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Published: January 30th 2008
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SO the rain cleared up in Boquete and the weather here is really nice. Its been about 75 during the day and 55 at night. I keep hearing about all of the freezing temps and snow in Montana, Colorado and Mass and it makes me feel a little guilty - but just a little.
So I took a spanish class on Monday afternoon for 3 hours. I got some helpful info out of it, but something just isn´t right about sitting in a classroom while on vacation - 3 hours was more than enough for me.
Monday evening I got call from a friend that I met when I first arrived in Santa Fe about 10 days ago. His name is Pascal and he is originally from France, but has been spending a lot of time in Central America for the last 20 years or so. He is pretty much the gypsy type that just can´t stay in one place very long. About 15 years ago he bought land on Roatan in the Bay Islands of Honduras and started a diving center. At the time hardly anyone even knew of Roatan and now it has exploded into of the
biggest tourist destinations in the world for scuba diving. So he recently sold his place there. So this guy - who claims to not be the financial type - needs something to do with this money. He is in the process of buying land here in Boquete (and other places as well) - about 40 acres in mountains that backs up to the national park. The mountains here are different from the mountains from the mountains in Montana though. Here it is 100% jungle.
OK so Pascal knew that I might be in Boquete and he called to tell me he was coming here for one day to go find water on his land and invited me to come check it out if I wanted. This was perfect for me because I wanted to do some hiking here but really didn´t want to go with an "eco-tour group". Also Pascal is a pretty entertaining guy and he spends a lot of time in the jungle. As he says, he is always "walking". But what I´ve learned is that time in the jungle is never just walking. Mountan jungles are really intense. First of all, there are no trails. And
if there ever was a trail, the plants grow so quickly that it wouldn´t last long. So it´s nothing but bush-whacking. In fact we had a local man come with us and he spent the day hacking through the jungle with a machete. Second of all the soil is incredibly rich. The is so much vegetation and also decomposes into this rich black and LOOSE soil. It is no surprise that is the agricultural center of the country. Also these are mountains with extreme relief. It is either straight up or straight down and nothing in between.
So you get where I´m going with this. The "walk" in the jungle was one of the craziest things I ever experienced. We were in there for 9 hours. And there were more than a few times that I feared for my life. The dirt below your feet is constantly giving out because it is so loose and when you reach for a vine or a tree or a rock for support, more often than not you just pull it right out the ground. But Pascal taught me a lot about the ways of jungle travel and what to look for. These are types of things that help me deal with my fear of heights and my fear of breaking a leg 5 hours deep into the jungle.
So I made it out alive and in one piece. It was an incredible day, so different from anything I´ve ever done before. The jungle is more powerful than I ever imagined. And I was so impressed by the man that chopped through the bush with his machete for all 9 hours! And we did find water. We found water and then "walked" to find the source at the highest point. I really need to figure out how to get my pictures posted because I have some really good ones from yesterday.
I think I´ll be leaving Boquete tomorrow and heading for the beach. I´ve had my jungle experience (or at least my first one) and I feel satisfied with my stay here in Boquete. Next I plan on going to a place called Las Lajas - it is a beach on the Pacific side. This weekend is also Carnival here in Panama and from what I hear it gets pretty rowdy. I´m trying to find a place where I can steer clear of the crowds this weekend, I don´t know if its possible.
Thanks so much to everyone that has been leaving me messages. I haven´t done the post card thing yet - but eventually I´m sure I will. I got a cell phone here as well and it usually works pretty good. To call, you dial 011 and then 50764185528 - just in case you ever need it or have big news!
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