Value of Companionship

Wednesday: I awoke and walked up to a café that also gives tours of the coffee plantation. I didn´t take the tour, but I did have an awesome cappuccino and met a German traveler named Andrea. We then walked up to the Mi Jardín es Su Jardín, someone´s personal garden that they allow people to walk through.

The flowers were great, but so were the random statues of painted cows and flamingos, ponds filled with fish, and the small chapel in the middle of the yard. Mom, note the star pattern in the picture to the right--I thought you´d enjoy it!



I enjoyed Andrea´s company almost more than the garden, though. I think I´m finally learning the value of companionship. I think back to other travels and wonder why they were so much better than I think this one is going, and it all comes down to the friends I was with. I don´t think I´ll ever crave company as much as my sister does (love ya´!), but this might be my last trip that I go solo.

All that said, Panama is growing on me, and today I had a great time rock climbing. Not indoor fake wall where you can take the rainbow route up or follow the carefully marked holds, but the outdoor rock cliff where there are no indicators where to go (other than my guide) and there are bugs and dirt and rain. It was great! Don´t get me wrong, though--I´m not very good. The scale of difficulty goes from 5.6 to 5.11, and the gap between each level seems enormous.





Our crazy climbing guides first climbed without any rope at all so he could clip the ropes into the metal things drilled into the wall. There were 4 routes we could choose from: a 5.7, a 5.9, a mainly strength 5.10 and a technical 5.10. I started with the 5.9 and thought I´d have to quit at least 10 times. But with the patient guiding of Francisco, I rested my shaky arms and actually made it to the top! Right near the top I got stung 4 times by some kind of ant, but it was a great feeling to have actually done it. I then rested quite some time and scaled the 5.7 with relative ease (and the guidance of Marcos). After more waiting, I attempted the technical 5.10 thinking it would be easier to use my balance than my weary muscles. I got stuck 3/4 of the way up and, try as I might, could not advance, so I quit and didn´t feel too badly about it. All in all, I´d say it was a successful adventure!

After lunch, I set off to hike the Quetzal Trail, a trail where you might see the elusive tropical bird. It was misting lightly, but I was okay with that, so I walked and walked and walked for 2 hours. I saw signs for the trail "ahead" but I never actually reached the trail! It was raining harder at this point and getting darker, so I turned back and walked 30 minutes before a very nice farmer gave me a ride back into town! Sadly, I didn´t ever see a quetzal or any other spectacular bird, but I did see a nice waterfall, the river many times, and coffee and banana plantations the whole way.

I think I will put my timidéz aside and go out for dinner with a German, a Swiss, and two Israelis staying at my hostel. Good times.

Oh, and in one last note: the rock was basalt, which is a metamorphic rock caused by rapid cooling of lava, and you can clearly see that an uplift occurred at some point, too. Wouldn´t my geology teacher be proud?!

Panama City

Monday: I arrived in Panama City and met a very nice Venezuelan with whom I shared a taxi (due to it being nighttime). My first impression was that it is HOT and HUMID. In fact, I think that was my second, third, and last impression, too! It doesn´t really cool off at night, so my plan of waking up at the crack of dawn to walk around in the cool of the morning didn´t really pay off. And in order to get my morning caffeine fix, I had to sweat a little more over a steaming cup of coffee! My hostel was clean, though, and had cold water showers and a great view of the city.

Tuesday: Though I had great plans for Panama City, I ended up doing very few of them. I walked around the old part of town in the morning, and then I took a taxi to the causeway that connects a few small islands. They said there was a lot of shopping there, in addition to bike rentals, but the shopping centers were expensive U.S. brand stores and the bike rentals are only on the weekends. The Museum of Biodiversity isn´t even finished being built yet, and I would have had to wait 2 hours for the Marine Museum to open. I did see a pretty cool fish in the water, though, so I guess it wasn´t all for naught.

I caught a bus to the terminal where I caught another bus to the Panama Canal. I would have had to wait 2.5 hours to see actual boats in queue for the locks, so I just took pictures of the lock and the canal instead. I bused back to town and walked around until I arrived back at my hostel where I took a nap. For once, my timing was great--a serious thunderstorm was just beginning, so I slept it out. Once awake, I walked around looking to buy a book or something to do, but had to settle with May´s National Geographic. I did come across a political march as I walked: the recently elected president hasn´t changed enough members of the cabinet, or something like that. After a dinner at the air-conditioned Café Coca Cola, I retired to read and sleep. I had originally planned to spend the next day hiking in a nearby tropical forest park, but seriously couldn´t imagine the heat.

Wednesday: The modified plan was to head to the Pacific Coast where I would spend a few days on an island lying in a hammock and hiking to see the wildlife. The town was 30 minutes before the last stop on an 8-hour busride, and though I reminded the driver twice to drop me off (I had no idea where it was and there were no signs), he forgot and I ended up at the terminal in pouring rain. Instead of backtracking, I decided to take another bus to the mountain town of Boquete where the climate is great. It´s still hot, but not nearly as humid and it will cool down at night. I have plans to rock climb tomorrow (on real rocks!) and hike up the volcano the next day or so. I may go back to the Pacific beach I had intended, or perhaps just move onward to the Carribean Sea side of the country. Who knows?!

Fast Forward

Well, since the last post there were 7 more days of the Colorado River trip, ending in the Grand Canyon. Then I visited my friend Amy in New York for 8 days, and then I rode my bike 512 miles across Iowa with my dad driving the support vehicle. Maybe one of these days I´ll get around to putting up pictures and stories. Until then, fast forward to Panama!

Colorado River Trip Day 3

We set off in the morning for a full day of whitewater rafting. Sadly, the river was so high from this season's precipitation (usually much less), that the rapids were only class 1-2. We did get to use kayaks, and they were much more fun than the large raft.

At night we camped in Rifle Falls, with a close walk to the waterfalls nearby.

Colorado River Trip Day 2

We did more water testing by the river in Hot Sulpher Springs, and then we set off for Glenwood Canyon. We got a tour of the Power Plant and learned a lot about Water Laws and how the Colorado River is divvied up between states.








After another water study (I used probes this time), we set up camp. Ana and I stayed in Nancy's tent with her, which was great!












In the evening we hiked up to Hanging Lake, a lake that is surrounded by canyons. It was gorgeous, but the hike up was tough!

All night long we slept to the sound of the fast-flowing Colorado River and then woke up to the screeching sound of the trains that passed by!

Colorado River Trip Day 1

Day 0: Ana and I drove from Minneapolis to Denver where her friends Kofi and Sylvia let us stay at their place overnight. Kofi made us this amazing dinner!





Day 1: We began our day in Dinosaur Ridge, Colorado where we could see huge fossilized dinosaur tracks. We learned about the basic geological events that led to such fossils, and then we headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. Sadly, I'm still not interested in dinosaurs.




In the headwaters of the Colorado River, we performed our first water studies. Each of the 6 times we did different tests, and day 1 I got to study water quality. The water was freeeeeeezing, but very clean.



After our water study, we had time to drive/hike through the mountains. I must say, I love mountains! The Rockies were still snow-capped, so the views were incredible and the weather was perfect. The hillsides were so pretty with red and green pines, but the red pines were actually dead. The whole mountain range has been infested with pine beetles, an invasive species that they can't get rid of. The dead trees present great concerns for future forest fires because they will help it spread much faster.

That night we drove to Hot Sulpher Springs where we relaxed in the pools of varying temperatures!