You know that question people sometimes ask you, "the beaches or the mountains?" Well, I can definitely tell ya I'd answer the beaches. But, I do have to say I love the beauty of the mountains as well as the hiking and nature opportunities that surround me here in Boquete. My mom and I arrived safe and sound and actually quite comfortably being chauffeured by a very sweet British woman who was staying at the Cocomo hotel in Bocas with us. We took her offer to drive us from Almirante to Boquete (obviously) and put our lives in her hands....I'm here to tell about it so that means no mudslides or having her car fall down the mountain from the rains. It was a little scary at times with the roads caved in at some places but with the combination of closing my eyes and listening to Keane on my ipod I was pretty ok.
Our hotel is more of a hostel in Boquete but a beautiful one for sure. The name of it is called Hostol Refugio del Rio and it's literally right next to the river. My mom and I have our own bedroom with two beds and our own bathroom. The room is large and pretty simple but quaint with wood floors, high ceilings and lots of closets to put our stuff in. All in all I'm pretty happy with this place. The drive, once we got through the scary parts was absolutely mindblowingly beautiful and I have to say it was a sight to see. The mountains of Panama look so exotic and different than the rest of the country. It's incredible how small Panama is yet has so many different climates. It really is chilly here and pretty rainy. It seems we can't get rid of that damn damp feeling of being wet all the time since Bocas. All our clothes are cold and wet and it doesn't help that our hotel doesn't have heat or anything. Oh well, I'm not prissy and it's just so beautiful that complaining about luxuries almost feels like a sin sometimes.
There are a lot of Americans here. Mostly old retirees and that's a little weird personally. I don't know, I guess I like a mix of people that blend a little better but walking around the streets here it's just so obvious who people are. There's either or.....either you have white hair and are an American or you are a very short native that looks very Indian. With that said, it's probably one of the nicest towns I've ever been in in my life with every single person stopping to say hello to you on the street. Today my mom and I took about a 5 hour hike with two stops for coffee. We went about 12 miles through the mountains and along the river. We got rained on, hmmmmm........most the way and it was pretty cold. But, even though we were cold and wet, we really enjoyed ourselves. I think being cooped up for so long in Bocas and not having any exercise got to us so we set out and took advantage nature's gym. The hike was absolutely beautiful at times and felt so good to by climbing and hiking through magnificent mountains and gardens with views of the river and rainbows. Almost didn't feel real so it was pretty awesome. Needless to say, I'm pretty exhausted from today and ready for bed with some stiff legs.
My mom and I start our language school tomorrow morning at 8am for 4 hours! Yikes, ok, well, I definitely could write a lot more but it's really not all that interesting and just more of me saying I love Panama blah blah blah...haha, anyway, I'll spare ya. I hope everyone is keeping warm at home! Miss you and love you! Mwah
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