It's not about being the best, it's about being better than you were yesterday. - Author Unknown
Monday, May 6, 2013 (DAYS 428 - 448)
Awake at 6am after a restless night of no sleep thanks in part to the unbearable heat. Brekkie is at the awful Golden Grill for $3.49 mainly because they offer free wifi and since Coco and Cat don’t have wifi at their place only a USB data stick and the laptop is in Coco’s room, this sadly my only option. After attempting to digest this poor excuse for a meal, I message Krista and Chloe since we are planning to leave Bocas for the small mountain town of Boquete, which is rated by the AARP as one of the world’s best retirement destinations, but we aren’t in search of eating dinner at 4:30pm or wearing our slacks up to chest level, but to escape the heat of the islands since the town sits at an altitude of almost 1,200 meters above sea level and has a moderate temperature.
Awake at 6am after a restless night of no sleep thanks in part to the unbearable heat. Brekkie is at the awful Golden Grill for $3.49 mainly because they offer free wifi and since Coco and Cat don’t have wifi at their place only a USB data stick and the laptop is in Coco’s room, this sadly my only option. After attempting to digest this poor excuse for a meal, I message Krista and Chloe since we are planning to leave Bocas for the small mountain town of Boquete, which is rated by the AARP as one of the world’s best retirement destinations, but we aren’t in search of eating dinner at 4:30pm or wearing our slacks up to chest level, but to escape the heat of the islands since the town sits at an altitude of almost 1,200 meters above sea level and has a moderate temperature.
After making contact with the girls we are ready to take the 11:30am boat to Almirante and arrive in Boquete at 4:30pm. We spend a bit of the afternoon wandering up and down main street where we come across a dollar store and spend close to an hour laughing at all of the ridiculous items. Food that looks like it predates the First World War, oversized Crocs, hats that are in the shapes of animals, and various mystery containers that had us pondering what could they possibly be, even though it was only $1 we decided that our curiosity wasn’t even worth that much. As dinner time came around we found a restaurant that was owned by an expat from Colorado called Mike’s Global Grill where I sat and talked with the owner for a bit before calling it an early night and all three of us crashing out back at the hostel after a full day of traveling and exploring Panama’s Dollar Store.
The next few days are hiking around the small town and visiting the weekend gringo market, which is primarily expats that have retired in the region and have organic farm products to sell. Well, the day has finally arrived–the day that we both knew was coming, but tried to ignore since we were only supposed to know one another for a month back in April of 2012. But the time has come to say goodbye to my longest known traveling friend Krista, the crazy Canadian from Winterpeg, my great friend that I have known for 13 months and had the chance to explore 5 different countries with where an endless amount of memories have ensued. I don’t think words can express what she means to me and how great it’s been having met her. The farewell is hard and tears abound like a gushing river, alone with never-ending running noses, and loud dramatic sobs draw hard looks of attention towards us, but Krista assures me I will be fine. And I know we will eventually cross paths again, it’s just a matter of where in the world it may be. Safe travels home muffin and tell Lottie that I will come to visit soon so get my room ready and start making lots of food in preparation.
After the girls left I moved to one of the nicest hostels I’ve yet to stay at, Refugio del Frio, which considers itself a luxury hostel and so it should with a hot tub and has the feeling of staying at someone’s mountain cabin. My first day at the hostel I met an awesome German girl, Florentine, that convinced me to take part in the overnight volcano hike that began at midnight in order to reach the summit for sunrise. She also told me that if the weather is clear, which it often isn’t, that you can actually view both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean simultaneously, plus it is the highest point in all of Panama. How could I refuse? The next day we both tried to sleep in as late as we possibly could, which I think was around 11am, and after gather some snacks and getting all of our warm weather gear in order, we ate a large meal of pasta and slept for another few hours before leaving the hostel at 11:30pm to walk to Hostel Mamallena where the transportation was provided. Walking in, I was greeted by the owner Miguel, who I met through Coco in Bocas and completely forgot that he owned this hostel in Boquete. After talking briefly he told me that it would be great if I could come and work at the hostel for him since he just had three staff members leave to continue their travels. I told him I wasn’t sure how I would be feeling after this all-night hike but would come by in the next day or two to discuss things.
Boarding the minibus with a group of about 9 of us, we set out just after midnight and took the 15-minute drive to the base of Volcán Barú.This is the first time I’ve pulled out all of my cold weather gear and even though I have been carrying it with me for over a year I am certainly glad to have had it. I was layered up with thermals, layered jackets, a beanie, and a pair of windproof gloves. The 27.2km (16.9 mile) round trip hike is certainly the most physically demanding hike I have ever done. The road that winds up the volcano is rocky with uneven terrain and attempting to do this with only headlamps makes for a workout for the legs, but as we reached the summit as the sun was peaking through the clouds it was worth the pain and sweat. We were even fortunate enough to have a break in the clouds and we stood there staring out at both the Pacific and the Caribbean simultaneously. It was as if Heaven and Earth had come together, because it was one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen, especially standing at an altitude of 3,474 metres (11,398 ft). Since we had two other experienced climbers that had done treks in Nepal and even Everest, they had more gear to calculate things including the temperature, which was just below freezing. After taking in this incredible moment, we all realized that we now had the task of hiking down the 13.7km to the base. Step by step, the discomfort in the joints in your knees and lower back began to wear and there were plenty of resting points. By the time we reached the bottom, we let out a cheer of excitement and accomplishment. Normally there is a park ranger waiting at the entrance to collect the $5 fee, but there was absolutely no one around and the small ranger station was locked up. We were all hoping that someone would have been there to be able to call us a taxi after such a long hike. We ended up walking to the nearby bus station, but after more than 20-minutes not a single bus came along. Fortunately a group of Germans we met on the mountain had rented a car and were kind enough to provide us a ride back to town. All in all it was a 13-hour venture as I dragged myself in to the hostel just after 1:30pm. After a long hot shower I fought the urge to sleep since I knew my sleeping pattern would be off, but finally at 6pm I couldn’t take it any longer. In order to regain my sleeping cycle I set my alarm to wake me up at 8pm and forced myself to stay awake until 10:30pm before crashing out and sleeping until 1pm the next day.
The next morning I awoke with more soreness than I have felt since I’ve began traveling and spent most of the day lying in bed watching movies. Each time I had to get up every joint was stiff and begged my body to lay back down. By the second day I was feeling better and decided to walk over to Mamallena Hostel and speak with Miguel. I told him that I could help him out for only a few weeks since I’ve had my share of working in hostels for a while, but would be glad to do what I could and he appreciated it as well. I moved in to the shared staff room with another American guy, Brody, which was a large spacious room with our own private bathroom. My duties were quite simple as I mainly assisted Brody with the different tours that they lead as well as adjusting some of the hostels social media. This was also the first time since Guatemala that I was driving a vehicle. It’s funny how it’s the simple things I tend to miss, plus driving as a Central American swerving around slower traffic without worrying about traffic cops was another fun experience. One of the tours that I enjoyed was the three waterfalls hike, but the best was the river canyon where you could jump from about 15 feet from the rocks that lined the narrow river below.
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