This is the view I get to enjoy from my bed hammock at Hotel Boca Brava. I so-loved sleeping in a hammock at my friend Daniel’s that when I got here and saw this hammock setup I just had to try it. Yes, that is water you see — the warm Pacific Ocean — and yes. Those are islands you see out in the water. Both sides of this room have water views.
Photos don’t do justice to Hotel Boca Brava or its views, but here are some views from and of the patio restaurant of Hotel Boca Brava. (The hotel is on Isla Boca Brava, in Panama.) The boat dock:
If you are seeking a beautiful hostel in a safe, well-to-do part of Panamá City — and you are OK with staying in a 6-8 bed dorm — I highly recommend Los Mostros hostel. It was built by an Architect. It had a pool in back, a billiard/pool table and ping pong tables out front. The kitchen is spacious and has real cooking items and plates, not broken odds and ends. There is a refrigerator for your food — and it actually works. There are just a couple of downsides: Smoking is limited to outside but you breath that smoke in the inside recreation rooms too. There are no private rooms. Here is a photo taken from the lobby area looking into the main recreation areas. Those two bean bag chairs are upstairs across from the reception desk. I will add more photos and info, time and photos permitting.
Unable to sleep for the first time since coming to live in a friend’s home in Punta Patilla, I just looked out my bedroom window. It is 3am. Rising out of the darkness comprised of private homes and now empty office buildings, is just one building — its elevators and halls alit. How interesting, how telling it is that by night Trump Panama looks like a Cobra poised to strike. And that I didn’t notice in the light of day – from any angle.
I did not get to stay at this place but my new friend Mike knows Boquetti very well and took me here to show me this hotel — Pension Marilos. For $15 you get a private room with a very good bed and bath. (I didn’t test the water pressure but the bathroom I saw looked very nice.) You will find Pension Marilos on the street that has the police station. it is a bit further from the town square, and is also en route to the Library. The owner speaks. Like many places to sleep in Central America, there are dogs inside. I did not ask if the dogs are permitted on the furniture.
It is easy to take a nice direct bus from San José, Costa Rica all the way to Panama City but there is much to enjoy before Panama City as it is far south. I opted to go only as far as David, Panama’s second largest city, and see some of the north en route down. This is the view from my lounge chair as I say and wrote one day. This is the back yard of Bambu Hostel – low-cost accomodation in David, Panama. Bambu is a hostel — casual and budget accomodations. There are some private rooms with and without private baths for $25/$30. There is an indoor 6-bed (3-bunk) dormitory with a bathroom (not shower) for $11. The lowest cost accommodation ($9) is the hut-style dormitory they call the “Jungle Lodge” out back. You see it pictured above. This is partial open-air, 10-bed (5-bunk) room in which […]
While in Boquette, Panamá, I forgot that I had made note of a fellow traveler’s recommendation — the Hostal Rio Refugio. He described it as “a hotel and hostel where the hostel is not second class.” It is right on the river, which runs alongside the town. I was told that in December (now) a hot tub will open there too. From what I was told, the only drawback was lack of free coffee. It appears to be budget accommodation with a touch of luxury. I was content to stay in a simple hostel right on the park in the center of town for $8.50, but I do wish I had remembered this place.
