The day had finally arrived...we were catching our return flight to Panama after 5 months in Europe. After a sleepless night we jumped into a cab and set off for Heathrow. One of the things that had kept me up all night was the mild panic of now being on a one-way ticket. Technically the airline has the right to refuse you if you don’t have an exit booked and I had read that this had been an issue for some travellers coming into Panama. Luckily for us the guy at the airport didn’t seem to care and when the sign at the self check in popped up with proof of exit he just waved it through (just in case you are worried and want a cheap option for an exit the bus to Costa Rica from Bocas Del Toro is only $33 USD/42.10 AUD). Step one complete we got ready to leave the UK for the final time this year. The flight to Panama was going through Houston and the first 10-hour leg of our journey went relatively quickly. I’m not a great sleeper on planes so only managed to get two 30-minute naps in, but Dani got a few hours. Our only concern was that we only had 2 hours between flights and also knew we needed to clear customs in Houston. This, for the second time, on this trip was a breeze. There were no queues and we ‘flew’ through. Even security was pretty quick and we had over an hour to get to our next gate. Boarding the final flight felt a little like torture (getting a little old for these roundabout routes these days) but we managed to take off on time and even arrived in Panama City a little early. Turned out I had been stressing over nothing because they didn’t ask to see exit evidence either. I think we’re going soft in our old age though, because with the best intentions we headed out of the airport toward the bus stop to get to the city and the first cab that stopped had us in in seconds (to be fair we had been travelling by this stage for 20hrs and it was getting late). A handy tip though is that if you can get to the main road by following the signs to the Metro Bus, cabs will be a lot cheaper. We paid $20 USD ($25.50 AUD) from the bus stop but would have paid at least $30 USD ($38.25 AUD) from outside the airport (Uber is also a great and cheap option if you have access to the Internet). Our cab driver was wonderful and gave us a quick tour and information about the canal as we were crossing it. It was a relief to realise, despite the lack of sleep, our Spanish was still ok and I could understand almost everything he was saying to us. We were both relieved when we got to Lemon Inn ($28.35 USD/36.15 AUD) and there was someone there to let us in. We had booked a private room with shared bathroom and we were shown a room in the building next door to reception...the only problem was it had no working light. After a quick call to her manager she decided to move us to a different room which turned out to be an upgrade. We ended up in a nicer and bigger room with a private bathroom for both nights. Panama we’re liking you so far! Exhausted, we drank a cup of tea and then passed out for the night. As a major sufferer of jet lag I was pleasantly surprised that I made it through the night and woke up at a pretty acceptable 5.30am. We weren’t really sure what we wanted to do in Panama City but we felt a walking tour would be a great start. Having discovered that our adaptor had blown overnight we made it our priority to find a new one and then head to the old town for the walking tour. Getting to the old town was easy once we knew what we were doing. You can’t pay in cash on the bus so what we were advised to do was get someone to tap us on and then give them the 25c USD (30c AUD) fare. As it turned out, a really lovely gentleman swiped us both on and then refused to take our money. The bus took us to the fish market and from there it was a really easy walk to the old town. The walking tour was excellent and also turned out to be a private tour as it was down season. This meant that we had Diego all to ourselves and he was able to tailor the tour to us. We learnt a lot about Panama and about the canal and if you only have a day in this city I would recommend this tour. Diego even helped us get back to the hostel by sharing a cab with us. We were eager to get out of the city but were unsure about how long we wanted to stay in Panama. We knew that Bocas Del Toro was where we wanted to end up but weren’t sure if we wanted to add another destination. We decided that as Boquete in the mountains is a day journey away we would do that and then finish up in Bocas. This involved catching an Uber to the Albrook Bus Station and then getting on a bus to David ($15.25 USD/19.45 AUD). One thing to note is that you do have to use a metro card to exit the bus station. If you do not have one of these just explain the situation to the guard and they will help you find someone to tap you through who you can give your 25c to. The bus to David is pretty straightforward. It took us 6 hours to get there and once we arrived at the bus station, it was an easy transition to the Boquete bus (just look for the yellow American style school bus, $2 USD/2.60 AUD). We arrived into Boquete in the early evening and went about trying to find a guesthouse. After checking out a few that were way above budget we stumbled across Palacios Hostel on the main square. We were welcomed by a nice man who spoke a little English and after promising a hot shower and “goooood WiFi” we settled on the room for $10 USD ($26.25 AUD for a triple room). Given the fact that it was pretty late, he seemed a little overly-energised and in hindsight he was most likely as high as a kite, but the room was decent and the rabbits in the garden were a definite plus. Boquete has been described as a town full of expat Americans but it certainly didn’t have that feel. Other than the occasional foreign accent and a supermarket stocked full of “gringo” products it was a very authentic feeling place. There are some great hikes around