… or at least, that´s as close as this place gets! Welcome to Boquete - a village up in the mountains (elevation 1060m) where climate is quite different from the other places I´ve been to so far. Instead of the hot, damp, 30C+ climate I´ve come across so far, this place gets a more or less eternal spring, with temperatures varying between 20 and 25C throughout the day. Another great plus is the fact you can actually get a decent cup of coffee here, which seems to be a rarity in both Panama and Colombia, even though this is where this stuff is grown…. makes you wonder….

Don´t believe what these other people might tell you - Boquete is great, and quite something different to all the beaches, palm trees and stuff I´ve come across so far :) The last couple days (as well as the ones to come) have been quite intense;

Wednesday I decided to explore the area and initially took a 10km walk up to an elevation of 1800m. Nothing big really, but I really liked the path I was walking on (easy as a lunch walk - it was a road). At the end, I arrived at the National Park of Valcan Baru / Quetzal´s Trail (Sendero los Quetzales) where a guide at the entrance of the park told me there was still time to walk another 12km along the trail to a town named Cerro Punta. Naive as I was, I decided to take this walk … and this is where things got rough! After 2km I all of a sudden had to leave the trail and take a left, up a huge mountain where the path merely consisted of wooden blocks floating in either mud or something that resembles quicksand. Hardcore as I am ;) I decided to get off the beaten path and this is where things instantly went wrong - 3 seconds later I was stuck in the mud, up to my knees and thanks to my (natural born) insane reflexes I lost a shoe :) Next thing I know I´m hanging on to an all too flexible tree digging up my shoe - lol! Anyway, the trail continued up and Mother Nature was actually nice to me; it rains quite a lot during the afternoon but I only came across a few minor showers - and a little thunderstorm ;) Screw you Rio Calderon, it takes more than a few showers to flush me away! Oh and Lonely Planet… you guys seriously need to get your facts straight on the maps you printed!

Climbing (literally at times) up to dark cloud forests is quite intense, but very beautiful and mysterious. Temperatures dropped to some 15C (who´s laughing now ha!?) and climbing muddy and rocky hills while being in the fog is interesting to say the least, and it´s a relief to reach the end of the trail (elevation 2500m)! Another 5km walk took me into the town of Cerro Punta, from where a 3-hour bus ride (thank you Panamanian infrastructure) eventually took me back home! Not tapping myself on the head for this, but this was quite an experience. Bus ride was private as I was stinking so badly no one wanted to sit next to me ;) 

Yesterday was a similar story - I got the idea of visiting some nearby Hot Springs but was late so it started to rain by the time we got there. A mere 20-minute walk on a rocky dirt path turned into a wedge through a class 3 rafting river thanks to the insane showers! Trust me, that´s fun! (and thanks Krisztina for breaking down the bridge hehehe!) Anyway, the hot springs were rewarding and so was the hike as my shoes have never been cleaner ;) No pics on this part yet as I´m not too keen on losing another camera.

Have fun wedging through the small collection below - and as always, I´ll keep you posted!

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Having a break...

Mi jardin es su jardin

2400m altitude - you seeee ;)

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Muchas gracias a todos por sus comentarios ;) Quiero escribir en Español pero no puedo hacerlo porque la mayor parte de la gente que visitan este pagina no pueden leerlo! :) Y tambien, Ingles es mas facil y rapido ;)

OK, as I already wrote posting about the same islands and stuff for weeks on end does get a little boring. So finally, along with some other people, I decided to visit a nature park on the mainland called ‘Humedal de San-San Pond Sak’; a piece of lowland containing lots of jungle, small canals and - needless to say - plenty of wildlife! We stayed there for a night; quite a different experience as there was no electricity and little running water (hardcore once again…) and you’re basically far away from any point of civilisation! Have a look at the pics below for further details :)

Futher on, life is just going its way in Bocas. We decided to visit this local fair on its last night as well, which is nice, but really nothing more than a small version of Dutch Queen’s Day ;) Though except for the fact that these people seem to be fond of constructing these ‘mobile discotheques’ which does seem to be quite a creative form of entertainment!

