As I mentioned in my last blog we had to cut short this leg so we flew from Buenos Aires up to Panama City. We stayed in the old city and spent a day exploring that part. There were several churches, including St Joseph’s, whose most famous story involves the gold covered baroque altar. Legend has it that when the pirate Henry Morgan ransacked Panama City the priest painted the altar black to disguise it, told Morgan that it had already been stolen and persuaded Morgan to make a donation to replace it. Morgan is then famously said to have said: ‘I don’t know but I think you’re more of a pirate than I am’.

Whilst the altar is beautiful, the most astonishing thing about the church was the incredible nativity scene that it hosts in the back of the church. It was huge and had so many different scenes and figures. We were breathtaken with just how much detail had gone into it. There were 17 different scenes from Mary visiting Elizabeth, to Joseph’s dream, to the shepherds and the annunciation in the temple. It was astonishing just how much effort had gone into putting it together and we enjoyed going back a second time to appreciate it again.

Whilst we were in Panama City Joey couldn’t resist buying. Panama hat. I didn’t know that these hats were actually made in Ecuador, but were made famous by the gold rush, when the miners wore them when they traveled overland to Panama. Joey looked so good in his I had to run out the next day to buy one for myself!

The following day we went out to see the Panama Canal. We timed our visit for the afternoon so we could see the ships crossing. They cross one direction in the morning and the other in the afternoon. It was difficult to find accurate times online so we had to take a bit of a guess when we arrived. As it happened we were waiting for a while, mainly as the ships were late arriving! The exhibition halls were shut which was a shame but there was still information available and a bilingual commentator gave various facts and figures during the afternoon. Firstly three sailing yachts passed through, tethered together followed by a large container ship which only had two feet of space either side. Vessels that sail through the canal are piloted through the canal by specialist canal pilots. It was fascinating to see them open the locks and to see the ships fall with the water levels. It’s a slow process but very enjoyable. There’s an imax cinema on site as well where you can watch a film about the history of the canal narrated by Morgan Freeman. The canal was a definite highlight, but only because we got to see some ships navigate their way through. It would have been nice to see if there hadn’t been any ships but that definitely added to it!

From Panama City we headed up to the Cloud Forest and to Boquete. It took all day to get there but it went pretty smoothly. We had booked a hostel but were staying in a tent, the tent itself was comfy with actual mattresses inside to aid a good night’s sleep! The rest of the guests contained some characters, including a European couple, of which the male half smelt as though he’d never seen a bar of soap in his life! This led to some other guests complaining and a very heated row with the owner in the kitchen! They then left the hostel in a huff, at 10pm, but before they left they ensured that they pushed the button lock on the bathroom closed so that no one could use the bathroom. It was quite the act of pettiness that was still making us laugh days later. I have so many unanswered questions about this couple – they had their own tiny tent, how was she able to stand the smell? Where did they go at 10pm? So much to unpack!

During our time in Boquete we did the Pianist hike, a hike that steadily climbs through the cloud forest to the top of the mountain. It was picturesque at the start as we meandered through rolling pastures beside a stream. Then we entered the forest and the cloud descended and it felt as though we were in the cloud as we cut through gorges and climbed our way through masses of mud, slipping and sliding as we went. We eventually reached the top, not before reaching the biggest patch of mud and me having the biggest tantrum as I became very acquainted with it.

Once we reached the top there wasn’t a lot to see in the cloud, the only thing actually marking the top was a cross dedicated to two Dutch girls who went missing and died on the trail in 2014. Their deaths remain a mystery and since we hiked the same trail we’ve started listening to a podcast about it and are both in agreement that we’re not sure we would have done it if we’d listened to the podcast before going!

One long walk was enough for us so we spent the rest of our time mooching around town. We then headed over to the Caribbean side, to a place called Bocas Del Toro. This is an archipelago and you must travel 30 minutes in a speedboat to reach the main island. Obviously I’ve had bad experiences with boats in choppy waters on these travels, but actually I quite enjoyed this sailing! We went so fast I could almost feel the g force against my face. We arrived safely, checked in and then got a water taxi over to another island to go to a beach.

Bocas was a beautiful place, with super clear water, lovely soft sand and beautiful palm trees. Unfortunately for us the only sunny day we had was the day we arrived! The following day was cloudy with heavy rain forecast in the afternoon. We headed out to Wizard beach on Isla Bastimentos, again getting a water taxi followed by a short hike through the jungle. We were super pleased and surprised when the boat driver stopped the boat enroute to pick up litter from the ocean. You don’t get that in a lot of places! We headed back just as it started to drizzle. Once we were back it poured it down and didn’t stop for almost 24 hours. When it eventually did stop we caught a bus out to Starfish beach, a beach famous for, believe it or not, the number of starfish on the beach! It was beautiful to wade into the water and see a large number of them. They are hard to photograph but worth going to see. It surprised us how large they were, just sitting in the sea doing their thing.

The following day I woke up sick as a dog. My stomach had been bad since Boquete but this was next level so we took me off to a pharmacist and got me some antibiotics. I’m not usually one for seeking out help for my stomach and generally believe in riding the storm out but this felt like I needed help! I was feeling pretty sorry for myself and spent the day resting.

Panama on the whole was enjoyable, I’m still feeling a little on edge after the bag incident but trying to relax a bit more and go with it. Our next leg is Costa Rica and all I hear from people is how beautiful but expensive it is so I’m nervous and intrigued by that! We backpacked Japan on a budget so I’m sure we can manage Costa Rica.