First week starting life as a digital nomad in Panama

After a direct flight (KL0757) of about eleven hours, I arrived to Panama-City on the 1st of January in the early evening. Ready to start my holiday adventures as well as a small experiment with the concept of digital nomadism and remote working. Starting life as a digital nomad in Panama!

Digital Nomad in Panama – how to live, work and play around the world

A few months ago I read the book Digital Nomads – how to live, work and play around the world – by Esther Jacobs and Andre Gussekloo. The book inspired me to start my own digital nomad experiment here in Panama. [Nb. A digital nomad is someone who works location independent and makes his money online]. The experience will also be valuable for the course on Leadership in Digital Transformation (AOG School of Management), that I am currently following.

Some time ago I asked Darcy Gasparovic, owner of a beautiful guesthouse here in Santa Catalina, Panama, if I could come over for a month or two and do some work on his website. This in return for a discount on my stay. I asked him because I stayed at his B&B Coibahouse two times before, so we got to know eachother a bit and kept in touch (sometimes it’s as simple as that, just ask!). He said yes and I took an extended period of holidays from work to make it happen and here I am, in Santa Catalina, Panama!

Coibahouse Guesthouse

His guesthouse named Coibahouse is absolutely lovely and attracts a lot of visitors but most of his clients now book via booking.com (where the place is rated with a 9.2!). A great tool for the traveller but booking.com also takes a considerable percentage of the booking as a fee (15%). So the goal for improving his website was to attract more direct customers. Moreover, the occupancy rate could be improved, especially out of season.

So, the past month I have been doing some courses on websites and online marketing (SEO and SEM). To get to know the basics, I can recommend Digital Garage, a free online training course by Google. To let the world know about my experiences, I set-up a blog, chose the name “Remcosworld.com”, found a hosting provider and here it is: up and running!

Panama-City and Barro Colorado Island

Arriving at Panama’s Tocumen’s International Airport, the first two things I did after customs was to get some money (dollars in Panama) and get a local SIM-card. I twice learned the hard way what intercontinental roaming does to your wallet and we have a saying in Dutch about the third time. (something with a donkey and not banging his head to the rock a third time…). Then I hailed a taxi to bring me to my hotel.

When I am in Panama-City (population 1,5 million), I usually stay at the Casco Viejo. The Casco Viejo is the beautiful old part of town. However, prices were too high there since I booked late and also I wanted to relax and be close to the starting point of my trip to Barro Colorado Island. Therefore, I booked a room in the Radisson hotel in the rainforest, right next to the Panama-Canal. Amazing place, I could see the monkeys jumping from tree to tree from the swimming pool terrace.

Video: So this is why they call it the RAINforest!!!!! (Radisson hotel, Paraiso, close to Panama-City).

Barro Colorado Island (BCI)

Barro Colorado is an island in the Gatun-lake in the middle of the Panama-Canal. The island was formed by the damming of the Chagres river to create the Panama Canal. It became a nature reserve in 1923. The small island of only 15,6 km2 is home to no less than 120 mammal species, 381 bird species, 1316 recorded plant species and thousands of insect species. And that in an area of only 15,6 km2!.

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) that manages the island has a renowned research institute on the island to study rainforest ecosystems and biodiversity. It is one of the most intensively studied rainforest in the world. STRI offers a limited number of places for guided tours.

Hiking the island

Since all of this sounded super interesting, I booked a tour with them via their website. I got picked up by a boat from their pier in Gamboa where I had to report (January 3rd) at 7:00 o’clock a.m!. I tried to get an Uber to bring me there early in the morning. Soon I realized there were no Ubers there at that time in the rainforest (so strange, gosh!!;). Therefore, I asked the hotel to call me a taxi to bring me there.

The boat ride took about 45 minutes through the Panama-Canal to get to the island. On the boat I met a couple of scientists and also my tour guides: a swedish girl that was doing tree research on the island and a Panamanian girl. Furthermore, there was an american family in my group, 8 people in total.

Amazing wildlife

After some explanations about the island, we started our hike and the wildlife was amazing. There were howler monkeys everywhere and also many agoutis, coatis and a lot of birds. The blue morpho butterflies we saw were very beautiful (but try to get them on a picture). I would also like to give a special mention to George, the trash-seeking coati, caught in the act! (see pics below).