Panama FULL Recap

Welcome to the Panama recap! In this episode I detail my entire trip through Panama with plenty of information and tips for backpacking through the Central American country. Also included are stories about:

• Filthy Friday in Boas del toro
• Hiking the Baru Volcano in Boquete
• Laying low at the Lost and Found hostel
• Watching the sunrise atop a mountain in Valle de Anton
• Gambling and partying in Panama City
• Sailing the San Blas Islands

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
3 jet setting through the neon lights from Tokyo to Rios.
Go riding high. The beat drops low.

(00:27):
Number one everywhere he goes and show late night with stories
bold gold plated and tails untold microphone his mighty
sword podcast world you can't ignore.
Welcome to the Up in the Clouds podcast featuring your host

(00:50):
Adrian Hustling. What's up everybody, Welcome to
the Panama recap episode. Now bear with me here.
It's been a while since I've done one of these, so I've tried
to compile all my thoughts and tried to make it somewhat
organized here, but we're just going to let it fly here.

(01:11):
But today we're gonna be talkingabout Panama, Everywhere I went,
everywhere I stayed, everything I did, and hopefully provide you
with some useful information moving forward if you're
thinking about ever traveling toPanama.
So yeah, I mean, without furtherado, we might as well get
started. If you listen to the podcast
regularly, you'll get all my updates on there in terms of

(01:32):
where I'm at and what I'm up to,as well as some other stories
from Panama. Love guests coming on who have
travelled with throughout and shared some funny stories.
But today this is going to be more informational case.
I'll try to throw in some stories as well for you just to
make it a little more interesting.
But no, this is just more for, for your information, just in
case you ever decide you want totravel to Panama and go check

(01:54):
out a part of Central America. Now, if you're going to Panama,
you're most likely gonna fly into Panama City, but you could
also be coming from Costa Rica, which is what I was doing.
So if you're coming from Costa Rica, you're most likely going
to be entering Panama from the Porto Viejo Caribbean side.

(02:15):
Now, it was fairly easy to crossthe border, actually, Isaiah,
it's probably the easiest bordercrossing I've had so far.
And all it required was taking ashuttle, which was arranged from
our hostel in Puerto Viejo, and taking that shuttle to the
border. So that is the border of Costa
Rica and Panama. Once again, on the Caribbean
side. Once you get close to the

(02:36):
border, you're actually going toget dropped off by the shuttle.
You're going to walk across the bridge, and that's where you're
going to come to the border. You're going to come to customs,
and that's where you're going topay your exit fee and your
entrance fee. So with a lot of countries in
Central America, when you're entering a new country, you're
going to pay an exit fee from the country you're just at, and
you're going to pay an entrance fee to get into the next

(02:57):
country. They're very small, there's
nothing really to worry about, but it is a good thing to make
sure you do have some cash on hand for that.
You can also pay by card, but I always just feel like cash is
easier. So you walk across the bridge,
you enter customs, you pay your exit entry fee.
From there we ended up getting ashuttle to a ferry.
Now the shuttle we took to the ferry was the same company that

(03:19):
provided the shuttle from PuertoViejo to the border.
Again, that can all be pre arranged with her hostel.
It's easy to do and it's very inexpensive.
Then once you get to the ferry, you're going to take a ferry to
a bogus Del Toro. Now, the reason you're going to
focus is it's one of the highlights of Panama, one of the
places that most people go and visit if they're traveling to

(03:42):
Panama. Pocus del Toro essentially is a
bunch of beautiful, beautiful islands.
There's 3 or 4 main ones, plentyof activities to do, including,
you know, going to the Red Frog Beach, going to Dolphin Bay,
going scuba, snorkeling, all that fun stuff.
Um, so anyways, that is how you're gonna enter Panama.

(04:03):
As I mentioned, if you're flyinginto Panama, you'll likely fly
to Panama City. That's, we're going to get the
best flights, the best deals, and that's pretty
straightforward. Now, before we get into my
specific trip and kind of where I went and what I did will kind
of give you a little bit of information on background on
Panama itself. Now keep in mind this is
Canadian based. If you're coming from a

(04:24):
different country, obviously check with your country's
website to see any kind of rules, regulations, entry
requirements that you might needif you're planning to go to
Panama. But for Canada and just in
general here, Oh yeah. So Panama has the Panamanian
Balboa. Now, what's interesting about
the Panamanian Balboa is, First off, they actually don't have

(04:44):
their own bills. They use the USD the American.
Dollar for bills. Their currency is only available
in the coins, and interestingly enough, the Balboa is 1 for one
with the USD. That means that you can just use
the USD no problem, it's a equal.
Exchange. And as mentioned, Balboa you
can't find in bills anyways, so you're going to be using USD for

(05:08):
bills. You might get some Balboa as
change and again, it's one for one.
So if you get, you know, a $1.00bubble, a coin, it's going to be
worth $1.00 US, you know, sayingwith 50 cents, $0.25, all that
fun stuff. So that makes it pretty
straightforward. You don't have to worry about,
you know, $1.00 being like 3000 pesos or any kind of currency

(05:29):
exchange like that. It's just.
One for one. Makes it super easy to keep
track of, but again, they don't actually have their own currency
and bills. So you're going to be using USD.
For Canadians you do not need a visa up to 180 days, so this is
nice. It's a little different than
some of the other countries in Central America where it's only
up to 90 days. For Panama, it's up to 180 days.

(05:50):
If you do plan to stay longer than that, you need to leave the
country, reenter, or figure out a different visa.
But again, I don't think most people plan on being in Panama
any longer than 180 days, let alone, you know, a couple weeks.
Um, when I got to the border, I was not asked for any proof of
vaccinations. Now obviously I want to get your
standard vaccinations if you're traveling, but I was not asked.

(06:12):
For proof, I was asked for an onward ticket, but as I had done
in the past, I kind of played the dumb card, you know the dumb
tourist card, and I kind of justlooked them and said well, I, I
don't know like I don't know exactly when I'm leaving I.
Know you know, it'll be a coupleweeks, but I don't have anything
booked, sorry. Like low ciento, I don't know.

(06:33):
And they kind of just look at you for a minute and frustration
and then they just say oh heck, it's not worth it.
Just stamp your passport. And and let you move on, so.
In this instance it works for me, but I had a recent
experience in Colombia getting to the country and they
basically said if you don't havean onward ticket if you don't.
Have a hostel? Booked.

(06:54):
We're going to send you back to the country you came from.
So. Don't necessarily recommend
doing my method of playing the dumb tourist at best to probably
have an onward ticket and you can actually get that online
onward ticket.com. You can book a quote UN quote
flight. It's not a real flight.
It looks like a real flight and that you can use when they ask

(07:18):
you for an onward ticket to showthat you are planning to leave
the country and you're not just going to stay there and Italy.
Oh yeah. So anyways.
That's that's all I really have.For Panama, at the moment, we're
gonna jump into kind of where I started, where I went and what I
did, and hopefully that'll give you some more information as
well. But that's really the basics for
Panama. So I started in Bocas del Toro.

(07:40):
This was definitely one of the highlights of Panama for me.
As I mentioned, you're coming inon a ferry into these islands.
It's a beautiful ferry ride. You're just going in the water
there. You're seeing the islands come
up, all the hostels popping up, all the bars, and yeah, it's
just a beautiful, beautiful area.
I ended up staying in a hostel called Spanish by the Sea.

(08:02):
Now, this one wasn't a very popular one per se.
Wasn't when I had heard about orhad any recommendations.
Now mind you, the more popular hostels I had heard about or got
recommended, they were more party hostels.
And in my experience it's betterto get away from the party
hostel. And if you do want a party, you
can always go there, party, visit, whatever, but not

(08:23):
necessarily actually stay there because.
To be honest. It's never ending party, you
know what I mean? It's the events every night.
It's loud music. So if you want to get away, have
a good night's sleep, it's better to stay somewhere else as
well. They were a little bit more
expensive. Nothing too crazy.
We're talking 2025 a night. But again, if you're traveling

(08:43):
on a budget, if you're travelingfor a longer period of time,
sometimes it's nice to save money where you can.
So ended up saying in Spanish bythe sea on the main island.
And it was actually a really, really nice hostile, super
underrated. I would say now it's called
especially the seed because theyoffer Spanish classes.
I don't think anyone that I met that was staying there was

(09:03):
actually taking the classes. So I can't say if you know,
they're worth it or they were good.
But the hostel itself, really nice, really low key vibe, had a
great common area, great hammocks, had a full kitchen
that you could cook with that's clutch anytime you're going to a
hostel. Really nice rooms as well.
A little hot, no AC, just the fans and then bogus del Toro.

