Lost and Found

The journey out of Bocas was straight-forward enough, we got the water taxi over to Almirante and jumped in a land taxi for $2 (clearly over-priced for tourists) to get to the bus stop (about 2 minutes away, but the taxi driver seemed to stop at the local pool hall to take his next shot in a game). We needed the bus to David for about 3 hours ($7 each), and the instructions were that the needed to get off by the three yellow rocks. The bus was utterly rammed, I literally had one bum cheek on a seat and taking corners was hard going. Calyn had spoken to the driver and told him our destination, and so we were off.

To my relief, the bus emptied along the way and I managed the luxury of a whole seat with enough room for both bum cheeks. Three hours later, and desperately looking out of the window for the big yellow rocks, the ticket gent sat next to us motioned for the bus to stop and we were apparently arrived. Whilst musing at Calyn about these mystery yellow rocks that I hadn't seen anywhere, the bus pulled away and there they were: three rocks on the side of the road, each about the size of a large dog, painted yellow right near the sign that read: “Welcome to lost paradise!”. I have to say, it's a good job the ticket man knew where we were going, because there's no way I would've spotted those rocks.

I had been informed by Calyn that the hostel was a 15 minute hike from the roadside, until we arrived I hadn't really considered this a challenge. It was up a meandering hill, which was quite steep. Not being at the peak of my physical fitness, this really was a challenge and I was glad when we both reached the top. Upon arrival we were met by a number of people dressed for hiking, which is certainly more than I could say for myself.

The hostel was pretty amazing. 1200 metres above sea level, you were actually above the clouds. The only thing was, the temperature very much reflected this altitude and I was a little nippy. Having only strappy tops and flip flops on me, I was lucky to be with Calyn who provided me with socks and a shawl to keep the wind and drizzle off. Quite a change from Bocas (though obviously the rain was a common theme). That evening was spent chatting and deciding what to do for the next few days. I really wanted to go on the local organic wine and coffee tour, but because of Carnival starting that week, all tours were off in preference of partying. So, if you can't go organic, go to Carnival. And that's what we opted to do the next day.

The other great thing about this hostel is the double dorm room beds – quite a treat for the average back packer. I got a great night's sleep, even with the driving wind and rain at the windows. I was also glad of the need not to go to the toilet, as they were positioned a good 400 yards away, down a path marked out with the odd rock here and there. I made sure I'd squeezed out every last drop before retiring to bed. The Lost and Found is an eco-hostel. So when going to the toilet, you don't just put the loo roll in the bin (you are advised not to flush any loo roll in Central America, or most of South East Asia for that matter) – you put it in the bin and burn it. Your very own bathroom-based bonfire, so each toilet cubical has it's own lighter for convenience. Jolly good fun.

The morning of Carnival saw us up reasonably early to jump in the car with all the other carnival goers, and head off towards David. A couple of hours driving and after picking up Andrew's (the Canadian hostel owner) Panamanian wife Stephanie we were almost arrived. The Carnival reminded me a little of a school fete, except with scantily clad ladies and 3 giant water hoses for hosing down the drunken, dancing crowd. This hosing did not stop, and if you weren't soaked to the bone you weren't there. After drinking a number of Panama beers and dancing my arse off, we left damp to return to the hostel. This did not mark the end of the Carnival celebrations though, and when back at the hostel all the guests got into Carnival spirit and we all drank well into the night.

My stinking hangover the following morning, was quickly appeased by the sight of a double rainbow from the viewing platform. The first time I've viewed a rainbow from above, and a pretty exciting event for me. And the hangover was gone, well almost. Still Calyn and I were feeling a bit delicate, and after a while sitting in the sunshine (it was a beautiful day) by the fire pit, we resolved to go to the shop and get some food to cook in the evening. After receiving directions, off we went. Almost two hours later, we returned. The shop was quite a exertion, so feeling virtuous from the “hike” to the shop we were happy to pass the evening watching films, drinking a couple of beers and hanging out with the all the wonderful people at the hostel.

The next morning, we'd decided on a early rise to make our way to Santa Catalina on the Pacific coast; meaning I would've travelled from coast to coast on my trip. We'd picked up a Canadian gent named Matt, convincing him that he needed the coast after the drizzle of Lost and Found. This journey was not straight-forward. We had to head down to the road and hail the bus that was coming from Bocas and ride it the entire way to David ($7); then we needed to find a bus to Santiago ($5) about 3 hours away from David; at Santiago we needed a smaller bus to Sonar ($2); upon arriving at Sonar we needed a local bus to Santa Catalina. In total about 6 or 7 hours to get there.

The first bus we got was packed, so we had to stand for an hour - this wasn't so bad for me but for 6ft Matt it meant and hour spent with his head at a rather awkward angle. We also missed the last bus from Sonar and had to share a taxi with another couple who were on the bus, which cost us $5 each. After an extremely long day, we landed up at Rolo Cabanas equipped with hammocks for chilling out, and began the search for food...