It’s How Far??

With company gone and holidays passed, Stan and I returned to our plan to try to see every square inch of this place.  One absolute must-do is a trip to the San Blas islands.  We have studied ways to make this trip for hours and hours – probably spending far too much time on this one excursion but it is expensive and it’s a once in a lifetime trip.  We want it to be in the greatest sense, the best we can do.  Finally, it is booked!  In early February we will travel 2.5 hours by car out of the city to a rough under developed road to the coast and then board a sailing vessel for a three day sail among the islands.  There will be nothing to do but see the sights, visit local indigenous communities, sun, snorkel, swim, paddle board, and eat.  This, I think, will be the highlight of our Panama visit.

We think we have entered the dry season.  Daily rains have subsided.  The change came suddenly.  One day we noted that refreshing breezes had picked up, the humidity dropped just a bit and when rain fell, it was only very light.  Daily brief heavy rains are gone.  Still though, the weather is still hot and humid.

With the San Blas booking chore done and weather markedly improved we investigated opportunities for more hiking in nearby locations.  Hiking gives us a chance to be in outside, see beautiful tropical plant life, get exercise and possibly find some wildlife.  After studying the AllTrails app, we learned there are multiple trails near Gamboa in the Soberania National Park.  This huge national park just outside Panama City extends across Panama from the Pacific Ocean north and west to the Atlantic.  We picked the Camino del Plantacion trail and headed there via bus.  By the way, the Plantation Road was the first interior paved road in Panama; it was built during the construction of the Canal.  Now it is over 100 years old; only small patches of pavement remain intact here and there.

Lord, it was 11 o’clock by the time we even arrived there.  The trail is 7 km long and terminates at the Sendero Historico Camino de Cruces which runs perpendicular to the Plantation Road trail.  Theoretically, one could hike the Plantation Trail, turn right at its end and hike the eastern half of Las Cruces trail 5 km to the road where a taxi or bus might be available for a return to the city.

At 2:20 pm we had covered 4.5 km on the Plantation trail and decided to turn around head home – it could take another two to three hours to reach the trail head and we like to be in our little apartment by nighttime.  We did not walk fast – our purpose that day was to take our time, take in the scenery and search for wildlife.   Quite often, we’d stop to listen to birds calling and we’d peel our eyes for the almost invisible sloths in the trees.  It felt great to be outside!!!  We saw and heard titi monkeys rustling high above in the canopy trying to take a look at us.  As we turned a bend, a coati walked ahead of us on the trail, like a cat with his tail standing up high.  When he heard us he dashed off into the jungle.  Boy we were having fun!  Farther on we suddenly heard a thrashing of trees very near to us.  We froze.  My God, what could it be?  It sounded like it had a heavy, substantial body.  It certainly was no titi monkey.  Was it howler monkey? A jaguar?  (all these thoughts occurred in maybe 1.5 seconds).  Just to our right, movement came into view — a coati came crawling down a tree trunk all fours, head first.  He paid no attention to us. He just descended and went on his way.  Our senses were electric; hair on our arms was still standing.

The next day we took a bus to the Amador.  This strip of land was created when engineers connected three islands with a causeway from the soil and rock debris from the Panama Canal construction site.  It’s a beautiful highway and the views from it will simply knock your eyes out.  On one side is the Bay of Panama with the gorgeous cityscape in the background.  The Pacific entry to the Panama Canal is on the other side.  Ships preparing to enter the canal stage themselves there and in the background volcanic mountains are in the distance. The Paseo de Panama follows the Amador highway.  It is a paved, wide belt for bicycles and pedestrians that follows the road all the way to farthest the island in the chain, Isla Flamenco.  Statues and monuments mark important people and events pertaining to the canal.  Markers point out the islands and mountains in the views.  Stan wanted to know more about them.  We joined the Paseo at the Bio Museo and walked 3-4 miles taking photos, watching fishermen and following ships as they prepared to enter the canal.  On the return walk, feeling fairly drained from the long walk in the sun, we stopped for a beer and snack at a shaded outdoor bar.  The air felt so nice; the view of the water was so pretty and it felt great to sit a while.  We rested our bones.  A handsome cat dosed near our chairs. It was a slow time of day; the waiter had time to mess with us.  We tried our Spanish; he tried his English.  We all laughed and took joy in being able to communicate.  In particular, I was trying to ask, “Is the cerveza muy fria?  Muy, muy fria??”  He said “si, hace frio.”  (I hate a beer that is only cool.  It almost needs to have ice in it for me to enjoy drinking one).  Even with my pre-school espanol, he got the message.  I think he might have hand-selected our bottles of beer.  They were ice cold and served with chilled glasses!!!

Still fascinated with the two trails in Soberania we decided to do the whole thing the next day.  We got up early and took an UBER to the park so that we could get an early start.  Our plan was to walk the 7 km to the intersection with Las Cruses then follow that trail back to the road.  A guy on a mountain bike who had just finished the 14km to the end of Plantation trail and back and told us we may have trouble with Los Cruses as it may not be clear.  The ranger on our previous trip on Monday showed us both trails on the map and made no mention of the trail being unusable.