(09:25):
It is scorching hot. But I mean, aside from that,
great facilities like great washrooms, great showers, really
friendly staff, overall fantastic experience at Spanish
by the Sea. So I definitely recommend that
as a hassle to go check out if you're going to Bogus Del Toro.
I also did end up getting a private room the last two nights

(09:46):
and that was more just because Iwanted to break from the dorm
life. I just wanted my own space, some
ACC. As I mentioned, it was super hot
and we had done some partying aswell, so it was nice.
Just to take a break. And have my own space.
Now for a private room in Bocas del Toro, and I should mention
that Bogus Deltoro, the main island we're staying on was

(10:07):
Island Cologne. So that's where a lot of the
hostels are going to be. That's likely will you end up
staying? There are hostels on the other
islands. They're a bit more remote
though, which makes them more expensive.
And again, I was going for the cheaper option.
I went with the. Private room the last couple
days Now, you're not going to find a cheap private room in
Bocas del Toro, so just know that ahead of time if you want
to splurge, if you want to treatyourself, it is going to be more

(10:28):
expensive. It actually ended up costing me.
About 80 Canadian. And then for a private room, so
that is quite steep, uh, you know, you look at places like
Colombia, Ecuador, you can get aprivate room for $20.
So you're definitely paying. More and bogus deltoro, but at
the time, you know, for my my own personal circumstance, I

(10:49):
figured it was worth. It.
Now, one of the main reasons you're going to be going to
bocus. Del Toro.
Is filthy Friday. Excuse me, that is one of the
biggest parties, if not the biggest party in Panama.
Similar to the parties in Nicaragua like the Sunday fun
days, the tree house party and Wet Wednesday.

(11:11):
Everyone gets together on Fridayfor Filthy Friday and just let's
it all hang loose. So anyways, Filthy Friday one of
the main attractions. Would highly recommend.
It's a little bit of a steep price to actually do.
The pub crawl. It was 35 US at the time.
Keep in mind this is what are wein here April.
So this is. March 2020.

(11:35):
Five, keep in mind. But yeah, anyways, I think it
was worth it. Again, a bit of a steep price
for a pub crawl, but it was a heck of a great time and I'd
actually say my favorite party to date.
More, it was more enjoyable thanany of the ones in Nicaragua.
And I mean, that's setting the bar high.
O with Filthy Friday you go get your ticket the day before, pay

(11:57):
your fee, they give you a rundown of the rules and
everything. They give you a little welcome
bag so you get like a little backpack.
That says filthy Friday. You get your tank top as well.
I was rocking the tank top. Some people did, some people
didn't. And then the next day you get
ready to party. So now the party starts at 11:30
in the morning. You do not have to be there

(12:17):
right at that time because that is a long day of drinking, but
you want to make sure that you're at the 1st.
Venue before before the boats leave to go to the next venue
that is at 1:30 PM. So as long as you get there
before 130, you're good to go. We got there at about 12:12
thirty. We were actually pretty hungry,
but the first venue had some food.
They had these really good burritos.

(12:37):
So we sat down, had a burrito, got some drinks.
Us and got the party underway soafter that you're going to go to
a couple different spots. Now I don't know if it changes
each week if they change it up kind of like some of the other
pub crawls, just keep it fresh. But essentially we ended up
going to a bar out in the ocean.It was unbelievable great vibes

(12:58):
because the only people at the bar are the people that are part
of the pub crawl. You know, tons of bartenders,
tons of service. You're not waiting.
In line for too long because you're eating out in the ocean.
They had a swimming section so you could go jump out into the
water. That was a.
Hell of a good time, not to mention super refreshing because
it gets hot as heck now. Luckily we had a bit of an

(13:19):
overcast day which I think savedus if we had been drinking out
in the sun all day I think. We would have quite literally
died but anyways jumping in the water.
Super refreshing. Although I have to mention.
When you're getting a little carried away and having some
drinks, sometimes you forget what you have on you when you
just decide to spontaneously jump in the water.
So make sure to check your pockets.

(13:40):
Because I went and jumped to thewater, came out and realized, oh
shit, I didn't take my Fanny pack off.
So my Fanny pack had all my money in it for the day.
So my money's just soaked at this point.
And I also have my Visa card, which funny enough, I'm pretty
sure the chip hasn't worked in it since.
So check your pockets folks before you go jump in the water.

(14:01):
But aside from that, hell of a great time.
Yeah. You just partying the whole time
on this little bar on the island.
I was up on one of the picnic tables essentially just dancing,
partying my the whole day away. It was it was phenomenal.
Such a good time. After that, you go to your last
spot that is called the Aqua Lounge.

(14:21):
So it actually is a hostile, butit's one of those party hostels
I mentioned. So I said I'm not going to stay
there because they literally party every night.
That's too much for me. But again, great vibes, really
big hostile, tons of space that a fire show.
They even have a little section of the deck cut out to make like
a swimming pool in the ocean. And they have a diving platform,

(14:43):
like not an actual dive board oranything, but you can jump off
this platform into the water. So people are doing that, you
know, all night. And it was just a just a great
time. Good DJ set.
I ended up somehow up beside theDJ booth dancing on the stage
again. So like 90% of this party, I was
on the stage somewhere dancing. It was an absolute riot.
Such a good time. Highly recommend.

(15:06):
And yeah, it was, it was a greatnight.
I think we ended up going back to Isle Cologne at about 3:00 in
the morning. So keep in mind, right, you go
to that second bar, it's a bar out in the ocean.
Then you go to one of the other islands, which is right across
from Island Island Cologne. You can literally see it right
across the way. I think it's like a dollar boat
ride to get there. But anyways, we ended up at that

(15:27):
Aqua Lounge, shut her down there, headed back to the main
island and grab some late night eats.
But filthy Friday. Absolute time of my life, would
not recommend more. And again, I think it's better
than any of the parties in Nicaragua, so that tells you
something right there. OK, some other highlights of
Bogus del Toro because you know there's more to do there than

(15:49):
just partying. However, I'll be honest, I
really only just went there for the party.
I didn't do a ton more. I did manage to do 1 excursion
and that was going to Red Frog Beach.
So that's going to be one of theother islands.
There is also a hostel there, but as mentioned, because it's
more isolated it is more expensive.
But Red Frog Beach, it's exactlywhat it sounds like.

(16:11):
It is a beautiful beach and theyhave the red frogs.
Now. You don't want to touch these
guys, but you can go see them. There's actually quite a.
Few at the hostel, so you can gocheck that out.
But the beach itself, it's beautiful.
It's great for a hungover a hangover day or if you just want
to go have a chill day at the beach.
They do have a beach volleyball court there.

(16:32):
They have a bar, a restaurant, barbecue.
And so we ended up just going for the day and just chilling,
just chilling by the beach having a pina colada.
I had a little nap in the cabana.
It was it was a great day. So that's definitely a
highlight. Go check out Red Frog Beach.
As I mentioned, you can stay there to you if you want to kind
of get away from the party scene.

(16:54):
There's also a few other spots Iwasn't.
Personally able to check. Out one of them is called
Dolphin Bay and that's actually we can go see the dolphins.
No, no kidding me crazy. But no, you go by boat and I did
see a few videos from people I knew where they saw quite a few
dolphins. So that would be a cool
experience. I don't know how much that would
run you. I don't think it's crazy

(17:14):
expensive. I want to say about 40 US for
like 1/2 day boat trip. So if that's something that
interests you, you can. Definitely go check it out.
Ask your hostel, I'm sure they'll have the information as
well. Orcas del Toro is a great place
to go diving O if you wanna, if you have your cert, I don't know
necessarily about getting your cert there, but if you have your

(17:35):
cert, it's a great place to do some dives, especially night
dives. We met a gentleman from the
states. He had a certification.
He is doing a couple night divesand sounds like he had a great
time. You can do some surfing in Bogus
del Poro. However I've heard it's a little
trickier to find a good spot. The waves can be very um.

