Palmar Lodge, Isla Bastimentos, Panama

In June 2021, after 15months of automatically extended pandemic-related visas, the Costa Rican government decided to return to the regular 3 month visa arrangements that had stood before covid. So I caught the bus to Sixaola on the border and crossed into Panama to spend a few days in the Bocas Islands before returning to Costa Rica and Puerto Viejo. Or so I thought. As it turned out, I spent 2 months in Panama before I saw Costa Rica again.

The main reason for this was Palmar Lodge on Isla Bastimentos, an outer island of the Bocas group and as much a paradise as any I've found. After a couple of days in Bocas Town on Isla Colon, I took a taxi boat over to Bastimentos and made the short walk from the mangroves of the sheltered side of the island, to Red Frog Beach on the outer Caribbean side of the island.

I stayed a few days in a shared bungalow of the fantastic Eco-Lodge Palmar, where the manager noticed me with my sketch book. I was asked to create a drawing and mural of their lodge, for which they paid me in accommodation, food and a little spending money. It took 3 days to complete the drawing and 2 working weeks to finish the mural. It was super fun to paint my second mural, and a great lifestyle for the duration, in an absolutely beautiful place.