This very special trip started at the beach of a wonderful island called Contadora! The island is really beautiful but the beauty has its price. We spend so much money that we decided to leave and explore another wonderful place. Heading out from one magical island in the pacific to the other beauty in the Caribbean ocean. Isla Grande. So close…. But still so far!

Everything started as usual in Central America…. At their very own time… Leaving one and a half hours late (measured in European time) with a very powerful speed catamaran ferry including an equally powerful air conditioner…. After one and a half hours in the freezer, we stepped totally cool ( 😀 ) out into the heat of Panama city.

After a short ride with the cap we arrived at the really crowded bus station in Panama City. Luckily we didn’t need to take the bus with the three-hour-waiting-line. Our bus was way easier to get but what a surprise: we didn’t get rid of the freezer that day. The bus was as cold as winter in Germany. And the traffic jams were worse. Nevertheless we took the bus to Colon…

But hey, just one and a half hours later we stepped cold as ice out of the bus on a corner in the middle of a small suburb of Colon. At least it is suggested in the guide books. But the witty backpacker catches contact easily. Forty-five minutes later we found out that some busses can be more crowded than buses in Munich during the Oktoberfest. Also the attempt to load us and our huge backpacks through the back windows failed. Locals screamed nice things like: “ Gringo loco!” and we decided to wait for the next bus 😀

We needed to wait over an hour to find out whether we are gonna leave this suburb this evening, because there was only one more bus driving to portobelo this evening – our final destination for the day. Finally the bus stopped right in front of us and we headed with our big backpacks straight to the door to reach the bus safely. What a luck: the bus was quite empty, we even got places to sit down and enjoy the bus ride. Happy with our comfortable seats we recognized the nature of the bus we were sitting in. It’s a party-bus!! Colourful lights, loud music and a driver that loves speed.

Right when we started to enjoy our bumpy ride in an old American school bus through the dark Panamanian Outback bumping on our worn out leather chair right below the very powerful Sound system, something had to end our luck again. In this case it was this one last big bump which ended the long and duty full life of our party-school-bus. The middle axis said “fuck you” loud and clearly. So we came sliding to a full stop in the middle of nowhere…. At least they kept the music and the lights running. Party must go on.

Thirty minutes with loud music and party lights pass by like nothing. Right when we climbed in the after hour party bus our heated up crowd demanded: “Que es la musica?!”The party has to go on, you know. While our ears were enlightened by the one and only “DJ-Master-Mix-Tape” we picked up speed again and drifted towards a small sleepy town in the middle of a national park. There our journey ended that day. No further buses this night… well it was already close to midnight. So we went off in the rainy night to find our luck again.

But where to sleep? The friendly local suggests, the unknowing traveller obeys. But there was one tiny problem: The hostel was already closed. We knocked at the front door thousands of times…no reaction. We walked around the house to find another entrance…no chance. Finally Dominic found stairs leading up to an unlocked door. What a luck. We got into the hostel and nobody was there. Well, there were three other guests sleeping in the beds so we choose a different room and spent the night in the hostel where we “broke in”. The night was calm – no thrilling moments. In the morning we wanted to leave quite early, but there was still nobody at the reception. We needed to catch the bus so we had no choice and left the hostel. If they may ever find out we were there? Maybe because of the used bedclothes. What a cheap night compared to our stay at Contadora Island! So always look at the bright side and never forget: The party must go on.