This week totally revolved around waterfalls, so much so, even the song I’m listening to right now mentions ‘dive with me by the waterfall’. Over the course of the last week which is just about to expire, I lay here overwhelmed, slightly exhausted, impressed, and extremely grateful for my experiences this week. We have done what feels like an extraordinary amount and slept little, which leaves me baffled how I am possibly going to combine them all into one free-flowing storyline. I thought it would be fitting considering it’s my 20th Edition of ‘7 Days Later’ to change the format of this week blogs and tell you about 20 standout moments from my adventures in Panama this week. They are in no specific order from ‘best to worst’, more so, here are 20 things I’ll remember or take away from this week.
1. A sunset worth waiting for.
It will always be a mystery to me what makes a great sunset. Some nights I am sure the sky will light up and blanket everything below in golden tones, but in South and Central America, this has not been the case. Any glimmer of hope of a great sunset has soon turned grey, or at best, shown us a slight purple hue. One of the highlights of the week was a sunset in Bocas Del Toro. In the beginning, we had no vantage point to view it, so it was lucky for us that a local let us into their property so we could bask in vibrant oranges tones and take a few photos.
2. Hiring an $8 cruiser bike.
I’ve visited an array of islands over the past few years and most of them have a reasonably priced mode of transport available. Not Bocas Del Toro, a moped or quad bike to hire was in excess of $80USD a day which is utterly absurd, so we decided to grab an $8 cruiser. The chains on the bikes were completely rusty, we had no gears, the frames too small and fitted with an ordinary back pedal brake. In all honesty, it took me back to my childhood when I’d ride up and down the street, skidding into corners whilst I firmly planted the back pedal brake. Hiring these bikes was a laugh at first, but I can assure you the novelty soon wore off. Jackson and I set out on a mission to ride across the island. Naive, stupid, adventurous, ambitious – I’m not sure. Rain, hail or shine, we always like to make the most of the day.
3. Riding across Bocas Del Toro, Isla Colon.
Hopefully, I’ve done an ample job of describing the bike we were using to cross the island, now I’ll give you the rundown of our adventure across the island. It was an 18km ride across the island which appeared to be relatively flat but felt like a stage of the Tour de France on our beast of a bike. Trying to ride up any incline on a fixed gear, a rusty chained bike proved to be challenging. We meandered along the undulating road that took us from one side of the island to the other. In a rickety manner, we ‘glided’ over the rocky roads, past endless farms of forest, bamboo and other lovely green landscapes. Eventually, after 2-3 hours of riding the rustbuckets, we made it to El Drago. So that was part one, we made it across the island. Now it was time to plot the next move.
4. Going cross country.
Isla Colon of Bocas Del Toro has two main roads. The first one cuts right through the centre and the second one hugs the coast. At the top of the island, there is roughly a 6km gap between the roads. For the first 3km of that gap, there are some very rough tracks that the locals take and from there on in, it’s dense rainforest. Jacko and I have a habit of being blatantly stubborn on some of our missions, this was no exception. The first few kilometres would have been extraordinary on a mountain bike as we rode through the quiet rainforest tracks. This hills started to get a little bigger, and so did the chances of us puncturing a tire or snapping a chain. Riding down these hills rattled my bones and I was certain that falling off was inevitable. Soon enough, we were at the point of no return. We were so far in and around the island, that going back really wasn’t a fun option.
5. Stuck in the middle of a thunderstorm.
Shortly after hitting the tipping point (a.k.a the point of no return), our adventure into the rainforest really started to get wild. It was Jacko and I, our two rusty cruiser bikes and some frightening storm clouds making their presence known. Initially, we hit an ocean/river inlet that was too deep to cycle across. During the process of crossing the stream, the storm beckoned. After checking the map, we realised it was going to be a lot of ‘bush-bashing’ and ‘tramping’ to get back on any rideable path. For the next two hours, we carried the bikes on our shoulders up muddy hills, through swamps and across everything else that a rainforest encloses. Deep in the forest, the thunder was intense and directly above us. As mentioned above, the predicted flat tire occurred so once we hit the path, we still had to continue walking our bikes to the first available point of human interaction. *I’ve really talked this story up, it was wild, but at the end of the day, being on a small island, we knew that if we dumped the bikes and kept walking in one direction, we’d eventually hit the main road but we wanted to make sure our $8 cruisers were returned by 8.30pm.
6. Respect the seasons.
This is a little life note I’ve put down on paper. Coming from a town where the only real difference between the seasons is a change in temperature, I’ve never really shown respect to how powerful a change in season can be. In the rainy season, it rains and rains and rains and rains. We decided to leave Bocas Del Toro and head to the mountain town of Boquete. The great thing about Boquete is the abundance of waterfalls, and when it rains, they flow with force. Whilst on the topic, hiking in the rainy season should always be respected and researched with the chance of flash floods, landslides, and other unpredictable circumstances always waiting to happen.
7. Running
Continuing on from our boot camp in Panama City, the first thing Jackson and I did once arriving in Boquete was to hit the road running. Instantly, we started to familiarise ourselves with our new base and what we might expect for the next week. Running in Boquete has been delightful, surrounded by mountainsides and rivers has been a real treat. From a physiological standpoint, there may even be some altitude training benefits up here.
