Day 217 - 221: Final Days in Panama

Modern sky scrapers in one part
of Panama city

My trip to Panama was never part of my original travel plans, and was only included after I decided to extend my trip.  The only thing I knew about Panama was the Panama Canal, and it was the main thing I wanted to see.

Also briefly heard about the San Blas islands while planning, which came about when sourcing for ways to get from Colombia to Panama, since travelling by sailboat will often travel through San Blas.

San Blas Islands

San Blas islands is an archipelago consisting of approximately 378 islands and cays, and located on the north coast of Panama.  They are home to the Kuna Yala Indians, another group of indigeneous of Panama.

There are a few ways to get to San Blas : By sailing (my original choice of travel, and probably the most recommended), by air or by 4x4 jeep.

Mishap at Sea

I wasn´t planning to include this post, however Niklaus insisted that I should, as I almost destroyed his laptop... ooooppps!!!  It wasn´t intentional!

What happened was we were heading to Han´s, since Niklaus had promised to buy Olivier dinner for helping him fixed his boat.  Since the only internet connection that is available is at Han´s, we thought we will bring the laptop to shore and take the opportunity to check our emails as we had not checked it for some time.

Day 215 - 216 : Boat Motor Fixed

After much hardwork by Olivier and Niklaus, we finally managed to get the boat motor fixed.  But as there are only about another 5 days before I leave Panama, it seemed that it would be insufficient time to sail out to San Blas and back, in order for me to catch my flight to Rio de Janeiro.

So the alternative way to seeing San Blas would be to take a 2-hour 4x4 jeep ride from Panama City to a jetty and then a speedboat ride to one of the islands.  Someone we met in Bocas had provided us a contact of a guide (taken out of Lonely Planet), who would be able to arrange the 4x4 jeep pick up and the accomodation on the island, inclusive of meals.

So Niklaus being able to speak fluent Spanish, made the arrangements with the guide and we will be heading to Panama tomorrow afternoon to stay the night, before being picked up early morning on Monday by the jeep.

Day 214 : Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is one marvellous human creation, where a waterway route is created through one of the narrowest points of the Isthmus of Panama, linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The interoceanic waterway uses a system of locks with two lanes that operates as water elevators and raises the ships from sea level to the level of Gatun Lake, 26 metres above sea level, to allow the crossing through the Continental Divide, and then lowers the ships to sea level on the other side of the Isthmus.

Day 213 : Drive Back to Boat

Well barricade?

We woke up early this morning and quickly made our way to the ferry terminal to catch the speed boat back to the mainland and collected our rental car from the garage and drove towards David.

Within an hour after we left Almirante, we must have come across at least 3 other signs of blockades different from the earlier few we were caught in, as we saw debris of sawed off tree trunks (I pity the number of trees that were destroyed as a result of the protest!), and at one of the them, a huge well barricade in the middle of the road, which I had no idea how it was moved in the first place.

Day 211 - 212 : More Days in Bocas

We followed closely the news about the situation between the indigeneous and the police and things seem to have taken a drastic turn in the last few days from the peaceful protest.

What was originally a reasonable reason for protest by the Indians started turning nasty as we saw images of Indians being filmed burning down police stations and attacking the police.

As days went by, the blockade on the main highway had been forcefully cleared by the police using big tractors, and though the road seemed clear, it was not safe as images were shown of Indians throwing rocks at all passing vehicles from a hill located next to the main highway.

Day 210 : Night at Blockade

We have heard over the last few days on the news that the blockades by the Indians had increased, with one blockade located on the main highway (the only single road that connects one end of Panama to the other), and is in our way to get back to the boat.

Hoping that we can at least get through to David to get some things for the boat before the shop closes for the weekend, with hopes that the blockade will be intermittantly open to traffic on our way back to the boat (like what we encountered on our way to Bocas), we took the speed boat back to the mainland yesterday and made our way.

Day 207 - 209 : Bocas

Bocas is located about 20 mins by speedboat from the town of Almirante.  It is interesting to see 3 different speedboat companies offering competitively different pricing for the trip to the island.

View at Almirante port

Day 206 : Blockade towards Bocas

Along with another lady we met on the Ziplining tour who needed a ride to Bocas, we left Boquete at about 2.30pm and made our way.

A couple of hours later, we came to a standstill with behind a huge line up of cars.  Not knowing what happened, we parked our car in the queue and was told that there was a blockade by the local indigeneous people (Indians).

Boquete Tree Trek Zip lining Tour

Truck waiting at cabin

We were required to meet at the reservation office at about 7.30am, where we were picked up in a large truck to bring us to the base of the Boquete Tree Trek Ziplining tour.

