Panama

Some people are just not suited to staying in dorms and I can't get my head around why, if they can't sleep through a little noise, they don't just do everyone a favour and get a private room. We encountered one of these types on our first night in Panama. We had landed in Panama City quite late and it was probably around 10pm when we were checking into our hostel. The guy showing us our room, switched on the lights so that he could point out our beds to us. Almost as soon as he vacated the room some very rude 'gentleman' popped his head out of the fortress he'd made for himself on the lower bunk using towels and sheets, and started gibbering away to us in Spanish. Having only spent a mere couple of hours in our first Spanish speaking country, he was given a couple of perplexed looks from Kay and I, who had not one clue what he was going on about. Not to be put of by this, he continued to talk to us in Spanish until I remembered one of my only Spanish phrases, "No hablo Español". He quickly switched tongue to English and told us to switch off the light. Ok, I told him, and then turned towards my bag as he disappeared back into his fortress. Less than 30 seconds later his ugly little head was peering through again demanding that the light be turned off. I understand that people need to sleep, and particularly if they are getting up early, which he wasn't FYI, but people also need to be able to get ready for bed when they've just checked in. This wasn't our only encounter with the man unfortunately, he would also tell us to be quiet if we had the audacity to speak in our room at 3 in the afternoon. I mean, how very dare we?! Get a room to yourself or invest in an eye mask and ear plugs, which are priceless commodities to anyone travelling and staying in dorm rooms. 

Panama

We spent our first day in Panama City figuring out a plan for our time in Panama and also deciding how we would get from Panama to Colombia. We had been told that the only options were to take a sailing boat, which took you first through the Caribbean San Blas Islands and then another two or three days sailing to Cartagena in Colombia, or to fly. We were told that both options would cost roughly the same and so before we arrived we decided the boat trip was a better option.  We got talking to some fellow travellers at our hostel who told us that there was actually a third option, this would be to do a two or three day trip to the San Blas Islands and then take a flight with the new low cost airline Viva Colombia. This sounded ideal because with it coming into the winter, there was a high enough chance that it wouldn't all be smooth sailing, and I didn't much like the thought of 5 days of rough seas. 

The next day we went to see the world's greatest shortcut, the Panama Canal, and spent some time walking around the old town. 

From Panama City we took an overnight bus to David and from there it was a short bus ride to a small town called Boquette which sits about 5000ft above sea level. While there we trekked to the top of Volcano Baru which is an active volcano (it hasn't erupted in over 500 years) which stands at 11,000ft. We started our trek at midnight so that we would be at the top for sunrise. We set of as a group of 9 but it wasn't long before we'd split into three smaller groups. We walked the whole way with an English guy and another guy from Germany. We spent the whole time swapping stories and keeping ourselves entertained for the 13.5km to the top. I stupidly wasn't drinking enough water and so by 8km I started to get cramp, and by 12km I was in agony with it, but I carried on none the less and we made it to the top for sunrise and were rewarded with an amazing panoramic view. We had the Atlantic sea to the East of us, the Pacific to the West and Costa Rica to the North.  If we had thought that a six hour uphill walk was tough, we were in for a treat with the 13.5km back down. The horse riding we had planned to do the following day had to be cancelled so we could spend the next day resting our weary legs. 

We spent our time in Boquette relaxing, horse riding, shopping at markets and generally just having a lovely chilled time. 

We went from there to Bocas del Toro which is a collection of islands on the Caribbean side of Panama.  We decided to stay on an island called Bastimentos which doesn't have any roads or vehicles, only one small path along the sea front.  The weather had turned a bit wild, the first night we were there it rained all night long.  It had thankfully cleared up by morning so we decided to walk over to Wizard Beach and do some sunbathing.  What was supposed to be a thirty minute walk along a dirt path turned into a slip and slide that lasted over an hour.  The heavy rain the night before had turned the path into a mud bath, we ended up taking our flip flops off and just walking through the mud in our bare feet.  We finally made it to Wizard beach, drenched after being caught in a down pour and covered in mud, to find that the tide was too far in for us to be able to walk around to the next beach, Red Frog Beach.  Wizard beach doesn't have any bars or restaurants on it and we hadn't brought any food or very much water with us, so after a quick walk along the beach with a dog that had adopted us, we had to take off our flip flops and get muddy again.  

