From the jungle to the urban jungle

My last night in Central America is here, because tomorrow I'm flying to Colombia. To get from Panama to Colombia, there are only two ways: flying or taking a multi-day sailing tour over the San Blas islands to Colombia for 500+€. The latter sounds like a dream, but it didn't appeal to me and the price is steep, of course. Why can't you enter by land? Well, there's the Darien Gap, one of the most dangerous jungles in the world. It's teeming with poisonous animals and plants, but also with drug smugglers and illegal immigrants from South America who have big dreams of getting to the USA. I'll leave it up to you to decide which is the most dangerous. But I'm glad to be able to leave this already quite odd hostel here in Panama City. Either the people here live and work as street artists or in other questionable occupations, or they live here and somehow work in the hostel. In any case, they all know each other, chill here all day, but there are hardly any guests. I feel like they've allowed me to stay in their over-30s WG 😂 Plus, one of them was sick (and I seem to have caught it too...) and yesterday afternoon, everyone half-heartedly put on a mask under their noses (after all, we have over 30° and 99% humidity...).

But let's go back to the first day (12.05.24) in El Valle de Anton. I wanted to go on a short hike and then do a longer one the next day. But when I reached the viewpoint, I knew I had to keep going because it looked too beautiful to turn back. But what I underestimated was the heat and humidity. Honestly, I thought it would be similar to Boquete, but El Valle is only at 500m and it was just completely muggy and hot. Well, just before the first viewpoint, I was already completely drenched in sweat and the rain didn't make any difference anymore. So I sat up there, dripping, for a few minutes and planned the next part of the route. I wanted to continue along the mountain range and then come back into town from the back. A dog showed me the way and I followed him for a few kilometers. Sometimes he ran to a horse, took a different path, but always checked if I was still there. At some point, we crossed a road and suddenly it started pouring down, so we sought shelter in a bus stop. After the rain stopped, I continued alone, got a bit lost but found the right path again. By now, everything was already wet and I didn't care anymore as I had to walk through the damp undergrowth where the 'path' led. Then I visited a waterfall, as supposedly there was a path from there to the town. Nope, had to go back and walk along the road, but the waterfall was still cool. After a total of over 20km, I arrived at the hostel and did nothing else.

On 13.05.24, I wanted to go on a short round, but when I reached the mountain and climbed the first few meters in elevation, I turned back. It was too annoying for me, it was even hotter than the day before and the humidity was still like being in a steam sauna. So I went shopping for lunch and made myself some burgers. I played some pool and had a small workout in the afternoon.

The next day (14.05.24) I continued to Panama City, my last stop in Panama. But before I went to the hostel, I made a stop at Albrook Mall, which is right next to the central bus terminal. It's also in the top 20 largest malls in the world! It was nice to stroll along there and the pizza there wasn't bad either.

But then it was time to go to the subway station to get to the hostel. After a bit of confusion about how the system works, I figured it out, at least halfway. I missed the sign: 'The machine doesn't give change'. But the 5$ were already in there, one ride costs 0.35$... well, whatever. It was 1.4km from the station to the hostel. Should be an easy thing, right? Not during the rainy season in Panama🥲 For the first few minutes, it was only lightly raining and I could walk from awning to awning. And then it started pouring, boy oh boy. Luckily, I was standing in front of a hotel with open WiFi and had to seriously call an Uber for 600m...

Yesterday, I went to Casco Viejo, the old town of Panama. Since I had enough credit on my metro card, I used it. The old town is really beautiful and you have a great view of the skyline of Panama City. On the way back to the subway station, I got some rolls and ate them on a small green area surrounded by what felt like 10 streets. On the subway, out of boredom and because of the rain again outside, I rode to the end station and looked at the city from the subway (no, it didn't just run underground). Back at the hostel, it was dry again and I visited two parks nearby.

Today (16.05.24) I woke up with a cold and had planned to go to a nearby national park. But it had been raining all the time. Nevertheless, I went to the subway around 10:00 and went back to the Albrook Terminal and from there you can walk to the Metropolitan Park. But it was still raining and I decided to turn back again and wait in the mall. I walked around a bit, but my headache told me to relax today. So before going back, I treated myself to a Subway meal and 'rested' for the rest of the day. Resting as much as possible in this hostel... loud music is playing in the bar all the time, the TV is on all the time, people watch videos without headphones, and the noise from the street is always there. Plus, there's some damn plastic sheet under my bed sheet that creaks like crazy with every movement.

But tomorrow I'm leaving here🙃