Panama is a country I’ve already visited. I traveled there for a few weeks in May/June 2014. It was my final country in Central America after hitchhiking from Mexico to Panama for six months time. I busked in Panama City with my tiny guitar for a week to raise enough funds to book a flight back to Europe via the Dominican Republic.
My route through Panama was from the Paso Canoas border with Costa Rica to Boquete. I tried to hike up Volcán Barú there, however, I remained without success. After more than a week in Boquete where those two Dutch women had been missing for months, I hitchhiked on to Chitré. From Chitré, I hitchhiked to Panama City and across one of the Panama Canal bridges (very cool stuff). In Panama City, I had my first real craft beer encounter at La Rana Dorada in Casco Viejo. Consequently, it was a sort of personal awakening that I don’t need to drink shit beer.
When I hitchhiked through South America in 2017, I also had the idea to travel from Colombia back to Panama with Jonas. But I ran out of time because I had to finish university. As you can see, I didn’t travel that much in Panama, which means I’ll have to go back someday to make a more in-depth trip.
Things I’d Like to Do Next Time in Panama
- Hitchhike even more, mostly in the eastern part of the country all the way to Yaviza/Union Chocó/Capetí
- Cross the Darién Gap. The overland route is supposedly quite dangerous, but I’m not excluding that option right now because I didn’t dig into the details yet. I’ve looked into the sea route before but from the Colombian perspective with the ferries from Necoclí/Turbo to Capurganá at the border. From Capurganá, there’s supposedly a ferry to Puerto Obaldia in Panama, from where one can fly or try to take a different boat. But that’s the Caribbean Sea option, and I’m also wondering out loud whether there’s a Pacific option
- Hike to some waterfalls or other natural places, such as the cascada Kiki and the cuevas Bayano. I was looking for cool lakes as well, but I couldn’t find any non-artificial lakes in Panama that caught my eye
- Return to Panama City and enjoy the craft beer expansion of La Rana Dorada. Also, I’d like to visit the capital as a digital nomad this time and enjoy the city from that point of view. And there’s a metro I’d like to ride, which I didn’t know about during my last visit
- Pass through the Panama Canal. This will probably be part of a different trip and not a Panama in-depth trip, but I really want to do this on a sailing yacht or a cargo ship. This should also be combinable with a good visit to Colón, the northern entrance to the canal
- So this is a painful one, but I’d love to retry the hike to the peak of Volcán Barú (3474masl), the highest point in Panama. In 2014, I didn’t make it up there. I’m sure I can do it as long as I don’t do it in a big hiking group
- See some cool lighthouses, such as the one on Burica island nearby the Limones peninsula/panhandle near Costa Rica
- Visit as many remote islands as I can. So, first of all, the most famous remote islands are of course the San Blas Islands. However, they need to be visited before they disappear under the rising sea. There’s a ferry from Panama City to the Las Perlas archipelago in the Gulf of Panama, which makes this archipelago probably rather easy to visit. The same goes for the well-connected Bocas del Toro archipelago. Honestly, Panama has a lot of island groups. Then there are the Cébaco and Gobernadora islands. However, some of these only seem good for a day trip as opposed to an extended stay
- Perhaps it’s possible to rent a kayak there and go for a paddle in one of these places. Also, the Chucunaque River is the longest one in Panama and I’d like to take a boat trip up there and/or a paddling trip downstream
If you know cool places and things to do in Panama or if you are Panamanian, comment at the bottom of this page so I can always find your suggestions again once I start plotting my return!
So you are a travel blogger and do you have good posts about Panama. Then drop them in a comment below and I’ll read them!
