The main attractions of Panama aren’t in Panama City, they’re out in the islands and mountains of Panama. Having limited time, I took a short flight on a tiny plane out to the islands – Bocas Del Toro. It reminded me of my visits to some of the more distant parts of the Philippines and Thailand. Everything is quite basic, a strong backpacker mentality, but most importantly – locals are still friendly and aren’t all about money, and nature still looks relatively unharmed by mass-tourism. To really get away from everything, you can venture out to the smaller islands and live in one of those small B&Bs with random fishermen boats your only connection to mainland. I only had a couple of nights so I stayed at the Bocas Del Toro town, the only place in the region with a selection of eateries and nightlife. I did a couple of semi-organized daytrips to watch dolphins, view the local scenery, and snorkel-swim in a protect national park with crystal clear waters. Though it was too short, I can’t remember the last time I felt so close to nature and so far away from the world. From the islands I made my way through a ferry and a bus connection to the cold and rainy Panamese mountains where I rode horses, visited coffee plantations, and soaked in outdoors hot-springs while cold rain was pouring down from above. It was only a few days, but this getaway to Panama took me back in time to my backpacker life and reminded me that there are parts of the world that aren’t connected with mobiles and Uber, and that this is the essence of what true travel is about. I feel like work life and staying at the US the last couple of years has driven me away from all way, and I hope I’ll have more opportunities with longer stays to re-ignite my adventurous nature-connected backpacking spirit.
Below are my visions of the Panama island and mountain life.
We’ll start from the island life…
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And then go up to the mountains…
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More to follow soon…
[…] Visions of Panama : Island and mountain life […]