7 Days Later: Edition 19 - Bootcamp to Bocas Del Toro

City living, at times it can be monotonous but one thing it allows for is productive work-blocks. This week Jackson and I finished our Panama City boot camp, a fitness/blogging regime created and completed by yours truly. Returning from the San Blas Islands we decided it was necessary to put in an intensive block of physical training and work on our respective websites. At the beginning of the year, one of my personal goals was to be consistent in everything I do. A subcategory within the theme was to focus on my running, with a goal of completing 3000km by year end. On the islands of San Blas, we spent a lot of time in transit via boat or on islands no bigger than a volleyball court surrounded by huts. As a result, we didn’t do any running…

The boardwalk we ran along every day, Panama has an impressive cityscape.

Panama City Boot Camp

Jacko and I at the end of our ‘boot camp week’, time for a big dinner.

In the weeks following the Bali-Hope Ultra Marathon in May, it was inevitable that I would need some time to build back up to the weekly kilometres I was running before the race. After a month of returning the load back onto my legs, Jackson and I did a 5-day block of running and body-weight (calisthenics inspired) training at the local outdoor bar gym. Over the course of the 5 days, we would run/gym every morning and night, and work throughout the day. Whilst we were in Panama City we experienced a lot of rain, so adventuring around the city during the day wasn’t overly appealing. However, as I mentioned last week, the adventures and places we explore whilst running often lead us to see the inner-workings of the areas we are in. Our runs this week took us to the highest point of Panama City, through the ‘projects’ and around the old town. The best part about is that you essentially do more than any paid tour will offer, in a quarter of the time and maintain/build fitness in the process.

First question of the blog: One thing we noticed on our runs was that we would often receive more smiles, even cheering, from strangers when we ran through the poorer suburbs compared to the ‘rich’ ones. At what stage do people smile less because of their ‘social hierarchy’ and why is this the case?

Panama City Palms.

On a side note, if you’re looking to make new friends in new cities, you should head to the local workout bars. There is always someone there with a similar interest to you who is willing to have a chat or teach you some new exercises. In Sydney, Hawaii, Indonesia, Phillippines, Colombia and now Panama this has been true. A simple hello or compliment goes a long way.

If you want to follow my weekly training, I upload all my runs to Strava. You can find me on Strava by searching ‘Josh Lynott’, it’s been a training tool for me to keep me accountable and motivated.

Old town, Panama City.

Pema and Jacko.

Old town, not in the projects but close.

Hunting for dinner.

Street art has been very common across South and Central America.

Panama City to Bocas Del Toro

Arriving at Azul Paradise.

Jacko always on the ball.

I didn’t know anything about Panama before arriving, and at this point in time, it’s still much the same. Every day we look at a map, jump on google and pick a new place to explore. The general and very basic plan for us was to get to the North of Panama and work our way down before I have to fly back to Australia. This week we flew to Bocas Del Toro, a chain of islands off the Carribean coast. Flying into the centre of Bocas Del Toro we then caught a boat ride out to Azul Paradise on Isla Bastimentos. It was here we spent the next 3 days and nights paddle boarding, snorkeling, and island sloth spotting. I was excited to make it out of Panama City because I knew Panama was home to the sloth, an animal I’d never seen before.

Azul Paradise

Azul Paradise was an incredible place to stay, with an arrangement of huts over the water, it really was as their name suggested, Paradise. Every night I fell asleep to the distant rumble of thunder and would wake to the sunrise over the water. The real luxury for me was the water temperature, I know it’s going to be a shock to the system returning to the cold waters of Australia. A quick boat ride from Azul took us to Coral Kay, a little spot that the locals know full of every colour coral imaginable. It was my first time seeing coral that was vibrant red and orange, the ocean and the life that fills it continually astounds me.

Entrance to our bungalows.

The sunny hours, it wasn’t like this the whole time.

My favourite conditions to shoot.

Paddle mate, paddle.

Playing around with the bigger lens, I need to get one of these. I should open my eyes too.

See what I mean, it’s actually paradise.

Second question of this blog: I was thinking to myself yesterday why it is we don’t learn more about the ocean, considering how big it is, how much of the world it occupies, how much life is within it, how much power it holds…

Just a short update from me this week! Here are some extra photos below from the week, they’re worth a thousand words each right?

Put in the extra effort this week!

Big Love,

JL.

Do the little things every day that have the power to change your life.

Appreciate the little things every day that are too often taken for granted.

Put in the extra effort, because the little things you do will be so much more to someone else. – Josh Lynott

See the colour of the coral!