Bat Caves. Our Trip to La Gruta in Bocas Del Toro, Panama.

09.12.25. We go underground for a half-mile adventure.

Locals speak of these caves as homes of duendes - forest spirits. Others say, the caves hold memories and the bats are the guardians of them. Many among Ngäbe-Bugle indigenous people believe that caves are sacred and are portals to ancient history, and walking through them connects you to the past.

We wanted to see for ourselves and stepped into the dark confined tunnels of the caves on Isla Colón.

Home to bats, spiders, giant crickets, and caymans, the caves are key elements of the jungle ecosystem. The creeks running through them spread the bat guano and fertilize the jungle floor.

Bocas Del Toro archipelago sits on the bed of old coral lifted from the Caribbean Sea. The rainwater, made acidic by plant vegetation, dissolved the limestone over millennia. It formed the caves and sink holes. The old fossils from the sea are still visible in the limestone walls.

I am neither religious, nor particularly ‘spiritual’, but a sense of awe grabbed me in those magical underground spaces, and left an imprint on my mind. Maybe I touched the past?