Welcome to Panama! A Border Crossing Adventure
Welcome to Panama! But no, this was yet again more of an adventure than anticipated (and hoped for). This picture is from yesterday’s (11th of June) border crossing from Costa Rica to Panama at the binational city of Paso Canoas. I hitchhiked into a town called David around sundown with yet another good samaritan from Honduras. It was a tight call whether I could cross, but I made it! The Panamanian immigration officer asked me for my (doctored in MS Paint) flight ticket to Madrid. And it worked! But then he asked me for proof of sufficient funds, which comesContinue reading
Kayak Trip Day 52: Erdut to Vukovar – Entering Croatia Legally
The events in this story happened on Wednesday, the 3rd of April, 2024. We paddled our inflatable canoe Zucchini from Erdut to Vukovar in Croatia. This was our third kayaking day down the Danube in 2024 and the 52nd in total. Though we had slept in Croatia the night before, we hadn’t properly entered Croatia on paper yet until Vukovar. Contents1 Paddling Two Days in a Row + Zucchini Leaks2 Stress About Sinking Before Vukovar3 Paddling Past Dalj + Our First 100 Kilometers4 Borovska Ada + Borovo5 Arriving in Vukovar + Bad Information6 Croatian Police, Customs, and Immigration in Vukovar7 ThreeContinue reading
Transitioning from Solo to Couple Travel: Bloggers Share Their Experiences
You’ve read the hashtags #solotravel #coupletravel and might follow some travelers based on these attributes. But what about the people who started out as solo travelers and then found someone? I asked travel bloggers to share their experiences on how the transition to couple travel has changed their travels. Adjusting to a whole other person while adventuring definitely comes with its challenges, disadvantages, and, of course, advantages—otherwise, we wouldn’t do it. Contents1 Kate (+ Partner): Solo to Long-Distance to Couple Travel2 Kerry (+ Jason): Similar Tastes in Travel3 Eloise (+ Ben): Overcoming Fears4 James (+ Kevin): Decades of Travel, NowContinue reading
Mudslides and Floods on the Road to Lima, Perú
A Natural Disaster Always wanted to drink soda first thing in the morning? Before breakfast? I never had that ambition, but here I am in Lima – the capital of Perú – and there’s no running water. Nothing from the tap and all bottled water in units of less than 20 liters is sold out. This is supposedly everywhere in the city. For reference, Lima is a place beside the Pacific Ocean that hosts almost 9 million people. I first heard the news about the floods in a hostel in Paracas, a small beach town with a rad bird reserve andContinue reading
Copán to Kapan: A Reflection on Nine Months of Travel
Today is one of those days on the road to reflect on what you’ve done, where you’ve been, and what is ahead of you. Reflection days are the worst and the best, but mainly the worst. Here’s to the last nine months on the road. Since the 29th of December 2013 – minus 10 days in my Passport Nation (PN) – I have been traveling 2,5 continents by anticipated happenstance, sporadic opportunity, and a shameful slice of manipulation. That is already nine months of growth, but it would be silly not to acknowledge the decline as well. Many things and people haveContinue reading
Hitchhiking Bucket List: #2 A Containership
Contrary to most popular hitchhiking wisdom, boats are actually hitchable. I have only hitched a 12-meter big luxurious motorboat so far, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to hitch an ocean-crossing containership. These big chonky guys travel everywhere, so the possibilities are endless! What I figured out so far: You’ll need to obtain your STCW-95 (Google is your friend) to flaunt it in people’s faces You’ll probably need to work aboard. I’m not sure if you can still call it hitchhiking then The more experienced you are at sea, A) the greater the chances they’ll take you and B)Continue reading
Getting My Yellow Fever Vaccine (+Bonus Shot!) in Trujillo, Honduras
I wrote this post in 2021 many years later after the actual events. Back in 2014, I had barely started the first iteration of this blog (Escapist) and it was basically a Tumblr. So this post about how I got my yellow fever vaccine in Honduras is based on memory and photographs. My First Medical Tourism Experience While hitchhiking from Mexico to Panama, many fellow travelers going up or down the Gringo Trail exchanged information. So basically all insights about travel and vaccination requirements came from hearsay. I was 22 years old and had freshly dropped out of university. AndContinue reading