and are easily got to without an expensive trip (offered by tourist agencies). We chose to do the pipeline trail and catch a collectivo to the entrance. This cost $2 USD ($2.60 AUD) and the entrance fee was $3 USD ($3.80 AUD). From here, it’s a steady climb up to a little waterfall. There are chances of seeing the rare Quezal bird but we didn’t have any luck (we heard going early in the morning is your best bet). We were ready to get going to Bocas Del Toro and had to seriously weigh up taking the $30 USD ($38.20 AUD) shuttle to get there with no hassle. After a little research though this proved to be twice the cost of the local way, so it was back on the school bus to David ($1.75 USD/2.25 AUD…and no, we’re not sure why it was cheaper this way either) then on another bus to Almirante ($11 USD/14 AUD). We were also asked on the bus if we wanted to buy water taxi vouchers to get to Bocas. This turned out to be a great deal as we were dropped at the exact port stop and only cost $5 USD ($6.35 AUD). This was another seamless transition and was all going swimmingly…until a protest was blocking the road. Now both Dani and I have functional Spanish but this did not extend to understanding what was going on or what we were expected to do. We were quickly kicked off our bus and with gestures, were shown we needed to cross the line of protesters (what all travel advice sources tell you not to do)! This actually turned out to be fine and waiting on the other side was another bus to carry on our journey. At Almirante, there was a taxi waiting to take us to our water taxi and the deal was $1 USD ($1.25 AUD) per person no matter how many people you had. Within 15 minutes we were off to Bocas Town. Bocas Town was not quite the island paradise either of us had in mind and in hindsight we should have headed out to one of the outer islands like Bastimentos…but hindsight is a wonderful thing! We headed off the main drag and found Hosteluego, which offered us a private room with air con for $25 USD ($31.85 AUD) and it turned out to have a great sunset viewing point on the rooftop deck. Back on the main drag we stumbled across a lovely cantina to eat at, that had good meals (read rice and beans) for around $2.50 USD ($3.20 AUD) a plate. Having discussed the options of what to do the next day we decided to head up to Playa Bluff where we had been told we could see quite a few monkeys. We went to the local information centre and booked a tour for the following day and went to sit at the bus stop with our timetable. It turned out to be a pretty useless venture as almost 45 minutes after the scheduled departure the bus still hadn’t arrived. Luckily for us there was an Australian couple also waiting who were willing to share a taxi ($15 USD/19.10 AUD), which only worked out mildly more expensive than the bus ($3 USD/3.80 AUD) each. The beach was beautiful, but there were no monkeys to be seen, so after a couple of hours sitting and chatting to our new friends we headed back to Bocas Town. We were lucky enough to catch the bus back to town even though we were technically 15 minutes late. The tour we had booked for our final day on Bocas cost us $30 USD ($38.20 AUD) and had a wide range of activities. It took us dolphin watching, snorkelling, and wildlife spotting on Sloth Island (guess what you see there) as well as an opportunity for a walk/swim on Islas Zapatillas, which is a stunning uninhabited tropical paradise. We felt that the trip was well worth it for the cost and we had a great day. Budget Time $$$We came into Central America in the full knowledge that our first two destination countries of Panama and Costa Rica were going to be expensive compared to the rest of the continent. In Panama, this is mainly due to the fact that their currency is the USD and this almost always means inflated prices. Having said that, it wasn’t as expensive as it could have been. Obviously, this required us to only take local transport, eat at local places (of which there were plenty in both Boquete and Bocas) and stay in pretty basic accommodation, but none of this felt in any way difficult anywhere in Panama. The average cost of accommodation for the two of us was about $20-25/night and meals cost about $3/4 per person. Local transport from city to city was a bit more expensive than we had expected, the average seemed to be about $3-4/hour for a longer distance journey, but this was significantly less expensive (if also significantly longer and more complicated) than the shuttles offered around the country! Some of the tours offered in Boquete and Bocas were pretty expensive but it definitely pays to shop around. It’s worth giving some serious consideration to what you really want to do in a particular area in terms of what you want to see and experience (especially if you are travelling extensively in Central America as a lot of the flora and fauna is pretty similar in other countries and can be explored much more extensively for significantly less money). There are also a lot of free walks/treks and unguided explorations that can be exploited in lieu of pricier day trips and tours. What it cost: 10 Days= $539 for 2 people Accommodation: $244.91 Transport: $210.83 Entertainment: $95.76 Food: $91.04 Drinks: $30.41 Miscellaneous: $20.99 Souvenirs: $13.12 Daily spend: $27.08 USD per person LGBT:We faced no problems in Panama as a couple. We had no problems getting double rooms and there were no uncomfortable conversations. Panama is even looking in to legalising same sex marriage and has gained support from not only the vice president but also the Catholic Church who have said they will not oppose changes to civil law. However on trans rights and other LGBT rights Panama is still lagging behind. There are no protections against discrimination and transpeople still require surgery to legally match their documentation to their gender.
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