Last Days in Panama!

Since our leaving Chepo, we have been touring many scenic places of Panama.  We started with the mountain resort of Santa Fe in the province of Veraguas.  There is lots of hiking in Santa Fe.  Since walking and swimming are the two activities permitted for Heather, this was a good place for us.

On the way to Santa Fe, we passed through the town of San Francisco, where there is a famous little church with baroque wood carvings.  From the outside it is simple enough, but the inside is impressive.

The wood is bitter cedar and ash

Our first hike in the area was to a lovely little waterfall.  Unfortunately most trails are not marked in Panama, but usually you can find your way with only a few wrong turns.  This was one of those days.  We eventually found the right place.

The big root points in the right direction to the falls!

Steve cools off after a long walk

The next day was Heather’s birthday.  We celebrated by hiking up Cerro Tute, which took us almost four hours, a new record for Heather.  It was pretty windy at the top, as you can see.

You can see Cerro Tute in the background here.  It took us about and hour and a half from here.

Later that afternoon Heather cooled off in a nearby river, followed by a massage at the hostel.   It was the perfect birthday.

The next stop on the tour was Boquete, home to ex-pats from the US and also all over Europe.  Boquete is in the province of Chiriqui, which borders on Costa Rica.  It is home to Volcán Barú, which at 11,700 feet is the highest mountain in Panama.  On a clear day you can see both oceans from the top.  We had planned on climbing the volcano in December, but Heather’s accident put those plans on hold.  She needs to recover a bit more before we can do such a strenuous hike.

On our first night we could see the sun set over Volcán Barú from our hotel window.

In Boquete we were fortunate enough to meet up with Ron and Loesje, parents of a friend of our son Dave.  Loesje is an avid hiker. We went on a hike with her and a group of six other ex-pats on one day, and with her alone a second day.  On the second hike we were out for five hours, a new record for Heather. 

We passed over this suspension bridge, which was a bit rusty, but still pretty strong.  The planks were pretty old, but solid.

On the hike we saw some interesting wildlife.  This armadillo was content to let us watch him for several minutes.

This big caterpillar had eaten the center out of a tree, which blew over in the wind.

Ron and Loesje have a wonderful house, which they built here  ten years ago.  They have five horses on eight acres of land.

Their driveway is lined with poma rosa (pink apple) trees, which provided shade and a windbreak to the strong summer winds.  The fruit is quite sweet, and some people like to eat it.

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to our new friends.  We hope to visit them again another year.

Not all houses in Boquete are as nice Ron and Loesje's.  This one is quite the fixer-upper!

After Boquete, it was time to hit the beach.  We drove to Santa Catalina, a haven for surfers on the Pacific coast.  Since Heather is not ready to brave big waves, we opted for a quiet hotel which was billed as having a very quiet beach.  When we got there, we found that the beach was indeed very quiet, as there was no water there at low tide!  At low tide, you have to walk out a kilometer to get to water, and even then it is very shallow.  At high tide, it is only a couple of feet deep, and the water is very warm!  Luckily a good beach was just a short drive away.

The beach was better suited to egrets than humans!

We also might have wondered why the beach was called Lagartero beach.  Lagarto means crocodile in Spanish, and a Lagartero would be a "Crocodiler", which we guess might be a crocodile hunter.  We found out that the river which flows by the hotel has been known to have crocodiles!  The manager, Simon, who has only been there for eight months, said that he saw a ten-foot croc a few months ago.  Even allowing for the "growth in retelling" factor, it was probably something we wanted to avoid!  Simon tells us that the local kids are fearless, and they swim in the river.  We decided not to try it.

This croc skull was not reassuring!

On top of this, one dark evening Simon's two dogs started barking furiously.  Simon said casually, "They always bark like this when there is a croc around."  There was no way we could see what they were barking at, but it did make us pause to think a bit. Simon is a bit of a joker, and you never know when to take him seriously.  Luckily we were sleeping on an upper floor of the hotel.  The three Canadians in a tent were a little more nervous.  The next morning, the Canadians packed up and left very early.  We were relieved to see that there were still three of them.  We asked Simon's wife if the dogs really bark at crocs, and she said that they do.

We're still not sure why this hotel was a "best pick" in Lonely Planet!

Happy to have survived two days on "Croc beach", we are headed to Panama City tomorrow, and to the States on Wednesday.  We are sad to leave Panama, but ready to see everyone back in the US!

This is our final blog entry, as our Panama days are over, at least for a year or two.  Thanks to all of you for following our time here!

Steve and Heather