Panama City is huge & sprawling. By the coast in the South West, there's
a quaint little peninsula called Casco Viejo full of Colonial architecture in the process of being restored. It is here I stayed as I got by mind into holiday-mode. I took a bus tour around the city, and walked all over Casco Viejo..... not too far though..... 4-blocks North of our hostel was the edge of a no-go zone, with police at every corner telling us to turn around. I met some excellent people at the hostel, sampled some fine whiskies, enjoyed some ceviche & other delecacies at the fish market and had a good look at some ships passing through the locks of the Canal:
On the Pacific coast, I stayed for 3 days on Isla de Coiba for some scuba diving. Known as the Galapagos of Panama, this island was home to a penal colony for years, which in a backward way, preserved the marine
environment, paving the way for the recent creation of a pristine national park. The island has only a ranger station, and my diving group stayed in a very simple dorm-style room with electricity for only a few hours per
day. All of our supplies were brought in, and though simple, we lived well. It was hard to complain when we had our food made for us, and 3 days to explore the nearby ocean - loaded with fish, reef sharks, frogfish, turtles, lobster, starfish, eagle rays & some big seahorses. I had my 50th dive on the 2nd day!
My next stop was Boquete, the most popular place outside of the US for
Americans to retire. I avoided the gated communities, and instead explored the highlands and coffee plantations. Though Panama isn't well known for its coffee, it produces a significant amount of premium coffee. Fair Trade is not a term that applies to coffee from Panama, as all of their farmers are independent & don't have to sell to a coop. 'Geisha' is the name of the premium coffee, sold only at auction - mostly to direct buyers around the world. It's not cheap, with the price upward from $80 for a pound of roasted beans!
The area around Boquete is stunning, and rather than leave the comfort of
my bed to start a hike up the volcano at midnight to catch the sunrise from the top. I opted for the Sendero los Quetzales - one of the country's most beautiful trails. I found two other travelers (Caroline & Fabricio) to join me, and we spent the full day hiking - about 10k - through an incredible cloud forest. The difference in elevation between the beginning and end of our trail is 1km..... yes we walked from low to high! Needless to say, it was a looooong day, which ended in an almost painful 3-hr bus ride back to Boquete!
Sticking to the highlands, my next stop was a hostel in another cloud
forest called the Lost & Found Lodge. The bus drops you off on the road at an abandoned fruit stand, and you climb with your bags up-up-up a forest path before arriving at a beautiful traveler's hideaway in the
sky. This place is a must-stop for pretty much every backpacker in Panama, and is an excellent place to relax, explore & meet great people from all over the world. There are a number of trails around the lodge,
and I did a full-day treasure hunt hike with Cassie & Anik. We had a blast finding the clues hidden in the forest along the way.
The last major stop on my tour was Bocas Del Toro. I wandered around the town, exploring shops, restaurants & galleries. Cassie & I signed-up for an Island tour, and from
the boat hunted dolphins with our cameras & saw sloths hiding in a tree hanging out over the water on the edge of a small island. We snorkeled a bit, &relaxed on a beach before our captains took us home. Dinner that night marked the end of my trip, before flying back to Panama City for one last night of wandering.