There was an amazing thunder storm that night, the lightening was so bright and the thunder so loud, I've never experienced anything like it, it was right over our heads at one point.

We had to leave Bocas the next day having only been there for two nights, we took a taxi boat back to Isla Colon which is the main island in Bocas del Toras.  We arrived nice and early so we could spend some time there and also get to a cash machine so we could pay for our bus.  We dumped our bags at the dock and then went in search of the one and only cash machine on the Island.  We arrived at the cash machine and were greeted with and Out of Order notice, we entered the bank hoping that they could give us some cash using our bank cards, they told us that they could not issue us with any cash but assured us the ATM would be fixed between 3 and 4pm. Our boat was leaving for the main land at 5pm, where we would get a bus to Panama City.  Without any cash we wouldn't be able to pay for our bus but they told us the cash machine would definitely be fixed before then.  We headed off with the last of our money and had some lunch and a wander around Bocas town, after spending some time there we had wished that we had just stayed on the main island and taken day trips to the other islands instead.  There is no beach on the main island which was our main reason for staying elsewhere but the town has a really nice feel to it and it seems to be quite lively. We went back to the bank at 3pm sharp and when we tried to put our card in the machine, a booming voice told us "No!" from the other side of the machine, I guess they were still fixing it then.  We decided to sit outside the bank and wait patiently for it to be fixed.  We were running over our options of what we could do if they didn't fix it when sure enough, the ATM engineer came out and told us, and everyone else that had started to congregate, that the ATM wouldn't be fixed until the next day.  We were told by another backpacker that one of the local shops could give you cash back at a 10% charge and so we dashed off there, trying to beat the crowds of others needing money, but somehow took a wrong turn and ended up back at the dock.  We nipped in to the office quickly on the off chance that they would accept a card payment from us instead of cash.  They were very good about the whole thing ( I'm sure this happens a lot with there being only one cash machine) and allowed us to pay once we got to the main land, they said the taxi to the bus station would take us via an ATM...crisis averted.  

We arrived back in Panama City at the crack of dawn, got ourselves a taxi to our hostel, checked in, and then crashed out on the couches in front of the tv.  We spent the day getting ourselves ready for our trip to the San Blas islands.

The following morning we were picked up at 5am, collected 4 more Brits, all from London, and made our way to where we would get our boat to San Blas.  San Blas is a collection of 378 islands in the Caribbean and is in every way an unspoilt paradise of crystal clear waters and palm fringed white beaches. We arrived at the Island we were to spend the night on, dumped our belongings in our rooms, met some other guests who had arrived the previous day, and set off on our first island trip.  The first stop for us that day was a gorgeous uninhibited island where we all got to know each other while sunning ourselves and drinking rum. For the next stop, we were taken to an amazing sand cay where we could have a bit of a swim to cool ourselves down and there was, of course, more rum drinking. We had a nice lunch at yet another island before heading back to our own island so we could relax for the remainder of the day. The evening was spent with the four lovely Londoners, listening to music, playing drinking games and yes, you guessed it, more rum guzzling. 

The next, and our last, day was spent on yet another stunning Caribbean island where we sun bathed, had lunch and if you wanted to partake, more rum drinking. I was unfortunately feeling a tad worse for wear after all the rum the day before and so opted not to get involved. 

We left late in the afternoon and took a boat and then a very overcrowded jeep back to Panama City where we would spend one last night before flying to Colombia. 

We used Colombia's answer to Ryanair, Viva Colombia, for our flight to Medellin, Colombia. Although the flight was dirt cheap, it was one disaster after another which resulted in us almost missing our flight. Cancelled tickets with no notification, no english speaking staff at the tiny airport, no option to pay by card at the airport, a rush trip to the nearest ATM, joining the wrong queue and finally, no announcement that our flight was about to leave without us.  Yes, we were those idiots having to peg it over the runway to our awaiting flight.  Phew! Leaving beautiful Panama for one of my most highly anticipated destinations of our trip, Colombia!