Hello once again and sorry for not updating the site for quite a while! During the last couple of days I´ve been pretty far away from any PC with a (decent) internet connection so it had to wait ;) On the other hand, it´s not like I didn´t do anything either of course!

First went to Monteverde / Santa Elena to visit its cloud forest reserves. Also ended up doing a canopy zipline trip … sure, this has nothing to do with wildlife watching (everything looks like broccoli and matchsticks from that far up anyway) but racing down a 750m steel cable over a valley is fun (pics are yet to be received, sorry!). Also walked the hanging bridges over the cloud forest, did a little hiking during both day- and nighttime (quite a difference) and eventually ended up in a bar with some friends I made locally (Hola Oscar, Chris, Otto, Chancho, Mayor!).

Next up was another thing on my to-do list… rafting Rio Pacuare, supposedly one of the best rafting spots on the planet or so… whatever, it was fun once again! If you´re browsing through the pics… I´m on the right-front position in the boat ;) Also explored some waterfalls around Turrialba and subsequently went down to Cerro Chirripo, a 3820m-high mountain. Still being disappointed with my Volcan Baru experience I just had to climb something else, preferably higher ;) Anyway, MISSION COMPLETED! It took a full day to reach the base camp and another (very long) day to reach the summit and get back down. We finally ended up walking a steep 3km through cloud forest in the dark… quite an experience! Oh and by the way… all European visitors can now stop complaining about the weather from now on, as it was freezing on the summit so I´ve probably been colder than most of you… HA!

Now taking a little break to recover - tomorrow I´ll try to get to Nicaragua and go down the Rio San Juan to the Caribbean coast. The area is pretty unexplored (which means there´s no electricity in some places, as I heard) so you might not hear from me for a while again. Enjoy the pics however!

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Cloud forest vista (Santa Elena)

Hanging bridge (Santa Elena)

Something different during a night-walk (Monteverde)

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… 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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