Paradise with a twist in Santa Catalina, Panama.

Map of the town

Today, I love Santa Catalina. We left the overly hot location of The Hibiscus Gardens – hot because there was no shade on or near the beach or the hostel. The morning shuttle was pretty full, but they made some room for us and we crammed in with all of the surfers. It wasn’t too bad though, only a ten-minute ride.

Great place to stay in Santa Catalina, Panama

View from our porch!

Meanwhile, we had to find a new place to stay, as per my previous post. As luck would have it, we shared our current predicament with a fellow traveler and she let us know about Oasis Surf Camp. Without her input, we would have never gone all the way to the end of town and across the beach to get to it, but it was the perfect location.

For $40/night we had a clean cabin that included air conditioning, two beds, a bathroom, and a gorgeous view from the porch.

We took advantage of the lounge chairs and the shade on the beach. Perfect!

Ours is the cabin on the left.

Creative use of scissors

I’ve mentioned that I lost several things, including my good folding knife.  So Rebecca went after a pineapple with my scissors from the first aid kit.  FYI: Fresh fruit has become an addiction for us, and there is always a great supply wherever we go.

Someone who worked at the Surf Camp took pity on us and brought us a knife, thank goodness! Otherwise, it would have taken all day to cut it up.

Dinner with a view

Carving a pineapple with scissors, messy!

Then, that night we went searching for a place for dinner. We ended up at Pinguinos. The food wasn’t great, but it was a good location to watch the sunset.

More interesting characters

We were unexpectedly joined by an older man who was there for dinner. He was an American traveling through the country like us. We’ll call him Paul.  Paul, a retired lawyer, seemed very well mannered and interesting. We had a good time conversing with him, and I think he was really appreciating having the attention of two single women.

When things Got Weird

Our sunset.

Shortly after, we were happy to see Mari, a man that had traveled with us from Boquete, Panama. We asked him to join us and that was when things got weird. Somehow the conversation got onto asking for how much things cost.

Mari said, “I never ask how much things are. I hand over the amount of money I expect a hostel bed to cost and that’s it. Otherwise, you don’t look like you know what’s going on.”

Not that I or Rebecca would do things that way, but it seemed to work for Mari. Paul shook his head and leaned back in his chair. “There was this guy I know, we called him Wooden head. He’d do things like that.”

Did he just say that? I thought. Rebecca and I exchanged glances.

Paul thought for a moment, I hoped to think of a way to take that back. He continued, unfortunately. “He’d go to a gas station and not know how to read the numbers, and just slap down some money.” He laughed derisively and shook his head. “What an idiot.”

Rebecca and I hurriedly finished our dinner and walked out. Mari and Paul followed along and said goodbye at their different turn-offs. We told Mari how sorry we were for the uncomfortable conversation, he waived it off. “That will not be the last strange conversation any of us will have.”

Too true.

Tomorrow we’ll be up early to head to Panama City, Panama

Want to see more:
Day 19 Santa Catalina, Panama
Day 21 Santa Catalina to Panama City, 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.