Escaping Gamboa

Over the past six weeks or so I've been doing lots of science (of course) but have also had the opportunity to do a bit of travelling. Gamboa is a wonderful place - I feel like I've finally settled into the rhythm here, I am getting to know the long-term residents and even discovered the elusive ATM (!) - but I've learned that it's important to escape regularly in order to appreciate its charm. In this post I'm going to talk about some non-Gamboan adventures that I've had since I last wrote: visiting the Caribbean coast, the city, the Chiriqui highlands and even Ecuador.

It was actually quite a while ago now, but my first big adventure was a weekend in Portobelo on the Caribbean Coast. Along with seven other interns, we started on a Friday afternoon and made our way towards the coast on three (!) buses. The bus journey was part of the fun - it was my first time riding a diablo rojo, or Red Devil, a staple of Panamanian public transport which is slowly being phased out in favour of the (boring) Metro buses. We spent the first day on Isla Mamey, a delightful little island just a ten-minute boat ride from Puerto Lindo, a small town past Portobelo. There we relaxed in the shade of palm trees and took turns snorkelling. The following day we spent exploring the mangrove forests near Playa Blanca, which was a magical experience - I feel like I spent a lot of time learning about mangrove ecosystems in school and university, so to swim right in their crystal-clear waters was amazing, like meeting a celebrity in real life. The way of life on the Caribbean coast is different from other parts of Panama I've visited, but wonderful, with great music and food (pescado frito, patacones and arroz con coco are staples).

Thalia swimming in the mangroves

Diablos Rojos at Sabanitas

Panama City is only 40 minutes or so from Gamboa, but bus services are a little limited. So if you want to get into the city on Saturday, your only chance is the 9am busito, which seems to defy the laws of physics every week by accommodating what feels like the entire town on a single journey. There is only one road connecting Gamboa and the city, and though it's in abysmal condition, the views are amazing, with pristine rainforest towering over you on both sides. The bus terminates at Albrook Mall (fun fact - it's the biggest in Central America), and from there you can take a bus or the metro to different parts of the city. Unoriginally, my favourite part is Casco Viejo, the most touristy part of the city. It has charming colonial architecture, cool museums and, most importantly, an abundance of coffee shops charging extortionate prices for an espresso. Last weekend I visited the Mola museum for the first time, which showcases the traditional art of the Guna people. In the city, I also like Amador, a chain of islands now connected by an over-the-water causeway, where you can rent bikes and try raspado, Panamanian-style shaved ice with condensed milk and passionfruit juice. Cinco de Mayo also gets a special mention - this is the neighbourhood you walk through to get to Casco Viejo, and though travel literature is extremely disparaging about it, I think it's incredibly interesting, and has a great produce market. I've still got lots left to explore in Panama City (it's a work in progress).

Mola from the Mola Museum

Panama City skyline from a rooftop bar

Travelling to Ecuador for fieldwork has without a doubt been the most amazing scientific opportunity I've had so far at STRI. We (four of us from the lab) spent a week there in total, travelling around different parts of the country collecting butterflies in different ecosystems. We began in Quito, where (after a very bumpy landing) we ate some fabulous Ecuadorian food, collected some liquid nitrogen for freezing our samples and then drove straight to Tena, a city in the Amazon. This drive was one of my favourite parts of the whole trip. According to Google, Quito is at an elevation of 2850 metres, whereas Tena is at 598. So in only about three hours, we descended from a bleak and mountainous landscape reminiscent of the Scottish highlands to hot, lush jungle. The scenery on this drive was probably the most dramatic I've ever seen. Tena was an experience in itself - we stayed near an Indigenous community outside of the city, in what is essentially a self-sufficient Buddhist temple (hard to explain). The other interns and I slept in a bamboo house tucked right in the jungle, in amongst the sounds of the insects and the rain. Our host fed us locally-cultured yoghurt and bamboo curry made from the same materials as the huts we were sleeping in. I also loved the town of Tena itself, where we visited markets and ate local delicacies. We later moved on to the towns of Macas, and later Baños, both of which were dramatically different and equally wonderful. Culinary highlights included fresh cacao, fritada and encebollado (but not librillos, which I will never be eating again). The fieldwork itself was amazing of course (it always is), but the most memorable parts of this trip were spent laughing until my sides hurt with my travelling companions. I am desperate to explore more of South America, especially Colombia, and my list is constantly growing. 

Volcan Sangey, taken just outside of Macas

Scenery from near Baños

Bamboo house in Tena

Fresh cacao outside Baños

Fieldwork near Macas

Feeding butterflies in Baños

Most recently, I explored the west of Panama with Aidan, who was visiting from the UK. We ended up having quite an action-packed couple of weeks, starting with a few days in Gamboa. I loved showing him around Gamboa and seeing the rainforest through a fresh pair of eyes - it truly is an amazing place. We then travelled on to Boquete, an touristic town in the foothills of the tallest mountains in Panama. Again, the journey itself was pretty interesting, featuring some very enthusiastic salespeople and plenty of roadside stops. After the heat and humidity of Gamboa, it was wonderful to feel a fresh breeze again. It seems like Boquete is the perfect temperature all year round, allowing flowers and coffee plantations to flourish all year round, and the scenery is incredible. Perhaps as a result of this nurturing environment, the locals are especially friendly. Whilst in Boquete, we swam in waterfalls, hiked the infamous El Pianista and drank an awful lot of coffee, including the world-famous Geisha variety. After Boquete, we decided to spend one more night in the mountains, specifically at the Lost and Found hostel, an off-the-grid destination nestled right in the cloud forest. We spent most of our time here just admiring the view from the hammock, but did also go for a short hike during which we got very wet indeed. Our final destination before returning to Gamboa was Bocas Del Toro, a picture-perfect Caribbean island town. Although the heat here was challenging at times, it was worth it to explore the unique beach-jungle ecosystems and even spot a few of the famous strawberry poison dart frogs on Isla Bastimentos. And of course, there was plenty of pescado frito y patacones. 

Swimming at Las Tres Cascadas

The summit of El Pianista

The view from Lost and Found

Polo Beach on Bastimentos

A red frog on the appropriately named Red Frog Beach

We got talking to a local girl who insisted on taking a picture of us

A very big tree!

After all this travelling around I'm definitely ready to get stuck into my own independent research project. Specifically, I'll be studying the genetics of iridescence in the butterfly species Parides sesostris. Wish me luck!

Parides sesostris (photo by Sebastian Menas)