I Guess We Live Here Now.

We made it to our FINAL Central American country, Panama! This is our second time in this beautiful place and we were so excited to explore parts of the country we hadn’t yet seen! We only made it to Casco Viejo on our first trip here in 2016 and were "rained in" due to a hurricane which cancelled our trip to the San Blas Islands. But now, in the dry season, there is little risk of that, and there is so much more to see outside of the city! Our first stop: Boquete.

Casco Viejo, Panama; 2016

Boquete is a beautiful little town nestled into the mountains of Panama. It’s become the location of a major push for retirees to relocate to for the last 10-15 years. As a result, there is a huge expat community here which means a lot of things are in English and there are also little comforts of life in North America or Europe that are hard to find in Latin America- like Dr. Bronner’s refills and affordable quinoa! But the best part? THE WEATHER. After spending our final couple weeks in Costa Rica on the hot, sticky beaches, we were eager to make it to the cool, dry climate of Boquete. Mid 70’s during the day, low 60’s at night- it couldn’t be more perfect! Especially for two people and a dog living in their van :) We opted to stay for a few days at an Inn style property that also allows camping. They have WiFi, a shared kitchen, and a bathroom with a HOT shower! We meal prepped, got some laundry done (our sheets were in DESPERATE need after all those sweaty nights), and enjoyed unlimited access to the internet/showers for a few days. After that it was back to free camping for us. Panama is pretty safe and there are plenty of places to free camp in and around the city of Boquete. We explored the town, its surrounding mountains, enjoyed views of Volcán Barú, and went on a 5 mile hike through the rainforest that took us WAY too long to complete. On our way back we got caught up in the rain and Miles was PISSED. He laid down in protest several times on our trek back to the van- I think his long hiking days are behind us :( After all, he turns 15 this month!

Meal Prep: hummus, pita bread, quinoa for salads, & soft boiled eggs.... yummm.

Walking through the town.

On our way to go get all the copies we need of our documents for shipping!

Boquete, Panama.

Crossing the bridge from our camping spot to the city.

Beautiful bridge.

Bridge views.

Just out side the "center", before you cross the bridge to our campsite.

Beautiful town.

Street art.

Town of Boquete

Boquete, Panama.

Crossing the bridge from our campsite to the city.

Boquete campsite- bridge in the background.

Il Pianista Hike.

Nice and dry at the beginning :)

Moving closer to the dense jungle.

Rain forest.

After getting caught in the rain. Miles was DONE!

I mentioned our San Blas Islands trip was canceled a few years back and while we REALLY wanted to experience them this time- they are slightly out of our budget now that we don’t exactly have an income :) Also, dogs aren’t allowed. SO, we opted for the next best thing- BOCAS! Bocas Del Toro is a province made up of a series of islands on the Caribbean side of the country. They are known for their bohemian/backpacker/laid back vibe, their culturally diverse population descending from French, Spanish, Caribbean, and Ngäbe  ancestors, and are an easy boat taxi away from the mainland due to its close proximity. 

We opted to book an Airbnb rather than bring our van across on the car ferry- we just didn’t think we could handle any more sweaty nights of sleep in the van for a little while! So we also made sure the Airbnb had air conditioning ha. The night we arrived is when things started to feel weird. We found out the Wifi had been down for 4 days… OK, no big deal. It wasn’t a necessity but definitely a nice to have. After all, we were only paying $27/nt for the place so it was hard to complain. The next morning, the water shut off… and shortly after, the power went out. I knew we were only paying $27/nt but sheesh! Island life, I guess? As if we weren’t already a little weirded out by the unreliability of our living quarters for the next few days, a bombshell had just hit the news. The World Health Organization had just announced the coronavirus, COVID-19, was now a global pandemic. We sort of knew it was heading in that direction, but for us- we’d also kind of been in a bubble. We typically keep to ourselves and aren’t in huge crowds of people and up until very recently there weren’t any cases in Latin America. Well, that had now changed with Panama confirming 36 cases and 1 death- the first in Latin America. And the other thing that had changed, and was continuing to change quickly, were several country’s travel policies in relation to their borders- who they were going to let in, and who they weren’t. Now, as a person traveling and away from their home country, the news was off-putting enough. But as a person who is trying to coordinate getting around the Darien Gap to ensure that both us and our van get there by different modes of transport (I’ll explain why this is further), the news set off a bit of a panic. We were scheduled to drop off our vehicle for transport March 17th and then board a flight to Colombia later that night. And after researching further- it seemed that both of those things were still possible… But things were changing so rapidly that if either Panama or Colombia made the decision to close their borders- we knew we could be stuck here for months. SO to distract ourselves from a rabbit hole of "what-if"’s we promptly went to the bar and got nice and drunk while we waited for the power and water in our Airbnb to return :) And we even got Wifi back!

