Hostal Pachamama — Hotel in Los Santos

I spent 4 magical nights at Hostal Pachamama in May 22. Unfortunately, it wasn’t yet turtle season, but it was still amazing to learn about them and the efforts Jean Pierrre and Irina, the hosts, go to in trying their best to protect them.

Getting there starts with crossing the mangrove estuary to get to Isla Cañas, which by the way is a total island and fully surrounded by water (so no car access). The hostal has been built among the coconut palms and has amazing views on both sides: the estuary and hills behind it on the inland side, and then the wild Pacific Ocean with its dark sands on the other. The main building is the social area where gusts eat and mingle, and I stayed in one of the wooden cabins, which are functional and have that back to nature rustic feel to them. The outdoor showers are lovely, and the whole place has been designed with attention to detail, quirkiness and is in harmony with nature.

The walks along the beach were beautiful, and kayaking was also available. There’s a true feeling of being away from it all in a remote place, of returning to nature.

The hosts were both friendly and attentive, and seemed to genuinely enjoy what they do. A special mention must be made to the food there, which can only be described as luxury gourmet high-end cuisine. Irina cooks with imagination and passion, and I enjoyed the element of surprise each day not knowing exactly what would be served. Basic kitchen facilities are also available for those who prefer to cook for themselves, although there isn’t a guest fridge available right now. If your budget allows for it, I’d highly recommend full-board there though.

Hostal Pachamama allows for peace and quiet and plenty of contemplation. A great place to ground and reconnect with Mother Earth. It’s deliberately rustic, and that’s what you want here. There’s a wildness to the place, and Isla Cañas is truly stunning. Thank you Irina and...

All in all a good stay in a beautiful environment. The accommodation is basic but okay. I personally liked being encouraged to pee in the wild instead in the one toilet that's available. I got to know a lot of interesting people there and enjoyed the beautiful beach and really appreciated the respect the owners give to their beautiful natural environment. The respect for their guests though tends to be not that consistent. The problem is that they cannot obviously decide, if they want you as a friend, that's helping them and sharing their lives or if they want to see you as a costumer-cashcow they can milk as much as possible. They tend to switch from one mode to another... often several times a day. And JP has is a bit prone to loose his temper on minor occasions. You get a glimpse when reading the reviews and his replies on other booking sites. All in all it requires quite a bit of tolerance, which I have, but which was not returned in the same way all the time from the their side. Many justified points of critique have already been mentioned by others, I too was not satisfied with the amount of food I got. I literally had to beg for a sufficient amount almost every day, and I didn't even have success most of the days. Sometimes I went off hungry. That makes the prices for the food, which is good, quite high, even for Panamanian standards.

Other things I did not like: LOADS of sandflies. Locals riding their motorbikes almost all day and night long, on the beach which spoils the feeling of calm to a certain extent, which is Pachamamas biggest...

A bad experience in a pretty place. We were in a group of 14 people and reserved multiple tents and a few hammocks and one room. During the second night it started raining. (Not unexpected in the tropics) but the tents were NOT waterproof and everything was wet. The owner did not offer us a dry place to sleep in... Only to move the tents to a dry place. Please note this was after the insides were already wet. No alternatives were provided and we had to sleep in wet tents. The room also had a leaking roof right above the bed. When we told the owner all this he began explaining that it is not his fault is was raining... Now i agree that he could not help the rain... But the tents should at least be waterproof. Or be placed in a dry place. All in all not a comfortable night...

Another thing was, that we wanted to leave at 6am to make it to the airport on time. To leave this place you have to take a boat for around 20-30 minutes. But the owner sayd that was to early to leave even if we would pay him... The location was very pretty but the service...