After a 20 mins climb up the hills in the vehicle through road and some rough terrain, we arrived to a base filled with nice wooden cabins and lots of greenery.

We were subsequently ushered to a cabin to gear up and subsequently briefed on the "Dos and Don´ts", before jumping back into the truck again, which led us into the beginning of the Amistad National Park, where the ziplining will begin.

Day 205 : Horse Riding in Boquete

Boquete

Boquete is located in the mountainous region of Panama, and we were welcomed by cool weather upon arrival in Boquete around 11am. We were looking to do zip lining in the afternoon, but as it was full for the day, we booked ourselves in for a session early tomorrow morning.

One of the waterfalls

 So instead of waiting around, we decided to go horseback riding. 

The idea was good, but unfortunately the tour wasn`t. We were ¨picked up¨ at 3pm, and followed the guide in our car to a farm located about 30 minutes drive away.

When we got there, we were the only ones there, and the guide interacted with a guy at the farm, whom we later learnt to be the owner.

Day 204 : Car Rental

Niklaus felt bad that he had put me in a situation of not going anywhere, and since the boat will not be operational until parts can be replaced, he suggested to show me around Panama. So off we headed to Colon to rent a car.

The ironic thing was that we used my driving license (Niklaus has misplaced his license) but his details for the insurance coverage – something which I don`t think will be allowed elsewhere?

Day 203 : Engine Breakdown

We were planning to leave for San Blas this morning, but due to strong winds in the wrong direction, Thomas suggested that we wait till the afternoon to monitor the weather, as it may get stronger, and may not be advisable to leave as scheduled.

While waiting, Niklaus decided to do an engine check, and it was at this time he found water had entered the engine! Olivier came by the boat to check what had happened, and discovered that the water pump had burst, resulting in water leaking into the engine.

Day 197 - 202 : Puerto Lindo

Puerto Lindo

Niklaus boat is located in a sheltered bay in Puerto Lindo, located about 1.5hour from the city of Colon and 30 minutes from the small town of Portobello. Both Puerto Lindo and Portobello is where most of the sailboats heading to San Blas islands and Cartagena departs from.

Puerto Lindo is where we had spent most of our days at, having a meal or drinks at Han's (an open air restaurant by the sea side), if we were not on the boat. Most of the people residing here are blacks (vs the fairer skin Panamanians residing further inland) and had a more fishing village feel.

Monkey Feeding

Located near our boat was a small jetty, where lived 3 monkeys. Thomas said that they often come out to the pier in the evening, waiting for people to feed them, and that they are really funny to look at.

We invited Jim to come with us, and we were surprised at his answer.

Portobello

Portobello

We had to make a trip to Portobello today to the port authorities to get the paper work done for the boat to go to San Blas, and Niklaus took the opportunity to show me around.

It is an extremely small town, which can be covered within an hour. It used to be a historical fort, with remnants of the fort structures still remaining.

Day 196 : Flight to Panama

It was a 1.5 hours flight to Bogota, followed by a transit in Bogota airport for about 3 hours and then another 1.5 hours to Panama - 4 times the time needed to fly direct from Cartagena to Panama city, but with a USD50 savings, the slight inconvenience was marginal. In fact, the journey was not as bad as I imagined it to be and COPA airlines had been much more comfortable than I expected.

2 interesting things happened when I was in Bogota airport though.  First, when I arrived at Bogota airport, we were met by a couple of COPA staff, who led a few of us transiting to Cartagena to a terminal to process our boarding passes.

I was subsequently led by one of the staff to one of their counters, and for some reasons, after being asked to sign a document, I was handed with COP65,000 in cash!  I was extremely puzzled as I was the only one in the group that was led to the counter, and additionally handed cash!  

Knowing not to complain when money is handed out to you, I took the money without asking why and left.  Yay, more money in my pocket!

The 2^nd interesting thing was with the immigration.  I had been extremely concern that I would encounter problems with immigration since I had overstayed in the country.   But when I presented my passport, they seemed to be more intrigued with the passport numbers found on the top of every page in my passport, as well as the particulars page on the passport.

Trip Extension

After contemplating on changing my tickets for the last 1 month, I have finally got round to changing my Singapore Airline return ticket today and therefore confirm that my trip has been extended!

So the new plans after Colombia would be to travel in a sail boat via Cartagena to Panama, spent a couple of weeks in Panama, and take a flight to Rio de Janeiro (to be booked in the next couple weeks!) in mid February, just in time to attend Carnaval, and then travel down South to Sao Paulo to catch my flight to Barcelona in end February.

Spend about a week in Barcelona and off to Morocco for about 3-4 weeks, and then to London and I fly out of Paris back to Singapore in April!

So if anyone is keen to join me on the additional places, let me know and I will give you my detailed plans!