FotoFri theme this week is ADVENTURE, so I decided to make a trip report photo essay of my Panama adventures: Sleeping in a hammock at the over-water hostel Aqua Lounge in Bocas Del Toro and island hopping on The Andiamo sailboat through the San Blas Islands, to name a few! I went there for my last college Spring Break in March 2010. As with most of my trips, my Panama adventures were epitomes of budget travel, solo travel, and woman travel combined. Enjoy! =)
I flew from Miami, FL to Panama City and stayed there overnight, as my flight got in late. Early in the morning, I went to the bus station and took a cheap bus to Almirante, where I would then catch a boat that would take me to my overwater hostel in Bocas Del Toro.
boat from Almirante to Bocas del Toro
Aqua Lounge hostel from the boat! *gasps* awesome!
I instantly fell in love with the AquaLounge Hostel. I heard some rumors of bedbugs on the top bunk beds in the dormitories, but no worries here, as smarty pants chose to sleep on 5-dolla-a-night HAMMOCK!
My "bed" for 2 nights, 5 bucks each! Hammock was great
View from my "outdoor bedroom" *wink!*
While it was raining for most of my stay (3 days), that didn’t take away from the fun! I met several travelers and surfers from all over the world, hiked around the islands with them, followed the waves, and partied partied PARTIED!
From left: American, Puerto Rican (me!), Australian, American, and Israeli at over-water hostel
Around Bocas Del Toro, in search of the surfing beach!
Surfing!
Bar of my over-the-water hostel
Coming back from the surf
The highlights of my trip to Bocas Del Toro Panama were definitely the high diving board on the roof, the “pool” which happened to be a hole on the deck taking you straight to the ocean, and the 80′s techno party on my last night there! It rained during the latter, which made it even MORE EPIC!
High diving board! Aussie jump
The "pool" at Aqua Lounge Hostel!
Aqua Lounge Hostel 80's party in the RAIN!
Waterproof cameras - thank you, humanity!
But all the fun wasn’t in Bocas Del Toro: After partying it up there, it was time for me to wind down and hop on The Andiamo with Captain Tony to go island hopping through Caribbean waters and encounter the Kuna Yala in the San Blas Archipelago.
Our sailboat, Andiamo!
View of Kuna Yala from my sailboat cabin
What’s interesting about Kuna Yala people is that they are indigenous people who are still politically autonomous from the Panamanian government, in addition to be the only indigenous people to have not been conquered by Christopher Columbus nor any other Conquistadors!
Me mingling with the Kunas
And so for the next few days, I was chilling with some interesting passengers from all over the world, most notably two Foreign Service Officers, aka diplomats, from the USA serving in Panama. They were happily married and had managed to travel all over the world and get the same assignments through the Dept. of State! At times, they told me, they would have to separate for months at a time when new assignments were due every 2 years or so (about 3 months on average), but that they loved the unpredictability of their lifestyle and the joy to still being able to enjoy their dream careers and each other–AWW!!! Unfortunately I somehow missed taking my pic with them (how come!? *hits head*), but the memories are engraved in my mind and heart. In addition to some pretty awesome pictures I took of the scenery throughout my journey:
LOBSTER written all over my face =P
Water was beautiful, different shades of blue
Kunas live all throughout the archipelago, sometimes in desolated islands
Ahh, relaxation at best
And so that’s a perfect summary and concise trip report of my Panamanian adventures! Hope you enjoyed it and “Like” me on Facebook and Follow me on Twitter for updates and more fun travel tales!
I miss this place!
Have you been to Panama? Which towns did you visit? What did you do?
Great pictures. I have a buddy who is a foreign service diplomat. His first assignment is in Trinidad and Tobago. I will have to visit him sometime.
I read about your adventures over there, Ted! Crazy Carnaval, eh?
Looks wicked! Love a good hammock for those nap times.
ahhh, soothing…
This looks like a blast. I didn’t hit Boca on my way through last time, but need to next time for sure.
so when are we heading back?
Now if that doesn’t look like ‘fun’ I don’t know what is
Looks lovely and brings back memories. I didn’t go to Boca, but I saw many wonderful places there in Panama including San Blas. They were lovely people and also mysterious, too. I just wrote a post about their superstitions re: the full moon, which you might find interesting.
I loved San Blas as well! those dreamy crystalline waters reminded me of my home in the Caribbean (Puerto Rico!)