This little town was charming. Just reading the Wikipedia article got me super excited: 1300m high, population under 10,000, coffee capital of Panama, very isolated & opportunity to isolate oneself even more. The instant I got off the bus from David, this guy came up to me babbling 7 words a second. I honestly thought he was a cokehead.
The waterfall was pretty refreshing during the walk. One guy called me Moses because of my staff, lol... It was mostly for protection; honestly, who would mess with a pretty big guy (compared to the locals) with a huge bamboo rod?!?
I also had to stop in awe at the colors on the flowers. They were unreal amongst all the different shades of green. Got my macro on ;-)
I met a couple from Chicago who has been traveling for a year now. They move from town to town and look for apartments to rent for a month, carefully noting all the living expenses for the area. They're scoping out a permanent place to reside, or at least a 9 month abroad, 3 month in the states type of thing. Their blog is here; you will be amazed by the detail in the cost spreadsheets! They found an apartment in Boquete when I was there and I can't wait to hear how their month goes!
I also met a South African couple who had taught English for two years in Korea and were now using money they had saved from that to travel Latin America. They had a great vibe & walked most of the way on the longer hike with me. They learned Korean while teaching there, and now have 8 months in Latin America to learn Spanish. I was giving them a little (drunk) cheat sheet with verb conjugations and some simple phrases. It's hard to fit the most "important" things of a language on the front a back of one sheet, but I tried my best! I'll never forget those 6 packs of Balboa beer & joint under the bridge, talking about South African history & politics for a few hours. I would love to read something on that history, it just seems so chaotic & interesting! He summed it up sarcastically, saying "South Africa gave the world 3 things: trenches, barbed wired & concentration camps." Well you really tickled the world in the wrong spot with those ones, ey!?!?
Another guy at my hostel was from the UK, never specified exactly where, and had been traveling for the past 5 years. He described himself as a "bum" & had spent a year going through Africa, two years all over Asia, and was a year into his Latin American travels. Sounds like a sweet life for a bum if you ask me! His sense of traveling was really good, one could say he was "wise" in this respect, and would always talk about how the people made him feel in different regions. "I don't know, they just had a chip on their shoulder. They would look at me with an intention I didn't care for," I remember him saying. He was the only other person in my room, and as I left this morning he gave me some great advice, it just felt so right. I told him how I appreciate all his stories & experiences that he had shared, then he said, regarding the local culture, people & way of life. I'll never forget it:
made it to boquete... town's nestled in a rainforest, so cool! hostel owner must've drank about 10 cups of this coffee... total buggin out!! tweetNonetheless, he was a hell of a guy and I ended up staying at his hostel for &8.50/night. He also inspired me, as I never went 4 hours without a cup of café :-) The two full days was basically dedicated to two long walks, a 7km & a 20km, in which I passed by about 20 different coffee plantations some beautiful rivers.
The waterfall was pretty refreshing during the walk. One guy called me Moses because of my staff, lol... It was mostly for protection; honestly, who would mess with a pretty big guy (compared to the locals) with a huge bamboo rod?!?
I also had to stop in awe at the colors on the flowers. They were unreal amongst all the different shades of green. Got my macro on ;-)
I met a couple from Chicago who has been traveling for a year now. They move from town to town and look for apartments to rent for a month, carefully noting all the living expenses for the area. They're scoping out a permanent place to reside, or at least a 9 month abroad, 3 month in the states type of thing. Their blog is here; you will be amazed by the detail in the cost spreadsheets! They found an apartment in Boquete when I was there and I can't wait to hear how their month goes!
I also met a South African couple who had taught English for two years in Korea and were now using money they had saved from that to travel Latin America. They had a great vibe & walked most of the way on the longer hike with me. They learned Korean while teaching there, and now have 8 months in Latin America to learn Spanish. I was giving them a little (drunk) cheat sheet with verb conjugations and some simple phrases. It's hard to fit the most "important" things of a language on the front a back of one sheet, but I tried my best! I'll never forget those 6 packs of Balboa beer & joint under the bridge, talking about South African history & politics for a few hours. I would love to read something on that history, it just seems so chaotic & interesting! He summed it up sarcastically, saying "South Africa gave the world 3 things: trenches, barbed wired & concentration camps." Well you really tickled the world in the wrong spot with those ones, ey!?!?
Another guy at my hostel was from the UK, never specified exactly where, and had been traveling for the past 5 years. He described himself as a "bum" & had spent a year going through Africa, two years all over Asia, and was a year into his Latin American travels. Sounds like a sweet life for a bum if you ask me! His sense of traveling was really good, one could say he was "wise" in this respect, and would always talk about how the people made him feel in different regions. "I don't know, they just had a chip on their shoulder. They would look at me with an intention I didn't care for," I remember him saying. He was the only other person in my room, and as I left this morning he gave me some great advice, it just felt so right. I told him how I appreciate all his stories & experiences that he had shared, then he said, regarding the local culture, people & way of life. I'll never forget it:
Great advice from this world traveler (1yr africa, 2yrs asia, 1yr latin america), in his chill British accent: "Just jump in, no worries..." tweetBoquete was a good start for me as far as rural Central America goes. I have changed my route and plan on skipping all of the capitals, except possibly San Salvador. Already seeing Panama City, the most impressed I think I could be with a city down here, I just realized that's not really what I'm here for. I'm excited for some raw geography & isolation!
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