Welcome to my 126th Visit and 121st Run UN Country and Antonia’s 32nd Visit UN Country out of a total of 193. This is the 8th country of our trip out of a total of 9.
What a beautiful morning to be travelling to yet another country. Up at 630am and out at 8am. We all walked 300m to the local bus stop to catch an old coach to the Costa Rica to Panama border only 1hr away. We enjoyed lush rain forest the whole way. The borderline out of Costa was the longest yet and it was a 300m walk across a wide brown river border into Panama. Wow. Our last Intrepid country. Already here on Day 50 !!! A private minivan was waiting for us on the Panamanian side. Brilliant. The forest got lusher and greener. The weather got hotter and humidier but nowhere near Nauru (just for the record).
Panama (Pop 4,468,087) is even more Caribbean and Mestizo (mixed) than all the countries we have visited to date. It is just slightly bigger than Tazzie.
Before the arrival of Spanish colonists in the 16th century, Panama was inhabited by a number of different indigenous tribes. It broke away from Spain in 1821 and joined the Republic of Gran Colombia, a union of Nueva Granada, Ecuador, and Venezuela. After Gran Colombia dissolved in 1831, Panama and Nueva Granada eventually became the Republic of Colombia. With the backing of the United States, Panama seceded from Colombia in 1903, allowing the construction of the Panama Canal to be completed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers between 1904 and 1914. The ownership of the canal transferred from the United States to Panama on 31 December 1999. Revenue from canal tolls continues to represent a significant portion of Panama's GDP, although commerce, banking, and tourism are major and growing sectors. It is regarded as having a high-income economy. Panama's jungles are home to an abundance of tropical plants and animals – some of them found nowhere else on earth.
Here are some interesting facts about Panama:
1. The Panama Canal generates almost one-third of the entire country’s revenue.
2. Panama is home to more species of bird (976) than the U.S. and Canada combined.
3. Panama uses the U.S. dollar as its official currency.
4. Panama City is the only capital in the world with a rainforest within its limits.
5. The Panama Railroad is the most expensive rail network ever built.
6. Panama has more than 2,490km of coastline.
7. The highest elevation in Panama is Volcán Barú at 3,473m from which, on a clear day, it is possible to see both the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean from the summit.
8. Panama is one of the only countries in the world where it’s possible to swim in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in the same day (7hrs drive).
9. Panama has the second-largest duty-free zone in the world after Hong Kong.
10. The oldest continually operating railroad is in Panama. It travels from Panama City to Colon and back.
Our journey to Panama began at 0800 in Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica on Sat 24FEB. We walked 300m to the local bus station and caught an older ex-South American coach to the border. It had no aircon but the airflow from the open windows was like a hurricane because the driver was moving that coach like a formula one car !!! The exit from Costa Rica took ages because of a very long line caused by only two officers working. We walked across a bridge above the Sixaola River at the border town of Sixaola – Antonia points this out below. The Panamanian side was very quick and we climbed aboard our 90min private minivan to the Caribbean mainland port town of Almirante. From here another private boat to take us on a speedy and splashy 30min ride to the big island of Colon (Pop 170 320), where we would spend the next 3 nights in its main town of Bocus del Toro. This island is big at 3,037 km² (30km long by 10km wide). It is covered by lush green forest and surrounded by the quintessential milky green waters of the Caribbean. Our hotel was another 500m walk and was off the scales. A 3 storey wooden building sitting on the water with a big deck on the second level overlooking the water and distant mainland mountains with a sunset to boot !!! Magic !!! After our arrival at around 1700 it was off to the local China Supermarket to stock up and head back for a relaxing swim jumping off the back deck of our hotel. Antonia and I indulged in street food and whilst I headed of to bed in prep for run 121, Antonia rumed the back deck with a number of local surfy deckhands who were working here so that they could surf Bocas for the last 4 weeks !!! Bocus is not a great looking town – the buildings are old and the gravel road is being torn up to make way for a new underground stormwater system and brand new tared roads. Hopefully in 5yrs it will look a treat.
The next day (Sun 25FEB), someone replaced the sun with cloud. It was grey all over. I went for my 10km run At 630am. It started smelly as this town has open stormwater gutters with rotting garbage and vultures !!! At least they will get rid of whatever is rotting. Once I left town the run turned scenic with water on one side. The temperature was perfect thanks to the clouds. I got back and showered and it wasn't long until a small 20-person boat picked us up from the back wharf of our hotel at 10am. Our hotel is over the water. Convenient. We set off across the archipelago passed Isla Carenero and alongside the second largest island of Bastimentos into a watery area surrounded by mangroves.
