Volcan Baru, Boquete

Boquete was the destination in Panama that I already knew before my trip to the country that I wanted to visit. There should be numerous opportunities to go hiking in this mountainous inland area south of Bocas and enjoy the forests. In Bocas, I had also heard from other travelers that you could hike up to Volcan Baru and, for example, watch the sunrise over the Caribbean Sea from the summit. And I found that quite an interesting idea.

But Boquete itself is also a beautiful place. It is located at over 1000 meters and the climate is therefore significantly cooler than on the coast, but still warm, which I personally found quite pleasant. Coffee is also grown in the region around Boquete, and there are several cafes in town that serve Panamanian coffee. In Boquete, of course, there are also many tourists and much is geared towards them/us, but I had the impression that many locals also live there and go about their everyday lives, which makes a place a bit more likable for me.

In Boquete, Sofi met an American, Chris, again, whom we had met in Bocas (or rather Sofi). I quickly decided that I wanted to set off for the summit of the volcano on the evening of our second day in order to see the sunrise. When Chris heard about it, he decided to join and a German and a Dutch woman in our hostel also wanted to hike up there on the same evening.

Since we didn't want to exert ourselves too much the day before, Sofi, Chris, and I decided to take a bus to the hot springs the day before the hike. We took the bus and then walked about three kilometers to the hot springs. They looked different than we had imagined (small pools surrounded by piled-up stones), but they were definitely hot! However, it was also so hot outside that it was almost more fun to jump into the cold river that was not far from the springs after the bath.

Back in Boquete, I tried to get some sleep since I would be hiking all night, and had dinner with Sofi, who didn't want to come along and wanted to continue traveling the next day.

At 11 p.m., we were driven to the starting point of the hike by a shuttle. The hike, as I had learned by now, was 27 km (13.5 km one way) long, it should take about 5 hours one way, and you would climb about 1800 meters in altitude. That was definitely not for the faint-hearted, as I would later experience myself.

In the shuttle, there were other hikers besides the four of us. On the way up, a Swiss couple joined us who walked at about the same pace as we did. The six of us formed a real close-knit group on the way, entertaining ourselves with Swiss army songs, motivating each other to keep going, and waiting for each other.

We hiked all five hours up in the darkness through forests, with only the moon and the stars shining above us - and our headlamps. After about 4 hours and about 10 km of uphill hiking, I finally ran out of energy and the last kilometers were really tough. Chris turned out to be an excellent companion who encouraged me to keep walking, but at such a high altitude, there was no turning back for me anyway. Nevertheless, I lost sight of the others in the last kilometers because I simply couldn't run any faster.

Finally, I saw the summit in front of me. The problem, however, was that there was no path for the last hundred meters and you had to climb over rocks (darkness only on the right and left). My arms and legs felt so weak by now, and I had no idea how I was going to climb up there! In my desperation, I called up to the others and once again, it was Chris who helped me and guided me up by telling me exactly where I could hold on. And finally - exactly with the first light that was emerging on the horizon - I reached the top.

We experienced (thankfully) a really beautiful sunrise, even though we only saw the Pacific and not the Caribbean coast. We stayed up there for about an hour, took many photos, and had breakfast. Then it was time to go back down. The return journey was similarly exhausting and dragged on. On the last kilometers, I was close to tears and overjoyed when I finally reached the bottom.

All in all, it was the most strenuous thing I have ever done, but I don't regret doing it and above all, I am incredibly proud of myself! However, it wouldn't have been such a great experience if I hadn't met such nice people with whom I could share this experience!

I slept almost completely through the afternoon after the hike. In the evening, I met up again with Chris and the Swiss couple to celebrate the successful ascent of Panama's highest mountain at the Brauhaus in Boquete.

I also needed the next day to recover. I strolled through Boquete, drank good coffee, and prepared for my onward journey the next day. My next destination in Panama was Santa Catalina on the Pacific coast.