transformed entirely.
She spent a month exploring Costa Rica, meeting welcoming people, hiking volcano craters, and enjoying activities like rafting and zip-lining. Her fondest memory was a hike through Corcovado National Park, observing wildlife and bonding with fellow nature-seeking travellers—finally finding the peace and pristine environment she had originally sought.
