My World With Dance: Portobelo

Portobelo is a small coastal town that is mostly used by sea adventurers like myself to board their ships to Colombia. I got here from Panama city via public transport and rode the badass school bus with the locals. This giant piece of metal is painted in all different colours and looks like it should be used as a party bus with its blasting sound system.
Portobelo, on the contrary is sleepy town with a population of less than 3,000. It has a few forts that have been conquered and rebuilt a few times by Henry Morgan and a few others. The architecture that you see today dates back to the 17^th century and it was really interesting to walk around at this free attraction. There is also a short trail that leads you to an old watching post at the top of the hill which gives you a nice view of the town.
Another main attraction is the black Christ that is kept in one of the main church that was built in 1814. This guy is world famous as the town people believe he saved them from the plagues and the statue is said to be also responsible for miraculous deeds in the lives of his devotees. Around the church you can find Kunas in their traditional cloths, the indigenous people of the San Blas Islands, selling mulas and other hand crafted jewellery.
I stayed at Captain Jack's hostel and it had most of your basics. Dorms were interconnected and I was put in the one in the back that housed the bathrooms and showers so foot traffic was frequent all through the night. Unlike most hostels Jack's didn't even give you breakfast but it did have a book exchange that I was happy to partake in. With a backpack my size its impossible to travel with more than one book so its great to swap it in for a new one when I'm done. My best advice for anyone thinking of throwing on a backpack and hitting the road is keep it light! This is difficult to do but you will be thanking yourself for not taking all the stuff that you thought you might need. Worst case scenario is you'll buy some fresh stuff, as if you wouldn't anyway!