Yep, it’s another travel story, only now it’s analogue and from another part of the world, a warmer part of the world :p

Weather related escape trips in the beginning of the year is a thing for me, not yet a hobby, but I’m getting there. I was always more attracted by Asia, but this time Central America rang the bell and I took off for a month leaving cold and rainy Amsterdam behind.

I was struggling with deciding which camera to take with me, but in the end chose for analogue due to its small size, weight and of course, dah, the best colours digital will never be able to beat. That combined with an iPhone in my pocket gave me a compact but comforting ‘ready to shoot’ feeling.. Little did I know that my phone will hit the ocean floor after the first week of travel, my bf’s phone will disappear mysteriously from an empty island beach, leaving me with my Minolta XG-M that suddenly decided it to make pictures by itself.. I had a crisis moment right there, but then hallelujah! eureka! or whatever you can shout when you find a solution - I managed to work around my camera’s sudden independency and photographs came out just fine.

Writing is hardly my talent, so I won’t bore you with a never ending verbal shenanigans of my one month adventure and will stick to a short (I hope) route sum-up.

My trip started on 18th December with couple of days in Panama city from where I took a night bus, a taxi and a boat (more like 3 of them) to Bocas del Toro. After Christmas celebration combined with iPhone diving farewell we flew to Medellin in Colombia. From there we took a local bus to a cute pretty village Guatape that lies next to the gorgeous lake and multiple lands previously owned by notorious Pablo Escobar. Three days later we came back to Medellin to celebrate New Year Colombian style. A hidden gem for techno lovers - Medellin’s club Top Secret. Great music and atmosphere, a night I will never forget.

Short story long, next day we took our hangover on a flight to boiling and steamy Cartagena. Feeling lobstery after just one day we headed towards Palomino, which was hardly something special, except for one thing - a nearby National Park Tayrona. Being crazy as I am I walked 22 km through the jungle in one single day; a trip that’s normally broken down in 2 parts with an overnight on the camping sight in the park.

Aaaand back to Cartagena’s hammam only to catch a plane to Panama city and rush to the boat that took us to our final stop before Amsterdam - paradise islands Contadora & Saboga. Almost as any place I’ve visited on this trip the islands had their ‘problem moments’ but I fell in love with them anyway, especially Contadora.

Ok, ok it’s time to shut up for me :)

Enjoy the pictures and if you are planning to travel to Panama & Colombia be prepared, study the route, book flights and accommodations in advance and of course practice your Spanish, adios!