Rain, Rain, Go Away. Come Back Another Day.
Trip Start
Jan 01, 2007
1
73
141
Trip End
Ongoing
Boquete,
Panama
Friday, May 18, 2007
The bus and boat ride to Boquette went smoothly. We caught a morning launcha (small ferry) for the 10 minute ride from Isla Bastamientos to Isla Boca for $2 per person. Then we caught a 30 minute launcha ride from Isla Boca to the mainland at Altamante for $5 per person. From there, we caught a pickup taxi ride for $2 to the bus stop. We caught the bus as it was loading up to leave town. The ride through the mountains to get to the other side of Panama was breathtaking. We moved in and out of cloud forests while having great views of the vast green country side and the Gulf of Chirique in the distance. The 1st bus to David took about four hours and was $7 bucks. David is the 2nd largest city in Panama (after Panama City) but for us was just a transfer point to catch the next bus to Boquette. We quickly hopped onto the first bus to leave and headed back into the mountains
Beautiful Creek in the Mountains
. The trip is only an hour and costs $1.45 a person. Half way up the mountain, the town sits at about 4000 feet, it started to rain. By the time we had to get off the bus it was poring cats and dogs. Arriving in Boquete with Jessie and Mark, we walked across the street from the bus stop to the first hostel we saw. It was small, dark, damp and had a bad kitchen and no common space. We were almost tempted to just spend the night here because of the rain but could not bring ourselves to do it. Kay and I walked across the park to "Hospadaje Dona Cata" (formerly known as Hotel Virginia in the Lying Planet guidebook) to check out the rooms. These rooms were much nicer and the hotel had some nice common areas. For $16, only $3 bucks more a night than the other place, it was worth it. With rainy season upon us having a nice place to lounge other than your room is important. This hotel had a nice covered porch in the back with several nice adirondack chairs to relax in and listen to the rain. The rooms were nicely painted and decorated in floral patterns any grandmother would love. They also had a really nice huge kitchen for us to use and a large dining area bigger than most of the restaurants in town.
Now that we are settled we need some food. Kay and I checked out a few places to eat and ended up at a little local shop that was serving big bowls of soup
Bridge in Boquete 1
. Soup is the perfect cold rainy day food. We were served huge bowls of vegetable and rice soup with drinks for a grand total of $2.50! Not each, but total and it was good. With full warm bellies we hit the supermarket to get some supplies. If you can believe this the supermarket here is open 24 hours a day and has a nicer meat section than my grocery store at home. That is if you are in the market for cow tongue, brains, assorted innards, chicken heart, gizzards and feet. MMM MMM GOOD!It has slowed to a drizzle so we wandered around the town a bit. It is a beautiful mountain town surround by lush green forest. Boquette sits in a small valley with a river running through it. We walked across a suspension bridge and watch the river rush beneath us. With the torrential rains the water was churned up and looked like chocolate milk. Clouds drift in and out of the forest in the surrounding hills. It is a truly beautiful small town and I can see why people would want to live here. The rest of the town is not very big and you can easily walk around it in 30 minutes.
After some much needed hot showers, Kay made brownies and popcorn. Yes another very nutritious dinner! We played more card games with Mark and Jessie then went to bed very happy.
Bridge in Boquete 2
The next morning, Kay discovers that her pants are missing! 2 of the 3 pairs she brought on the trip are gone. She realizes that they were probably STOLEN IN COSTA RICA a few weeks ago - at the same time that the kitchen was broken into in Cahuita and the theives made off with our sodas and juice. The last time she saw them was when she washed them in Cahuita COSTA RICA and left them to hang dry outside. Those darn BANDITOS -- COSTA RICA is full of them! Fortunately, we are leaving in a few days to return to the USA, so she'll just wear the same pair of pants for the next week!
After a big home-cooked breakfast of bacon and eggs we walked up the main street out of town in search of a place called "Mi Jardin es tu Jardin" or My Garden is Your Garden. After walking for about 30 minutes and asking at a coffee farm that was charging $25 for a 3 hour tour, we got ours for free in El Salvador, we found the Garden. It is actually right next door to the coffee farm.