(17:59):
What's the word I'm looking for here?
The wave is going to be very inconsistent.
At times and the locals have their spots, you know how it
goes sometimes in the surf community, locals have their
spots and they're kind of like, hey, you know, you can't, you
can't surf here kind of thing. But anyways, again, I don't have
personal experience with that, but there is some surfing in the

(18:19):
area as well. So plenty to do in Bogus Del
Toro. Would definitely recommend going
to check it out. If you are.
Going to Panama, OK, we're out of take a quick break right here
and then we will continue this in a minute.
Alright, I had a quick sip of the monster and we'll continue

(18:39):
right along here. So that's it for Bogus Del Toro.
I think we squeezed all the juice out of that one.
Once again, I really just went for the party and then it was
time to move on. Then it was time to go mainland
to Boquette. Now I'm going to mention I
wanted 2 spots here, both on thesame highway, Boquette and Lost
and Found Hostel. Now Lawson Found Hostel is

(19:01):
actually on the way to Boquette,so I would recommend if you're
planning to do both, to actuallydo Lost and Found Hostile first.
I did it in the reverse order, wasn't a big deal.
But I'm just saying for efficiency purposes, might
consider doing lost and found first, especially if you're
coming from Filthy Friday. It's a great spot to just post

(19:22):
up, relax, maybe do some day hikes.
But we'll get to that in a minute.
Because first I decided to go toBoquette.
Now went for a couple of different reasons.
One because of a group of friends was headed in that
direction. 2 because I wanted to.
Go do some hikes. Boquette is kind of like the
adventure capital, I guess you could call the Panama.

(19:43):
It's where you have your your hikes, especially the one that
is quite famous in Panama calledthe Baru Volcano.
The Baru Volcano is the highest peak in Panama and when you
summon it, summit it, you can see the Caribbean and Pacific
Oceans and we'll get that in a minute.
But that's one of the main reasons to go to Bocchetti.

(20:05):
Butti is a beautiful little mountain town.
I love being there because I love the little mountain towns.
I love getting away from the bigcity.
Not that Bogus was a big city byany means, but.
It was just a beautiful landscape.
So you get in the Bichette and Iended up staying at the La Casa
de Dona Cata. Now the reason I picked this one

(20:26):
is because it was the cheapest hostel there.
Again, trying to be on a bit of a budget, especially coming out
of Costa Rica. The wallet was hurting and I
said give me the cheapest you got.
Now, the pros for La Casa de DonAcada, I'd say the main one is
it's right in the middle of the town, super convenient for that.

(20:46):
You're an easy walk away from your supermarkets, restaurant,
ice cream, all that fun stuff. And it also was a very social
hostile, not social in terms of partying, but social and the
fact. That a lot of people are staying
there. A lot of people were looking for
other travelers to go hiking. With.
Or to do daily excursions with. And for that reason it was

(21:07):
great. It was great.
Now, a couple coins, a couple downsides to La Casa de Dona
Cata, and this really all depends on how long you're going
to stay there. So the first.
Con is they only had two washrooms and two showers for
the entire hostel asides from the private.

(21:28):
Rooms. So all the dorms had to share 2
bathrooms, two showers. I'm talking two single showers,
two single bathrooms. So that's definitely one con.
Another one was the fact that they are located right beside a
club and Baquette. Must be the only club in
Boquette honestly. And they play loud music till

(21:49):
two or three AM very consistently throughout the
week. So again, that's a bit of a con
because it's right next door. It is hard to sleep.
I have ear plugs and usually when people leave reviews saying
hey I had a hard time sleeping I'm like come on just put some
ear plugs in you. Should be fine.
This was an exception. You got the club beside you,
you're right on one of the main roads, so you're getting all the

(22:10):
road traffic. It was very loud at night, very
hard to sleep as. Well, the rooms.
The rooms were very stuffy, not a ton of space to move around
in, and no AC and no fans, so you can just imagine you're
laying there. I was on the top mattress of the

(22:32):
bunk bed, of course, because I can never seem to get a bottom
bunk. So I'm laying there on top bunk
with only a few inches between me and the ceiling.
It is hot as. Fuck, there's no AC, there's no
fan, and you've got club music pounding your ears out.
So not the best sleeps. And The thing is, if you're
going to baguette and you're doing those long day hikes or

(22:54):
you're doing a sunrise hike, youwant to come back, get a good
night's sleep. So that is definitely a big con.
Unfortunately for Dona cata OA couple cons there.
You know, like I said, depends what you're looking for, depends
how long you're staying. But on the bright side, we met
some awesome people there and weactually ended up having some
good groups go on hikes with specifically with Baru volcano.

(23:16):
They're actually ended up being 12 of us that went for that
hike. So there's some benefits to it
as well. Imbricate.
I also got a private room. I got a private room because I
was doing the sunrise by Ruth Volcano.
I knew after the hike I was going to be completely spent
being up for 24 hours, no sleep and just wanted a quiet place to

(23:37):
sleep with some AC. It was perfect for that.
Again, not cheap. I paid about 60 Canadian a
night. But at that point, I said, you
know what, it's worth it. Just let the man sleep.
That, again, is going to be up to.
You. Alright, let's get into some of
the activities in Boquette. First one is the waterfall hike.

(23:57):
Now there's a ton of hikes in the area as per usual a lot of
people end U doing the same hikes but there is a lot of
variety in terms of what you cando.
You know, there's hiking, there's natural pools, there's
natural Hot Springs, there's rock climbing, so a ton of cool
things you can do. We ended up doing the waterfall
hike because we wanted to do this as a warm up run for the

(24:20):
Baru volcano, which was coming in the coming days.
So waterfall hike, super awesomehike, very easy, not a hard hike
at all. Just take your time.
There's a couple of like steep ascents, but it's nothing crazy
and you get to see three different waterfalls.
The second and third waterfalls you can actually have a little
dip and go have a little. Swim winded U doing that?

(24:41):
At the second waterfall. Super refreshing, super cold,
but it was very nice. But just a fun little day hike,
nothing crazy, just get some nice views, see some waterfalls,
get out for the day, be active, do something.
And it was perfect for that. So I definitely recommend the
waterfall hike. As I keep mentioning, this was

(25:01):
all the lead U for the ultimate hike, the Baru volcano.
We'll get into it now. This thing absolutely crushed my
soul. It destroyed me in every.
Matter of the word, it is one ofthose hikes and I was reading
the reviews, everyone said the same thing.
It's a hike you do once, you never do it again and I could

(25:25):
not agree more now. Not trying to deter you.
I'm just letting you know what what to truly expect because I
find a lot of times you know, you're doing a hike and you talk
to people who have done it and they'll give you.
Their review or their opinions and then you do the hike and you
go, I don't know. What the heck they were talking
about? Anyways, Baru volcano as I've
mentioned, highest point in Panama.

(25:47):
We decided to do the sunrise hike, so we left the hostel at
midnight. We took a shuttle as I
mentioned. There's twelve of us.
And got dropped off at the beginning of the Baru volcano
hike. Now we had a little bit of a
detour unfortunately. And keep in mind this is
important because you have only a certain amount of time to get

(26:07):
U this thing and time for sunrise.
Typically it's about 5 hours up and about three, 3 1/2 hours
down. So of course we were planning
for that amount of time. Well, on the way in the shuttle
to get to the entrance of this hike, we were, I'd say maybe 5
minutes away and all of a suddenwe're going up this steep
incline and the shuttles having a hard time getting up and we're

(26:30):
going, OK, what's going on here that first we're thinking, OK,
we have too much weight, everyone's got to get out so we
can get up the hill. Well, next thing you know, the
driver tells us, hey, I don't have enough fuel to get up this
hill. We have to go back to town, fuel
up and come back out. And we're all looking at each
other going OK, but like, that's20 minutes back to town, 20

(26:50):
minutes back here. It's going to be like 1:00 AM.
Like, now we don't have as much time to get up here in time for
sunrise. Like is this gonna happen?
So Long story short, we don't have people all the way back to
town so this guy could fill the tank.
Why the tank wasn't filled in the 1st place?
I don't ask me when all the way back.
So at this point we're already like OK, like we've lost some

(27:13):
time here. Like we got to get going.
Like we gotta get this hike started and we got to pick up
the pace. Alas, we get there, we check in,
we we paid. So you do have to pay to do the
hike. I can't remember how much it
was. It wasn't.
Anything crazy and definitely worth it?
But you check in at the front gate, and then you start your
ascent. Now this ascent is gruel thing

(27:35):
from start to finish. You're going to be hiking up a 4
by 4 trail the entire time. So it's just a gravel Rd. you
got rocks everywhere and you're just climbing up this thing.
And keep in mind we're doing sunrise, so it's pitch black
out. You can't see a damn thing
except for two feet in front of you.
So anyways, important to bring alot of water, important to bring

(27:58):
snacks, important to bring a headlamp and important to bring
layers because since you're climbing so high, obviously
wants to get the top. It is quite a bit colder.
So anyways, we started at about 1:00 AM and started climbing
this thing at first, you know, the Morales High.
We're excited. Hey, we're doing the sunrise
hike. This is gonna be so awesome.

