When you meet Lauren Ziemski, you go from strangers to best friends in about two seconds flat. No wonder this woman is the Co-Owner and Operator of bed and breakfast The Firefly Bocas Del Toro—she has a knack for making people feel like they’re home, wherever they are.
Running a B&B in Panama, working as a private chef, leading fitness classes, hosting retreats, and traveling the world wasn’t exactly her initial plan. In 2007, she changed paths after an accident no longer allowed her to work as a professional dancer. “I’ve always loved food and enjoyed cooking, but I didn’t think it would be something I would do professionally,” she said. “I fell into it, which has led me on this crazy journey to open my hotel and restaurant.
We spoke with Lauren about the unique island where she established The Firefly, the challenges with island life, and the culinary experiences she seeks out when she travels.
So, after working as a chef, why did you decide to open a B&B in Panama?
Lauren Ziemski: Well, the initial plan wasn’t a hotel. The initial plan was to do it with my boyfriend, who is still my best friend, and we have a great working relationship. We realized we both liked to travel and thought owning property somewhere would be cool. I’m a chef, and he’s a surfer, so we wanted to find a place to rent out a room or two. I could cook a little bit of food, and he could surf. It was casual, like, “Oh, we’ll just do this little thing.”
We had heard about Bocas Del Toro from his best friend, who, at the time, was the editor of Surfing Magazine. We planned a trip to Costa Rica, and it’s just two hours south by land, so it was super quick, and we figured we’d check it out. We knew wherever there was surf, there would always be people. Surf brings a crowd, and usually, surfers are a pretty cool, laid-back group of people. They’re adventurous and chill, and we knew those were the kinds of people we wanted to cater to. People like ourselves.
We ended up in Bocas, and we knew that was it from day one. We loved it.
LZ: Bocas Del Toro is a group of islands where you get around by water taxi, and the main island is Isla Colón, but they call it Bocas Town or Bocas. That’s where the airport is, where most of the bars and restaurants are, there are grocery stores everywhere. But eight minutes by boat is Bastimentos, where we ended up, and we are fortunate to be in this little Caribbean village.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, black people were brought here from Jamaica and other West Indies islands to work on banana plantations as enslaved people. They were sequestered to Bastimentos, so there’s been a racial divide between Panamanians and them because they’re black, but they’re still Panamanian. They’ve been there for oveTheears. And the cool thing, though, is they’ve kept their Patois, so they speak this type of Creole called “guard-guard.” Throughout all of this time, they’ve kept that island culture about them, and it’s a specific place in Bocas, the only site you can find this. It is a special vibe there.
Since the B&B is only accessible by boat, that must pose some challenges.
LZ: Definitely. As Americans, we’re so used to convenience and getting whatever we want, whenever we want it. You need toilet paper; you get it on Amazon and have it the next day. You walk into a grocery store with eight different types of potatoes.
In Panama, where I live, there are no grocery stores or hardware stores. Everything we built had to be boated in—supplies, concrete, wood—and we could never go to the store and get something. I have to plan.
When grocery shopping, we have to go to the mainland by boat. Then we put it in a wheelbarrow and wheelbarrow five loads over. It’s hard. And sometimes it’s pouring rain, and you’re in a boat and your groceries or getting wet. It can be hell.
What about island life in general—how does that affect how you run things at The Firefly?
LZ: Well, everything breaks there because of the salt air, so we’ve gone through more refrigerators, blenders, computers, washing machines, everything—that salt air corrodes everything. I’m running a hotel, and I need those things, so I’m ordering the same part repeatedly, and then I have to find someone who knows how to install it. Everything is a process there, and everyone’s on island time. It’s just a completely different way of life.
And that’s another challenge entirely. Our staff is all Panamanian, and we must teach them what first-world services and expectations are. Things like greeting someone within three minutes of them sitting down, or when they walk in, you should say hello and get their drinks done within a certain time. It’s not what they’re used to because we’re always on the go in this country, and they’re way more chill.