Cervesas & Hand Sanitizer.

Gloves & a mask... servers in Bocas Town.

The next day, with no new news, we continued in the spirit of enjoying ourselves and the beautiful location we were in- just with a little extra hand sanitizer and trips to wash our hands :) We booked a tour that took us by boat to several islands in the archipelago. We saw dolphins, sloths, snorkeled, found our own private beach in a national park, and ate lunch at one of the most beautiful locations I’ve ever been. It was quite the turn around from the day before and truly was a perfect day.

Bastimentos Town. 

Bocas Town.

Dolphin #1!

Dolphin #2! #'s 3-7 arrived just after this!

Sloth :)

Walk to lunch.

Lobstah for lunch!

Our own private beach in Caya Zapatilla.

Caya Zapatilla.

Bastimentos National Park

Private Beach Selfie.

Right after I told him, "Don't furrow your brow!"

In a quick snap back to reality, it was time to head to Panama City to begin our week long border crossing process to Colombia. When we started planning this trip, we thought MAYBE we’d go to Mexico. MAYBE. But somehow we made it to Panama with the intent to continue into South America. Some people might ask, "How does that happen?" But not us. For us the question is always, "Why not?" And after a series of "why not?"s, we began navigating the long, complicated process of getting ourselves across the Darien Gap- a stretch of land that separates Panama and Colombia, covered in dense jungle with no roads to drive on. Saying it is a long, complicated process to cross the Darien is an understatement. For example, we’d been gathering research from dozens of sources on and off for about 6 months prior to our scheduled shipping And for 2 months we’d been actively tackling the preliminary steps: getting quotes, contacting agents, seeking other travelers to share a container with, measuring and remeasuring the van, etc. Not to mention going through the ACTUAL steps of making it all happen. The process consists of loading our van onto a ship, boarding a plane, and waiting 8 excruciatingly LONG days to be reunited on a new continent, in a new country. 

It’s the most complicated border crossing we’ll have on this journey and, as you can imagine, the most stressful. I’m not intimidated by much these days. But when it came to shipping Fran from Central to South America, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t had second thoughts. The unknown can be scary, and I’ve mostly become good and pushing forward without giving the unknown much thought- I wouldn’t be on this trip if I wasn’t somewhat accustomed to it. But on a scale of 1 to 10, to me this was an 11, with a normal border crossing at a 3. It seemed far past the point that I could handle (who do you think actually takes care of all of the logistics, me or Zach? ;)) and I knew I needed to gently remind myself that it’s OK to be a little intimidated. What we are doing IS intimidating. Also, SO many other people have done it before us, and if other people can do it. So can we.

But now, with the uncertainty of border closures that could happen at any time, my anxiety was through the roof. We knew it could all come to a screeching halt when we were so close to crossing the finish line...... And as soon as we got to Panama City, 2 days before we were going to complete the process, that's exactly what happened. Colombia announced it was closing its borders to all foreigners beginning March 16th until further notice.

So.

We stopped at a market, grabbed some beer, and met up with our friends who we were planning to ship with. We were parked behind the Radisson Hotel right on the Panama Canal (to snag some free wifi :)), talking through the absurdity of our situation, thanking our lucky stars that the news came BEFORE we dropped off our vehicles, and coming up with a plan for the next month. And then our day that felt despondent took a turn. A couple retirees from Texas, Linda & Marshall, saw our Alabama and Alberta plates and came up to talk with us. Before we knew it, all 6 of us were piled into our van and on our way to a restaurant where they treated all 4 of us to dinner. During our time together we were reminded that sometimes things don't go as planned. That maybe it was for a reason. Maybe the ship Fran would have been on would have sank to the bottom of the ocean. Maybe we would have contracted the virus on the plane. Or even worse, maybe we would have spread it to someone that may not be able to fight it off. They reminded us that even though this was an inconvenience, we had our health and we had each other.

Me, Zach, Joel, Alicia, Linda & Marshall. Dinner in Panama City; March 15, 2020.

So for now, we are quarantining ourselves as much as possible in our tiny home on wheels, that we are thankful to have. We'll be heading back up to Boquete for cooler weather and to wait this all out.