(28:19):
Like the fuses are going to be incredible.
We're all kind of out of it too because like most of us haven't
slept or maybe had a quick nap. Well, I'd say it was maybe two
or three hours in, I started to realize what we had signed up
for, what we had gotten ourselves into because the
entire way, and I mean the entire way is just straight up,

(28:41):
it is just relentless. So anyways, we were taking
breaks. I'd say in total we took about 5
breaks the entire five hours. So about a break an hour, which
is pretty good. That's a pretty good pace.
Unfortunately, you're not reallyseeing much on the way up.
And one because it was pitch black, 2 because we're on a 4 by
4 trails. So there's really nothing to
see. O we'll Fast forward a little

(29:03):
bit through all the pain, agony,tears, all that, because for the
last hour of this hike, when we finally started reaching the top
and the sun started kind of coming up over the horizon, I
was debating my life existence. I gotta be honest with you, I do
a lot of hikes back in Canada. I've done a lot of hikes in
Central South America, and this hike is absolutely no joke.

(29:24):
It broke me. Excuse me?
There's actually one point whereI literally screamed and said,
how many times do I have to turna corner to face another uphill?
But I'm very thankful for the people who I was hiking with.
They kept me motivated, said, hey, you got this.
Like, come on, let's just keep moving, keep going.
And honestly, if it wasn't for them, I might have quit.

(29:47):
So again, you know, traveling solo is one thing, but if you
can get a group to go with, yeah, I think it's going to be
very beneficial because you can motivate each other and, you
know, keep each other going. But anyways, in total, the Baru
volcano took five hours to get up.
Now, because of our little delaywith the fuel situation, I

(30:08):
actually missed the initial sunrise.
I caught the end of it. But that initial, you know, when
it comes over the Crest of the mountain, I unfortunately missed
that. A couple of the people from our
group were able to catch it. Majority of our group were just
behind it, so something to keep in mind.
If you're doing the barrel volcano, make sure you leave
with plenty of time. We thought we had, of course,

(30:30):
things happen, so always plan for that.
Maybe leave a bit earlier. We left at midnight.
I think if you leave at 11:30, that gives you even that much
more time to make sure you're atthe summit for the sunrise.
So five hours up, three, 3 1/2 hours down, 1900 meters
elevation gain. Yes, 1900 meters elevation gain,

(30:52):
which is crazy, and a total tripof 27 kilometers.
So this thing's no joke. Don't just sign up for this
thing thinking, oh, this will bewalking in the park, do some
hikes beforehand, get the legs ready.
But let's talk about the summit.You get to the summit, you're

(31:13):
broken. You're tired, you're hungry, but
you finally get out there and you see the views, and the views
are incredible. You got a 360 view of the
landscape, as I mentioned, you got the Caribbean Ocean, you got
the Pacific Ocean, you got all the mountains surrounding it,
and it is breathtaking. It is beautiful, it is serene.

(31:33):
And if you're able to, like I say, bring layers so you can
truly enjoy it. At the top.
We got to the top. Now keep in mind we are to the
top and it was very busy. Not a ton of people hiking up
the mountain, but a lot of people getting the four by fours
up the mountain. So it's packed with people
initially, but if you can wait them out after that initial 20

(31:55):
minutes, they're going to be there, take their pictures, but
they're going to be cold. They came up in a 4 by 4.
They're not prepared. They're not wearing layers.
Most of them were in PJ's. So they do their 20 minutes, get
their pictures, see the view. They leave once they leave you.
Have the whole. Summit to yourself and that is
the best moment. That's when the sun is rising in
the sky. It's tends to heat up a little

(32:15):
bit more and you can truly enjoythe views.
O layer U so that you can set the top and enjoy it because if
you don't, it is colder. You're going to be there for 20
minutes and say I got to head down, I'm freezing cold.
So that that would be my advice.But anyways, get to the summit,
sit there for a little bit, maybe bring some coffee or
something and just just enjoy the view.

(32:36):
Enjoy the fact that you made it up there because it is quite the
accomplishment. Now.
The only thing is after all of this, you still gotta go back
down. And I know for a lot of people,
going down is actually the harder part, right?
It's hard on the knees, it's hard on the joints because
you're having to to brace yourself, you're having to
break, slow yourself down. I actually find that running

(32:59):
down is easier. Now keep in mind virus is a
little different. A lot of hikes when you're going
down, you have a little steep section.
You can run down, it flattens out and then you can kind of
just walk it out. With Baru, for the most part, it
was steep the whole way, so it was a little more tricky, but I
did end up finding I was runningabout half the time down the
mountain. I find it's just easier on

(33:20):
everything, easier on the knees,easier on the joints because you
let gravity do the work you kindof do.
Like you kind of act as a governor for your speed.
You can kind of slow down a little bit, but just let your
body go. Just do a little bit of a jog
and I find it's much easier and also much faster going down.
So anyways, we don't need to talk about going down quite as
much. As I mentioned, you know,

(33:41):
there's not a ton of views once you get away from the summit.
And at that point we had been upfor 24 hours.
We just wanted to get the bottom.
We wanted to get back to the hostel, we wanted to shower, we
wanted food, and we wanted to sleep.
So the way back down ended up being about 3 1/2 hours.
And yeah, it was just time to itwas just a chance to reflect on,

(34:03):
you know, everything that happened that past night.
Now, the funny story is, of course, before we started
heading down, everyone's gettingin the four by fours to, to head
back down the mountain. All the people that had come up,
while a lot of us were pretty banged up, pretty tired and we
kind of looked at each other andsaid should we see if we can get
a ride down? Now to get the four by four out

(34:24):
of the Baru volcano to do round trip is $100 US.
It's very expensive to do one way is $50.00.
And that it just shows you that at this point we were so tired
and so defeated. We're like I don't care, take my
money, take the 50, just give mea ride down.
So anyways, Long story short, unfortunately myself and a
couple friends were not able to get a seat, but the rest of the

(34:48):
people that climbed up were ableto get a seat on one of the four
by fours and they made their way.
Down. So now there was.
Just three of us that we're going down this mountain.
So I will say at that point, little defeating seeing everyone
being able to go in the four by fours and get a ride down.
But you know what? At the end of the day, I think
it was still. Worth it to do the hike down

(35:09):
because now you can say, you know, I did buy Rough Volcano.
I did the whole hike, not just just half, but at the same time.
I I can't deny I was looking fora ride.
I was looking for the easy way down because again, it was, it
was a long day. But anyways, 3 1/2 hours down,
we made it to the bottom and we couldn't have been more happy,

(35:30):
couldn't have been more happy tobe back down to earth, to be
done the track. And yeah, after that I spent, I
spent a few days doing absolutely nothing, which is
kind of going to segue us into our next stop.
But again, we're going to take aquick break here and we'll be
right back, All right? And we're back.

(35:51):
I'm starting to think with theserecap episodes, maybe I should
bring someone on to do them withor maybe have guests appear
periodically just so I'm not rambling on.
I feel like at times I just justget a little sidetracked there.
It's hard when you're just talking to yourself through a
mic. But anyways, we're going to talk
about Lost and Found Hostel. This was one of my favorite

(36:13):
stops in Panama. It was highly recommended to me
from various people and online. And you know, if you find
yourself backpacking through Central America, it is likely
that you'll hear about this hostel at some point or another.
Boston found hostel. As I mentioned, it's on the same
highway as Baquette, but it's actually on the way to Baquette.

(36:35):
It is off the side of the highway, about a 15 minute climb
into the side of the mountain into the jungle.
Very isolated, but very beautiful.
The main attraction to lost and found, I'd say, is kind of the
name. You can just go there and get
lost, but you know, mansplaining, I feel like at

(36:57):
this point, but you literally can get lost and found.
Now. I went there to go get lost
because I had done partying in Bocas, I had done the Baru
Volcano in Boquette, and I felt like I just needed to get away
and do nothing for a little bit.And that's exactly what I do,
what I did. Other people will go there and
they'll go there to explore. There's a lot of day hikes, a

(37:18):
lot of day trips you can do. And gauging by the other people
that were staying there that didthese trips, they actually
sounded really good. So for instance, there is a
river that you can hike to and you can actually go swimming in
the river kind of in the gorge. There's a waterfall hike you can
go to, there's a lookout point, lot of different activities you

(37:39):
can do there. So it's great for that reason.
But again, I just went there to lie in Hammock for three days
and do nothing and it was absolutely perfect for that.
Now, The funny thing is I mentioned it's off the side of
the highway, but it's a 15 minute climb.
Well, I didn't factor that in because we ended up going there

(38:00):
a day after the Baron volcano. So my legs think about this are
just absolutely destroyed at this point.
I've got no energy, I'm completely depleted.
I get dropped off at the side ofthe highway and I go oh shit now
I got a 15 minute hike up the upthe mountain to get to the
hostel. Not to mention we've got all our

(38:22):
packs and everything. Now, I will mention there is an
option if you're with multiple people.
I mean, it's going to be a bit trickier if you're by yourself
because you have to leave your bags.
But if you're with multiple people, you can send one person
up to the hostel, no bags or anything, and let them know,
hey, I'm here with my friends. We have bags down at the bottom

(38:42):
and they actually have porters who will run down and grab your
bags for you. Nice option to have.
It's only $5, best $5 I've ever spent.
So that's what we ended up doing.
My friend Tyson and I, we got dropped off the side of the
highway. I not ran up but.
Walked up. And it wasn't actually that bad.
It's just the fact that we did about Rival Casino.

