07. Panama

When entering Panama in the northwest, we could already tell on the Costa Rican side of the border what it is all about in this region: the Chiquita banana! Lately the tourism helped the economy in this region, especially Bocas del Toro, a group of islands with beautiful beaches and snorkeling grounds. However, the tourism there is just taking off and it doesn’t look like the local people are very interested in sustainable tourism, but prefer the quick dollar (the currency used in Panama, the local Balboa only exists as coins with the same value as the USD). Well, can you blame them after years of work for Chiquita that didn’t make them rich?

Bananas at the Costa Rica - Panama border

Panama City is one of these cities in Central-America with tremendous differences between rich and poor. On the one side, there is the beautiful and steadily growing skyline with modern buildings. On the other side, there are the places that were, according to our hostel, not recommended to be entered by us. The old town of Panama City is in the middle of this “forbidden zone”, but packed with police and gorgeous colonial buildings, most of these buildings are in a terrible condition though. This place will sure be worth another a visit in a couple of years. Another site that was already worth the visit is of course the Panama Canal, the main source of Panama’s wealth. Lovers of large ships can sure spend here hours watching the cargo ships entering and leaving the locks.

Skyline of Panama City from our hostel

Cargo ship entering locks in Panama Canal

With the help of the hostel in Panama City, we organised a sailing trip to Cartagena (in Colombia) via the San Blas islands, another island group of about 360 islands that is inhabited by the Kuna, a group of indigenous living from coconuts, from what they can catch in the ocean (not always in line with international protection laws… but sometimes also really yummy… see pictures) and nowadays of course also from tourism. The islands are a true paradise, but in some places you can already tell that too much tourism is going to harm this region. It can just be hoped that Panama learns a little from its neighbour Costa Rica concerning sustainable tourism. Panama sure has the nature and the beaches to be another Caribbean paradise!

Unreal beauty on San Blas islands

The last trip of a sea turtle...

Franziska preparing yummy yummy lobster