Note: I am a 24 year old Filipino (if that even matters to you) from the Bay Area in San Francisco. This is my first time traveling solo.
Day 1 - Friday: Arrived in Panama City, Panama from San Francisco. My route was SFO-LAX-IAH-PTY. First thing I did when I arrived: took a taxi from Tocumen to Albrook Mall to get a sim card for my iPhone. Cost me about $7 with Movistar. This included minutes, texting, and internet. I had no need for minutes, but internet was pretty important for Tinder, Facebook, Whatsapp, email, etc. As soon as I got my sim card, I opened up Tinder and matched with a bunch of chicas from Panama City. Too bad because I would only be there for less than an hour. From Albrook Mall, I took the same taxi to Albrook Airport. Total taxi ride was $35. My taxi driver originally asked for $45. *NOTE* ALWAYS haggle down the price with taxi drivers. From there, I flew to Bocas Del Toro for about $145 one way. I already booked a stay at a bed & breakfast in downtown Bocas for Saturday and Sunday, so I didn’t make reservations for Friday. I decided to check out the hostel scene, so I stayed at Hosteluego. It was about a ten minute walk from the airport to the hostel. It’s pretty easy to walk anywhere and is very safe. Just be aware of your surroundings and don’t act like you’re a lost tourist. There were lots of Europeans ranging from ages 16-40+. Some of the girls were bangin. I've always had a thing for those accents plus they were in great shape. The issue I have with backpackers is that they are stingy as fuck and try to spend as little as possible. Lots of them have dreadlocks, which is not something I am into. For the most part, everyone was friendly. It’s easy to strike up a conversation with anyone, especially if you speak Spanish decently. People are friendly for the most part. At the hostel, there are shared showers, toilets, sinks, etc. Lots of common areas to chill and hang with the other people. After getting ready, I went to the main street and got some street food: steak and chicken skewers with onions and bell peppers and also a restaurant called Chitre, where they had authentic Panamanian food. Their chicken was very good. After, I went to Iguana, where it was ladies’ night. Lots of girls and guys ranging from 16+. No one ever checked ID for age. Surprisingly there were a lot of Americans there. I realized Bocas Del Toro is full of internationals compared to Panamanians. Met a lot of girls from Canada, various European countries, and the US. Hit it off with a cute Dutch girl and had her ditch her friends to come back to the hostel conmigo. Boom boom. By the way, shots were $1 each if you’re into drinking.
Day 2 - Saturday: Kayaked from my bed and breakfast to Playa Tortuga Hotel, where I stayed with a friend I met on Friday. There, we chilled by the pool and had a few drinks, but there were no ladies out to play-just a bunch of older people and their families. Around 10 o' clock we took a $2 taxi to Bocas Town and took a $1 water taxi to Aqua Lounge. You could hear the music from Aqua Lounge from 200+ feet away. The people there were mostly Americans, Europeans, and Australians. I happened to meet a few attractive ladies from Costa Rica. They were happy that I was friendly with them compared to a lot of the other people there. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to see so many entitled, self-centered douchey people: girls and guys. It was as if I was in a college bar back in California. Anyways, those girls liked me, but decided to leave because it was getting too hot inside. Got their contact info, so we’ll see where that goes. Afterwards, talked to a bunch of mixed groups, but ended up not leaving with anyone this time. Took a water taxi back, grabbed some street food: $1-$2 skewers and $2 soup. Amazing. Chatted up an Australian and her Irish girl friend. The Australian girl was into me, so I had my friend chat with the Irish girl. We took a taxi back with them to our hotel. My friend couldn’t keep up the conversation with his girl, so they decided to leave. All good. We’ll see how things go tomorrow. I think it’ll be best for me to roll solo for the rest of the time I’m here.
More to come.
Day 1 - Friday: Arrived in Panama City, Panama from San Francisco. My route was SFO-LAX-IAH-PTY. First thing I did when I arrived: took a taxi from Tocumen to Albrook Mall to get a sim card for my iPhone. Cost me about $7 with Movistar. This included minutes, texting, and internet. I had no need for minutes, but internet was pretty important for Tinder, Facebook, Whatsapp, email, etc. As soon as I got my sim card, I opened up Tinder and matched with a bunch of chicas from Panama City. Too bad because I would only be there for less than an hour. From Albrook Mall, I took the same taxi to Albrook Airport. Total taxi ride was $35. My taxi driver originally asked for $45. *NOTE* ALWAYS haggle down the price with taxi drivers. From there, I flew to Bocas Del Toro for about $145 one way. I already booked a stay at a bed & breakfast in downtown Bocas for Saturday and Sunday, so I didn’t make reservations for Friday. I decided to check out the hostel scene, so I stayed at Hosteluego. It was about a ten minute walk from the airport to the hostel. It’s pretty easy to walk anywhere and is very safe. Just be aware of your surroundings and don’t act like you’re a lost tourist. There were lots of Europeans ranging from ages 16-40+. Some of the girls were bangin. I've always had a thing for those accents plus they were in great shape. The issue I have with backpackers is that they are stingy as fuck and try to spend as little as possible. Lots of them have dreadlocks, which is not something I am into. For the most part, everyone was friendly. It’s easy to strike up a conversation with anyone, especially if you speak Spanish decently. People are friendly for the most part. At the hostel, there are shared showers, toilets, sinks, etc. Lots of common areas to chill and hang with the other people. After getting ready, I went to the main street and got some street food: steak and chicken skewers with onions and bell peppers and also a restaurant called Chitre, where they had authentic Panamanian food. Their chicken was very good. After, I went to Iguana, where it was ladies’ night. Lots of girls and guys ranging from 16+. No one ever checked ID for age. Surprisingly there were a lot of Americans there. I realized Bocas Del Toro is full of internationals compared to Panamanians. Met a lot of girls from Canada, various European countries, and the US. Hit it off with a cute Dutch girl and had her ditch her friends to come back to the hostel conmigo. Boom boom. By the way, shots were $1 each if you’re into drinking.
Day 2 - Saturday: Kayaked from my bed and breakfast to Playa Tortuga Hotel, where I stayed with a friend I met on Friday. There, we chilled by the pool and had a few drinks, but there were no ladies out to play-just a bunch of older people and their families. Around 10 o' clock we took a $2 taxi to Bocas Town and took a $1 water taxi to Aqua Lounge. You could hear the music from Aqua Lounge from 200+ feet away. The people there were mostly Americans, Europeans, and Australians. I happened to meet a few attractive ladies from Costa Rica. They were happy that I was friendly with them compared to a lot of the other people there. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting to see so many entitled, self-centered douchey people: girls and guys. It was as if I was in a college bar back in California. Anyways, those girls liked me, but decided to leave because it was getting too hot inside. Got their contact info, so we’ll see where that goes. Afterwards, talked to a bunch of mixed groups, but ended up not leaving with anyone this time. Took a water taxi back, grabbed some street food: $1-$2 skewers and $2 soup. Amazing. Chatted up an Australian and her Irish girl friend. The Australian girl was into me, so I had my friend chat with the Irish girl. We took a taxi back with them to our hotel. My friend couldn’t keep up the conversation with his girl, so they decided to leave. All good. We’ll see how things go tomorrow. I think it’ll be best for me to roll solo for the rest of the time I’m here.
More to come.
