Panama

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A country that got rich by its famous Panama Canal, an impressive piece of engineering. Arriving in Panama was a shock for us, especially if you arrive in the Panama city. A super modern and americanized city, full of skyscrapers, nothing to do with the other cities in South America that we have been so far.

But Panama also has paradisiac islands, with the image that everyone has of the Caribbean and its crystal blue waters. But without hearing many spectacular things about the country, except for the Caribbean coast, we ended spending a short time there and we didn’t really explore the country.

What was worth it: The wonderful islands of San Blas in Kuna Yala, the cool vibe of Bocas del Toro and the impressive Panama Canal.

A few tips:

• TRANSPORTATION: The transport network is good, but the night buses are horrible, since they use the same buses of day trips, which are not comfortable to sleep, so avoid night buses whenever possible. At the end you arrive at your destination really tired and the only thing you want to do is to sleep. If you’re catching a night bus buy your ticket in the morning or the day before, some itineraries do not have many options and sell out fast.
• CROSSING THE BORDER WITH COLOMBIA: This is certainly the most complicated border crossing we have seen so far. You need to catch a flight from Panama City to Puerto Obaldia (last city in Panama), but beware that this flight sell out fast so is best to book it in advance (for this you can send an e-mail to reservaciones@flyairpanama.com or buy in a travel agency in Panama). At Puerto Obaldia you must take a boat to the first stop in Colombia, Capurganá, and here you can enjoy a few days in Capurganá and Sapzurro, two hidden paradises in the Caribbean of pure tranquility. From Capurganá you still need to take a 2 hour boat hitting your column on the wooden bench to the strange town of Turbo and there you still have 12 hours by bus to Cartagena. Take the speedboat very early from Capurganá to make sure you can do the whole way to Cartagena on the same day, you really don’t want to spend a night in the bizarre town of Turbo.
• BOAT FOR COLOMBIA: A popular way to get to Colombia is making the boat trip, which usually takes 5 days and includes three days of island hopping in the Caribbean San Blas. The trip costs about 550 USD per person all inclusive, but for drinks, but they were already thinking of raising prices when we were there. In our opinion I doesn’t worth it, because you spend two days locked in the boat without seeing anything and just crossing the ocean and for those who gets sick it can be a nightmare, then the cost per day is too high for what you get. The best part is the 3 days in the San Blas islands, but you can also visit the islands from Panama city spending less, because the boat trip costs about 110 USD per person per day and packages for San Blas in Panama costs 50 USD per person per day. But if you still want to do the boat trip in the hostel Panama by Luis you find a selection of boats that make this journey.
• PANAMA TO MEXICO: If you just want to cross Central America inexpensively there is a bus service called Tica Bus, which takes you from Panama City to Chiapas in southern Mexico. The trip takes 5 days and all nights in the capital of each country you must pay for your accommodation. The total cost is USD 133 in tourist class and 172 USD in business class. But you can also buy just the sections between 2 countries, 3 countries, etc … Any section in their itinerary.

Our itinerary (11 days)

We crossed by boat from Cartagena, Colombia, to Carti, in the Kuna Yala region, in Panama, on a 5 days boat trip. On the way the boat spent 3 days at the idyllic San Blas islands on the Caribbean. From Carti we took a jeep to of 2 ½ hours to Panama City, where we spent three days. After we left by night bus to Almirantes, where we took the boat to Bocas del Toro. After 3 days we returned to Almirantes to take two buses to the border with Costa Rica (Almirantes – Changuinola – Guabito).

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