Boquete - la montañes

27th July

Hostal Boquete was basic but perfect. I had a private room for $20 with hot shower and WiFi... a chance to do some blogging and readjust to the world.

The town, whilst still classicly Panamanian (run down and dirty) had benefitted from the influx of Expats who have introduced some good restaurants offering more than just meat, rice & beans!! 'Big Daddies' delivered exactly what you'd expect and I went to bed feeling extremely content!

I had hoped to climb Volcan Baru (3,475m, the highest point in P'ma) in the morning but met one of the local guides at Big Daddies who explained that it was an overnight trip and I would need to camp for a night up the mountain... I didn't have time for this and was recommended some shorter hikes into the mountains to see waterfalls which would be better suited to a day trip.

The morning brought more heavy rain so I waited, allowing my boots some time to dry out, which, without heating is difficult! That morning I heard the tradittional panamanian drumming coming from a nearby school... 15-20 guys were smashing out an intense beat to the occasional bugle accompaniment,  they played in the street from 10am all the way through till 5pm or 6pm in the evening. Very cool!

When the rain stopped I took the bike out on the mountain roads and found tons of coffee plantations, incredible gardens with unusual colorful plants, an abandoned (well it looked abandoned?!) Coffee mill, waterfalls and a kool retreat with zip lines and cabanas to get to which I had to ride 3km's up a rocky dirt track which was so bumpy it caused my back box to fly open chucking my things eveywhere!

The views around Boquete are awesome and well worth a visit, on a clear day you can see both the Caribbean and Pacific coast lines. On a different trip I would have spent more time here but it was mostly geared for paid tours and I hadn't got the cash.

I did however decide to take advantage of a really cool looking Spa/retreat created by an Aussie guy called Mark Perran-Jones. With 20yrs experience in many different types of massage he sounded like the guy to fix my back, I still couldn't turn my head past 45°. Mark jiggled some appointments, and with short notice booked me in for 9am the next morning. After a short consultation he worked the affected area for 20mins and advised me to go buy a tennis ball so I could self medicate over the next few days. Whilst I felt a little better when I left it wasn't until that afternoon that I realised the pain had completely gone and I had full movement back!! What a legend! (Beth u would have been impressed!) If you need a massage in Boquete go to Isla Verde Spa.