(39:04):
If you're a bit more fresh than we were, I don't see it being an
issue climbing up there with allyour equipment and all your
backpacks. But anyways, I climbed up.
Let him know hey? We're here, we need some help.
They ran down, grabbed the bags no problem and took care.
Of all that so lost and found hostel, as it mentioned, very
isolated in the middle of nowhere.

(39:24):
You are going to rely on their meals, but their meals are very
good and fairly priced. So you're looking at $6 a meal,
different options for breakfast and lunch and then dinner is
always like family style dinner and you can sign up for that if
you want. So, yeah, you can bring

(39:46):
groceries in, but honestly, it'sit's hard to do.
There's not really any grocery stores nearby.
There's a couple of small markets on the highway about
half hour out. They really don't have anything.
So I'd say if you're going there, just be prepared to eat
their food. But again, at $6 a meal, very
reasonable. I was having the pancakes in the
morning, huge portions. Like I could barely even finish
these things. So, you know, you have those

(40:08):
beginning of the day, you're set.
You're ready to go for the rest of the day.
They have snack options. You know they have some cookies
or chocolate or cup of noodles. If you need something throughout
the day. Excuse me, lunches.
You have the options of barretosor tacos, both are really good.
Now I gotta break it to you. You're not getting your usual
burrito or Taco though this is vegan based, their vegan

(40:33):
options. So you're not going to have any
real meat, but still, the food was good nonetheless.
And then you had your your family dinners.
So yeah, that's that's kind of the setup there.
But aside from that, they have everything you need there.
Again, great facilities, tons ofwashrooms, tons of showers,
really good Wi-Fi. Actually, they had Starlink,

(40:53):
which was amazing. If you get Starlink anywhere in
Central South America, it's an absolute win because a lot of
the times the Wi-Fi will will either not work or it'll be very
inconsistent. But if you have Starlink, for
those of you have ever used it, the best Internet you can get.
So they have the star link that was wicked.
So it's perfect for working on the podcast, getting some work

(41:15):
done, getting caught up on movies, TV's, and that's exactly
what I did. Very big Hostel, it's very
widespread. It's all throughout the
mountains. You have multiple hammock areas,
multiple yoga areas. So if you want to kind of just
get away and have your own space, it's super easy to do,
which I really appreciate because obviously someone who

(41:35):
works on a podcast or has to do episodes like this, it's nice to
be able to get away and have my own space, which at times in
certain hostels, it's very hard to do.
Staff there were amazing, super helpful, super friendly, made it
very homey vibe. Um, and yeah, I mean the the
overall vibe is just during the day chill, do your own thing,

(41:56):
Maybe go for a hike, you know, maybe go for an excursion.
And then at night everyone gets together, has dinner, watches
the sunset, beautiful sunsets. And I should also mention it
does have a view of the Baru volcano, which I stared at every
night at sunset and said, you mother Betsy just staring it

(42:17):
down saying hey, I got you. But like you know, you also you
also got the best of me. But anyways, beautiful,
beautiful sunsets. Just a beautiful spot in
general. So anyways, not too much more to
cover there. I, as I mentioned, I went there
to recover after the ballroom volcano.
I wanted to do nothing. And that's exactly what I did

(42:38):
for three days as I laid in the hammock.
I watched movies, I watch shows,I did some yoga, I made some
calls. It was amazing.
It was, it was exactly what I needed.
My friend Tyson, on the other hand, he's a busy body.
He's not very good at just sitting around relaxing, but he
also was able to stay busy with all the day hikes and different
adventures. And so yeah, he, he was quite,

(42:59):
quite happy with the overall experience as well.
So if you have a chance and you're in Panama, go check out
Lost and Found Hostile. Highly recommend it.
And I'm a little biased as actually Canadian owned.
So you know, little little Tasteof Home there, but no great
experience nonetheless. Alright, let's move on from Lost
and Found What else we got here.Now there's going to be super

(43:21):
helpful moving forward as I've mentioned in the Nicaragua recap
and the Costa Rica recap to guyshave any suggestions for how I
do these and how I structure them?
Let me know. Maybe there's more information I
can include. Maybe you want some more
stories. I'm kind of just figuring this
out as I go now after Lawson found hostel, we had to start
making our way to Panama City because we need to be in Panama

(43:43):
City for the San Blas Islands tour, which we'll get to in a
little moment. So our next stop and we decided
to go to Valda Anton. The reason being is I kind of
wanted to stay in the mainland. I want to do some more hikes,
crazy as that sounds after doingthe bathroom, but I wasn't as
keen on going to the Pacific Coast to go back to the beaches
because at this point I had donea lot of beaches.

(44:06):
Now that is an option though is you can go to the Pacific Coast.
There's a couple of places alongthere and you can do the
research, small little beach towns, go do some surf and chill
on the beach. And that's actually where our
friend Hawed ended up doing. But Tyce and myself, we had
decided to go to Val De Anton, now Valda Anton, again, small
little town is actually in the crater of a former volcano.

(44:30):
So super, super, super cool. Went there for a couple nights.
I will say you don't need more than two nights in Valdon.
There's not a ton going on. You're really just there to do a
couple hikes and then move on kind of just as a place to stop
so you're not traveling for, youknow, 18/19/24 hours type deal.
So we did go there and we ended up staying at a hostel called

(44:53):
Major Club. Now this is a newer hostel, so
obviously they're going to continue to improve.
It's going to continue to get better.
The hostile owner super friendlyguy from Spain and add really
good facilities, add a really good kitchen and add a nice
common area. They had like a foosball table,
ping pong table. He even has a gym there which

(45:15):
ended U using believe it or not.I think that was like the second
time the whole trip I worked outand and they got Wi-Fi.
Now I will mention because it isa newer hostel they're still
developing and renovating. So the Wi-Fi only worked in one
part of the hostel. So obviously that was a bit, you
know, not ideal, but not also the end of the world.
But yeah, you had to kind of just sit in a chair in one part

(45:37):
just to get your Wi-Fi. Obviously that's going to
improve moving forward. I'm sure it's even improved by
now. The rooms were nice, very big,
very spacious, however only one bathroom for a 12 bed dorm.
So again, maybe something they can improve on.
But aside from that, overall very nice.
Hostile, but because it was new,not a lot of people staying

(45:59):
there. Still under renovations, but of
course moving forward I think ithas a lot of potential.
Now in terms of what we did in Val de Anton, as I mentioned,
there isn't a lot to do. So we ended up actually only
just doing the one hike and thatwas another sunrise hike.
Now again, I must be crazy doinganother sunrise hike after my

(46:19):
experience with both Root with Bairu.
But of course this hike was mucheasier.
It's actually located right outside of the hostel, just like
a 10 minute walk, and it's just about a 45 minute essence.
Now keep in mind, it's still steep, it's still a challenge,
but after you do Baru, you look at hikes like this and you laugh
and go easy. So anyways, we decided to do

(46:43):
that one morning. We made the climb, got to the
summit within about 45 minutes and got to enjoy a beautiful
sunrise. And the sunrise comes up in the
distance. You're looking across
essentially this old crater and you see the whole, the whole
town just kind of light. Up.
So that was actually really, really cool.
Excuse me, beautiful view and wejust sat U there for a couple

(47:05):
hours and kind of just just tookit all in and just kind of had
some time to almost meditate kind of in a sense.
So that was really nice. I know there's some other hikes
in the area. I feel like if you do one,
you've kind of done them all because the view is the same.
And that's why I say, you know, maybe one night, two nights
tops, and you can probably get out of Valdez Anton.

