Warning, long post with excessive numbers of photos!

The feeling of heading away for a full 2-week vacation is hard to beat, I am usually giddy with excitement and grinning ear to ear, this time was no different. Panama and New York awaited, kind of random destinations but there were reasons:

• We had thought we would move to Panama for a flying job a couple of years earlier, and started to research it. It seemed like a really cool place, so when the job didn’t work out, it had wormed its way into our minds as a place we wanted to go.

• NY had always been on the list, I had been there for a day or 2 here and there when we lived in Switzerland (as it was close by if I was in Boston for work) but there was still lots I hadn’t seen or done there. Plus my first time in NY is one of my strongest travel memories (long story… but I ended up in a limo arriving into Times Square with my head out the window, eyes wide, the city had totally captivated me). Since then I had it in my head that I wanted to be there for that moment for someone else, he hadn’t been given any flights there yet for work - so this was my chance!

The perks of staff travel meant we flew business class which sure made the 16 hour flight to JFK pass a bit faster. We headed for a hotel by the airport to catch some ZZZs before our flight to Panama the next day. After checking in we somehow managed to talk our way into an Amex Lounge for sunrise views and a candy bar for breakfast while we waited (hey - when in Rome….). It was a 5 hour flight on Copa Airlines to Panama City and a wicked city views-wise to fly into, we didn’t peep the canal though - despite best efforts. The guy who drove us to our accom was interesting to chat to, he told us we had arrived on a major holiday celebrating Panamas independence from Colombia, so the city was dressed up to party!

We stayed in the midst of Casco Viejo, a historical part of the city that was run down for a long time but has more recently started to be restored and become a really interesting area. You have a mixture of falling down old buildings, beautifully restored historical/traditional buildings, funky bright coloured graffiti walls, plants spilling out of windows, hipster cafes, tourist trap souvenir shops, hostels, fancy hotels, traditional eateries, local markets, cobblestone streets, parks, ruins, night clubs and rooftop bars. The whole area is very heavily policed as it used to be a really dangerous part of town, and its only matter of a road this way or that before you head back into more dangerous territory. We felt safe for the most part, just one night where we needed to get cash out so we wandered around trying to find an ATM, eventually we stopped to ask a policeman where we could find one - he basically told us to get outta dodge, I guess we had gone a road too far!

It was a great part of town to stay in, easy to get up on a rooftop for a sunset view out over the harbour and Panama City, with a Taco and a beer in hand. The only thing is it is a nightlife area so if you are a light sleeper do your research first about where you stay. We ended up in a hostel type place that had a rooftop bar AND a basement nightclub both with very poor acoustics (if your goal was sleep…). They kindly gave free earplugs out at reception which was necessary to even attempt sleeping!

After just one afternoon and evening in Casco Viejo it was already time to head for the next adventure. We repacked our bags and with a small backpack each, left our luggage in storage and headed to the local airstrip. In a teeny tiny plane (someone was VERY excited haha), we took off over the city once again and flew across the country to the other coast of Panama. We landed on an island just offshore with a runway that was only just long enough, were met by a long skinny wooden boat, and taken 5mins across the water (in POURING rain) to our home for the next 3 nights - a Catamaran!

Our destination - the San Blas Islands - when someone says “what would you take to a deserted island” or “draw a picture of a tropical island” - this place is what comes to mind. It is ridiculously picture perfect, pinch-yourself, dreamy holiday blue waters and white sand and palm trees.

We had booked a cabin in a shared boat, meaning there would be up to 3 other couples on the boat with us. So whilst we were excited, we were also slightly nervous - a boat is not a big place - and we had no idea who we would be sharing it with! Well we hit the jackpot, just one other couple, plus the captain and his son (the chef and right-hand man on board). The other couple were around the same age as us, living in Switzerland, him a Project Manager from Holland, her a doctor from Germany and we got on like a house on fire. This was lucky, as it rained… a lot… we managed to stay entertained on the boat with dice/card games, alcohol, music and lots of good conversation. We drove from island to island regardless of the weather but couldn’t really outrun it for the first couple of days. We got some moments of respite from the rain and took any chance we had to jump off the boat, swim to an island, laze on the trampoline and enjoy a meal without rain but overall it was pretty damp most of the time with grey skies and water. The rain did eventually let up thankfully, and we had one completely magical day and evening of sunshine and postcard views. We got in some snorkelling, visited the island from Money Heist, drank from fresh coconuts, stoked out at the beauty of it all, and enjoyed an awesome thunderstorm one evening.

It’s an interesting area culturally, I am definitely not going to do it justice here but the locals actually own the islands rather than Panama itself (we had to pay a special arrival tax in cash when we landed) and I think this is why tourism is very un-developed here compared to what it would be (I suspect) if it was owned by anyone else. There are only a couple of islands you can stay on, in very rugged accom, and a few islands that people live on but the vast majority are empty (they’re mostly very small so it makes sense). I wish we had been able to communicate more with the captain and his son, my beginner Spanish was not enough for us to get the full picture. The son cooked all our meals, in an amazingly resourceful way from the ingredients available. Sometimes we would stop near an island and him or his dad would pop across in a little rubber speed boat and come back with fresh fish or lobster (due to the weather we couldn’t do any fishing ourselves) or top ups of certain fruits or veges. There was also unlimited alcohol available which we did our best to work through!

Despite the rain and thanks to the great company, we had the BEST time and really wished we had a day or two longer seeing as the weather had righted near the end. But alas our plane was waiting to take us back, as we boarded we met the 2 new couples who had just landed and were taking our place on the boat (the dutch-german couple had booked a longer trip) and funnily enough they were from Switzerland as well, so weird.

We had another single night stay in Casco Viejo, repacking once more, before picking up a rental car and heading off on a road trip! Our destination was Vallee de Anton, an old volcano crater known as an area for hiking and outdoorsy stuff, read more in part 2.