All is right with the world when I'm relentlessly marching up a trail to a summit. There really are few other times when I feel such wonderful contentment and inner peace.
I'm in Boquete. Which was listed as the 4th best place in the world to retire in a decade ago. The result of that listing is that there are more than a few gringos here. It's not quite like Florida mixed with a tropical cloud forest, but it is also a nice warm up for what a lot of Costa Rica is going to be like. (fyi...Nicaragua is next of anyone is looking to beat the baby boomer land grab)
Boquete is known for coffee and hiking. It is an incredibly lush valley next to a national park and a lot of plantations. Today I got up early and went into the park to climb Volcan Baru. It is an 8.5 mile trail to the summit gaining a vertical mile over that distance and then coming back down the same trail. After sitting on the boat for 3 days, I itching to be on the move. I made it up the trail in just over 3 hours. Most people take 6 or 7. I guess I had some spare energy. It was a beautiful day for hiking with shade on a lot of the trail and partly cloudy skies with tempos in the 60s. From the top of the volcano it is possible to see both the Pacific and Caribbean at the same time if it is clear...but all I saw was the Pacific. The other great thing about the trail was that I only saw 4 other hikers. I had the trail to myself for the whole day. Just me and the hummingbirds dive bombing my head to defend their feeding territories/nests.
Tomorrow I'm going to do another hike in the area. This one a bit more mellow.
A few more notes about my time on the boat...
-there were 10 total people on the boat. The captain/owner, his sister (the cook), his "girlfriend" (they met months ago in RI, spent a week together, and she decided to fly to Panama and spend a month on his boat), 3 Australian girls who would be insulted if you referred to them as merely "hippie like", an impossibly mellow Canadian guy and his German girlfriend (the guy made me look high strung), an impossibly neurotic Dutch girl, and me. I was only told of 7 of these passengers when I agreed to go on the trip.
-the Australian girls were...wow. One night over dinner the whole boat got a lecture on the benefits and strategies of the freegan lifestyle.
-the captain spoke as if he had done this particular route multiple times over the last 6 months as he was trying to get his business going. As I got off the boat... I learned this was trip number 2.
-his inexperience as a trip guide showed as he grid to make the trip all things to all people and that was not going to work.
Like I said, I had a great time on the boat...and I definitely made some memories. But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't repeat the experience of I knew then what I know now. Oh well... The joys of travel and trying new things.
Pics below of the Volcan Baru hike. The cell phone towers on the summit let you know the volcano is dormant.
1 comment:
You had me at hummingbirds!
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