If you have followed my personal Instagram a bit (tessamoorman), you have already seen it: the last two months I was in Panama and Costa Rica! Discovering life as a digital nomad and escaping the cold wet winter in the Netherlands. Besides the vegan & healthy hotspots I came across, you’ll find in this blog an account of where I have been. If you are planning to go to Panama, this might be useful for you. And if you’re looking for a nice vacation spot, I can definitely recommend Panama! First, you’ll find some general information and then the places I have visited. The blog has become a bit long, sorry! But Panama just has so many great places.
To give you a bit of perspective on how I approached the trip: it was a combination of relaxing, discovering beautiful places, and working for The Green Happiness and RYB playground. We didn’t visit an overwhelming number of places partly for that last reason, but we picked out some nice spots to settle down. On the days I was behind my laptop, my friend filled his time with walking, reading, sunbathing, etc. Because of the time difference with the Netherlands, I sometimes started working as early as 4 AM, which meant I had extra long days!
The weather & the people
I was in Panama in February. This is the dry season, so we only had a small shower now and then. Otherwise, it was pleasantly warm with temperatures around 30 degrees. In Boquete, it was cooler, about 20 degrees.
The people in Panama are incredibly friendly and helpful. There are many places where they speak quite good English, although speaking Spanish does make communication a lot easier and is greatly appreciated. Taxi drivers are the best people to practice your Spanish with, so go for it!
Vegan & healthy eating in Panama
In Panama, there’s a lot of fresh fruit, avocados, and coconuts! Papayas, passion fruits, pineapples, and melons. So for breakfast and snacks in between, you’re all set if you are as much of a fruit lover as I am.
Veggie options are almost everywhere, but do ask if they can leave out the cheese if you want to eat vegan. In many places, there were standard veggie and even vegan dishes on the menu. But other times, it wasn’t much more than rice with vegetables or a pizza without cheese.
When you’re on a beach with coconuts, make sure to find someone who can get one down for you from the tree and has a machete so you can drink the coconut water. Afterwards, you can break open the coconut and eat the flesh.
I’ve collected tasty restaurants where I have eaten, and you will soon be able to find them under hotspots.
Internet for the digital nomads
Almost a lot of places in Panama have WiFi and reasonably good coverage. I immediately bought a SIM card for my mobile, and it worked great. In many small towns, there is free WiFi in the square. Not good enough to watch videos or download things, but good enough for emails, apps, etc.
Not all hostels had really good internet, but many did! So sometimes it’s a matter of searching and planning if you need the internet for work, but perfectly fine for a vacation.
Getting around
Buses in Panama are just fine! There is only one main highway from Panama City to David, so there are buses running regularly. If you want to cover the distance in one go, the night bus is a good option.
In many places in Panama, Uber works just fine! But regular taxis are also quite affordable and reliable. The people are extremely helpful and genuinely want to guide you in the right direction.
You can also fly from Panama City to Bocas del Toro. A tiny plane gets you to the sunny islands in no time. Our flight was a bit delayed, but hey, that’s kind of part of traveling here…
The places I’ve visited
Panama City
We flew to Panama City and stayed there for a few days so we could meet friends who were heading back home. A nice city to see for a day with the unexpected tall buildings, but you don’t need to stay much longer than a few days. We especially liked the old district Casco Viejo. Beautiful colored buildings, cozy squares, and nice restaurants. We also thought the old ruins were worth a visit.
If you want to seek a bit of nature while in Panama City, you can go to Cerro Ancón. A park where you can walk and have a beautiful view over the city from the mountain.
We also went to Amador for a day. The large pier/boulevard from where you have a view over the city. It was a lot less exciting than the guidebook suggested! However, it’s fun to pass by the bio museum where you can learn more about the culture of Panama and how the Spaniards arrived here.
Boquete
A day of traveling by boat and bus brought us to the mountainous Boquete. It’s a lot cooler here (you definitely want long pants and a sweater in the evening), about 20 degrees, and we had quite a bit of wind. It’s gorgeous here for hiking! If you feel like being active, it’s definitely nice to stay here for a few days. We did the waterfall hike and the other hikes around it. The hikes are well-marked, so you can do them without a guide. You can also take a tour with a zip line or climb the rock wall. The coffee here is really something special, and a tour to a plantation (which is cultivated very sustainably!) is definitely fun to do. We first stayed at the hostel Eco Horqueta a bit outside the town. Incredibly sweet owners and delicious food, but a bit remote. Therefore, we also spent a night in Boquete itself (hostel Boquete, a very basic hostel).
Eco Mamalena
Hostel Eco Mamalena is located just south of Panama City. Maybe a bit of an odd route, but we headed back that way because at the end of the month we were going to the Tribal Gathering which was north of Panama City. For us, this was a very chill place with more pleasant temperatures than Boquete, decent food, a beautiful location, and good WiFi which allowed me to work for a few days.
Tribal Gathering Festival
We spent almost 2.5 weeks at the Tribal Gathering festival. Festival might not be the right word, it felt more like a hippie campsite with all sorts of activities. Located in the far northeast of Panama, somewhere at the end of the beach (even beyond Portobello at Playa Chiquita), the festival is set up. Your phone has no signal, WiFi barely works, so you are really ”disconnected” from the rest of the world. It’s located on a stunning beach with jungle next to it. Various indigenous tribes from around the world came together to share their culture, ceremonies, and customs. Additionally, there were all kinds of workshops to join, from yoga, meditation, and intensive breathing to hula hooping, slacklining, and various creative art workshops. In between, there was music and at the end of the festival, the party took off. A very unique mix of people, everyone is super friendly, so you make cool connections very easily. There are about 1500 people at the festival, so pretty quickly you get to know ”everyone.” We had an amazing time there!
Portobello
This was our (internet) escape halfway through the Tribal Gathering festival. A nice little town, the first place where slavery was abolished! I didn’t know beforehand what you could do here, but it’s a nice spot for different trips (into the jungle, kayaking, or going to the San Blas islands). We stayed at the hostel Llena Luna. A fun hostel where delicious food is cooked! There are only dorms, but there is a large terrace overlooking the town and the water. The internet was a bit slow here, but in the middle of the square, there is also free WiFi that everyone can use and that works well!
After the Tribal Gathering, we stayed a few more nights in Portobello, and then we slept at the restaurant/hostel Il Castillo, just outside the town but right by the water. There was good internet and nice hammocks to chill in. For food, we went twice to a German restaurant Casa Vela which made the best pizzas.
From Panama to Costa Rica
From Panama City, we took the night bus to the border with Costa Rica. This was perfectly doable, in seven hours we were at the border without changing buses! Do you have any fun tips for Panama? Read more about Costa Rica in this blog. Leave a message below!