Lost and Found Hostel

After climbing the volcano, we really had no plan. Tom had to go back to Panama City to meet a friend, but Jon the Aussie invited us to check out a new place with him. We agreed and packed up our bags, said bye to Francisco and Perrito and jumped in a cab to the Lost and Found Hostel. The hostel is in the middle of no where and squarely in the cloud forest. From the road it was a slippery 15 minute hike up a rocky path to reach the reception desk. The hike was harder than it should have been for us because our legs were still dead from the volcano.

But, of course, the hike was worth it because the view from the hostel was breathtaking.

We quickly learned that Lost and Found is both a hostel and a destination. The owners have built miles of trails into the jungle, they´ve made a treasure hunt based on a local legend, they created a jungle maze (get it, lost and found) and then they also partner with some local people to offer super cheap tours.

The first day we hiked out to the river and in search of the infamous Tree Beard. The hike did not disappoint.

Had to do some scrambling at points

Then we found Tree Beard. Apparently it´s a Strangler Fig, but it definitely looks like its from Lord of the Rings.

Less dramatic on our walk back was On and Off Lake. Apparently it is off right now.

The best part about Lost and Found was coming back at night and relaxing in the hammocks. They had hammocks everywhere. Also, for $6 you could have a huge, delicious dinner prepared for you by someone on staff. This was great because the nearest grocery store was about 45 minutes away.

A definite highlight was the rescued kinkajú (honey bear) they had at the hostel named Rocky. At night (when he woke up) you could get a staff member to take you into his enclosure and play with him. For the second and third night, almost no one was there except us so the owner took him out into the main area and I got to have him all to myself. Rocky is best described as a wild house cat. His teeth are razor sharp but he only nibbles you when you aren´t giving him enough loving.

He was happy inside my poncho for over half an hour

By far the coolest thing we did was take a tour with Nico, an ex-pat from Delaware (whose grandparents were from Idaho!) The group was just Keegan and I, Jon the Aussie, and a German couple we had met the day before. It was supposed to just be an easy tour out to some hot springs with a stop at some ancient petroglyphs. Because the weather was really nice, Nico added an extra stop to the beginning which ended up being the best part of the tour. He took us to the river canyon and we got to swim and mess around for about an hour before getting back to the normal tour.

The water was so deep we could jump from the sides. It was probably about a 15 foot fall.

We bouldered up the rock sides because if you fell you just landed back in the river

Keegan jumping in.

This photo could use some cropping but you get the idea

The rest of the tour was way less awesome than the rock canyon. The rock carvings were interesting and the hot springs were relaxing.

The carvings are authentic, but the white chalk was added to help them stand out. Also they weren´t always protected so there is some faded graffiti as well. No one knows what it means but there are some cool legends that Nico told us.

Overall, Lost and Found was super awesome. After 3 days we remembered we had to be on a flight to Colombia so we said good bye to Jon the Aussie, hiked the 15 minutes back down the trail (in the pouring rain, of course) and caught a local bus to the bus terminal where we took a night bus back to Panama City.

Now we´re off to Colombia!