Bocas del Toro Tourist Traps

There's a guy in town next to a juice van who has 2 scooters (one blue, one black, parked on the street) and rents them out for $25 for 2 hours. We made the unfortunate mistake of hiring one. It worked for the first 20 minutes then cut out when we were far from anything on a remote part of the island. We spent the next half an hour trying to start it, then an hour trying to push it back to town in the heat. Eventually we gave up and paid for a taxi back to the rental guy. He told us he'd pick up the scooter & we should return the next day to sort it out. When we returned he told us that the scooter started fine and it was out fault. We asked to see it running. He tried to start it & it wouldn't start. He insisted that was a separate problem. No matter what we said, he refused to refund our money or give us the other scooter for the 2 hours we paid for. Great experience.

A lot gets stolen on Bocas. A girl staying with us had her handbag stolen after sitting it down for a second. We had our phone stolen. There are a lot of ladies nights with free drinks. The locals seem to take advantage of these to get at people when their guard is down. Walking through a crowded bar alone (sober mind you) I had 3 separate people grab at me in inappropriate places. My boyfriend was approached by 3 huge men (he's 6ft2 himself) he'd never seen before who claimed that he owed them money and insisted he go outside with them to sort it out. They kept hassling him till he stood up to them and they realized he wasn't going to make it easy. They eventually gave up.

All in all, Bocas isn't even that nice and the locals are constantly trying to take tourists down. There are much nicer places in the world to spend your time!

Unique Suggestions: Lock everything in your room. Only take essentials out with you. Keep your wits about you when out. If locals try to make friends be suspicious, chances are it's not cause they like you, they want what's in your pockets. Hate to say this one cause I like my independence but girls, stick with guys to avoid being hassled. A girl should be able to walk to the bathrooms on her own in a crowded bar but that wasn't the case for me. Best advice... avoid Bocas Del Toro