The property allows visitors to wander through the manicured gardens at no charge. From what we read the property is owned by a wealthy ex-pat who likes to share his/her, we do not know, garden
Clouds rolling down the tree tops
. The property is amazing. There are multiple terraced gardens with man-made streams and ponds through out. The ponds are filled with Koi, giant Japanese carp, and are incredibly beautiful. There are lots of sculptures and bridges to walk over and a giant observation deck that allows a view of the entire property and surrounding green hillsides. We cannot actually believe this is free! The property is covered with so many different beautiful flowers and trees. After spending at least an hour wandering the gardens we decided to head out.Jessie and Mark decide to head back to town but Kay and I want to keep walking in search of some hiking trails. We head out up the road and look for any trails that might lead off into the woods. We come to a fork in the road and Kay walks into the corner market and asks for direction. A nice local guy tells us that if we bear left up ahead and follow the road we will get to a large waterfall. He says it should not be more than 15 to 20 minutes of hiking. Cool. We thank him and head off. Along the way we ask another lady for directions to the waterfall, just to confirm, and she gives us similar directions and a similar time frame even though it took us 15 minutes just to get to her. We continue to walk and walk and walk but no waterfall trail. We see and hear a little river somewhere in the woods but have not really seen it yet. Right before we get to a bridge where we can see the river we notice a really neat rock formation
Hiking - beautiful river
. The wall of rock looks like many pentagon shaped steel rods just laid on top of each other. It is really neat and my description really does not do it justice so just look at the photo. We get to the bridge and see the river. Water -Yeah! On the bridge we see a taxi and Kay asks how far to the water falls? He says 2 Kilometers. You have got to be kidding! We have already been walking UPHILL for over an hour and it is still 2 kilometers away UPHILL. How much for a ride? He says he will take us to the falls for 50 cents a person. Done. In we go. The road continues uphill the entire way and we finally get to the falls. When we see them we ask how far to the park with the other waterfalls. He tells us its another 3 kilometers and he will take us for another 50 cents a person. OK.
The van drops us off at a dirt road and the driver tells us it is a 45 minutes hike into the woods to see the falls. I do not really believe him but we head in anyway. We hike along the road with the stream running on either side of us. The mountains are incredibly dense and green and there is no one else out here. After about 30 minutes of hiking, we come to a point where the stream crosses the road and is too deep and wide to cross. And the small footbridge is still under construction. We have to decided to cross without our shoes on or turn back. Obviously we take off our shoes and cross the freezing cold mountain stream. The water is actually painful when you first get in but as soon as your feet go numb you are fine. We continue on up the hill noticing water pipers flowing through the woods and following the path. The local towns must get there water from these mountain streams.
We keep walking and walking but no waterfall
Hiking - beautiful river in the cloud forest
. It is now after 3pm and we have given ourselves a deadline of 5 more minutes and then we have to turn back falls or no falls. Just like trying to summit Everest you have to have a turn around time before it gets dangerous and we would like to be out of the woods before dark. Five minutes go by and nothing. We feel we are close so we press on a bit more and are rewarded within a couple minutes with the sight of a 100 plus foot waterfall cascading down the green forested mountain. It is a gorgeous sight with the falls tumbling past trees and through the cloud cover. Finally satisfied that we saw the falls and after a bunch of photos we start to head back. About half way back it starts to drizzle and then it starts to pore. We have our rain coats but these do not keep our pants and shoes dry. An hour later and we are finally at the main road. Instead of waiting for a cab or bus to come along we decide to start walking back towards Boquette. Thirty minutes passes and finally a cab appears. He offers us a ride and then changes his mind because we are soaking wet and he does not want to ruin his car. I guess I can not blame him for this we are really wet. Actually we are soaked. Two minutes later another cab pulls up and we ask for a ride and tell him we are soaked. He says no problem and pulls some cardboard out of the trunk and puts it on the seat. The ride home did not take long and only cost $3 bucks. On the way back we had him drop us off for an ice cream (Kay) and a pastry (Frank) as a reward for our 6 hours of hiking...without a guide in the mountains of Panama.
When we returned to the hotel, we found Jessie and Mark talking with an English couple on the porch. It turns out that they originally met this couple back in Mexico in January
Hiking - Frank and the creek
! They kept in touch occaisionally by email, and it turned out that the couple just so happened to be coming up to Boquete for the day. Another small world in the Gringo Trail of Central America! We joined them for good conversation and warm tea and learned that this couple liked the mountains in Panama so much that they just bought a 10-acre plot of land in a nearby village for investment. They have spent the last 7 weeks in Panam finalizing the sale and are returning to England in 2 weeks. What spontanaeity! This area is really pretty and we can understand how they were drawn so easily to it. After another round of hot showers and brownies for all, we played another round of cards. The English couple realized that the buses were no longer running (their hotel was in David, an hour away) so they asked around for an available room. The only rooms left at our hotel were expensive, and it was still raining really hard outside. Kay and I had 2 extra beds in our room (Central American style - bedrooms large enough to hold a family of 10) - so we offered them our extra beds for the night.
The next morning we decided to head back to David in the morning. Boquete is really pretty but when it rains all day, it makes it difficult to go outside and enjoy the beauty! Also, Kay and I as well as Mark and Jessie have early morning buses to catch from David on Monday, so we decided to stay closer to the bus station.
Boquette is a great town and in the future would love to spend more time here hiking and exploring. We will definately be back...but not during rainy season.
Cheers,
Frank
