Panama, the connector of Central and South America
/As I begin typing this post about our first seven days in Panama, I’m sitting on the dock of Jaguar Hostel on Bastimentos Island in the Caribbean. My skin is radiating heat, a result of an eight hour boat and snorkeling tour in Isla Bastimentos National Marine Park. Despite many applications of sunscreen and having the most tanned skin of my life, I still manage to burn! This is because you can truly never escape the wrath of sun down here. The first couple of stars are sparkling in the darkening blue sky of twilight and water taxis buzz to and from this peaceful little bay. It’s picture perfect in so many ways – I wish you all could be here with us!
Sitting on the dock of the bay, at Hostal El Jaguar on Bastimentos Island, Panama. This was taken around 7:30am and is so picturesque any time of the day.
The city of Boquete, Panama. We fell in love with this little town of 20,000.
We’ve situated ourselves in two very different Panamanian destinations thus far; Boquete, an extremely charming mountain town in the province of Chiriqui, and Bastimentos Island in the province of Bocas del Toro. Both have provided us such very different and utterly pleasant experiences.
Boquete was named among the ‘top 10 places to retired abroad’ by AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) so as you can expect, ex pat communities in their tidy, orderly fashion dot the drive from David to Boquete. That being said, the presence of foreign retirees isn’t overwhelming in town itself, so much of the authentic, small town Panamanian atmosphere has been preserved; thank goodness!
On the opposite end of the spectrum, geographically speaking, the north eastern coastline of Bocas del Toro on the Atlantic Ocean is a popular beach spot for backpackers, vacationers, and ex pats alike. Not surprising as it’s made up of several islands with incredibly cute, colourful seaside towns, plenty of inland jungle great for hiking/meandering/bush whacking (although you’re going to sweat here – big time!), and white sand beaches to laze around and soak in the postcard surroundings - which I could have done for days on end!
To give you a bit of background, Panama is the most southern country in Central America, bordering Costa Rica to the north and Colombia (South America) to the south. The south end of the country is wetland and jungle, called the Darién Gap, and is virtually uninhabited besides indigenous groups and drug traffickers. So, the two options to get to South America from Panama are by sea or air. We’ve opted for the sea option and will be setting sail to Colombia on March 18! Three days through the spectacular San Blas Islands in the Atlantic followed by two days of open ocean. Neither of us have sailed before and we'll be stocking up on sea sickness medicine in Panama City!
The history of the United States’ involvement in Panama’s politics and economy is lengthy and has been a powerful hand in shaping this country. One of the first things that comes to mind for most is the famous Panama Canal (or perhaps it's PANAMA, by Van Halen, which has been ringing in my head for days, haha), completed in 1914 by the Americans. We’ll be taking a peek at the canal in a weeks’ time so I’ll have a blog post all about Panama City. With international workers from North America and Europe constructing the canal in the early 1900s, many married Panamanian women and the mix of races is evident in the widely varying shades of skin tone and light coloured eyes, otherwise quite uncommon through Central America. After 85 years of the canal in the controlling hands of the US, Panama took over in 1999. The economy is now the second largest in Central America and the fastest growing. (Okay, brief history lesson complete! But if you’d like to read on about Panama's fascinating political and economic background, this Wiki link is quite informative)
To reach Panama, we took a relatively easy (4 hour, $22) trip on a Tracopa bus trip from Uvita, Costa Rica, to David, Panama. It’s basically a glorified public coach style bus but is more direct than true local buses, meaning it doesn’t stop for every single person beside the side of the road and thus extra hours aren’t tacked on. A HUGE bonus is air conditioning – a first for us! - and believe it or not, enough leg room that Jonas’ knees were, for once, not jammed into the back of the seat - a glorious day! This is in stark contrast from being squished into chicken buses (vibrantly decorated school buses, see photo below) throughout the majority of Nicaragua. Because, as you know, school buses were designed for children, not adults! However, since men here aren’t nearly as tall as Jonas, or I for that matter, it seems to work just fine for them.
We were a bit apprehensive in crossing the border as we heard that Panama is one of few countries that may ask for proof of a return flight home. Yup, that’s right, HOME. Not just proof of leaving their country, but proof you’re actually returning to yours. This is pretty rare and of course we don’t have such a thing as our return date is unknown, and we’d like to keep it that way! As luck would have it, all we were asked of by the Panamanian immigration official was how many days we’d be in the country. That’s easy – 17 days. Oh, and “What’s your profession?”. Marketing Manager, I replied in English, because I continually forget how to say it in Spanish. Pathetic as my language teacher in Nicaragua went over it dozens of times with me! I can tell he had absolutely no clue what I was saying and I would love to see what he actually recorded. Perhaps he thought I manage markets… like the outdoor fruit and veggie, or knock-off goods kind of markets of Central America, haha.
We then haphazardly ended up in the extremely tiny customs room with everyone from our bus. I say this because no one actually informed us that we required to do this next (even though it's a standard step in entering a new country) and there was no signage. Some people skipped this step inadvertently, which speaks to how “official” and organized the border crossings can be in this part of the world. And what a bizarre process this was! Instead of simply lining up and placing our bags on a moving belt through an x-ray machine, they do it old school. One by one they hand wrote each of our names and passport number on a piece of paper (which looks like a second hand piece of paper that could have a grocery list on the opposite side) and then proceeded to “check” our bags. For most this was a quick, light rifling through their bag. I happened to get the seasoned leader of the team who took one swift look at my tightly packed and organized backpack and gave it a nice pat, along with a wink as he said “you look like a good person”. Yup, that easy! Just like when left Nicaragua several weeks ago and the gentleman at the border crossing said to me “you’re from Canada, you’re an honest person” while laughing as he examined my twenty dollar bill to ensure it wasn’t counterfeit.
