I am now over halfway through my time here in Panama. It
feels like it has gone by so quickly yet it also feels like I have been here
forever. For our 5 day mid-semester break, I, and most of the other students,
headed up to Boquete, Panama. We spent our time hiking to waterfalls, visiting
natural hot springs, touring a coffee plantation, and all-in-all enjoying the
change in scenery and the cooler weather.
A highlight of the trip was climbing to the summit of Volcan
Baru, the highest point in Panama. Maria, Tara and I started at 11:30 at night so
that we could reach the top by sunrise. It was hard to keep my eyes on the
trail because the multitude of stars in the moonless night kept begging me to
look at them. The view from the peak was definitely worth the 13.5km trek and
1800m elevation gain. From the top we could see across the entire country. On
one side we could see the Pacific Ocean and on the other we could see the
Caribbean Sea. We got to the peak in time to sit and relax as we watched the
sun slowly inch up out of the horizon. It was spectacular to see the world
slowly light up around the summit, especially with the satisfaction of knowing
that I had just climbed to the highest point in the country. While the sunrise
was gorgeous, I think the moonrise, which came prior, was even more striking. On
our last incline before the summit, we reached a clearing in the forest and we
saw a sliver moon hovering above a glowing orange-red horizon with the stars
still shining above. It was beautiful.
The hike down the mountain was, in my opinion, harder than the hike up due to the strain it put on our knees. I was amazed by how far we had hiked up in the dark (at times it seemed endless on the way down). However, our descent was enlivened by the fact that it was race day. We, by chance, were hiking down the day of an annual race up/down the volcano. There events for runners, hikers, and mountain bikers. While it was impressive to see the courageous souls running up the mountain, the bikers gave us quite the adrenaline rush as every time one whizzed down the mountainside we had to jump out of the way and hope our legs, in their weakened state, would move quickly enough to avoid collision.
Moonrise
Our hiking group at the summit right before the sun rose
Sunrise
A view from the top