(47:27):
But again, it was a nice little stop along the way.
Chance to do another hike and just check out somewhere
different, somewhere not quite as touristy, which was really
nice as well. So anyways, that was valid
downtown and that's all I reallyneed to talk about that.
Next up, Panama City. But before we do that, we're
going to take one more quick break, alright, And we're back

(47:51):
and now we're in Panama City. Panama City, Main reason we were
going to Panama San Blas Islandstour.
We're coming up to that shortly.But first let's talk about
Panama City itself. So when we got there, we were
staying at the L Machino hostel,really, really nice hostel,
great location, great staff. It had a very nice pool.

(48:16):
The rooms, rooms were decent, had AC at night that was really
nice. Each dorm room add 2 bathrooms
with showers, so great facilities that way.
Also had a full kitchen so you could cook.
They had FIFA events, we had some fun with that.
So yeah, really great hostile, great amenities, good vibe.

(48:36):
It was a bit quieter at the time, but everyone there super
easy going and you know, each night we ended up kind of
getting together and doing some kind of activity, whether it was
just hanging out with the hostile at the pool or you know,
going to the casino or going to the bar.
So all Machino definitely would recommend really nice hostile,
very affordable, good place to go.

(48:57):
So as I mentioned, a couple of activities we did in Panama
City, keep in mind you're you'reback in the big city.
So it's your typical city activities and of course, one of
those being nightlife. So we did go out a couple
nights. It was an absolute riot, a
really good time, a good mix of locals and tourists and we end
up going to the Salina party. So Salina is one of the other

(49:20):
hostels in the city, and they actually have a rooftop bar.
So you go all the way to the top, you're on the roof.
There's actually a small pool, which granted, no one goes in at
night and they have two different bars and then of
course the dance floor. So it's really nice because they
have the two different bars. You can get quick service,
you're not waiting in line. And the music both nights and

(49:42):
the vibe are really good. And yeah, as I mentioned, just
two really good nights in PanamaCity.
So if that's something you're looking for, you wanna go
experience the nightlife, have areally good time, get a good
group as well. Like I mentioned, this kind of
5050 locals and tourists Salina party.
Definitely would recommend. There is cover again, that's not

(50:02):
too expensive and I would definitely say it's worth it.
So a couple rowdy nights in Panama City, uh, you know, we're
getting on the Cuba Libres, the rum and Cokes.
But yeah, definitely a good time.
Aside from that, there's a couple things we did.
One is go to Old Town. So Old Town, as you can imagine,
that's the original buildings, the Spanish influence, as you

(50:27):
would say. I can't think of the actual word
right now, but yeah. So we went there for a day trip,
went checked out Old Town. It was cool to see.
It's cool to see the architecture.
I mean, not necessarily a ton todo there, but you can go have
some food, check out the town, maybe do some shopping.
And it's just a good way to spend a day.

(50:47):
Aside from that, the only other real activity we did in Panama
was go to the casino. I got to say, I would not
recommend going to the casino inPanama City, at least the one
that we went to. We got absolutely killed.
Now, we were all joking about casino, casino, casino, let's go

(51:08):
make some money. And normally, you know, you go
to the casino, you do some gambling, you do blackjack,
roulette, slots, you have some fun, you get some wins, you get
some losses. You walk away more often than
not with no money, but at least you're there for an hour or two,
had some fun. That was not the case in Panama
City. I oht man, I walked in and I did

(51:36):
$20 on roulette, lost immediately, $20 on blackjack,
lost it immediately, $20 on slots, loss immediately and said
you know what, I'm going all in.Did $100 on digital roulette and
lost it immediately. So within the span of about 10
to 15 minutes I lost 160 US and unfortunately it was the same

(52:02):
for everyone else that we went with.
No one walked out of there with money.
We all got completely cleaned out.
So unfortunately not a great experience at the casino.
And of course, you got to keep in mind anytime you're going to
a casino, you got to be comfortable with just betting
what you can afford to lose because more likely than not

(52:23):
you're going to lose. But in that case, yeah, it was,
it was a tough night out. None of us even got any wins.
It was just straight lose, lose,lose.
So that was that was a tough outing.
But anyways, that's kind of really it for Panama City.
Again, big city. I find with the big cities,
there's not really as much to do, which is kind of crazy
because you think big city, there's more to do.

(52:43):
I mean, maybe if you want to spend your money.
I didn't really want to the two nights out, Selena, those were
phenomenal. Great time.
So if you're looking for a party, definitely go check that
out. I, of course, going to check out
Old Town. It was cool.
Yeah. Nothing crazy though.
And again, the main reason for being in Panama City was for the
San Blas Islands tour, which we can now get to.

(53:04):
This is going to be nearing the end of our Panama recap, but
this was the main reason for going to Panama and our entryway
into Colombia. So a lot of people who go to
Panama, who plan to go to Colombia, they do the San Blas
Islands tour. Now obviously there's two ways
to get into Colombia. You can either sail or you can

(53:25):
fly, but a lot of people pick the sailing option, whether it
be the actual sailboat or the speed boat.
Because Sandblast islands are beautiful.
When you talk about picturesque,when you talk about, you know,
the, the perfect beach vacation,this is what you, this is what
you picture. So these specific tour that we

(53:46):
did, it was with blue sailing. We booked a sailboat with 10
other people and it's 5 days of sailing.
So you have about 2 1/2 days outin the islands, San Blas
Islands, and then about two, 2 1/2 days out at open sea
starting to Columbia. So we'll get all right into it.

(54:08):
I don't want to be the negative Nancy here, but my overall
experience with the sailing was not good and the main reason is
the price. Now I know my friend Pat, who
we've had on the podcast previously, who talked about his
experience in Central South America and doing the sailing
trip. At the time that he did it, it
was about $500. If it was $500, I think it's

(54:31):
very reasonable. I ended up paying about 1300
Canadian, which is a very steep price considering what we
actually got in return and we'regoing to get into that.
But anyways, when you're signingup for these trips, you have to
sign up in advance. It's not something you can do,
just spur the moment spontaneously.
This is something you have to plan in advance.

(54:53):
At the time when I was looking to book the next available tour
was a month from that time. So you have to plan in advance,
especially maybe if you have, you know, only a few weeks that
you can. Travel.
Definitely make sure to book this in advance anyways so you
book your spot in advance. What they don't tell you
initially is you know you're, you're paying your initial

(55:14):
package, which is for the sailboat itself, for your meals.
Um, but it doesn't include the extras.
The extras being you have to geta four by four ride from the
hostel to the port and then you have to get a boat ride from the
port to your sailboat. That is an extra fee.

(55:36):
Now imagine the fees are going to change, but I actually end up
paying. There's a $20 entrance fee into
Sandblast. There was, I believe it was
$80.00 for the transport to the sailboat.
So it's. Just it's more money on top that
they don't tell you about initially until you get that
wake welcome e-mail saying hey. Here's your costs.

(55:58):
The other thing is they want youto pay in cash.
So now you got to go to the ATM,or in our case, we had to go to
Western Union because that is a lot of cash to pull out.
If you're pulling that out of the ATM, you have to do it
multiple days in a row because obviously you have certain
limits and you're incurring multiple fees at the ATM.
Now here's a suggestion and thisis what we did.

(56:20):
Because we had to pull out so much money, we decided to go
through Western Union. We set up an account and when
you set up an account with Western Union, your first
transaction is free. This is huge because what you
end up doing is actually sendingmoney to yourself via Western
Union. So you'll, you'll make the
transaction, then you'll physically go into the Western

(56:42):
Union and pick up your money. So that's what we ended up
doing. And as I mentioned, when you
register, your first transactionis free, which again is huge and
for no cost. So rather than going to the ATM
three days in a row and getting at $810 transaction fee every
single time, you can go to Western Union, do the first one
for free, and get all the money you need at once.

(57:05):
So that's great, but at the sametime also a pain in the ass.
I don't know why they make you pain in cash, especially
considering how much money it is, but nonetheless, that's the
that's the setup. So anyway, so we got our money
pulled out, we arranged our transport.
You get picked up at about. 5:00in the morning.
So be ready to be up early and you take a four by four out to

(57:28):
the port. You do make a stop for
breakfast, so don't worry about that.
Now, mind you were you stop options are limited.
There's not a lot of great breakfast choices.
So I end up actually just havinga can of tuna for breakfast.
Uh, you know, typical travel dayfor those who have experienced
those. But anyways, you get to the port
and then you take a boat to sailboat.

