Billie Besos

So… having not travelled much before, there are certain things that I am learning. Having left pretty much everything until the last minute, I have learnt that this is not always the best way to travel. Not going to lie, it has made it pretty fun so far, from being one hundred percent certain that I was not going to make it across the border from Costa Rica to Panama before it closed for the day, to meeting nice people in unplanned situations. But I have also had to move from hostel room to hostel room because I’ve decided to extend my stay at the last minute, I have accidentally had to pay for taxis when I haven’t planned transport in advance and have found myself stuck in random places with no wifi and wondering where on earth I am, so there is a downside. I wouldn’t want to be too organised and take the fun out of things, because the most enjoyable parts of my trip have often happened spontaneously, but I am going to try and set some plans in stone for both my personal safety, and to make sure I don’t waste time or money. I am flying to Colombia on Sunday, and maybe I could have saved a bit of dollar if I had booked this flight earlier, but I didn’t hesitate too long and got a pretty good deal by looking it up in advance. The same can’t be said for our accommodation in Colombia though… maybe more forward planning should have gone into this considering the fact that we are going to carnival in Barranquilla… an event that people plan for in the months prior. So we think we have a cheap double hotel room booked, but we won’t know for sure until we get there oops.

Despite some lack of organisation, I have enjoyed planning things at the last minute because that way we have been able to take advice from others when making plans. We have had friends travelling a similar route to us but a couple of days ahead of us. We found out from them that the overnight bus from Bocas del Toro in Panama to Panama City was one of the best forms of travel for this route, and then they also told us which hostel to stay at with a 24 hour reception. This was a great way of not wasting a day and not spending too much money.

Another thing you can’t always be prepared for is weird roommates or awkward situations. I don’t know if it’s something about me personally, but I do tend to attract strange characters. I have met some lovely people in hostels too, but when you are constantly selecting the cheapest option of a 16 bed mixed dorm, you are bound to be lumped with a random mix of people. At my previous hostel, we were lucky to have quite a small dorm room for just the three of us for our first couple of nights. Then one of the following nights brought us a 28 year old local Panamanian man. He was nice enough until I was trying to nap one day and he was counting hats over and over again… HATS. I think he was planning on selling them… and then he kept recording voice notes on his phone to send to his friends, playing them back again, and then continuing to count hats again. And then every time I saw him in the hostel he insisted on a hug and a kiss on the cheek and sat weirdly close to me. Harmless though I guess.

The possibility of having no water in your hostel is perfectly plausible. I knew that Bocas del Toro was an archipielago of islands before going there, but I didn’t think that this could mean they had a shortage of water. A day before we arrived, some friends had taken a shower in the rain, THE RAIN, because there was no running water for several days. This came as a slight shock after a long sticky day of travelling when all I wanted was to be clean. Luckily enough, there was a lot of rainfall while we were staying in the main town (I never thought I would put ‘luckily’ and ‘rainfall’ in the same sentence); this meant the water came back for the most part of our stay.

Border crossings can be extremely weird. Sunday was the day we finally left Costa Rica and ventured south to Panama. When you think about crossing a border from one country to another, you think of customs and strict border control. We crossed from Sixaola in Costa Rica and it was such a strange experience, it almost felt surreal. We were first guided into a tiny shack-like office to pay $7 to leave Costa Rica, then guided up over this ugly bridge thingy (bear in mind it was trickling with rain at this point and we were all soggy). Then we had to go into another office to get some kind of stamp on our passport and then guards barely paid any attention and were asking us to solve some sum for them in this game on Facebook. We then proceeded to walk over the bridge to Panama which stretched over the most disgusting brown river (pictured below). On the other side, we could have missed the customs office it was that unnoticeable. We had to fill out a short form to state our reasons for entering the country etc. etc. and thought there would be some kind of bag check. Instead the guy says ‘I would normally check peoples’ bags, but considering the way you all look, I won’t bother. If you were from Mexico or Chile, then it would be a different story.’ We had a brief conversation with him about sloths and then were moved on. There was one more stage after this and then we were officially in Panama. It was a slight anticlimax.

I will make one final point and that is: as soon as it rains once, everything will permanently smell of damp. This is why it’s important to bring a waterproof cover for your bag, waterproof layers and quick dry clothing (none of which I brought with me). I have just managed to wash ALL of my clothes at a laundromat here in Panama City (thank God) but I have learnt my lesson.

Thanks for reading!