I had been tracking the Panama ex-pat groups on social media and have heard great things. I already had a trawler class booked in Vero Beach when my company decided to send me to a work conference in Orlando 2 weeks before. That meant I had 2 trips to Florida with a week in-between, so instead of coming home for a week, I decided to fill the gap with a quick exploratory trip to 4 cities in Panama.
I flew into Panama City and to be fair, I only saw it from an Uber so a deeper dive might change my mind, but my first impression was that it’s just a big city with lots of people. I’m not interested in lots of people. I stayed at the airport Crowne Plaza which was super easy. I took another Uber to the bus station the next morning to head to David. I was targeting the 7:15 am bus and didn’t have a ticket yet so I got there at 6 am to give myself plenty of time. The bus station was easy, people were super friendly, very patient with my broken Spanish, and pointed me in the right direction. I had a ticket in hand by 6:15 and actually made the 6:30 bus instead.
The bus was a big double decker and I didn’t have anyone next to me so I stretched out to enjoy the scenery for the next 7 hours. The noise culture is basically to not give a damn about disturbing others. I put my earbuds in to block out the sound of other people’s tiktoks – just one of those cultural things that you have to embrace to enjoy the experience!
The bus stopped about halfway to give everyone a bathroom break and time to grab a bite to eat before we were back on the road. So, back to the earbuds…unfortunately, they worked too well and I completely missed the stop in David. I don’t know if they announced we were there or if we were just supposed to know, but my dumbass stayed on the bus for an extra 20 minutes and long past David. When I realized it, the bus guy said I should get off and “take that bus by the blue wall back to David”. Okey dokey. I hopped on a local shuttle bus and worked my way back. Unfortunately, they didn’t know where tf I was going either so I watched my Apple Maps until my little blue dot got close to my hotel and then I asked them to stop. My detour only cost me 80 cents extra and about an hour. I hoofed it another 2 kilometers to my hotel through not-so-beautiful David and finally made it there, drenched in sweat.
Now is a good time to appreciate my packing skills. After my conference in Orlando, I repacked and condensed into just a backpack and a small purse. I left my bigger bag at the Hold My Luggage counter at the Orlando airport and at this point, I was really glad I did. Not only for weight reasons, but at least I wasn’t a blonde broad from the States backpacking through the streets of David AND pulling a carry-on roller-bag.
I stayed at Aranjuez Hotel & Suites in David, which was the perfect little place to relax and recover for the next day. In the morning, I booked an Uber to take me to Boquete, a hot spot for international expats.
Boquete is in a valley within a cloud forest. Temperatures are 60s at night and low 70s during the day – delightful! I stayed at a hostel-like villa called Villa Alejandro which was an easy stroll into the lively city center. Boquete is full of restaurants, bars, and shops plus a cute little central park where they hold Saturday fiestas with dancing and music.
Boquete is surrounded by the mountains of Chiriquí in northwestern Panama and is known for beautiful hiking, waterfalls, coffee plantations, and the birds and the bees (the real ones). I decided to spend my first day hiking and picked the Pipeline Trail. I walked a quick couple blocks into town and hailed a taxi. I lucked out and found Cristofer who agreed to drop me off and then come back 3 hours later and pick me up for an extra $10. The trail is on private property and visitors must pay $5 and sign in and out of a log book. Ready!
The trail was not crowded but I did pass a few people on my way up and back. John and Ron were two older gentleman in their 70s whose wives had died. They were taking a guys’ trip to figure out their next steps and Ron was leaning toward buying an estate just outside of Boquete. We walked the last stretch together and planned to meet later for lunch. Cristopher pulled up to the entrance right on time and we chatted on the way back to town where he dropped me off at Big Daddy’s to meet up with my lunch dates.
That night, I explored the town and got a taste for the nightlife but was wiped out and went to bed early. I had such a great time on the Pipeline Trail that I decided to do it all again the next day and try Las Tres Cascadas (aka The Hidden Waterfalls). I chatted with my fellow villa visitors the next morning at breakfast and then messaged Cristopher on WhatsApp and repeated the process for finding my way to the trailhead.
Another gorgeous day! During my chat with Cristopher, he taught me the Panamanian word for “soft rain” – bajareque. Bajareque is like a cross between rain and mist and it was magical to feel in the cloud forest. Then, we rocked out to “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” by Kiss on the taxi ride back. Surreal…
That evening, I caught up with John and Ron at a sushi place and then packed up my stuff for the next day. My shuttle bus picked me up at 8 am for the 5ish hour ride to Bocas del Toro, my next stop.
After a 30-minute delay due to a fallen tree, we made it to Almirante where we caught a water taxi to Bocastown on the main island of Isla Colón. I had a quick lunch at an oceanside restaurant and then checked out the town. It is much different than Boquete and I prefer it – an Afro-Caribbean culture with a reggae vibe. I hopped on a water taxi for Ataraxia on Isla de Bastimentos (“Basti”). Ataraxia is a beautiful island getaway with sloths in the trees, geckos in the “jungalows”, and jungle sounds at night. There are no roads and the water source is rain. Electricity does not support even a hairdryer, much less air conditioning, and there’s obviously no toilet paper allowed in the toilets. It was FANTASTIC! Right on the water and kayaks are available to explore the mangrove coastline. Dinner was served at their little “restaurant” in the jungle at 7 pm and breakfast was served at 8 am for the 8 or so visitors. Fresh fish, fruits, and homemade dishes with plenty of wine – yum.
The next day turned out to be my favorite day during my stay in Panama. If you hike through the muddy jungle from Ataraxia, you can follow the “path” through a nature reserve and into Old Bank, the little (and I mean LITTLE) main town on Basti. I headed out on my adventure after breakfast!
This was my “path” on the way to the nature reserve…
Once I made it to the nature reserve, there was a map and trails. I fed cat food to Caymans and saw a lazy sloth in the trees! Giant blue butterflies were all around and so were big banana spiders.
After the nature reserve, I was told to keep the water on my left and that the path might go below water or on palm fronds but yes, that was the path and to keep going. Ummm….
Made it and was ready for a beer! I found a place on the water and made a couple of friends from Canada. Gemma, Tina, and I decided to walk to Wizard Beach so off we went. We took our time and saw so many jungle birds on the way! My favorite was the Montezuma Oropendola – loud and chatty and I can appreciate that. Instead of retracing my steps, I took a water taxi back!
When I got back to Ataraxia, there was a sloth mama with her baby in a tree above our jungalows and we watched her until dinner.
The next morning, it was raining and she had moved on but we found several of the famous little red frogs of Basti in the jungle. No licking these little critters!
Time to start the journey home. I water taxied back to Bocastown and to the tiny Bocas airport to fly to Panama City and then Orlando. We had to stop abruptly during take off because there were a couple of dogs playing on the runway, but we were soon on our way after another try.
The best kinds of adventures are the ones where you spend some time dirty, stinky, muddy, rained-upon, sore, or a combination of these. This was a magnificent adventure. ”¡Me encanta Panamá!🇵🇦