(57:49):
You meet your captain, you do your welcome introductions and
you get ready to set off for theday.
So that first day you're traveling in the morning, you
get to your sailboat, you're going to have a little bit of
breakfast, you get your little welcome onboarding and then you
then you set sail. So the first two days you're
only sailing for three hours total.
So the first day is an hour, second day is 2 hours.

(58:11):
Now this might vary a little bitbecause each sailboat goes a
different route. So they'll go to different
islands. And this could be based on
sailboat or based on tour. I do believe they do change it
up so for them it doesn't get stale as well.
But anyways, and our specific circumstance, day one, we sailed
for one hour to our first islandto get to the first island.

(58:31):
And you dock there while not docked there, but you anchor
there and you spend your whole day at the island.
It's beautiful. It's great, great island,
beautiful views. They have a bar there, you can
do snorkeling. They have your stand up paddle
board, they have kayaks, there'sbeach volleyball.
You're just living the island life.
So, you know, after all this transport and money transfer and

(58:54):
everything that you finally get to the island.
You breathe a sigh of relief andyou go, OK, this is what I, this
is what I expected. This is beautiful.
And it was, it was, it was, it was, it was phenomenal that way.
So you spend the day on the island, then at night you have
dinner at the bar. Now the food on this trip was
phenomenal. You're getting fresh caught fish

(59:15):
every day. We had like octopus pasta.
All the meals are super fresh, super good.
So definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
But anyways, we did a big familydinner at the bar that first
night we had a big fish dinner and then afterwards they have
karaoke. So that was a ton of fun.
Now keep in mind you might end up going to a totally different
island. So this is just my personal

(59:36):
experience, but it was cool as well because the trip we were
on, there's actually 2 boats. Now this doesn't happen quite as
common, but there's a sailboat and a catamaran which are
traveling together. The reason being is because the
captains of each, both each boatwere actually family members and
they decided, hey, we'd like to travel together.

(59:57):
So that was really cool because we had a whole other group that
we could, you know, socialize, play beach volleyball and drink
with. Because again, we only had 10
people total on our sailboat andthey had, I want to say 14 on
the catamaran. Could be wrong there.
But anyways, so we had a nice big group to socialize.

(01:00:17):
So yeah, your first day spent there on the island.
Then the next day you wake up, you have breakfast, and we end
up sailing for just a short 2 hours to the next island.
Same thing. You anchor at the island, you go
do your snorkeling for the day, play some beach volleyball,
relax on the island, relax on the boat, do whatever you want.
It's up to you. So again, another really fun

(01:00:40):
day. Now I'll mention as I, as I said
previously, all your meals are included with the sailing trip.
Liquor is not included. So keep this in mind if you're,
if you're going on this trip, you want to have some drinks,
make sure to bring some drinks with you.
It is very expensive on the island for drinks, whether that
be beer or cocktails. So make sure to bring some

(01:01:00):
bottles with you. Best bet, bring some bottles
around, bring some bottles of vodka, bring some mix so you can
have your own drinks. It's going to be a lot cheaper.
Yes, there were bars on the islands that we went to, but
there won't necessarily necessarily be bars on the
islands that you go to. And even if there are, it's
going to be expensive. So bring your own drinks.
Unfortunately, hot and I came very unprepared, mainly because

(01:01:25):
I figured, wow, I maybe we'll get away from the drinking a
little bit while that didn't actually end up happening.
But anyways, we had only broughta couple beers, so we were
buying drinks the whole time, which made it a lot more
expensive. Anyways, day two, start playing
beach volleyball, basically are repeated day one, but a
beautiful day nonetheless. Now keep in mind, if you're

(01:01:46):
doing the sailing trip, the sailboat, you're going to be
sleeping on the sailboat at night.
That's not an issue the first two nights because you're
anchored, you're not going anywhere.
It's a nice peaceful sleep. If you're doing the speed boat,
it's a little different because you're actually sleeping on the
island. So that's a whole different
experience that I can't really touch on, but it is another
option if you want to go that route.
I do believe the speed boat option is cheaper as well.

(01:02:09):
So that was the first two days. Day three, we end up sailing.
Now I think we're sailing maybe a bit longer this day, maybe
about 2 1/2, three hours to our final island.
Now it's interesting because I found the final island was
actually the nicest island and Ireally wish we could have stayed
there longer. And it's something else they
don't really tell you about beforehand once again.

(01:02:30):
So we had the initial impressionthat we'd have three full days
out in the islands and two days out at sea, that being 3 nights
and the islands. Well, day three, we get to this
third island, beautiful Big Island, same thing like
beautiful water. You can do snorkeling, the beach
volleyball, rinse and repeat dayone and day 2.

(01:02:52):
But they tell us before we go tothe beach, they say, hey,
listen, we're having lunch at 1:00 and you gotta be back on
the boat for 4:00 to go hit the open water and I'm going.
Well, hold on, I thought we had three days in the islands.
You're telling me we only have till 4:00 today and then we got
to go hit the open water. So that third day, we only
actually had about maybe five hours on the island.

(01:03:16):
O again, like my, my impression wasn't that good.
I'm thinking, OK, so like I paidall this money, I got basically
2 1/2 days on the beach and now you're telling me we gotta go
hit the open water? And for those who don't know, if
you're hitting the open water, there's nothing to do because
you're out in the open water. You're getting knocked around by
the waves. You're likely going to be taking

(01:03:38):
sea sickness pills, are going tobe all doped up and you're going
to be basically sleeping the whole time.
So I'm thinking, OK, well, we'regetting a little robbed.
We're getting a little rough. But anyways, we enjoyed our last
day at the last island. And then, yeah, like I said, at
4:00, it was back on the boat and ready to hit the open water.
And this is where things really took a turn O Zambas Islands.

(01:04:00):
Beautiful, but if I could recommend.
I would honestly just do either a day trip or a three day trip
through the San Blas islands. Whether you sleep on the
islands, sleep on the boat, doesn't matter.
Just stay in the San Blas islands.
Then come back to Panama City and fly over to Colombia if
that's what you plan to do. Because as you're about to hear,

(01:04:22):
I don't think that the full sailing trip is worth the price
you pay. So anyways, day three, we're
hitting the open ocean. Everyone's getting ready,
everyone's getting prepared. The next two days we experienced
some of the worst weather that our captain had experienced in
the last three years. Is this is literally what he
said. This came from his, his mouth.

(01:04:44):
He said these are the worst conditions I've seen in three
years. We were getting hit with 3 1/2
meter waves. And for those of you who don't
know how to gauge that, those are big waves.
Like the sailboat was just rocking back and forth.
People were sick, people were sleeping.
People were just sitting on top of the boat, but not like even
talking, like just sitting there, like just looking at the

(01:05:06):
horizon. It was crazy.
So anyways, you hit the open water.
Now my suggestion for most people, make sure you get your
seasickness peels because a lot of people cannot handle the open
water and the rocking motion. So make sure you're stocked up
with your seasickness pills. Make sure you take them ahead of
time. Don't wait until you get sick
because then it is too late. So yeah, everyone took their

(01:05:29):
pills. I took my first one as a
precautionary and yeah, the first night was rough.
The first night was roughed because none of us knew what to
expect. We're getting rocked around.
If you're in the cabin of the boat, like you're just getting
thrown around, like you're just trying to grab any hand hold
just to keep yourself steady, just to go to the washroom or go
to your bed. And again, there's not a lot of

(01:05:50):
room in this sailboats either, right?
So yeah, it was pretty, pretty chaotic.
But anyways try to gather my thoughts here. 2 days out in sea
now. I got really really lucky.
The next morning I woke up, I felt fine and I was kind of
curious to see if I'd be OK because I had a feeling it would
be I don't know why but anyways so I actually stopped taking the

(01:06:12):
pills. So I just took the pill the
first night precautionary. Woke up the next day felt great
said you know what I'm not goingto take the pills because I
really hated that that dopey feeling.
Basically they said like you take these seasickness pills and
you turn into a zombie and I waslike I don't really want to be a
zombie. So anyways, I ended up going the
rest of the time they open oceanwith no seasickness pills and I

(01:06:34):
was completely fine. Now, I'm not saying for you to
try this or to do the same thing.
You have to, you know, know yourbody and realize what you need.
But in this instance, I said, you know what, I think I'm going
to be OK. And luckily I was.
So that was definitely a bright spot as I was able to get
through it, not feeling all dopey, all zombie.
I was eating all my meals fell great.

(01:06:56):
I was just bored because there'snothing to do.
But most people were taking the pills.
There was a couple people who did not take the pills, a couple
of the fellas. Well, that ended up backfiring
because they both ended up getting sick and quite violently
sick to the point of both our washrooms in the sailboat
smelled like puke. It was disgusting.

