We entered Panama, our last country on the Central American leg of our journey at the end of March with two opposing feelings: lots of excitement, and a little trepidation. Excitement to see two London friends who had recently moved to Canada and on seeing all the sun in our pics decided they deserved a break from the Canadian winter booked tickets to Panama for a week.
Trepidation for the ferry, oh the ferry. The ferry is a long and very boring story that car travellers talk about A LOT (and that we’re going to tell you anyway) here’s the abridged version… You can’t get to Colombia by car as there is a swampy, road-less and apparently lawless territory separating Panama and Colombia. When we started researching our trip the only ways to get your car across the Darién gap were expensive, time-consuming and an administrative nightmare (either a container ship or a passenger-less ferry where you have to hand your keys over and hope no one steals your stuff). We had budgeted for this but there was vague chit-chat about a passenger ferry starting up in the not too distant future. Problem was, there had been chitchat about a passenger ferry starting up in the not too distant future for, oh, roughly 10 years. It didn’t look promising, until suddenly it did look promising – when we were in Mexico, a ferry sailed with passengers and cars and then another and another and then it stopped. Bureacracy apparently. A month or so later, it started again and when we got to Costa Rica, we were genuinely hopeful that we could get on this thing (and save $1500). So we booked our spot, and just after we did, they announced that we would be on the 2nd last service, ever. The ferry dream was ending and we, apparently would be on it. But the way things had been going, it was very possible that it wouldn’t sail. So we were a little anxious, shall we say.
Climbing in Boquete
To ease the nerves, we headed up for some cool mountain air and climbing in the middle of Panama in Boquete. It was our first time climbing in 5 months … and it showed (oh the grades we have stooped to). But we had fun climbing this crazy basalt rock formation, one of only three such formations in the world (including Giant’s causeway – according to our cab driver). So we had fun. Besides the climbing, the highlights of Boquete, undoubtably were a) getting to use our duvet for the first time in 4 months and b) our first hot shower since Guatemala (luxury!) and c) good croissants. The lowlight was South Africa losing the semi-final of the cricket World Cup (despite Bridget decorating Pepe with flags, making boerewors rolls and staying up all night streaming the match). sad times. (yes, yes, Australia won the World Cup, happy times for one third of the vagabonds – Pepe was on Team SA).
We left Boquete to head towards Panama City and meet our friends with a quick stop at, what can only be described as a pretty but very mini, canyon (we lost all the photos due to an unfortunate deleting accident) for a lovely swim and sleep. The next day we drove to Panama City, across the bridge connecting the two sides of the continents to a free camping spot… City free-camping spots are always a bit of a lottery but this one turned out to be pretty good – plenty of other travellers and free wifi (thanks to the hotel next door). It’s pretty much the only spot to camp in Panama City so you’re bound to bump into a few other travellers and we met some of the people driving north who had just disembarked the ferry from Colombia. This included one family who’d been travelling for 5 years with 2 kids across the world in a $500,000 truck (with a washing machine inside!) and another family who been travelling from Chile in an old Toyota Corolla sedan, with 2 kids, all sleeping in the car (mum and dad in the front seats, kids in the back).Two of the happiest families in the world.
Panama City skyline
Hyewon and Bridget together again – from London to Panama
Next day, it was time to see the familiar faces of Hyewon and Nicola. And it was good times… a hotel (more hot water!), good food, good beers and plenty of catching up. We spent a night in Panama City – it was strange being in such a big city after so long but PC is actually pretty cool (and BIG!) with a beautiful old town, crazy skyscrapers, a bustling seafood market and rooftop bars with views over the city. We even dressed up for the occasion (first time in a while).
From PC,we headed off toward the San Blas islands which can only be reached by plane (sold out) or a 4×4 taxi on the windiest hilliest road in the world. 4 upset tummies later, we arrived in Carti and headed off for our 3 nights sailing holiday.
