TRASH TROUBLE IN BOCAS DEL TORO

Paradise lost in Bocas del Toro. This U.S.-AID sign isn't exactly helping.

There's trouble in paradise. And it stinks. 

Over the past decade the small string of idyllic islands off Panama's northwest coast, Bocas del Toro, has become one of the country's top tourist attractions. While the massive influx of visitors has generated significant investment and cash for the locals, all those tourists and the business serving them are producing tons and tons of trash every day. 

Bocas is quickly running out of places to put it all. 

Sure, officials have been working on the problem for a while. And some eco-friendly hotels and businesses have started recycling and composting on their own. 

Unfortunately, most others haven't. And thanks to a lack of space, funding and political will, there's no end in sight, meaning visitors can expect to see a tainted, trash-lined version of what once was a Panamanian paradise. 

Trash lines the entrance road to Bocas' only airport.

For us, we managed to pick up a lot of garbage that lined beaches, reefs and roads. But similar to the overcrowding we learned about while volunteering in Costa Rica's animal rescue centers, this was an issue that people more powerful than us needed to hear about. 

We've written and called local and national authorities in Panama. We've sent photos and videos to tourism officials. We also emailed U.S. AID, the foreign aid arm of the U.S. government that's supposedly helping Bocas address some of its sanitation issues.

If you'd like to do the same, check out the following links to contact local and national tourism officials. 

Let them know this Panamanian paradise deserves better.