David & Boquete

The bus journey to David is bad! A rammed packed mini bus with no space and as a result, no sleep for the 5 hour journey. Arriving into David, we decide to try out hostel Bambo with Jono and Maria. The cab journey there confirms what we have heard that although this is Panama's second city there isn't a whole lot to do here! Arranging one night at the hostel, we head straight for the supermarket where we purchase beers and wine to enjoy by the pool at the hostel to combat the stifling heat! Later we head to a recommended Libyan restaurant for kebabs before seeing the night through back at the hostel pool side.

In the morning we say our goodbyes as the others head to Panama City and we bus it to Boquete. Only an hour away we arrive late morning and find a room in Hostel Mamallena on the main square. Boquete is a wonderful contrast from David being a small town sat in a valley surrounded by green hills and a river running straight through. The town offers lots of walking and other outdoor sports but is most famous for it's coffee. Coffee farms litter the hillside.
We stay here for 5 nights in total enjoying the cooler climate of the region. The first day we spend relaxing in the town and hostel and researching our activities for the rest of our time there.

The second day we take a collectivo along one of the many tourist routes and enjoy a beautiful walk through lush forest up to a waterfall, (yes we have now seen lots of waterfalls on this trip!). After the walk we visit Cafe Ruiz, a local coffee bean farm that makes the town's most famous coffee; David enjoyed a nice cup after living on instant Nescafe for so long! Next door to the cafe are public gardens...well by public, they are open to the public but actually constitute several gardens of a small community of locals (we think American retirees). They are really quite impressive especially as there is no entrance fee and appear to be a hobby of the locals and offer a nice way to spend a sunny afternoon.

The third day, we decide to go on another long walk, this time on an alternative loop that took us up high above the town offering great views down the valley and the chance to see some more of the beautiful varying greenery which spoils the area. The walk home gave us another chance to visit Cafe Ruiz before a lazy afternoon. In the evening after enjoying some food, we headed out with a large bunch from the hostel to a local haunt where we enjoyed the local cocktails!

After a late night, we awoke not long before the England match....unfortunately!! However, today was to be a lazy day spent in bed and resting because tonight we were to set off on the night hike upto the peak of Volcán Barú – Panama's highest peak and only Volcano, which supposedly is the only point in the world from where you can see two oceans at one time, the Pacific and the Caribbean. Apparently the best way to make the climb and to enjoy the views is to hike up over night and arrive for sunset! David was extremely excited at the prospect of a night hike, Lynne less so. However, after David sold it to two more Brits he met during the England game, we had a team of four and Lynne was on board!!
The weather in Boquete is very changeable with a downpour everyday. This ususally comes between 2-4pm however, on this day it never came....we were concerned it would come in the night time! Either way, it didn't affect our preparations, stocking up on a high-carb content meal and dressing in all our hiking gear with plenty of food and water and waterproofs in our bags.

One of the hostel staff took us in his jeep 8km to the eastern entrance of the National Park 'Volcán Barú' at 22:30 so we were set to get going by 23:00. The path is 14km along a rough dirt/road all the way to the summit. During which we would climb 1.7km from the park entrance to the summit which stands at 3.5km.

Our fellow hikers were Dave and Rob and they proved great company as we set off at a casual pace with plenty of time on our hands. It was certainly a strange experience hiking in pitch darkness using our head torches to keep us on the right path.
After only 40mins into the hike, we were disturbed by another torch in the distance coming up the side of the hill shouting to us. It turned out to be an American girl called Amy who had already taken a wrong turn so early on. As she approached us, we all noticed that she was alone, wearing a lot of clothes, had a avery heavy bag and was using a mini-keyring magnalite that wasn't even strong enough to light up more than a few inches of ground in front of her. Straight away we were amazed that she was out here alone attempting this by herself and so badly prepared. She told us she wanted to go alone but since we were here and after a shocking wrong turn so early she asked if she could join us. So we all set off and it soon became evident that she was struggling with our pace (which was comfortable). We had to continually slow down and give her time to recover after shortish stints of climbs. It turned out that she had just arrived in the town in the afternoon and with only a few days here decided to attempt the climb alone. Soon enough the rain we had feared started to pour!! It got worse for Amy as it turned out here coat was not waterproof but a shower jacket! Combined with the fact the temperature was dropping fast as we went higher she was starting to get cold. To make it worse, she was feeling the altitude (having been at sea level in the morning) and was really struggling to keep up with us even for 5 metres. Our progress was seriously being hampered now and we acted by ordering her to give us her weight by splitting her bag contents between us. It wasn't long before she couldn't continue (after we had suggested she consider returning to town earlier based on our concerns of her condition). She was starting to shiver and couldn't go on, she wanted to pitch her tent and sleep right there, however, we obviously weren't going to let her as she was soaked and struggling with altitude sickness – falling asleep in a wet tent and in wet clothes could have serious consequences. The day was saved by Dave (not Henderson) who being a ski instructor has plenty of mountain rescue first aid and after making the decision told us he was going to abandon his hike and take her back down to a shelter we passed at the bottom. He had a stove and some warm dry layers he would put her in, confident that at a lower altitude and with some warm clothes she would be ok. He convinced us two and Rob to continue to the top and after some goodbyes we started back up and they down!