8. The Lost Waterfalls Hike in Boquete
I tell ya what, this really got the ball rolling for Boquete. Not far from our hostel starts the trail hike to The Lost Waterfalls Hike in Boquete. In this wonderland is honestly what I think should be described as ‘waterfall theme park’. Along the hike are three truly magnificent waterfalls all very different and of grand size. The jungle trail which we traversed is stunning, leading us up and down many steep ascents and declines. Three amazing waterfalls in a day, I think I’ll need a moment or two to grasp how cool that actually is.
10. Hitchhiking in a truck.
It’s all well and good to go and explore waterfalls in the middle of the mountains, but after being dropped there by a taxi, I really wasn’t sure how we were meant to get back. Five minutes into what was going to be a long and arduous walk back to the hostel, a truck with an empty tray drove past. An instinctual reaction struck me to wave my hand out and ask the driver to stop. Next thing the three of us are in the back of the truck, securing ourselves a ride 10km back to town. That’s a one-percenter right there.
11. Passionfruit juice.
For me this has been a small part but equally large part of my week. Without fail, passionfruit, known as ‘maracuya’ juice has shown up at all the right times here in Boquete this week. After every hike, this has been my go-to drink of choice, super refreshing and an absolute bargain for only a $1. As a result, maracuya will be the take home Spanish word I will certainly not forget.
12. Pipeline Trail Hike, Boquete
Boquete is a hotspot for hiking. Each day we have looked at our list ready to send our legs out into the wilderness for another hike. The hike gets it name because it literally has pipes running all the way through the hike. The don’t at all obstruct or take away from the experience, they’re just chilling out, covered in moss and minding their own business. The ‘end point’ of the hike wasn’t overwhelming, however, we did come across a black snake which was fun to observe for a while. Also to be noted along the hike was the 1000-year-old tree we came across. It’s mesmerizing how strong nature can be in all its different forms.
13. El Pianista Trail
We weren’t mucking around this week. Time waits for no-one, so off we went for our third hike on our third day of being in Boquete. It was a strange feeling on this hike for me because the night before Jackson sent me an array of articles about the history of the hike. In 2014, two Dutch girls went missing on the hike with a reported 25+ others also going missing over the last 9 years. Hence, starting this hike had an eerie feeling to it. Once entering the hike, it soon became my favourite jungle hikes so far. Throughout the hike were steep walls like those of canyons, covered in moss, roots and other jungle plants. When we made the top, we were ‘socked’ in by clouds in every direction. The entrance into the ‘danger’ zone was visible but we decided not to head down, it was far too muddy for us.
14. Romelio and Kiki Waterfall
I think these were my favourite waterfalls of the week. We didn’t do an extensive amount of hiking to see the waterfalls, but Kiki was astounding. It was like walking into a HUGE theatre. We were able to go behind the waterfall and the spray was extremely powerful. Looking up from the bottom and seeing leaves get swept up in the spray was like poetry in motion.
15. Making friends with the locals!
For me, this is one of my favourite things about Instagram and how it enables us to connect with so many more people than we could have imagined in previous generations. We made friends with the team from Hiking Panama, a bunch of legends who we were chatting to throughout our time in Panama. Finally, we were able to send it for a hike with them and it was wild. We would never have made it to this waterfall without them. The drive to get there was three hours, and although I couldn’t speak much Spanish to them I thoroughly enjoyed listening to their Panamanian and Puerto Rican music selection.
16. Editing
Editing photos is something I do every day. Most nights, after a day of adventuring I’ll check out the photos, pick my favorites and dive into the editing process. Lately, a reoccurring question I receive is ‘How I afford to travel?’ This year, I have been doing a lot more work on the road for clients whom I provide photo packages for. Apart from editing for my own personal galleries on Instagram and the blog, I edit photos for work too.
17. I’m going to Russia
This week I confirmed that I’ll be heading to Russia in the later weeks of August. Like Panama and Colombia before I traveled to them, Russia is a place I know very little about. The only thing I really hear about Russia is the politics or the Russian Oligarchs, so I cannot wait to see what I’ll discover and learn once I get there. You’ll be sure to hear more about this as it gets closer. If you’ve made it this far, let me know if you think Russia will be hot or cold!? I have no idea.
18. Found a local spot to eat.
People told us Panama was going to be expensive. We’ve been paying $10 a night for accommodation with free breakfast included, and $5-8 for lunch and dinner each. We found a local spot which serves, beans, rice, chicken, salads, passionfruit juice, and coffee – what more do we need? So we’ve been going there every day. Overall, Panama has been friendly on the bank account.
19. The more adventures you go on, the luckier you get.
It could be easy to dwell on the rainy days, but at the same time, it’s these adventures that produce rainbows and other crazy natural phenomena. Get outside and adventure in the rain, the wind, the tropical or the hot – the more you go on, the better.
20. What a week.
I think my brain has hit a wall and I can’t think of number 20 right now, so I’m going to make it the conclusion. Overall, this week was huge going on 5 hikes, seeing 7 waterfalls, running 70km and probably drinking my weight in passionfruit juice. When the opportunities arise to adventure, you have to take them because as Jackson and I always say, ‘We’re never coming back here!’
It’s been a wild week and tomorrow I start my week of transit back to Australia. Eeeek, I’m a long way from Australia right now.
Stay groovy and adventure hard,
Big love,
JL.
Quote of the week:
Get up and pick yourself, you have all the tools to do what you want in this life, the power within you to make it happen, and all the permission you’ll ever need. Don’t go waiting around on others to give you opportunities, back yourself in and see how far you go by picking yourself. – Josh Lynott
Keep smiling.
