La Barranca Park, Boquete Library Park, Boquete Viewpoint, Mi Jardín Es Su Jardín, Piedra de Lino, El Pianista
Leaving Bocas del Toro behind me, I decided to do so with a shuttle, as the public transport option seemed like it would take too long and involve some potentially headaches. It took longer than I expected, but as the evening came I checked into an accommodation in Boquete, where I spent a bit of time resting before going out to explore the town.
For a start, I headed to what was marked on Google Maps as La Barranca Park, which wasn’t marked on Maps.Me as a point of interest. I walked what appeared to be one of the roads leading out of town. It wasn’t very busy, but I still needed to be careful when I had to cross it a few times. The road itself was quite nice, with some nice views of the area.
After a short work I got to the right area. That park was really just a small garden. It was a nice garden, with flowers and a golden statue at the center of it. One quick look was enough, and within a couple of minutes I was back on the road.
This time I was heading to a point that on Maps.Me was marked as a viewpoint, but didn’t exist in Google Maps. When I got to the right place, I didn’t notice any clear viewpoint, although as the road was going uphill I could see a nice view of the town when I looked behind me. On top of that, a few minutes up that road, there was a bridge that allowed a safer crossing, from which I could see the area a bit better.
Back in town, I went to Boquete Library Park, and it didn’t take long before the smile appeared on my face. It was a proper park with decent size and trees dotted all over the place. There was plenty of shade for those who wanted it, although the walking paths were exposed for the most part. Personally I enjoyed it, especially when the sun came out from between the clouds and warmed me up. Another big part of the park was the river which was flowing pretty much all the way from one side to the other.
I strolled around the park, looking around me. The ponds that were formed there, the river, and the trees were not all that special on their own, but they worked together very well, bringing me some happiness. And when the clouds cleared, I could see the mountains and hills in the distance.
After my visit to the Library Park, I wanted to check out another place that was called the Flower & Coffee Fair. When I got there, it appeared to be under construction, so I didn’t get it, but I did get to take some photos from the bridge nearby.
Not far from the bridge was another point of interest on the map, marked as “Boquete Viewpoint”. The road was mostly easy to follow, short of a moment in the beginning where I missed the path and had to go back a little bit, and was mostly just some stairs going up. At the end of the path there was indeed a very nice view of Boquete and the area around it. I took a look around, enjoying the sight in front of me, before quickly making my way back down.
Up to that point, my time in Boquete was quite nice, although not all that special. I was looking to do more, and while initially some people in the accommodation were talking about going to do the El Pianista trail, that didn’t work out. Instead, I decided to go by myself and do the Piedra de Lino.
While it was a bit of a walk from where I was staying, it wasn’t very far, and I didn’t want to use the public transport. The walk over to the beginning of the trail turned out to be nicer than I expected, with many colorful flowers and sights of the mountains around.
Then, unexpectedly, I saw a sight pointing me to a botanical garden by the name of “Mi Jardín Es Su Jardín”. The gate was open, the name was inviting, and I was curious to see what I could find there. I went straight in, and was surrounded by more flowers, grass, and some trees. There was also a tower that served as an observation platform of the area, and below there were a few small ponds connected by a stream. It was a pleasant surprise, and I had it all to myself. It wasn’t very big though, and within 15 minutes I’ve seen pretty much all of it.
Another place along the road was “Boquete Bees and Butterflies”. It seemed to be more about the honey than about the butterflies, and with an entry that was higher than I was willing to pay, so I quickly moved from there. The rest of the road was quite nice for the most part, and after some more walking I was finally at the beginning of Piedra de Lino.
The first section of the trail was a semi-paved road, which allowed for vehicles to come through. Especially useful since it was a residential area. Within a couple of minutes that part was over and I was walking up a dirt road, constantly going up, although not at a steep angle.
Then the road seemingly ended. After looking around, and quickly consulting the map on the smartphone, I found the right path and quickly resumed my way. The path was going at a bit more of an angle, and had many muddy sections to it, so it was a bit slippery as I left the city sights behind me and entered the woods.
The road wasn’t maintained well, if at all, and in the beginning I had a hard time looking, so I consulted the map more than I initially thought I would. But it didn’t take long for me to figure it out on my own, and from there I didn’t have any doubt until the very end of the trail. The challenge I did have was more physical. The muddy and slippery trail meant I had to be careful with where I set foot, especially along the steeper parts of the trail. When I was a couple coming down the trail, with trekking poles, a thought registered in my head, that without poles that road is quite a bit trickier.
