3) Bocas del Toro

After visiting Panama city and climbing Vulcan Baru from Boquete, we were well ready for some beach time :) 20.11. we left early from Boquete with a small bus towards Almirante. There we went by fast boat towards Bocas del Toro, in particular the main island Colon. It was great to smell the sea... we housed ourselves in Hostel Hansi. We were advised to go here from Mamallena hostel in Boquete and we were happy about this suggestion^^ From here on we stayed in a lot of German owned/managed hostels/guesthouses :P
As we couldn't await to take a swim we quickly took a boat ride to the beach at the smaller island Caranero. And the beach is absolutely worth it! Water quality ain't best all around Bocas del Toro archipelago. But some of the beaches are awesome :) Sunbathing, swimming and a sunset before we went back to our hostel. Unfortunately, my knees started aching - most likely overstressed from the Vulcan Baru climb :( Shortly after having some burger for dinner we were well tired and just looked for a trip for the next day before we fell to bed...
The next morning (21.11.) we went on a trip to see Isla Zapatilla, part of the marine national park. We met a girl who studied the lion fish population and tried to film an areal around Isla Zapatilla - unfortunately not successful. The trip started with a short dolphin hunt. We were to see some fins from the dolphins :P Then we went to Zapatilla... the best beach we were to see during our trip and the best water quality... although still far from very good diving conditions. We had 2 hours to swim, sunbath and explore the island. We did all of such and had a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we did the latter last... we calculated wrong how much time we would need to walk around the island, despite the fact that it is hard to walk around at all^^ Some sweating, fear and a sunburn later we reached our boat which was waiting for us to take off :) On the way back we stopped for a short snorkeling... however, the water had plenty of jellyfish and hardly any corals. No advisable spot for snorkeling or diving :( We later enjoyed dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant and planned our trip onwards to Costa Rica^^

Isla Caranero from the boat

Beach at Isla Caranero

Sunset over Isla Colon from Isla Caranero

Best view of a dolphin we could get^^

our boat at Isla Zapatilla

Some snorkeling - at least trying :P

relaxing island time :)

First time I tried one of these jumping shots... well, looks rather funny^^

walking along Isla Zapatilla

2) Boquete and the Vulcan Baru challenge

The night bus from Panama City to David was freezing and the next bus from David to Boquete was pretty small... we arranged a stay at the Mamallena Hostel in Boquete from our Mamallena Hostel in Panama City. This time we were much luckier. In Boquete the Mamallena Hostel is probably the best place to stay... great location, great staff and good rooms! The first day we simply wandered around the small city. When we went to the super market to get some food for dinner, we were surprised to see our first real "drive in"... an old lady drove her car right into the fruit and vegetable section of the supermarket :P
Later we subscribed to climb the Volcan Baru at night and thus went to sleep early. The hostel equipped us with torches and gave me a warm jacket. Just after midnight (19.11.) we were driven to the entrance of the national park. The road is easy to follow as even some special cars use it, still the climb was tough. 14km in length and over 1.6km in height. It took us about 5.5h to get up to the summit at 3.475m. After we crossed the 2.800m mark we started to feel a headache from the height - we slowed down, drank more and the troubles were settled 150m of height later. We started with about 20°C and ended close to 0°C at the summit. All in all it was gorgeous! There were hardly clouds and we saw many cities from above. Later, when the sun started to rise we could see the Pacific ocean and below us some clouds. The wind was blazing and from time to time a cloud went over the summit. Just when we were about to see the sun, we could also get a peak of the Caribbean sea. As it was freezing we turned and started our way back... somehow we calculated a little wrong and went out of food and later water. However, the real trouble was going all that way back down with loose rocks under your feet... that was a nightmare after the tough but nice hike upwards and the rewarding views... back down we fell into our bed and slept till late afternoon. We cooked dinner and fall to bed again as we were to drive towards Bocas del Torro the next morning^^

"drive in" in the supermarket

No idea how she managed to go across the barriers :/

Clouds towards the Pacific

Mountains and clouds beneath us towards Columbia

I simply couldn't resist^^