To travel from Boquete to Santa Catalina in Panama takes quite a few connections!
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| The beach near Hibiscus Gardens |
Mari, a man who was staying at the same hostel in Boquete decided he wanted to head to Santa Catalina too.
I have to say that I was both appreciative and annoyed. He really helped us catch all of our connections being that he spoke Spanish and was very aggressive in making sure we were in the right place.
Would we have done as well on our own? I’d like to think so, but then I also think it would have been a comedy of errors.
From Boquete
We started off on an old school bus from Boquete to David. All the windows rolled down, and it was a cool morning and a long bus ride. The bus stopped a lot to pick up people standing along the road at what felt like only a mile or so apart off of the highway. The bus driver had a sidekick who would collect money as people exited the bus at various and multiple locations.
David to Santiago
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| Sand dollars on the beach |
When we reached David, we found a large van that was heading to Santiago. It was getting hot outside so the A/C was nice, however the seats were really narrow and I was sitting on top of a wheel well and the Spanish music was blaring. It was like being a sardine stuffed in a boombox. Thank goodness for my iPhone and headphones!
Santiago to Sona, then Santa Catalina
Santiago to Sona was another large van. This time it was pop music being played too loud.
In Sona, we found we had missed our bus to Santa Catalina by thirty minutes, so six of us (Mari, Rebecca, three Canadians, and I) piled into a taxi for the forty minute ride to Hibiscus Gardens. We actually passed the bus ambling down the road and left it far behind.
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| Ants swarming on the wall in our cabin |
Cons: I had emailed back and forth with the owners because we wanted to have a place to stay for several days (we don’t want to have to pack right away) and we received confirmation, but when we arrived they didn’t have our bunk space. To help us out they gave us a cabin with two beds, for a cheaper price than normal, but we can only stay here one night. Not cool! Another con here is the beach isn’t great for swimming. And we had ants swarming on one of our walls.
This place is also a few miles from town, but they do have a shuttle to ferry surfers and others to the beach.
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| That’s right, I have Sponge Bob Duck Tape! |
Pros: The beach here was nice to collect sand dollars. Plus, we used the hostel kitchen to make dinner and bought a tasty loaf of bread from the restaurant that’s here.
Creative packing of Sand Dollars
Seriously, I don’t want to go home without a few sand dollars, but these things have to withstand a few more weeks of backpacking, a few airplane hops, and even the Amazon in Peru. But I think I’ve come up with a good way to keep them safe.
I used two large shells and my duck tape from my first aid kit to wrap up the sand dollars. We’ll see if they survive Panama, Peru, and the hop back to the States. (Update: Two out of the three survived!)
So tomorrow we have to find a new place to stay. Did I mention we hate packing? However, I’ll be glad to make our way into town because I like having closer access to grocery stores, restaurants, and more activity.
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| Art in the beach sand |
Want to see more:
Day 18 Boquete, Panama
Day 20 Santa Catalina, Panama
I’m Sonja Dewing. I’m an award winning creative writer, a published author of Toy of the Gods, an adventure in the Amazon. If you’d like a free copy of the prequel, Ire of the Gods, sign up for my email list and you’ll get it right away.