Land of Rain (and Fantastic Beaches)

While staying in Boquete, I joined two French Canadians from the hostel to hike up nearby Volcan Baru. We started hiking at 11:00 p.m. in a very warm drizzle. After hiking for about six hours our small group finally made it to the summit, just in time for the sunrise. The summit was over 11,000 feet and it was absolutely freezing. From the top, I could see both the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean. It was an impressive sight.  But, the way down was miserable. The trail was basically a severely washed out service road for the communication antennas on top of the volcano. The surface was loose gravel, awkward stones, mud and more awkward stones. We made it down in three and a half hours, exhausted, hungry and a little dirty.

We returned to the hotel in the late morning after a night of no sleep. That afternoon was the world cup final. So, after about an hour nap, I wandered down to take part in the festivities. It was a fun party, but I honestly didn’t watch any of the game. I spent my time next to the grill, which I found more interesting. After a late night, I woke up the next day to find that the cold that I had been trying to shake since Bogota, Colombia was back with a vengeance. So, I went white water rafting. Then, I really started to feel wiped out. I spent the next two days relaxing, doing basically nothing but eating and watching movies in an attempt to recover.  About the only exciting thing I did during this time was a couple fun motorcycle rides around the nearby mountains, which are very scenic and full of little farms and coffee bean plantations.

Feeling better, I decided that I needed to get out of Boquete. I left town and made my way to Bocas del Toro, a group of tropical islands on Panama’s north western Caribbean coast beach destination. On my first full day in the area, I went on a fun, day-long boat tour. The first stop was in a bay full of dolphins and jellyfish. There were dolphins absolutely everywhere. Next, we went to a fairly boring, but nice snorkeling area. We followed that with a visit to an extremely overpriced but scenic restaurant built on stilts over the water. Finally, we went to Bastimentos Island, which is home to a very beautiful white sand beach and fantastically warm waters.  The island has some of the nicest beaches I have ever visited.

After spending three nights on Isla Colon, home of the island group’s main town, I wanted something quieter and left for a nice hostel on Bastimentos Island. The island is a fantastic tropical paradise, that’s unfortunately undergoing a significant development phase. While on the island, I spent a day scuba diving and another hiking and enjoying the beach. I’ve spent today, my final day here waiting out a rain storm, contemplating the heat and now, heading off to the beach.

Tomorrow I’ll be taking two boats back to the mainland. To be honest, I’m really not looking forward to changing out my board shorts for my extremely hot riding gear. I think I’ve really been procrastinating here in Bocas, because its very comfortable and also because riding in the tropical heat is tough. But, I have a long way to go and as usual, not much time left.

But for now, I’m off to the beach!!!

And then, in the morning, off to Costa Rica.