Boca Chica, Panama

Driving on the Panamerican Highway through Panama is a pleasure. The highway is a 4 lane divided highway with very little traffic. It takes you through the tropical landscape on the west side of Panama.

It is a life line for the local people. At each off the road village there is a bus stop with a pedestrian overpass. People are coming and going all the time. The bus fare is cheap for local residences.

Boca Chica is located about 30 minutes off the Panamerican Highway along a narrow paved secondary road. The local vans drive fast and they will overtake you and pass you in dangerous spots so slow down and let them pass. The secondary road has some potholes and there are speed bumps wherever there is a collection of houses. 

You drive through a couple of smaller villages on your way to Boca Chica. It is easy to see you are in Boca Chica with the colourful village sign that you will see in every village and town in Panama.

Boca Chica has colourful concrete buildings. It has one general store so make sure you buy all your supplies in David or Santiago. There are a number of small restaurants in the village and there are charter companies to take you out fishing.

At the concrete pier at the end of the road there are many water taxis that you can hire for a trip to the islands. A trip over to Isla Boca Brava is $5 per person each way. We rented a water taxi to take us to Isla Parida for the day. The trip is about an hour from Boca Chica to Isla Parida. We paid $100 for the four of us. The driver dropped us off and then went and did some fishing. We stayed on the island for about 4 hours and then he took us back to our villa.