The San Blas islands are a chain of hundreds of tiny idyllic palm-covered islands stretching from Panama all the way towards Colombia on the Caribean side. Its a semi autonomous region, home to the indigenous kuna people so on almost all of the picture-perfect tiny palm-covered Islands, there are small villages or, in most cases, 1-3 families on an island tending the coconuts, fishing (both of which they export) and increasingly tourist trade.
With hyewon and Nicola being fellow food-lovers, we decided that a boat run by French hosts would be a good bet… it was. Freshly-baked bread every day, fresh cerviche, fish, homemade jam,freshly baked passion fruit dessert, Marseilles-style fish soup… etc. Besides the amazing food and our lovely hosts, the water was even bluer than our Caribbean dreams had pictured with tiny islands, and sand the consistency of the softest flour. We went the snorkelling every day, ate, drank, chatted, read our books… I could go on but I think you get the picture, it was magic.
Three nights passed far too quickly, and before we knew it, we were back in Panama City (or back in Carti and then another gut-churning drive back to PC). We stayed for the afternoon and night and managed to eat the best fish tacos in the world, visit the canal (biiiiig boats, tiny canal) and get another close-range sloth sighting in the national park in the city (if you ever want to see a sloth, go with us!).
The next day we headed off to the other side of Panama for time on the pacific to the sleepy and lovely town of Santa Catalina. The highlight was a day trip to Coiba Islands for an incredible day snorkelling – really incredible. The coiba island chain is a national park (no fishing) and is full of huge shoals of fish, turtles, rays and sharks … All of which we swam with over the course of an amazing day. Pictures are a pleeeenty. It is also home to arguably’s Central Americas finest surf break which we managed to score absolutely pumping.
While Santa Catalina may be rich in marine life, it was somewhat poor on the customer service side of things, which led to some pretty funny evenings out together (one where we were served 1 pizza, then 20min later 2 more and then 20min after that, the last one), we were pretty used to this but it was amusing seeing our city slicker friends get used to the slow Central American vibes! We also spent a lot of time sampling the amazing fruit that the area has to offer in frozen, liquid and solid forms – the place is full mangoes, pineapple, passion fruit and watermelon which we ate until our tast buds tingled. Between mindbending snorkelling, the fruit extravaganza and some of unforgettable sessions surfing the point, it is without exaggeration to say that we were treated rather well by Santa Catalina.
We headed back to Panama City on Easter Sunday (stopping for some amazing grilled meats along the way) and enjoyed our last evening together strolling around the old town. Next day, we continued to stroll a little more around town, and celebrating our 2 year weddings anniversary with some Pina Coladas and seafood. And then it was time to bid a sad farewell to our friends, Hyewon and Nicola, Panama would not have been nearly as fun, food-filled or happy without you.
We spent one more week in Panama, mostly just killing time and doing admin before the ferry. This included a few days in Puerto Lindo (Beautiful Port). It should have been more aptly named Puerto not-so-linda, as our new Argentine friends who we met there pointed out but it was more of a time to take stock and think of the incredible time we had had in Central America. Bing there, also meant we met Argentines Nati and Lucas who were such a pleasure to spend time with (and were also very useful Spanish practice ;). Our last night in Panama was spent in the parking lot of a Super 99 Supermarket with our new friends, speaking bad Spanish (us, of course), drinking cheap beer and cooking together – an amazing night that proves you can really have a good time anywhere, it’s the people that make a place.
The next day, it would be time to board a ferry and, to save you the suspense, yes it did go. And so ended Panama and Central America. We felt a bit sorry for Panama, it doesn’t seem to be on most people’s list or it just acts as a transfer place between Central and South America. It was once part of Colombia, part of it was once part of the USA but now it all belongs to itself and is really, quite beautiful. Beaches, snorkelling, hot showers, some mountains, a BIG city and an incredible canal. If our friends hadn’t come, we might have let the ferry anxiety overcome us and just whistle through but we’re really glad we didn’t, thanks Panama, a perfect end to a central American journey. Colombia, here we come!
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