The bus proceeded onward 45 minutes into David, Panama, the third largest city in the country and a hub for travelers heading onward in one of several different directions. Most don't stay here for more than a night, for good reason. I could feel the differences of Panama from Costa Rica and Nicaragua immediately. The country’s roads are in fantastic condition, with many residential communities along the highway looking new and well-constructed. While this is still juxtaposed in some areas to homes well below the poverty line, you can definitely see that there is more government spending towards infrastructure here and that there seem to be more opportunities for people to work in decent paying jobs that afford them some comforts that we take for granted. Namely, a solidly constructed home with four walls, running water, and electricity.
At the David bus terminal we swiftly hopped onto… wait for it… yes, another chicken bus for a mere $1.75! Most bus terminals, albeit sore on the eyes, are efficiently run, with bus drivers and their assistants yelling out destinations and waving you over. Their goal is to to pack their bus as full and quickly as possible. Every bus has an assistant for numerous things, like collecting fare (you pay when you get off depending on the amount of time you're on the bus), helping people get on and off with special care given to seniors and mothers with young children (if you don't give up your seat to a mother/child or senior you are in BIG trouble!), and of course carefully listening for "parada, parada (stop, stop)" from passengers. Bus rides are hectic, crazy, fun, exciting - I actually quite enjoy them!
A one hour drive up the mountainous road to Boquete was our ride to highland bliss. We gained plenty of elevation and the air started cooling down about 20 minute in. The air in Boquete is so refreshing and clean (just like good ol' Sun Peaks!), the mountain vistas are bursting with pine trees and coffee plantations, and the town itself is compact, friendly, and relatively tidy. I say tidy because most towns and cities in Central America have major issues with garbage. Recycling is rare, other than an increased effort in Costa Rica, and locals constantly throw garbage onto the street as they please. It’s sadly a staple in the make-up of developing countries, with plastic bottles and bags, clothing (yes, clothing?!), and whatever else you can imagine everywhere you look.
We stayed in the lovely Refugio del Rio Hostel, a wooden a-frame house where we were treated to one of two private loft units! These folks have done a fine job in creating a wonderful hostel experience. There’s ample outdoor space with a creek weaving through the property. We entered our room to find plush blankets ready for us. Blankets? No way! But yes, we actually needed this as we slept with the window open and welcomed the fresh 20C temperatures. This is the spot where we had our first hot showers in six weeks as well. Mmm hmm… six weeks of cold showers. You get used to it though, especially when the air is so bloody hot!
Boquete ended up being a place of relaxation and rest (while still squeezing in exploration, of course!), especially after spending several nights in a tent at the Envision Festival in Costa Rica. I will not tent in Costa Rica ever again - I swear (Envision will be a blog post all by itself). We spend a fair bit of time just wandering around town, with lots of shops and restaurants. My favourite activity? Buying extremely cheap veggies and fruits from the market vendors of course! And this isn't a concentrated market, but random stalls set in between commercial buildings. For example (I just can't get over the prices...) a carrot, green pepper, cucumber, onion, lime, and tomato was 0.80 cents! It’s amazing to each such healthy, fresh food for pennies.
On our second day we walked up the mountainside behind our hostel for a stunning view of town, followed by an afternoon coffee plantation tour. Sadly, we didn’t do the nearby Volcán Barú hike as I was battling my second round of sinus and chest cold. This active volcano is the highest point in the country and few people from the hostel went on a night hike starting at 10:00pm and arriving for sunrise at the top. They got back to our hostel at noon, so an exhausting hike but one I wish we had done. On a clear day you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans from the top.
I do want to mention our coffee plantation tour as this is such a must-do when visiting Boquete, and I also love the story of our personable and charming tour guide, Len. He went to University in tourism management and worked in hospitality for several years. Now in his mid-thirties he's become an entrepreneur as an independent tour guide. He takes visitors on tours of many kinds in and around Boquete, the town he was born and raised in and is SO passionately knowledgeable about. Did you know, there are 15 steps in creating a coffee bean that's ready to brew? I had no idea! Planting, harvesting (at the very right time), separating the bean from the pod, drying, more separation of additional layers, drying again... and it goes on! I wish I wrote it all down... Panama is very proud of its coffee, focusing on high quality over quantity. The coffee made in the highlands of Boquete is worldwide award winning. The area's climate is ideal for creating smooth tasting coffee, none of the bitter crap that they call "dirty" coffee; and they despise Starbucks. We tried a cup of the rare Geisha coffee ($10 a cup - we split it of course, click this link to read more about it) and it was delicious, even for this cream and sugar gal who drank it black.
But what really resonated with me was his gentle manner with the local indigenous workers, the Ngöbe, on the coffee plantation farm. The coffee farms typically offer season work in exchange for a small, basic home on the property and access to any fresh fruit and veggies that grow on the land, as well as roughly $50 per work day. The Ngöbe have a bit of their own Spanish slang, as Len called it, and sadly don't feel as worthy and important as other Panamanians. It was really quite heartbreaking so see them shy away from us as we walked by. Len has made it his mission to connect with them on a deep and personal level, to try and dissolve this gap even in his own small way every day. I'll leave you with thoughts on this...
Pictures below are from Boquete. Just click on the large picture to see the next one.
Next post, Bocas del Toro and the sparkly Caribbean!
