Panama

Finding myself with 3 weeks between an old job and a new job, I did what any travel addict would do, and booked a flight out of the UK. This time I was heading for Panama.

If I had a £1 for everytime someone asked me 'Why Panama?' I would have a lot of pounds in my purse right now. But my answer still remains 'Why not Panama?'. I want to travel as far and wide across the world as possible and Central America is no exception. So here comes by blog post on those 10 days spent exploring the beautiful country of Panama.

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After an 18 hour flight with a connection in New Jersey and a 30 minute taxi ride I finally made it to Panama City and the old town of Casco Viejo, where my hostel for the night was the delightful Magnolia Inn.

When I say hostel this place was more like a hotel. The facilities were all clean, hot showers, a comfy bed and super friendly staff. All for $11 a night.

Driving through Casco at night I definitely felt nostalgic pangs to my childhood summer holidays spent in Spain. Families and couples were sat outside in the plaza listening to local musicians whilst eating dinner. I couldn't wait to explore more, but after a 22 hour total journey, sleep was calling.

The next morning feeling fresh after a hot shower I went for a pre sunrise walk (thank you jet lag) where the streets were now a lot more subdued. I bought a coffee and took some photos of the white traditional colonial buildings mixed in with the bright and colourful street murals, before loading up on supermarket supplies ready for the bus ride later on that day.

A $5 taxi ride from Casco took me to Altbrook Bus terminal where a $15 ticket bought me a ride to David. The journey took around 7 hours but with an i pad loaded with content the time went pretty quickly.  The scenery from the bus window was also a welcome distraction and with views like this its easy to see why I was starting to fall in love with Panama.

As I was trying to keep the costs down and Panama was already proving to be one of the most expensive places I have ever travelled to I decided to take a $2 public bus to Boquete rather than the $30 price for a taxi. Public buses in Boquete though are actually bright yellow school buses like you see in American films. I was probably the only non local aboard the bus but it was interesting to see families and workers making their journeys home for the day.

During my time in Boquete (pronounced bocetty) it was windy, very windy. Loaded up with my heavy rucksack I was still unable to walk in a straight line and was being blown left to right, probably looking like a drunk to passers by.

I stayed at the Spanish by the River hostel which in hindsight wasn't the best for me as it was a little out of the town, meaning I had to take a local taxi if I wanted to reach restaurants and bars.

The next morning I booked on a Rainforest Canopy zip wire trip. Here I met two dutch girls Ellen and Maryanne whom I would later meet up with again in Bocas. The jungle zip wire was accessible via a very steep and bumpy jeep ride up into the hillside. The scenery from the summit was lush green hills, waterfalls and rainbows. Stunning!!

Once we were kitted up in our harnesses and oh so attractive helmets we were given a safety debrief from the guides before taking a short walk to the first platform. From there on there was no going back. With my heart in my mouth I took the first zip line down in just under 15 seconds. High over green jungle and blue waterfalls. The view was amazing.

For the next hour we took over a dozen zip lines, with some taking as long as 30 seconds to cross before safely arriving back at the base camp and warming up with a Kotowa coffee. Which by the way is THE best coffee I have ever had. Sorry Peru but Panama beats your coffee hands down. 

The next day Ellen, Maryanne and I spent the day drinking $1 happy hour beers, playing board games and eating shrimp tacos before the following day taking the $30 bus ride to Bocas del Toro.

Bocas is a collection of islands off the Caribbean coast mainland and I would be spending 2 x nights in a luxury tree house as a little treat to myself before meeting back up with the Dutch girls in Bocas main town.

The Firefly in Bastimentos is a small eco friendly hotel run by an American couple and serves up delicious home cooked food, amazing rum cocktails all whilst in a calm and ocean side setting.

My stay at the Firefly was pure indulgent bliss with a yoga class and daily trips to Red Frog beach thrown in. However for a single traveller it was a little too quiet for me so I was looking forward to heading to the main island and to my hostel the Selina.

I like to think after 5 years of travelling I am quite accustomed to what to expect from hostels. I don't mind basic, I don't mind noisy. But dirty, noisy, poor showers and rude staff is not the way to win me over. Guys out of their minds drunk just made me feel really uncomfortable. I would not recommend this place one bit. I couldn't wait to leave :(

Thankfully this was to be the only low point of my trip.

The next day I got the hell out of there and flew $50 back to Panama City and back to the beautiful Magnolia Inn. 

The staff at the M.I kindly arranged a mini bus to take me to the Panama Canal at 11am which is apparently one of the best times to visit and there is generally a ship passing through. Entrance to the canal at the Miraflores Lock is $15 and the viewing platform gives great views of the locks.

You only need about 90 minutes at the lock to see the passing of the ships and visit the museum, leaving me with a free afternoon to chill and catch some sun on the rooftop pool of the Hard Rock hotel.

For my final leg of the trip I had pre booked a 2 day 2 night stay on the beautiful islands of San Blas.

San Blas is an archipelago of over 365 islands off the north east coast of Panama. the islands are home to the Guna Yala (pronounced Kuna), an indigenous tribe. The Guna people live by separate laws to that of the Panamanian people and the tribe live a very simple life.

I was picked up at 5am by mini bus and driven through some very rocky terrain to the harbour where I would take a water taxi to the main island of Isla Aroma. I was staying in a bamboo cabana and would be touring several islands and water pools over the next 2 days.

This place was bliss.

I was looking for a chill holiday before I start my new job and San Blas gave me just that, Lying in a hammock with a cold beer and a good book surrounded by nothing but sand, palm trees and crystal blue oceans.

I was sharing my cabana with a Canadian/Nicaraguan guy called Marcelo who could talk the hinds legs off a donkey. But he was great for bringing people together and at night he gathered a group and we build a fire on the beach and chatted for the next few hours.

Meals on San Blas are simple dishes of local caught fish, rice and lentils, and whilst the food was filling it did become a bit repetitive after 4 meals of the same dish. But there was something very traditional about eating the fish you saw the fisherman catching throughout the day.

The second day was spent taking a short boat ride to Pelican Islands followed by a visit to a natural pool. Pelican Island is smaller than Isla Aroma but no less beautiful. Snorkels are provided and if you swam out far enough you could see lots of different varieties of fish and coral.

The natural pool though had to be my favourite as here we saw Starfish and small blue little fish (that looked a little like Dory). The water is so blue that no instagram filter was needed to capture how clear the water is.

More hammock and beach time followed before packing my bag for the early morning boat ride back to the mainland.

Arriving back in Panama City at lunchtime the next day I had a much needed shower (goodbye sand) before heading back to the airport for my flight home.

I hope this blog post answers the question 'Why Panama?. A country rich in history and surprising natural beauty.

You should definitely add Panama to your travel list.

For now though the chill time had come to an end and the exciting new chapter was about to begin.

Thanks for reading.

Nic x