Middle-aged flash packers

All good things must come to an end and to be honest we were getting a little bored with so much inactivity. I was beginning to think I was developing bed sores from spending so much time lying down.

Next stop: Boquete. A small town up in the cloud forest area, it has a reputation for good hiking and great restaurants.

It was a long but uneventful 4.5hour drive to Boquete. I still can’t believe we’re driving along the Pan American highway. Such an iconic road, I remember from childhood seeing photos of cars making their way from Alaska to the tip of South America along the highway.

The reality is far more mundane but we had a good view of Panama as it is lived by the side of this road. Mainly scrubby with lots of litter interspersed by swanky, air-conditioned malls with no-one in them, it’s a country that isn’t sure what it wants to be. It’s far less developed than I expected with a hint of the”wild west” about it. It has loads of coastline that is relatively untouched – I definitely foresee a building boom coming.

Our accommodation turns out to be miles from flipping anywhere. I take full responsibility for this, I was seduced by the panoramic views over the volcan Baru. Also our room is much smaller than I expected – both of these things were pointed out by S before booking but I have no spatial awareness about either distance or size so when square footage is quoted at me , you might as well be talking Double Dutch. (Am I allowed to say that these days?)

We decided to walk into town which is a lengthy drive but only 15 minutes if you follow a steep footpath. However while I was passing the time on our drive here, I happened to read a review of the property that stated there were savage stray dogs on the trail. Melanie,who owns the apartments along with her husband, helpfully provides sticks for her customers to fight them off with. Great. Nothing I like better than a tussle with a rabid dog. However, S really didn’t feel like driving so we decided to run the gauntlet. Funny what you worry about in such situations – we were both more concerned about bringing a big stick into a restaurant than the actual dogs.

Help arrived in the form of Melanie’s husband. (Now known as MH as I didn’t get his name.)At first I thought he was another guest and that he was concerned about going on his own but it turned out he wanted to show us the trail and what to do with the dogs. He literally skipped down the path which had virtually no grip. S did a good job keeping up while I struggled not to fall over at the back.

And then the dogs. They weren’t huge but they were horrible. And definitely up for attack. MH said to use the stick lengthways to keep them at bay. The mummy dog (looked like a very large terrier and a veteran pup deliverer) had me in her sights. She kept coming for me so I poked her quite hard with the stick. She didnot appreciate it and every time I turned away she came for my heels. Still, we escaped unscathed but I will not be walking down that path again. Then more bad news – according to MH, most of the paths have aggressive dogs on them. Good job we’ve got nice views from the room then as I won’t be going far.

To thank him for his help I invited MH to have a drink with us, which he was keen to do. I got the feeling S wasn’t too keen but I thought it only polite. Obviously S had picked up a vibe because MH ordered a jug of sangria for himself that naturally we paid for and it was €20! Knock it off our room bill mate. We sat him out as far as joining us for dinner was concerned.

However, we enjoyed MH’s company a lot. He fulfilled my expectation of a Panamanian expat – unconventional, interesting, an adventurer and possibly a bit of a rogue. We had some very interesting conversations about what is going on the world and his experiences in both the US and here. Worth a jug of sangria.

Next, dinner. S was at the danger point of hunger becoming hanger so we made our way to a local restaurant Melanie had suggested.

Heaven. The restaurant is called Ngadri Gastronomia and it is local food that is fresh and thoughtfully cooked. Our meal was completely delicious. Defo going back.

Attempting Dog Hell Trail at night was obviously a complete no-no so we asked the restaurant if they could call us a taxi. Apparently it would take 20 minutes for a taxi to arrive so the chef said he would drive us home. How nice is that?

On return, the music that had been coming from one of the other rooms when we left was still going strong. Noise past 10pm is strongly frowned upon in Panama so the offenders must be extranjeros. Still, we have the noise box which makes white noise which covers other, more annoying noises so we were good.

What it didn’t cover was the kerlumping of the very late incomers blundering around above us at silly o’clock.

Ironic that the most remote accommodation we have had so far is the noisiest.

S slept through it all of course.