(01:07:18):
There's puke everywhere. There's water everywhere.
Because keep in mind the boats, boats are rocking.
And it got to the point where you didn't even want to use the
washrooms. It was like, I'm just going to
pee overboard at this point because like, I don't want to
deal with that smell. So yeah, a little, little
chaotic. And then, you know, at that
point, everyone's so doped up and so tired that they're either

(01:07:39):
sitting on top of the boat, likeI said, just on these little
bean bags, just looking in theireyes and like barely talking or
they're sleeping. So the vibe was like completely
different from the 1st 2 1/2 days.
Anyways, I get woken up the second morning were out and the
open sea it's about 6:00 in the morning as the captain's wife

(01:08:01):
and she's shaking and she's going, hey, like I need your
help, I need your help and I'm what's going on?
What's going on? I'm so confused right, like 6:00
in the morning. I think I like just fell asleep
a few hours before because it's impossible to fall asleep when
they getting rocks side to side.I'm like, what the heck?
So I go up top and it is the craziest scene the the the waves
are rocking the sun just coming up and I look over and the mast

(01:08:24):
for the main sail has completelysnapped off and is in the ocean.
The main sail is in the ocean and I see the captain struggling
to try to get it up out of the water and I'm like, what?
The. Heck is going on right now and
keep in mind like I'm like half awake still so I'm so confused
and she's like, yeah, I need your help I need your help.
Pull the mask out of the water. I'm like, what the heck so I

(01:08:45):
grabbed the end of the mass. We're able to pull it up out of
the ocean, get it up tied up to the side of the ship.
And at this point I'm thinking what the heck are we doing?
We just lost our main sale. The mask literally snapped off.
It's not like we can fix it. So I'm looking at the captain
will confuse like, yo, like whatare you going to do?
And he's like, well, we're goingto have to use the motor the
rest of the way. So now the only saving grace is

(01:09:07):
that, you know, all these sailboats now, they don't
realize strictly on sailing, they have engines and motors.
So he said, yeah, we're just going to have to use the engine
the rest of the way. And I'm thinking, oh, my good
Lord, this is crazy. But at this point, I'm so tired.
I'm like, hey, I'm going back tobed.
I've, I don't know what's going on.
I'm just going to go back to bedand sleep this thing off.
But I guess at that point, most of the other people on the

(01:09:30):
sailboat had woken up. And they told me about this
afterwards. They said after you went back to
sleep and they tied the main sail to the side of the boat,
they were trying to start the engine and the engine wouldn't
start. So now the girls are panicking a
little bit going, Oh my God, we're stranded out here, we're
gonna have to send an SOS and get like evac act.
But luckily they eventually got the engine going and we

(01:09:51):
continued on our way. But what a way to wake up the
2nd morning. Not something you'd ever expect
to happen, and definitely a unique story from the sailing
experience. So crazy that that happened, but
again, like you're sailing out in the open water, anything can
happen. You never know what kind of
weather you're gonna get. So that's something you got to
keep in mind too. Yes, the sailing trip is done

(01:10:15):
very frequently. Yes, it usually goes without a
hitch. Yes, you usually get good
weather, but keep in mind, you're sailing, you're on the
open ocean. There is no land insight.
Anything can happen. And in this case, yeah, we we
got a little excitement. We got a little excitement.
So anyways, end of the day, I think he said we spent, was it

(01:10:38):
40 hours? I want to say it's 4044 hours
out on open sea doing absolutelynothing.
I slept for the most part. The funny thing was I spent most
of the parts sleeping, which like I didn't mind.
I just wanted to sleep and like kind of relax anyways.
But anytime they were cooking a meal, breakfast, lunch or
dinner, I could just like get a little, get a little whiff of
it, a little smell. I'd be up awake right away

(01:11:01):
heading up and you know, everyone else would be hanging
out because I was like the only one really sleeping.
And they just laugh and be like,oh, good morning, Adrienne.
And like, I always just had a knack for for knowing when they
were serving food. But anyways, yeah, two days it
opened to see not a lot going on.
You're getting tossed side to side all day, all night.

(01:11:21):
Sleeping was near impossible at times, just two very long rough
days. So when we finally did get into
Cartagena, Colombia and we couldsee land ahead, we were, we were
more than thrilled for sure. So yeah, overall the experience,
I mean, don't get me wrong, super unique experience.

(01:11:43):
As I mentioned, the food was great.
Our our captain was amazing. Don't get me wrong.
It was him, his wife and his sonwho were piloting this sailboat.
They were great, but at the end of the day, for the product
you're given and the price you're paying, I really don't
think it's worth it. And if you're traveling Panama

(01:12:05):
and if you're backpacking Central South America, at some
point you're going to hear from someone.
Oh, I'm sailing A sandblast islands.
It's it's a very common thing todo and very popular, but I
personally have to question. Why it is so?
Popular And now this is just thesailing side of things.
The speed boat might be a totally different experience.
I know you don't spend nearly asmuch time on the open water.

(01:12:27):
You actually end up going to somewhere different than
Cartagena. Maybe that's the way to go.
But personally, the sailing, if you're going to do it, do your
one to three days in the San Blas Islands, get back, fly to
Colombia. I really don't think it's worth
the money at this point. It's crazy how much they're
charging you. And it unfortunately left a bit
of a bad taste in my mouth. Not the experience itself, but

(01:12:50):
just how much I paid for what I went through was just not worth
it. And the reason I'm saying this
is because I feel like, you know, it's, it's good to be
honest about these things because all I heard about this
sailing trip were good things. It was hyped up.
Everyone's like, oh, it's such an amazing experience, blah,
blah, blah. And I'm like, you know what,

(01:13:11):
like, I don't know, I got a question a little bit.
So anyways, that's the San Blas Islands, the islands themselves,
beautiful, definitely worth checking them out.
But the two days in open sea, just not no bueno, not not good,
not good. But we survived.
We made it to Cartagena. That's going to be a whole
different episode. We're going to do a Columbia

(01:13:32):
recap that'll become soon because I'll be in Ecuador and
the next two days Colombia will be coming to a close and we can
go through that. But yeah, that that is Panama.
That is Panama. From from Bogus to Becchetti to
getting lost and found to a crater and an old volcano.

(01:13:54):
It's a big old Panama City and then the Sandbars Island sailing
trip. So hopefully enjoyed those
stories. Hopefully you got some good
information out of that. That's all I can really think of
for now. Overall general impression of
Panama if you're going. There.
Definitely some places that are worth checking out.

(01:14:15):
Right. As I mentioned, I think you can
maybe skip valid Anton. Panama City wasn't necessarily a
highlight, unless you want a couple rowdy nights.
Out. But I did enjoy the Western
side, you know, the banquettes the Lawson founds, the bonuses.
There's definitely place places to go and see, but if it's not

(01:14:37):
on the list, if Panama's not on the list to go and you're making
an exception, I wouldn't say it's necessarily worth it.
If you don't have it on the list, just keep doing your
thing. Maybe if you're doing Central
South America, you stop in Nicaragua, you fly to Colombia,
you stick, you skip Costa Rica, you skip Panama because they are
more expensive. Panama was still expensive, not

(01:14:58):
quite as much as Costa Rica, butalso not that different.
And yeah, so anyways, I'm rambling on again, but.
If you plan to go to. Panama, I think a week, 10 days
tops. That's all you need.
Get in, get out. And yeah, that's it.
So that's your Panama recap. As I mentioned, if you're

(01:15:21):
listening to this, feel free to reach out.
Give me some, give me some feedback, let me know what you
thought, maybe let me know on what I can improve.
Maybe if there's something else you wanted to know, if you have
any questions, let me know because yeah, I, I like doing
these episodes. I want to give this information
that people because I find that sometimes it's hard to find

(01:15:43):
whether it's online, you're watching a YouTube video.
It's it's hard to structure these, right?
It's hard to structure them properly to give you the best
amount of knowledge and info. So again, any recommendations?
Super helpful. But yeah, thank you for tuning
in. If you're listening to that this
episode, that means you purchaseit.
So I want to say thank you kindly very much.

(01:16:04):
It just helps support the travelfunds.
So yeah, that's the Panama recap.
If you decide to go to Panama, make sure to check out some of
these places. If you make the lost and found
hostile, say hey to the boys forme and until then, take care of
yourself and we'll see you next time.

(01:16:26):
That's it for today's episode. Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed it, make sure to leave a review and follow us on
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all new episode. Take care.