The Lost & Found - Jungle Heaven

28th July

If you've ever wanted to lose yourself in the Jungle then you have to visit the Lost and Found Hostel in the Valle de La Mina, both the concept and the reality is brilliant and offers a unique jungle experience for those with tight purse strings!

I saw this place recommended in the lonely planet and thought I'd give it a go on my way to Bocas. A beautiful, 2hr winding road through the mountains took me to Valle de La mina where I was told I would find a sign on the side of the road and a small cabin / house where I could park my bike for the night. The hostel was not accessible by road and guests are required to trek 15mins up from the road into the wild mountain jungle to find the series of simple yellow buildings built into the side of the mountain. I was lucky and arrived on a beautiful sunny day with the light piercing through the trees and stunning views off over the mountains toward Volcan Baru. What an incredible place!!!

I was met by Gabby a local panamanian lady who along with a few volunteer's was running the hostel with the two Canadians who had built the business from scratch. My bed was in a surprisingly large dorm with 4 storey bunk beds and an amazing panoramic view through the trees. Again I was fortunate as normally the hostel is full of backpackers which would have changed the vibe somewhat... as it was I met a real group of peeps, a couple of Aussies, Reece and Dylan, a Yank, Venessa, a Canadian called Ali and two English girl's who's names I could not pronounce!

Reece, who was volanteering at the hostel  took us off for a trek through the jungle. We walked for about an hour to 'Tree Beard' a huge tree with three large seperated trunk sections that was probably 5m wide at its base. Further into the jungle we got to a beautiful river with huge boulders scattered around creating pools and rapids to play in... everybody had a swim and splash around and I almost got swept down river when I foolishly jumped into a fast flowing section, luckily after bouncing off several big rocks I managed to grab a bit of something and pull myself out of the current! Idiot!

On the way back I took a side trail and climbed a path to 'The Mirrador', a 20min trek up to the top of the mountain offered awesome 270° views over the surrounding jungled covered mountains.

In the evening as the sun went down behind Volcan Baru I sat and ate dinner with one of the prettiest views I've ever seen in my life... brightly coloured hummingbirds hovered within touching distance, drinking sugar water from the feeders while a semi-tame parrot hopped around in the surrounding trees... with such a view even dry egg noodles tasted good!

To finish the night we all had a fairly intense drinkng session in the on site bar which, complete with disco lights, a projector and table football was quite surreal considering our location. Fun none the less!

The Lost and Found is a really great experience, with a serene vibe and a sensitive layout which makes the most of the incredible location. It would be very easy to get lost in this place... volunteer's can survive on as little as $3 a day and with a little ingenuity you could easily carve out a very fulfilling 'jungle book' life style in these hills!