Walking on Sunshine

A fabulous day in Boquete. We got up early to go on our "easy" hike on the Pipeline Trail. We met our guide, John, and group in town and set off in a van passing a lovely waterfall.

We parked near the entrance and our group of eight plus John set off climbing up over 2000 meters on an old cleared road where the pipes bring water down to the town. The road is part of a national park and noted for viewing of the reclusive Quetzal. Apparently this is the beginning of breeding season and the birds are coming in to the area. Quetzals eat a tiny avocado which grows here, but they are not totally ripe yet. We saw these avocados and it takes about 50 of these to make one avocado that people consume.

We saw a few tanagers, warblers and other birds, but I was unable to get photos. We walked up and up and over rocks and roots of trees. The road narrowed and got rougher.

We saw several hummingbirds and found this tiny nest, the smallest of all hummingbirds. Notice the tiny white egg - it is the size of a jelly bean.

John pointed out the smallest orchid. Panama has over 2000 species of orchids.

Tiny avocados

Jeff crossing one of four bridges on the trail.

This pretty sign warns you not to walk here. Why? There are hives of African Killer Bees!

These pretty flowers look like flamingos.

Another bridge

The prize! We were not lucky enough to see a Quetzal, but... we did see this Collared Trogon. It is even harder to find this bird than the Quetzal. She stayed around for quite a while for our viewing pleasure.

John found the tiniest orchid that grows here.

This area has a strange phenomena. As you go higher, the trees are taller and larger as they get more sunlight. This fern is actually growing as a tree.

We learned that there is only one vine growing and it strangles and eventually kills the host tree. All the other "vines" are actually the roots of air plants growing on trees.

This is the largest tree in Panama - a red cedar. 1000 years old and huge!

We got to the top of the trail and turned and headed back down which was much easier. All along the way we saw the pipes that bring the water down to town. Saw these beautiful butterflies.

Glass Wing Butterfly

 Our guide's favorite tree. An oak with red bromeliads growing on it.

A great hike and a bit strenuous for Jeff and me. About three miles and we did it! We got back to town and grabbed a quick lunch and headed to our Spanish class. Amazingly we stayed awake. That's not hard because the teachers are so interesting and do a great job. We only had three people in our class today and we got a lot of attention and got to have good discussions. We only speak in Spanish so this is a great way to learn.

On the way home we stopped at a produce market in town to get a few things. The two guys working there were so sweet bringing me plastic bags and carrying our purchases to the car. This is a great place.

A thought: it is so interesting here. So many different types of people visiting for a few days or staying for months. All ages, many nationalities and the same and different from each other. Everyone is adventurous and we admire that. In our Spanish school we have met students from Canada, Amsterdam, Germany, Bermuda, Bahamas, and Brooklyn. On the hike today there was a couple from Fairbanks, Alaska; Edmonton, Canada and Charlotte, NC. Amazing that the guy from NC grew up in Levittown, PA - our neighbor.