Of all the countries we’ve been to/are going to, Panama was the only one I never really thought I’d visit. But as it turns out, it’s amazing and one of my favorite places I’ve ever been to. This is because:
-Panamanians are quite possibly the nicest people I have ever met (all of them are so kind and eager to help/talk/be generally friendly).
-No one is pushy. After having people hassle us for taxis, clothing, food, hostels etc etc all over South America it is SUCH a nice change to be in a place where we can think about where we want to go and what we want to do without someone not so casually trying to push us in a certain direction.
-It is inexpensive! We heard that Panama was an up and coming destination and therefore that prices were rising here too. Locals also told us that prices are three times as high as they were seven years ago. But we’re in a very touristy area right now and in general things seem pretty cheap, much more so than Colombia. I can only imagine how inexpensive things were seven years ago!
-It is beautiful. Panama is all kind of a jungle that they built right into. Even Panama City is a mix of homes and modern buildings and thick green trees and rivers. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
-The weather is perfect (by my standards, at least). Every day you can expect all four seasons, a strong tropical downpour, a bit of clouds and breakthrough sun, all within the 70s-80s.
Basically Panama is a hidden gem and I encourage everyone to give it some consideration for a future travel destination.
Last I updated we had just gotten out of the national park in Colombia. After that we headed to Cartagena, but of course had to make a quick stop in Baranquilla to see the 15 foot tall Shakira statue. She was born in Baranquilla and the statue was created as a gift by a German (I think) fan. Unfortunately other than being quite tall, the statue is rather unimpressive and looks absolutely nothing like Shakira. But hey, who doesn’t want a giant statue erected in their honor!
So then it was on to Cartagena, a beautiful European-like city with cobble stone streets. The coastal part of the city is surrounded by a huge wall that was erected to ward off attacks by the French and pirates and pretty much everyone else. Cartagena has a pretty dismal history and at one point their population was almost totally destroyed by one of the aforementioned attacks. But now it is a modern, financially prosperous, bustling city and one of my favorite places in South America. We were only able to spend three days there but it’s definitely a place I’d like to go back to when I’m not on such a shoestring budget.
We were a bit scared leaving Cartagena because that meant we had to start the confusing, unreliable journey to Panama. We first headed to Monteria, a five hour bus ride on a mostly unpaved road where everyone was bouncing up and down. We then got in a van (a “car service”) with about nine other people and drove to Turbo. About one minute into the ride I noticed the man in front of me was bleeding UNCONTROLLABLY out of what I thought was his nose. I don’t do well with blood and tried my best to avert my eyes as the sopping red tissue paper and dish towels piled up next to my feet. About an hour later, blood still flowing (geeze, this guy has quite the stamina!), the woman next to bloody man holds up a set of X-rays, his, that show the blood is in fact coming from a huge gash in his mouth, not his nose. So this only adds to the confusion in that he had to time get an entire set of X-rays but no one thought to actually stop the bleeding? And did I mention there was a little girl, no more than five or six, sitting next to bloody man totally cool and composed the entire time? And a whole group of people snacking and listening to music behind us who had no idea what was going on. When in Colombia I guess…
The blood did eventually subside and we eventually made it to Turbo, where we were greeted by a shirtless, pot-bellied, cheerful man and delighted to find a hot muggy hotel with the bathroom and shower literally in the room, divided from the bed by a bright pink plastic curtain. Talk about a good use of space!
We woke up bright and early the next day and got on a boat to Capurgana. The boat was packed full of people and suitcases and furniture and all sorts of strange things. Capurgana and the rest of the towns north of Turbo on the way to Panama are only accessible by boat, so they’re more or less like being on an island and since there’s no vehicle access everything has to be boated in. The water was super choppy and luggage and people were flying everywhere. I was mentally preparing to lose my backpack, and therefore all of my belongings, to the Caribbean. The people in the first few rows were getting totally slammed and their hands were bright red from trying to hold on for the four hour journey (it should have taken about two and a half hours but the water was particularly rough).