It was here that we saw dolphin fins. We then travelled another hour to a little village of huts on the water. It is here that the group ordered lunch. They would come back to eat. From here it was another half hour to Caye Zapatilla, a very small island off the coast of Bastimentos and home to coral and many coloured fish. We spent an hour on this island before we went snorkelling. I took that time opportunity to swim my 2km. Very happy. An okay swim with a lot of debris underwater – mainly fallen palm trees but the water temperature was beautiful. After my swim we boated out another 5min and went snorkelling for approximately 45 minutes. The coral was okay but the fish were
much better. Even saw a Stingray. Then it was back to Caye Zapatilla to engage in a very strange activity involving four paddle boards attached to a wooden beam suspended in the middle of the boat that dragged four people through the water with goggles on. You hold on to the board and if you press down you go underwater and if you lift the nose up you rise up again onto the surface. If you lean right or left you turn right or left. We all thought we were going to travel quickly but it the experience turned out to be “piss weak world” travelling at a mere 10km/h !!! Should have been twice the speed. From here it was another half hour back to the lunch spot arriving at 330pm. While everyone ate, I did a bit of dictation blogging and walked around the little village suspended on stilts above the water. From here we boated 25min to a small island surrounded by tranquil waters and hundreds of starfish and sea urchin. The ride home was choppy to say the least. It was great to see the hotel on sea and enjoy a hot shower after a crusty salty day at sea. So tired we just ate turkey breast and cheese on wholemeal tortilla that we scooped up at the local TOTO Chinese Supermarket. Yet another island whose food is run by the Chinese !!!
Mon 26FEB brought the sun back. Boy was it hot. Today was beach day. At 10am we walked to a local bus stop and caught a 35min jalopy aging diesel Partridge Family van to Playa Boca del Drago on the very northern tip of Colon Island. Magnificent scene as you will see from both ground and drone shots below. We spent 90min here swimming and interviewing. Another 30min walk around the peninsula from here brought us to the magical famous Playa Estrella or Starfish Beach and yes – full of actual orange starfish !!! Hundreds of them !!! See for yourself below. The highlight was filming Antonia amongst the starfish with the drone. The lowlight began when I sent Mini up a second time and she hit a huge gust of wind. I lost control. I then initiated an emergency return but Mini struggled to make it back. My worst fears began. Mini self-initiated an emergency landing where she was – 46m off the shore into the ocean. You see when a drone returns it first travels to the point directly above where you launched it and then descends straight down. In this case because of the wind, Mini could not make it back to the point above and have enough battery power to make a controlled descent so what happens is that she stops travelling and just descends so that she does not simply free fall out of the sky. I prepared myself to swim. At 70m I spotted her but she was way off shore and I run into the water. I then realised I would have to swim in deep water and still had the controller so I looked around and saw an old guy near me. I handed him the controller and started to swim. Another young guy on the shore near me saw what was going on and also ran into the water to swim out to mini to help me. What a guy ! As we were both frantically swimming I suddenly head a loud shout behind me and looked back. There stood an athletic middle-aged Caribbean-African man with my drone in his hand !!! WTF !!! How could this be ? I dragged myself out of the water and Yuler from Jamaica explained. Yuler saw what was happening, spotted my drone, spotted the old guy with my controller, ran to him, grabbed the controller and flew my drone to the shore. Yuler told me he had the exact same drone at home. I told him I did not think I could control the drone once it had made up its mind to do a forced emergency descent and landing. I was wrong. Yuler explained that it was possible but you ran the risk of the drone propellers stopping and then it free falls. Mini was intact and dry. This was none other than a miracle !!! What are the chances of another drone flyer being next to me and acting the way he did. Amazing. I was so grateful I had my drone. There was only one way to calm down. A 2km swim. The best swim so far since the water was warm, clear, calm and I could see starfish every so often. After the swim I enjoyed the local BALBOA BEER – yes you read right ! Lucky for us we had a private boat land on the beach and take us 30min to our hotel jetty !!! A great trip back. It did not end here. At 730pm we were off again in the dark of night on another private boat to visit the Bioluminescent Plankton about 30min from our island. Certain creatures both on land and sea can produce light through chemical reactions taking place within their bodies known as Bioluminescence. The bioluminescence results from a light-producing chemical reaction also called chemiluminescence. The group of chemicals involved to make plankton glow are broadly termed luciferins and the light is produced by a series of oxidation reactions set off by a catalyst called luciferase. We saw hundreds of sparkling white lights in the water like stars in the sky. Sadly you need a special camera to film these given the light is weak and temporary. We were shouted sangria and I had wine to celebrate the evening. Amazing to see stars above you in the sky and below you in the water. We then stopped the boat to swim with the starry plankton. I did not want to go in so stood on the bow to take photos of the rising moon. Two of our group jumped in and shook the boat – I lost my balance and in I went – camera and all !!! I raised the camera above my head and saved it handing to Antonia and just floating on my back with stars above me and around me in the water. Lucky I fell in because I enjoyed it very much. It turned out to be a magical evening.
Bocus del Toro turned out to be our favourite place of the trip to date. Please enjoy the images that say it all…
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