Hiking in Panama, part 2

Next day we headed to Boquete, around 400km. Avoiding the morning rush hour around Santiago and the evening rush hour around David, it was an easy drive, starting around 9:00 and we were there by 16:00, looking for a hotel to spend the night.

Route #1 = Panamericana!

Boquete felt overbuilt, too touristy, but we found a decent, small hotel at the outskirts.

We didn't feel like walking the street of Boquete, but rather took the car up-valley, called Los Naranjos. There weren't many trees with oranges, but plenty coffee farms. At the end of the road, we found a sign pointing to the Quetzal Trail.

This looked interesting, and we planned to hike this trail next day. Back to Boquete we found a microbrewery, a benefit of being a touristy area, had dinner and a few of their specialty beers.

Next day, after a little breakfast, we headed back to the Quetzal trail. This trail goes up 400 meters, takes one around the northern flank of volcano Baru, and descents 300 meters on the other side. Organized tours may have transportation back from the other side, we didn't, and decided to go up and down this side, and then do the other side next day from a village over there.

soon the farm land is behind us	water flowing everywhere

By 14:30 we were back at the car and drove around the south of volcano Baru, to a village called Volcán. This side of the volcano seems less touristy, and more farming, lots of vegetables are grown and sold here. We had booked a room online, "only one room left", and after searching for a bit, we found it to be a small, typical local house. There were no more rooms, no other guests, but it was clean and comfy.

And we found another micro-brewery to end the day at.