Finally, we arrived in Capurgana, which was pretty and tranquil and everything such a remote, island-like location should be. This was our last stop in Colombia, so we went to immigration and got stamped out by an “official” man in a wife beater who I saw drinking a beer in front of our hostel five minutes prior. After countless checkpoints and police with machine guns throughout Colombia, this more relaxed take on government was a welcomed change. We spent two nights there and then took a boat to Puerto Obaldia, Panama.
We arrived in Puerto Obaldia soaked in rain water and the super salty Caribbean and had to remove everything from our bags for immigration to sift through. This is particularly difficult when you have a backpack that opens from the top and only fits all of your belongings when packed a very precise, methodical way.
After clearing that checkpoint we went on to find a hotel…the Roysmar, which had a sign indicating Internet, warm water and air conditioning. The building was under construction and there was no electricity, running water (just a big bucket full of water from who knows where and a scoop to get it out) or, obviously, Internet. We were given a fantastic set of sheets covered in stains and anonymous patches of crusty yellow something. This wasn’t ideal but we knew from all we had read online that this part of the trip would be the most difficult, so we weren’t totally surprised.
Once we got settled (on those nice crusty sheets) we took a moment to sort out our money. We quickly realized that we had exactly enough to get out of Puerto Obaldia and into Panama City. With no ATMs for hundreds of miles we were forced to save everything, which also meant we couldn’t buy food. Going hungry for the night wasn’t a big deal (we were more concerned about the next day), and considering our surroundings we were both eager to go to sleep so we could wake up to tomorrow as fast as possible.
There is a plane out of Puerto Obaldia to Panama City but it was booked up three weeks in advance (this is apparently due to Cuban refugees?) so we were hoping to get a boat to Cartí (4 hours) and then and a jeep into the city (2 hours). There is only one guy who does this trip so he can leave at any time and charge whatever he pleases. We joined up with a family of four who had been trying to leave for three days but the boat captain had refused to go due to lack of passengers.
We managed to gather up nine people for the trip to Cartí and the captain agreed to leave, much to our excitement, as we couldn’t imagine, or afford, another night in Puerto Obaldia. He then came bak an hour later and let us know he wanted to wait until tomorrow.
…at this point you’re probably getting an idea of how frustrating this trip is due to all the uncertainties…
Then the family of four let us know they had been accepted off the waiting list for the flight to Panama City but told us if we bribed the boat captain he would leave sooner. Little did they know we had no money for food, let alone to bribe a whole boat! And without them the boat had significantly fewer passengers and was therefore much less likely to leave anytime soon.
At this point we went into desperation mode and Jesse went to smooth gringo talk our way onto the plane, our last hope of getting out for days. The man running the Air Panama office told us it was highly unlikely but Jesse somehow charmed his way into the Panamanian’s heart and an hour later they were weighing our bags and we sprinted through the streets to stop the plane from leaving without us. We boarded the tiny sixteen-person propeller plane and headed for Panama City, feeling more like lucky refugees than ever before!
We had set up a work exchange with an American expat in Bocas del Toro, Panama to work on a house he is building in exchange for a place to stay and food for a week and a half. So we had just enough time to grab a much needed meal and see the Panama Canal before taking a night bus to Bocas. The Canal was enormous! Huge cargo ships were passing through with many many more lined up behind, waiting their turn. It costs about $500,000 for a boat to go through the canal and it was so neat to watch a small piece of that lengthy process.
So we got to Bocas del Toro the morning of the fourth, not really knowing what to expect. Our host, Kipp, took us out to the bed and breakfast he owns, which is only accessible by boat. The property was right on the water and beautiful, surrounded by rainforest and wildlife. He then took us over to the house we would be living in and working on. It is an amazing tree house-like structure, built up on stilts high above the ground amongst the trees and overlooking the water.
I never thought I’d be constructing a house, but here we are sanding drywall and painting wall texture and who knows what else. The house is run on solar power and the water is all filtered rain water. We’re basically in an eco-paradise and after a month and a half on the road it’s nice to be somewhere for longer than three days and to actually be doing productive work. We’re here until the 13th and then it’s on to Costa Rica and Nicaragua!
Vagabonding 