Sendero Los Quazteles

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Well I decided to stay in David one more night because of the carnival insanity. Apparently buses are unreliable and when they do show up, they are jammed packed with people. Also you need to take taxis off of the main highway and most of the taxi drivers are partying anyways so you cant get ride. Im not sure if it would have worked out or not so I decided not to take the chance.

Im really not a fan of DaVID. It is insanely hot. Im staying at Hostel called the Purple House aand absolutely everything is purple. The house, the dishes, the furniture, the linens, everything. I stayed in the dorm room and it was the hottest nights I have ever experienced. That is no exaggeration. There were six smelly backpackers in an 8x8 room that was 95+ degrees with no ventalation. I ended up trying to sleep on the couch, but by that point the heat had made me sick. I couldnt sleep and my stomach hurt. When I did finally doze off a few hours later I had crazy vivid freaky dreams. Not the best experience, but that was the closest Ive been to being sick on this trip and it only lasted about 6 hours so I figure Im doing pretty well for myself.

The next morning, on the actual Fat Tuesday of Mardi Gras, I had to get out of David. I took a 2.5 hour bus ride north to a mountain town called Serro Punta. From there I took a taxi as far as I could up the mountain toward the national park. When the road got bad the taxi truck stopped and I walked the last 3km to the park. I was heading for the Quaztel Trail. It is a 13km trail through the national park and you walk from Cerro Punta to Boquete. The trail was beautiful. Through the jungle and crossing back and forth over the river. Also the trail was well maintained so I felt totally comfortable being in there solo. Ill post some pictures sometime soon. It was really beautiful. On the other side of the trail I had to walk a few Kms before I could find a ride into Boquete. Walking out the other side was great. I passed by gorgeous mountain farms that are run by the indigenous people from the area. Its too bad that all of this is being bought up by retired Americans and Canadians. Something tells me they arent going to maintain these farms.

From Boquete I took the bus back to David and was home around 6 for one more night in hell at the Purple House. I was out of there first thing Wednesday morning. It wasnt all that bad though because that night I met my new friends Grace and Cody, a newly wed couple from New Mexico. Instead of back tracking west to Punta Burica, we went together to another coastal spot called Isla Boca Brava. Since I only have a few days until I meet Pascal for a hike from Santa Fe to the Carribean, I figured the less time on the bus, the better. Boca Brava is one of maybe a hundred islands (pretty much all uninhabited) that are in a big cluster. It should be pretty nice.

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