We headed out.  We were tickled when we past the 4.5 km spot and entered new territory.  Starting out early we thought we’d see more wildlife but in fact, we saw less.  We reached the end of the Plantation Road at about 11 am.  I need to point out that the Plantation Road trail is fairly easy.  Most of the way is lined with small gravel covered by a nice bed of leaves.  Some of it however is rocky and hard on the feet.  Some areas had completely fallen away and detours had to be made to get around the gap.  Still this trail is quite doable.  And it is very pretty. This particular part of the park seems older than others we have visited.  Trees are tall and trunks are wide.  Lush tropical plants cover the forest floor and rays of sun light up ancient vines draping the tall trees.  It looks like the jungle where Tarzan lived.

When we reached the end of the Plantation Road trail a sign was there which marked Camino de Cruses trail.  We could see it coming toward us from the left and heading on to the right.  It looked a bit foreboding.  Fallen bamboo complicated the entry to the eastern path.  We pondered a bit and decided we had time to do the additional 5 km; it’s what we came to do, so we ventured on.  The trail was marked well but it was rough, very rough.  The first 1 km was in a narrow ravine of rocks.  The walking was hard and dangerous.  A fall in this part of the park could be devastating.  Still we forged ahead.  Sometimes the gully was steep and sometimes it was wet where we had to make our way, hopping from rock to rock.  I found a stick perfectly shaped as a walking cane and it helped me climb up and down and find stable rocks in streams.  We walked on.  It was hot and the work was hard.  We drank water.  We usually bring one water bottle each but today we brought three.  We felt a sense of pride in being able to handle this tough trail and imagined all the stories we could tell about our accomplishments.  We could just picture other hikers saying in amazement, you did the Las Cruses????  At about 2.5 km in, we hit an area that appeared to have suffered a microburst.  A wide path of huge trees had fallen or had been torn down as if a tornado had come through.  In front of us was a pile of long tree trunks and branches 20 feet high.  We detoured around the root ball end to get past, tromping through brush, vines, briars and over small trees.  On the other side . . . there was no trail.    No hint of a path, no markers, nothing, just jungle.  We spent an hour heading to the left, then heading to the right through brush and vines to find the trail.  We walked along a river which we knew was there and which gave us perspective on north/south directions and how the trail must lie.  We also knew following the river was not an option as it was to be crossed on the trail at some point.  It did not lead to the road and it flowed away from the trail.  There was no cell signal; no pin could be dropped.  Thoughts of the threat of becoming disoriented and even lost entered our heads.  We did not panic but certainly could have.  The day was passing.  I surely did not want to spend the night in the jungle. At 2 pm, we determined our only option was to walk back the way we came in . . . nearly 10K back.  I calculated we’d reach the trail head at 5 pm.  We did.

We were given a treat on this long walk back through the jungle.  As the day grew late, wildlife became more active. The noise we made on the trail apparently agitated a howler monkey.  He was nearby.  His throaty roar seemed to tell us he was only 50 feet away but we could not see him.  Nature’s camouflage is miraculous.  We heard him clearly but could not see him.  I tried to capture his roar on a video.  I kicked leaves about making thrashing noises.  Sure enough he responded with a deep roar and a few hoots!  Unfortunately, I got so excited I finally hit the start video icon on my phone just about the time his roar ended.   I wish I could share that sound and that experience but sadly it was a special moment only Stan and I get to remember.

We had walked 15 miles total by the time we reached the road.  Our feet were in pain – not just from the distance but from the bruises caused by the rocky terrain of the Los Cruses.  Our bottled water was all gone, we were dirty and had leaves and jungle trash in our hair.  We looked forward to hailing UBER or one of those pesky taxis to take us home.  Nope!  None to be had.  Our phones had signal, but UBER said, no cars available.   No taxi came roaring down the road from Gamboa.  The next and busier highway where we would have a better chance to grab transportation was a 45 minute walk ahead.  We had no choice; we walked.  We must have been a sight.  No one was waiting at the bus stop when we finally made it there.  That’s a bad sign.  It means a bus probably just came and left.  It could be an hour before the next.  After a while, parched and thirsty, we saw a little yellow taxi coming down the hill toward us.  He flashed his lights; I waved him down.  I asked if he could take us to Paitilla in the city. He said he could take us only to Albrook.  We didn’t care.  We hoped in and hightailed it to the big station.  As we approached “civilization” Stan asked him to stop at a tienda where we could buy water.  He gladly did.  Stan bought water for the three of us.  God, that water was wonderful!!!!  While Stan bought water, the driver asked me about Paitilla.   I shared with him all the nearby Paitilla landmarks:  Cinta Costera, Avenida Balboa, Paitilla Mall.  I thought surely he’d know these points.  He got on his phone and conferred with someone.  He said he would try it.  He took us all the way to our door!  Near the end of the drive we pointed out where to turn derecho (right) and izquierda (left).  When we arrived, he was happy to discover how to navigate this part of town and we were delighted to say the least to be at our door!  Tired, dirty and hungry, we praised him and tipped him well.  I can’t begin to say how many, many people have gone out of their way to be kind to us, and how blessed we feel to have met them.

We walked the next day but only to the mall where we bought new sturdy hiking shoes.  While we will probably find interesting things to do, there will be no hiking for the next few days.

Adios!

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