Thanksgiving....Panama Style

Our tropical home on Red Frog Beach

Somehow we managed to dodge the rain as we strolled down to the small dock to catch the boat to the neighbouring island of Bastimentos on Bocos del Toro. A very soggy walk through the jungle armed with with all our belongings including groceries for a couple of days and most importantly, a chocolate pecan pie, and we arrived at our home for the next couple of nights, Palmar's Tent Lodge.

A really basic but stunning lodge situated in the jungle and right next to Red Frog Beach, named after the poisonous strawberry dart frog that lives there. Evidently its only poisonous if you accidently eat one! We'd booked a tent which had a very comfy bed, a mosquito net, a lockable trunk, various creatures and a huge portion of dampness.

Red Frog Beach, Panama

The place is owned by a young American couple so as part of our booking we were invited, along with the other guests, staff and neighbours, to their Thanksgiving bash and all we had to bring was a small contribution.

We were a little apprehensive as we joined the other 40 or so people for the evening's celebrations as strangely enough we'd never been to a Thanksgiving before. We've no idea quite how they did it in such small and basic surroundings but this amazing spread of food gradually appeared, all beautifully laid out on the pool table, including roast turkey and ham, stuffing, macaroni cheese and tons of other trimmings. There was still plenty left over after we'd all filled our faces and all it cost us was the price of a chocolate pecan pie.

The barefoot torchlit walk back to our tent through the jungle in the pouring rain was hilarious and the evening was one of our strangest experiences but definitely one of the most memorable.