A Cacao Farmer's Guide to Bocas del Toro: 10 Questions With Elena
Elena Quintero has lived near Bocas del Toro for 22 years, running an organic cacao farm on the mainland near Almirante. She's watched the archipelago transform from a sleepy fishing community into one of Central America's most popular backpacker destinations. She leads chocolate farm tours (US$30), grows five varieties of cacao, and has strong opinions about everything.
We talked in her farm's drying shed, surrounded by fermenting cacao beans and the most intoxicating chocolate smell I've ever encountered.
Elena, what was Bocas like when you first arrived?
Quiet. Really quiet. Bocas Town had maybe ten restaurants. There was one hostel that I remember. The water taxis were fishing boats. You came here because you wanted to disappear from the world for a while.
Now there are 50+ hostels, bars on every corner, and Filthy Friday is the loudest night in Panama. I'm not complaining — tourism feeds families here, including mine. But the Bocas I fell in love with was a different place.
What do tourists get wrong about the islands?
They stay in Bocas Town and think that's Bocas del Toro. Bocas Town is a party town on Isla Colon. The archipelago has nine main islands and hundreds of smaller ones. Most tourists visit Red Frog Beach, Starfish Beach, and Zapatilla, and they think they've seen everything.
Go to Bastimentos village — the Afro-Caribbean community on the other side of Isla Bastimentos. Talk to people. Eat their food. Or take a boat to Isla Solarte and walk along the coast. Or come to the mainland and see how cacao actually grows.
The islands are more than a party.
Tell me about the cacao.
Panama has some of the best cacao genetics in the world — we grow Criollo and Trinitario varieties that chocolate makers in Europe pay premium prices for. The Bocas del Toro region, and specifically the mainland around Almirante, has conditions that are perfect: elevation, rainfall, volcanic soil.
My farm is 5 hectares. I grow cacao, plantain, and coconut. The cacao takes five years from planting to first harvest. Each tree produces maybe 30 pods per year. Each pod has 30-40 beans. I ferment the beans for six days, dry them for a week, and sell them to exporters or use them for our farm tours.
When tourists do the bean-to-bar workshop, they roast beans over a fire, grind them with a stone, add sugar, and eat raw chocolate that tastes nothing like a supermarket bar. Their faces — every time — are the same expression. "This is what chocolate tastes like?"
Yes. That's what it tastes like when it's fresh.
Where should tourists eat?
Not at the overwater restaurants on Isla Colon — they charge gringo prices for average food.
Go to the mainland market in Almirante. Caribbean rice and beans with coconut for US$3. Fried whole fish for US$4. Or in Bocas Town, find the small spots on side streets: Buena Vista on the south end does great Caribbean food. Up in the Tree (a restaurant in a literal tree) is worth the boat ride to Bastimentos.
The best food in Bocas del Toro is cooked by Caribbean women who've been making the same recipes for three generations. It's coconut rice, fried plantain, stewed chicken, hot sauce made from local peppers. It costs US$4-6 for a full plate.
Is the Starfish Beach problem real?
Yes, and it makes me angry. Tourists pick up the starfish for photos and the animals die. They die within minutes out of water. I've been to Playa Estrella and watched 20 people in a row pick up starfish for Instagram.
The tour operators are supposed to educate people. Some do. Most don't bother. If you go to Starfish Beach, look at them in the water. Snorkel over them. Photograph them through the surface. Don't touch them.
What's the best kept secret in the archipelago?
Bocas del Drago on the northwest tip of Isla Colon. It's a 40-minute drive from Bocas Town on a bumpy road. Small beach, good snorkeling, a restaurant that serves fresh fish caught that morning. Almost no tourists because the road discourages most visitors.
Also: the Ngobe villages on the mainland. The indigenous Ngobe people have communities near our farm. Some offer guided visits — traditional cooking, weaving, forest walks. It's real cultural exchange, not a show. Ask at Green Acres or Oreba chocolate farm for contacts.
What about the rain?
Bocas gets 3,000+ mm of rain per year. That's a lot. The rain is part of life here — it comes sudden and hard, usually in the afternoon, and it's over in 30-60 minutes. Then the sun comes back.
Tourists cancel boat trips because of rain. That's a mistake. The mornings are almost always clear. And the rain makes everything green and alive — the jungle after a downpour is extraordinary. Bring a dry bag for your phone. Don't let rain stop you.
How has tourism changed the environment?
Mixed. The marine park (Bastimentos National Marine Park) protects the Zapatilla Islands and surrounding reef. The starfish situation is bad. Coral bleaching is increasing. Plastic waste on some beaches is getting worse.
But tourism also funds conservation. The marine park fee (~US$10) supports patrols. Some operators run beach cleanups. The cacao and chocolate tourism on the mainland — my farm included — gives economic value to forest that might otherwise be cleared for cattle.
It's a balance. Right now, I think tourism is still net positive for Bocas. But it needs to be managed better.
Learn some Spanish. English Creole is spoken by Afro-Caribbean communities, but most people on the mainland speak Spanish. Even basic phrases — "buenos dias," "gracias," "cuanto cuesta" — change how people interact with you.
Bring cash. Many places don't accept cards. ATMs in Bocas Town sometimes run out of money on busy weekends.
Come to the mainland. The islands are beautiful. But the mainland — the farms, the villages, the jungle — is where you understand what Bocas del Toro really is. A chocolate tour is three hours and US$25-35. You'll see where your food comes from. That's worth more than another beach day.
If you're exploring more of Central America, Costa Rica offers a completely different experience worth considering.
If you're exploring more of Central America, Cozumel offers a completely different experience worth considering.
If you're exploring more of Central America, Granada, Nicaragua offers a completely different experience worth considering.
If you're exploring more of Central America, Belize offers a completely different experience worth considering.
Last question: what's your favorite thing about living here?
The sound of rain on cacao leaves. Seriously. When the afternoon rain starts and I'm in the grove, and the drops hit the big cacao leaves — it's a sound that exists nowhere else. It's rhythmic and heavy and beautiful.
That, and the chocolate. Eating chocolate that was a bean on my tree three weeks ago never gets old.
