Boquete: Hiking the Sendero de los Quezales

Boquete –

Yesterday, Itza had recommended us some activities in Boquete, and rafting sounded very interesting. A call from her, and the booking is complete for tomorrow – all we have to do is getting up early.

For Today, we decide to hike the “3 Hidden Waterfalls” route (Cascadas escondidas) at the “Sendero de los Quezales”. First we are thinking about taking the colectivo, but the quads at “Boquete Mountain Safari” catch our eye – unfortunately you cannot rent them separately from a guided tour… As the colectivo takes his time arriving, we decide to just take a taxi. For 8 PAB (8.00 USD) that’s alright.

Sendero de los Quezales

At the junction for the Sendero de los Quezales we let 2 girls join us who also wanted to go to the waterfalls, but got lost since they had taken the wrong path (left one) and want to return to Boquete. We turn right and get off at a hut next to a hill. The road is indeed very bumpy, but you get rewarded with some amazing views. After 2km we arrive at a fork and are afraid of having taken the road to the ongoing Sendero de los Quezales – and have therefore also taken a wrong path for the waterfalls. The path is quite nice but by having the expectation to get to the waterfalls and maybe also being able to take a swim there, we get a little disappointed.

Unfortunately, this can happen often in Panama – without having a precise map, going on activities on your own may end this way – also thanks to lack of signage (we should have gotten off the taxi gone straight at the junction where we picked up the girls). After a while we see another hiking group that which confirms our assumption. Bad luck . We decide return slowly, since we won’t be even able to get to the first waterfall and to be on the start of the road before sunset.

We take the colectivo back to Boquete and decide to visit the “El explorador gardens” instead. According to our information this should only be a 40min walk across the bridge. We walk past the “Expo Orchideas”, and your motivation starts to fade away. Instead a trail, we have to walk along a long asphalt road – Nope, this doesnt feel right, specially in this heat. A taxi driver is going our way and is willing to drive us despite having 2 other passangers. As we arrive there, we have to realize that they are unfortunately closed. We really have some bad luck today .

Expo Orchideas

As an alternative we go visit the Orchid Expo instead, rest for a while between the flowerbeds and go for dinner to “Retrogusto” afterwards. I haven’t eaten any Pizza for some time. I season my ordered mozarella-covered Pizza Diavola with some great homemade sauce. Delicious .