At the moment I’m sitting in Boquete, after passing through David where things on my ears finally got sorted out. Yes - scuba diving here I come! This place is really like a breath of fresh air after all the heat in the other places I´ve been to; temperature is about 20C now and seems to drop severely at night… David on the other hand was hot but still OK, I was staying in this hostel where everything is purple, including the owner who seems to have some intent of even paiting her dog…. As of tomorrow I’ll be doing some sightseeing, hiking (Volcan Baru here I come) and whatever else is on offer out here. Keep you posted as usual… and hopefully with a higher frequency! ;)

Hasta luego!!

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Purple house!

Spanish school in Bocas

Quick lesson on how to properly open a coconut

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The downside about being in the same archipelago for 4 straight weeks is the fact that you don’t really get to write about a great variety of topics, other than the stuff you’ve already read below. However, as variety is the spice of life (and website traffic) and I don’t mean to slap you in the face with white-sand beaches, palm trees, blue waters and fun pics time and again I decided to take pictures of a few tours around the archipelago. Just because… and due to the fact that you actually do need a boat and a little jungle-wedging before getting to the nicest places around here.

Besides the stuff you’ve already come across on this website, Spanish classes are going well and I do seem to be getting up to a level where I can actually make myself understood (thanks Karen, Veronica, Aicel, Adrian!), though not good enough to annoy you with any Spanish posts down here :)

Further on life seems to be getting on quite easily - days merely exist of Spanish classes, the beach, day trips through jungles and stuff, sailing, and so forth. Kayaking was particularly fun too, especially when we got flipped over in high waves :) Also getting flushed away by a tidal wave is quite interesting (hey… I was sleeping!) as well as offroad bicycle rides through 3 km of mud puddles in order to get to a more secluded beach! Also had some dancing classes from someone from Costa Rica (muchas gracias Lucia!!) and it seems like my list of addictions is still growing!

Again, I will update this post with pics - yes, got a new camera! - later on as this doesn’t seem to work at present (surprise, surprise…) so be sure to return!

Hasta luego!

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Blablabla new pics blablabla lots of sand, beach, palm trees, friends, fun in the sun, blablabla … anyway, have a look!

Ciao!!

PS: I´m sorry for not using a new plugin for photos yet, will try again later!

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I must admit I do appreciate the fact people seem to return to this site, despite the fact not a lot is happening down here ;) Most of this is due to the elements (aka internet connections, electricity and computers built in 1985) not acting in my favour but I hope things have changed for the better now. Unfortunately I cannot post any pics right now but I’ll make sure to do this tomorrow (as in… mañana ;))

So here’s yet another summary of what I’ve been up to lately. Simply put, the last 2 weeks consisted of a few long trips (bus, plane, walk, bus, walk and again bus), swimming, surfing, sailing, beaches and learning a bit of Spanish. You might think this is quite a low level of variety but I can tell you it’s far from anything unbearable :)

So after leaving Colombia - and going through a one hour drug-check at the airport in Barranquilla while establishing a good friendship with the airport security personnel - I decided to go to Santa Catalina (South of Panama, 14 hours traveling) to check out my surfing capabilities and discovered I have yet another item to add to my list of addictions. My instructor took some pics of my first sessions but she hasn’t sent them over yet (no bs!!). In light of transparency it would be nice to post them, but I really have my doubts on whether I should once I receive them ;)

After Santa Catalina I had to make another 13-hour trip to Bocas del Toro (Isla Colon) to attend Spanish classes the next day. This Spanish course will last for four weeks on end so I’ll have plenty of time to post more pics of this place and it’s lovely surroundings (once again, elements…). As most of you probably know, the place is full of great beaches and I must say nightlife is not that bad either! Of course there’s more to do, so after finishing classes in the morning, activities also exist of snorkeling (no diving - still have to get my ears set straight!), walking some small jungle trails, boat trips and doing pretty much everything for which not a lot of effort is required :) The downside to all this is the fact that at the moment waves are as high as the beach chairs (I wanna surf!!) and there’s a severe water shortage which has caused people to be creative with whatever kind of supplies they’ve got. You read it right, Mommy’s little boy is going hardcore!

Last but not least; my camera has unfortunately not been able to bear my hardcore ways of traveling and therefore decided to call it quits :( Once again, the problem is being worked on and this time I didn’t lose any pictures.

Have fun watching… and smell you later!!

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