Still, as I moved along, I got a familiar sensation. The urban sounds became more distant, and the forest came to life. The sweat was building, my arms and legs brushed against some plants, and my breath became heavier. It felt familiar, it felt right, it felt like the right place, where I was supposed to be. And I could not think of anything that made me feel like that after Santa María, in Guatemala.
At a few points along the way there were gaps between the trees, natural viewpoints overlooking the area below. It didn’t necessarily get better with each viewpoint, but the views were different, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. It made me wonder what awaits at the top of the trail. And since it was a pretty short trail, it took me less than an hour to find out exactly what views waited at the top. The steep part ended, I walked on leveled ground for a bit, climbed some more, and that was it.
Below me, I had views pretty much all the way around. The city, the forests and the mountains, rivers and waterfalls, all coming together. In front of my eyes was a very rewarding view, far into the horizon, and once more, it all felt right, like this is how things are supposed to be. For a few minutes, I had it all to myself, before I was joined by a couple of other travelers.
I stayed at the top of Piedra de lino for quite a while, relaxing and enjoying the feelings inside of me. Then I had to make my way down. As I thought, it wasn’t easy, and several times I slid down the path, holding onto tree branches when I could to aid my progress. As I passed the steeper section of the trail, I came across a family going up, but other than that I was by myself most of the time. It took a bit more than forty minutes to go down, which wasn’t bad, and when I passed the botanical garden the gates were closed (when I checked on Google Maps later it was marked as “temporarily closed”). The rest of the road was pretty smooth, and soon enough I was back in town.
When the skies barely had any clouds and the sun shined brightly, I took a short ride with a colectivo to El Pianista, which was a longer hike, but still not very long. Being warned it is very likely to not have a view there, I hoped that the sun and lack of clouds meant I would have a great view, but I had to get to the top first.
The trail started near the “Il Pianista” restaurant, and passed by a few houses where locals lived simple lives. And as the river was right there, it was where they did their laundry. After crossing a small bridge and crossing the river for the first time, I passed a few more houses, and then everything opened.
The road stretched and twisted before me, with wide spaces on both sides, farms housing animals near the trail, with green hills behind them. It was a nice and bright area, and I enjoyed walking around it. Alongside the greenery, the river was constantly there, and I crossed it over another bridge when the farm area more or less came to an end. Other than that, it was a pretty simple dirt road.
About half an hour later I found myself entering a forest. While the road in the section of the trail became at a bit more of an incline (although not steep at any point), it was quite a bit muddier, and on a few occasions the mud threatened to remove the shoes from my feet. The forest was nice, although I didn’t find it particularly exciting. For me, it was more about the view at the end.
I also crossed the river a few more times, which I found to be a fun little break from the more mundane part of the forest. The river was present through most of the hike, and even when I couldn’t see it, I was still able to hear it. It definitely added to the experience, and I’m not sure how the trail would be without it.
On a few occasions there was a split in the road, and I consulted the smartphone a few times, even after I started to question it. I got to what seemed like a dead end, crossed the river and then crossed it back, and only after looping around I found what looked like a path, even though it was unmarked.
I walked along that path very carefully, not wanting it to end in disaster. After a few minutes of walking the road seemed to realign itself with the map on my smartphone, and a bit further down the road I saw a footprint. A proof that someone else was walking there was quite reassuring, although I didn’t see much more after that.
I kept going up, for a while replacing the trees with high stone walls, a path carved by water and time. A path that I thought could be quite tricky during the peak of the rainy season. Somewhere along that road I saw a couple of travelers going down the path, although we didn’t exchange words past “hello”.
Shortly after that encounter I started to see a glimpse of the sky beyond the trees, and it didn’t seem very promising. When I entered the forest the sky was clear, but at that point it seemed completely covered in clouds. I felt myself rushing to the top at that point, wondering if I was too late to be rewarded with views. Just before I got to the top there was another thought crossing my mind, that someone called this forest a “cloud forest”.
When I got to the top, it was indeed cloudy. There were no views, only a memorial to two women who disappeared in this forest. There was no real place to sit, and there was nothing to look at, so I decided to just turn around and go straight down. I was a lot more confident, and it took far less time to go down than it did to go up. I was quite surprised at the end. I did see another traveler going up by himself, and then overtook the couple I saw earlier in the hike, but they were the only people I saw. While I didn’t get any spectacular views, the road itself was quite nice, especially the wide open spaces, which were still partially sunny when I emerged from the woods.