The path to the unknown- Panama

For the first time I can remember, I was heading to the airport scheming up a way to get out of my flight (without having to pay to change it.) I didn’t want to go. I had a million things going at home, I didn’t have time to go globe trotting. LA was cold and grey, but I wanted to be there. Jason had just given me a beach cruiser with gears so I could explore our new, very hilly neighbor, I’d just finished a 6 month stint of driving and working and working and driving.This was the first time in the 6 months we’d lived in this house, that I would actually be able to spend in it not hammering or staining or sanding and now I’m getting on a plane. Leaving my really nice husband, my new house, my 10,000 unfinished projects with a migraine the size of Russia... I was deep in the throws of post production when I booked this flight, wanting to get as far away from life for as long as possible. This is why I don't plan in advance! Now I'm driving to the airport at 5 am for a flight I could have sworn was at 6 PM, I would NEVER willingly book a 6am flight regardless of the pice. Bleary eyed, I’m apologizing profusely to my husband for jumping on a plane without him yet again, and missing valentines day; our first married Valentines day and I was missing it, I get the worst wife of the year award. And thanking him for the bike he gave me the day before that I hadn’t even ridden yet and back to apologizing to him for leaving him to water the plants and shipping the inventory I didn’t have time to send out. At the automated check in, up comes the question, “would you like to bump?” “HECK YES I WOULD LIKE TO BUMP!” Bump me to a week from today and re route me to Costa Rica where I'm meeting the girls for a 1/3 life crisis trip, I don’t even care about exploring Panama anymore. Thrilled to get out of this flight, I went to the gate to negotiate my voucher and was told they no longer needed volunteers to bump. So close I could almost feel my soft sheets welcoming me back! With a throbbing head ache, a sour attitude and no idea where I’m going once I land in Panama City, I board my flight. This migraine has killed my appetite for adventure. Altitude increases the pressure in my head until I’m convinced my brain will explode. Customs and immigration are horrendously slow, bright and loud. I finally make it into a cab, the only cabbie in Panama City that wants to chit chat in Spanish at 10pm. My spanish is horrible on a good day but on a day like today, I couldn't remember my own birthday, muchless the future tense. I'm cursing myself for not skipping the trip all together. 

The next morning I decide I’m going to fly to Bocas del Toro.

Bastimentos Island, Panama

Who cares if it’s touristy, it’s an island in the Caribbean for a fraction of the price! A stroke of good fortune, flights are almost the same price as buses and arrive 10 hours sooner, booked! I’m in desperate need of relaxation, the 4 day migraine leveled me. I’ll find somewhere off the beaten path. I hire a driver to take me to check out the canals and then to the airport. If you ever have a layover in Panama City, you have to check out the canals, they're ahhhmazing. Go to Mira Flores locks, you can watch ships pass there and it’s right by the domestic airport Albrook.


We land directly on the island of Bocas, OMG TOURISTY WAS AN UNDERSTATEMENT! This is worse than Cancun. Tourist gift shops and women handing out fliers (in english) for night clubs saturate the streets. My hearts sinks, this is not what I was looking for. I wanted to swim through crystal clear waters without getting run over by a fishing boat and swing in a hammock to read my book. Determined to find somewhere less populated, I walked straight across the island and jump in the first boat I see. Bastimentos por favor? It’s another island I read about, 10 mins away and feels like another world! There is no town, just jungle and beach. According to Lonely planet there was an eco tent lodge on this Bastimentos island. I tried to reserve a tent online at the Albrook airport but it said it was full…. but it also said walk ins welcome… So I’m rolling the dice that maybe, just maybe they’re like a "hike and bike campground" where they reserve space for walk ins? It’s a stretch but I want it bad enough to wander through the thick jungle at dusk to ask. There’s a great path that I’m assuming must take me right to Palmar and sure enough, after about 15 minutes it does! Rehearsing my wording in Spanish, why don’t they teach phrases for these kinds of situations in spanish class?! “Hi, yes, I tried to reserve online but it said you didn’t have rooms available but I flew here anyway, took a boat over and now it’s getting dark so I sure hope you have a room so I don’t have to sleep in the jungle with the jaguars...” Fortunately for me, the owner happened to be there and happened to be American. Unfortunately for me, he informed me they were completely booked for the next three nights but if I followed a path further into the jungle, there was a hostel up there and they would probably have rooms. Totally crushed, this place was PARADISE. There were no buildings in sight, it was snuggly nestled between the jungle and the ocean, there was a thatched roof restaurant without walls that barefoot people lounged around in and sandy paths connecting all the tents to the beach where the water was pristine and hammocks proudly waited for weary travelers. 

Palmar tent lodge 

Disheartened, I began the trek to the hostel through the jungle. I’m 31, I’ve stayed in hundreds of hostels, no problem. However, I was recovering from serious physical, emotion and mental stresses and didn’t want to endure Panama, I wanted to relax and enjoy it... in a tent on the beach!!!! A concrete hostel in the jungle wasn’t going to provide that. Still in denial the tent lodge didn’t have room for me I decided to go back to Palmar and ask the great english speaking guy to help me flag down a boat to another island, then he’d have the opportunity to tell me they had a last minute cancelation and have a bed available for me! Palmar is the kind of place people spend their travels in search of. A laid back sort of commune in the jungle with tents that open to the beach and both fresh fish and yoga classes classes on the menu. It gets darker earlier in the jungle, the tree cover is so dense it blocks out the sun long before it actually goes down, I of course neglected to think of this minor detail before I set off through the jungle again. The buzz and rustle of jungle life swarming about me thickened with the onset of dusk. When I arrived back to Palmar, Aaron, the owner laughed and said exactly what I'd been hoping and praying he would say, "We’re so glad you came back! We might have a bed for you! We’re building a lodge in the back of the property, it’s not done yet, and we still need in during the day to work on it, but there is a bed in there you can sleep in if you don’t mind sleeping in a construction sight."

Mind sleeping in a construction site?! Puhhhlease, he should see the house we're living in while renovating! No I didn't mind! I knew I belonged here! My soul felt at ease here. Overjoyed to spend the next 3 days in paradise, I ditched my shoes, snagged a coconut and settled into a hammock to listen to the howler monkeys start their evening chant. I fell asleep with a smile on my face, thankful I got on the plane in spite of a migraine.

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