Panama to Colombia: The Darien Gapster

It´s hard to put this trip in words. It was filled with excitement, fear, wonder, discomfort and amazement. We met some really great people who we have continued to travel with and collected a handful of memories we will never forget.

The Darien Gapster is a 4 day, 3 night adventure boat that gets you from Panama to Colombia. Many choose to take a sail boat which seems to be ¨more luxurious¨ yet doesn´t allow you to sleep on land and buy cold beer once yours inevitably runs out. We weren´t sure what to expect, yet neither did the other 15 people. We seemed to connect as a group very easily and really had to since you spent hours on the boat shoulder to shoulder, getting sick together, singing together, and riding the waves together.

Day 1- 5 am wake up. 5 others from our hostel were also headed on our same trip. We were supposed to have a jeep pick us up yet a colectivo showed up instead. Nice and packed, our first group bonding experience began right away when ¨John Denver¨as he became known needed to stop by the ATM (which we all knew should have been done the day before). We began an hour long goose chase for WIFI and the correct ATMs.

After about an hour, we were off. Our colectivo dropped us off a couple hours down the road to pick up our jeeps. Another example of how unorganized things seem to be in Panama, we were directed by 5 or 6 people who threw our bags on top of the jeeps and packed us inside. Another  hour up and down a very windy road we arrived at the Darien Gapster.

Our first journey was only a half hour to a small Island called Por Viner. Here we had lunch and many swam while I snoozed in a hammock to catch up on some sleep since I had celebrated Australian day the night before with a sausage sizzler and the top 100 music countdown of the year till the wee hours of the morning.  After lunch we headed to Nalungega which is an island inhabited by a small village which has sandy walkways as roads and side by side thatched huts. Our hostel had simple accommodations but was right on the ocean with a large porch and airy rooms. For  dinner we all went to a local's house and ate a healthy portion of curry, finishing off the night with songs from the Local girls and the Four Dutch guys who became the class clowns of the boat.

Day 2- We ate breakfast at the local restaurant , packed our bags and jumped in the boat for a 2 hour trip to the smallest island I´ve ever been on, Pelican Island. You could literally throw a rock from one side to the other. Surrounding the island was a giant coral reef where we spent the afternoon snorkeling among the fishes and the waves. A Kuna family brought our dinner on a kayak as well as a cooler of cold beer.

After lunch we traveled another two hours to Iguana Beach. The waves were 3 meters high and we had one seasick person. We rode the waves while singing songs by Johnny Cash and Queen led by our fearless Dutch friends until we reached the beach. Beautifully long and filled with coconut trees, we pitched tents and collected wood for the fire. We sat around the fire and introduced S'mores to the Europeans who had sadly never experienced them, drank wine and told jokes. As the night ended we went skinny dipping under the full moon.

bathroom

Day 3- Luckily the plan was to stay on this island until lunch time because half our group came down with something. The beach looked like a war zone. Everyone lay horizontal in hammocks on sleeping pads or just on the sand. I was lucky enough to escape the sickness and spent the day walking around the island and reading.  With half lively spirits our group struggled back onto the boat around 2 for our next island. We again only had one spew over the boat during our trip and landed safely and went on to our hostel that looked strangly like a concentration camp with simple wooden rooms strewn with hammocks. A new law had just been declared on the island not allowing anyone to jump from the dock into the water. At first we wondered why, declaring the rule ridiculous since the baby blue water looked so inviting. Yet once you had to take a poo you quickly learned the new law was very understandable. Surrounding the entire island little docks shot out into the ocean which were in fact each family’s bathroom.  You walk into the little shack and down the hole is that baby blue ocean we were coveting just moments before!

Day 4- Today was a short day on the boat with the highest waves. We caught some serious air! As we came up onto the swell we would look down and wonder if we were ever going to come down, then Bang back at the bottom we were. Luckily, again, we had only one seasick individual.  We were off to get our exit stamps from Panama. As we pulled up to the dock, a police boat was blocking the dock. We tried to squeeze behind him but failed, hitting the boat multiple times and becoming spectacles for army boys and Cubans dressed in full blue sweat suits (no joke). We were unable to dock so we anchored and then one by one jumped ship and swam to shore like a bunch of fugitives. And to add to the excitement our trusty container for our passports broke open leaving us all fanning out the pages in front of the immigration officer till they were dry enough to stamp.

We swam back to the boat, reasonably unscathed besides some small cuts and a sea urchin sting and got ready for our last boat trip to La Miel. Here Marco is starting a hostel  and allowed us to stay there for one night. It was a beautiful beach in a quaint town, yet the beach was incredibly littered with small bits of plastic washing up with the waves. It was sad to see such a small community affected so much by other people's waste.

All in all the trip was an amazing and unique experience with a genuine group of people who I will remember for years to come!