Chiriqui – Day 1 : fog and flashlights

Today, we mostly moved around. We left our hostel and the capital for a cabin in the woods in the Chiriqui Province. We were in total around 9 hours long in the bus under the rain and weren’t disappointed to be inside !

It allowed us to test Panamanian buses, which are similar to Colombian buses with a few small differences. For example, at the beginning of the journey, a traveling vendor came in with his articles, but instead of just shouting what he was selling (mandarines, one dollar !) he kept us busy for a while with little games which allowed us to win samples, or jokes and general culture questions. It was new and kind of nice. After a few hours, we also stopped at a restaurant where we could eat for really cheap if we were traveling on the company buses. I was a small self-service place with simple but probably home-made food, and we ate really well, in a big hall that wasn’t very charming but so much better than this neon-fast-food-expensive atmosphere that we have in highway restaurants in Europe. In the first bus, the longest one, we also had the best seats (is it because we are tourists ? sheer luck ? anyway we didn’t ask but it was nice). We were on the second floor first row, just above the driver, with a huge (cracked) windshield and panoramic view.

We arrived at night on the side of a road, in front of the sign of our hostel. At least, this time, we had a reservation and a map, so we got out our flashlights and left. The forest was dark and damp, the rain had stopped but a thick fog had come since the end of the trip. It took us several tries to figure out the right path and do the mini-hike to get there. When we heard rock music we understood we had arrived, and when we entered the bar, everyone stopped gaping at the two lunatics hiking at night and arriving all sweating at the time when normal people have a beer and listen to Red Hot Chili Peppers. So we spoke english all night, which was a nice break from Spanish, and met travelers like us, very friendly, and we enjoyed it a lot !

Since it took us some time to eat, drink and talk, we didn’t prepare anything before bed and this article is sent from the day after !

One Reply to “Chiriqui – Day 1 : fog and flashlights”

  1. De la part d’une maman anxieuse : la prochaine fois privilégiez les arrivées de jour, dans les auberges perdues en fond de jungle, car vous imaginer vous balader de nuit dans ces sentiers qui n’en sont pas, ça me plait moyen. Heureusement que vous le racontez aprés coup !
    Bon c’est aussi ça le voyage il faut l’avouer

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