Friday morning, February 16 we drove about 2 hours and twenty minutes to Las Lajas on the Pacific coast to a house Kirt and his family had rented for the night.It was a lot hotter there compared to Boquete and hardly any breeze. the house was not air conditioned but the four bedrooms were.

Everyone disappeared into their air conditioned rooms except for Sela, Ariana and myself – we became Ariana’s gymnastic students and she was teaching us the balance beam as Sela shows below – basically Ariana tortured us for hours.

Arjelis’s friend Carolina, her son, daughter and daughter’s boyfriend joined us at the beach. They were a lot of fun to talk to and be around. Her daughter and daughter’s boyfriend were doing their residence at a hospital in Boquete. Carolina is also a doctor, but because she came from Columbia she can not practice in Panama.

It’s Saturday morning and we head back to Boquete soon – it was a good, fun trip.

Thursday, February 15
1.7 miles up and back – 1,062ft elevation gain.

After we got home from the bakery and shopping Cristhian, a distant cousin of Arjelis, with his girl friend, Rocio, and his brother Denzell stopped by the house for a visit, (They hadn’t been by in years). After talking for a while they asked Sela and I if we wanted to join them on a hike – and of course we said yes. We met them at 2PM and loaded into the back of Cristhian’s rustic Toyota Land Cruiser. After putting the vehicle into 4 wheel drive we managed to get up a very steep part of the road to the beginning of the trail – is was only going to get steeper from here.

It took Cristhian only a few minute to cut and shape trekking poles for Sela and I with his very sharp mascette – which helped a lot. There were however, certain points along the trail so steep we needed ropes to help us up – it was fun and exhilarating – and our 3 guides were very kind and patient.

The hiking trail was so beautiful – at times I felt like we were walking through an enchanted forest.

Dates: Tuesday February 13 to Wednesday February 21
Sela and I went to visit – Kirt, Arjelis, Sofia(16) and Ariana(11)

Sela and I planned and made our air reservations on Tuesday January 23, just 3 weeks in advance of our trip. I was still in Apalachicola on camping trip but I had pretty good internet connect.
Both Sela and I were flying to Panama City: Sela from Portland and me from Atlanta, Both of our flights arrived around 7:30 and we had arranged to meet in the baggage claim area. The area was very crowded but we didn’t have any trouble meeting up. We got through customs and made it to our hotel around 9:30PM. We were able to get rooms across the hall from each other.

After stowing our gear in our rooms we went down to restaurant for a small bite and a well deserved glass of wine – salad and ceviche. We had a good talking and catching up but decided to wrap up a little after 10:30 because we had a 7:30AM flight to David.

We took the 6AM shuttle from the hotel, Crowne Plaza, to the airport. The hotel was only a quarter of a mile away and we were told to be in the lobby 15 minutes before the hour. Wwe were and it was a good thing because 1 minute after 6 the driver was pulling away as some folks, who didn’t listen, were walking out of the front door – the next shuttle was at 7AM. At the Panama City airport we had to take a bus to the waiting aircraft and board using ramps.

Kirt was waiting for us at the airport and drove us the 45 minutes to Boquete where his house and farm is located. Sofia was getting a private tennis lesson on the court on their property so Ariana the youngest daughter gave us a tour of the property and to meet their 2 horses. Kirt left for an already scheduled golf game and he all met at the country club for lunch around 2PM – wood fired pizzas, delicious!

Left to right: Tia Sela, Sofia’s friend, Sofia, Juan(Sofia’s novio), Ariana and Arjelis. Below a little fun on the golf course after lunch. Sofia swung at least 7 times before actually connecting with the ball – plenty of laughs.

After leaving the country club around 5:30PM we drove to Ariana’s Taekwondo class and watched her practice – she’s about ready to take her green belt exam. We got home around 8PM and that concluded our first day in Boquete.
The next morning, Thursday February 15, we went to Morton’s bakery before doing some shopping, Sofia ordered for everyone – I had a fried egg and avocado sandwich on sourdough bread, delicious.

After the bakery and shopping we had enough time when we got home for a short rest before going on a epic hike – see the post on Cerro la Piedra de Lino Trail.