The events of the past hour or so gave us plenty to talk about, especially the naivety of here heading up here alone so badly prepared. Although all of us are fairly decent hikers and have a good level of fitness, the idea of attempting a night hike alone didn't appeal to any of us.

Anyhow, we were off and after a couple of hours the rain subsided to great relief, however, the temperature continued to fall. Being sheltered by the surrounding forests we weren't exposed to the wind but we could hear it above our heads!
The path didn't very too much at any point but at some points it was fairly steep and with now cold wet feet it was starting to get a difficult and required a few extra breaks and a handful of toffees!

By 05:00 we reached the power station that sits at the top of the path just short of the final path that takes you to the peak. We set off trying to find the path but it was so dark and foggy once we stepped out of the forest we couldn't find it and with some sheer drops and visibility only a few metres we decided to take shelter in the power station grounds until the sun started to rise and could help us find our way. This also gave us the opportunity to put on our warm dry jumpers we had been advised to bring and to have some of the tepid tea from David's thermos. Out of the wind we were able to warm up a little but the wet feet were not going to warm up until the sun came. No-one really spoke as we ate our rations and huddled up in a doorway out of the freezing wind. It was very spooky especially with the thick fog and the odd flashing beacon around us. We were even a little more on edge as we had heard of armed muggings of hikers by plant workers during the night hikes and so we were keen to stay quiet and still!

By 05:45 the darkness and fog was lifting and we headed out to the path to the peak we could now just make out. This last bit involves using the hands to negotiate a few rocky obstacles but we were at the large cross denoting the peak by 06:00.

The wind at the top was very strong and very very cold! So cold that we were forced to find shelter behind some rocks at the peak and spend a few minutes at a time exposed to the winds taking in the 360degrees views.

The views although disturbed by a few clouds that denied us a true clear sunrise, were spectacular! In the distance we could see far into the distance across the mountain ranges and flats of Panama and as advertised the two oceans. The immediate geography of the volcano was also fascinating with a huge crater below us and plenty of rocky peaks forming a contrast against the flats and coast lines. We could also see the Islands of Bocas del Toro and we allowed ourselves briefly to discuss the heat and sun we enjoyed down there!

After taking the obligatory photos we were too cold to hang around any longer and headed back down to the power station, by this point, the sun was heating the air and by the time we started back down the track the feet started to warm!

The walk down was down the same path and it was nice and impressive to see what we negotiated in the night time. The forest /jungle was beautiful and at times the trees broke to offer misty mountain views similar to those seen in Peru. There was plenty of wildlife to hear and see, although we only heard the infamous Maya bird of paradise which sounded like nothing else on earth!

We set off from the power station around 07:00 and arrived back at the park entrance around 12ish. At the bottom we were very relived to hear the park range say he arrived this morning and found Dave and Amy at the rangers hut both healthy. A last painful walk to the local bus station left us waiting only 10mins for the first collectivo back to town! The knees were hurting so much from the walk down that we were soon showered and on the bed falling asleep for the best part of the afternoon!

After enjoying a pizza in the evening, Lynne went back to bed as David enjoyed a few beers with Rob and Dave toasting Dave on his heroics from the night before!!
Saturday, our last day in Boquete was spent recovering further before catching the bus at midday back to Panama City.