It was a tough ride. I thought it would be easier than the ride to Volcan Baru trailhead, but alas, it felt at least as hard.
I rode down the little, but steep, hill to Boquete. From there I turned and followed the Rio Caldera up hill. Up was a success, here is Los Naranjos below.
A high percentage of the non native homes here are for sale. (se vende). I'm not sure if conditions here are becoming not as friendly to non-Panamanians, the market is making it favorable to sell, or if the folks are just getting tired of being here. Whatever the cause, I'll bet that 1/4 of the non-native homes are for sale in the area. In some places I ride through 2/3 of the homes are for sale. Maybe it is a buyer's market!
I continued to climb. Here I look down into the valley that I would be riding on when I return .
If you look carefully in the center left of the photo you can see the road I will be travelling on.
I found the other end of the road that is supposed to connect with the road up Volcan Baru. It looks far better on this end. On the upper end it is large rocks, and mapping programs tell me that it alternates between road and trail between here and there. I may explore that sometime while I am here......... maybe.
The road continued to climb, and I continued to pedal up it.
I topped out near 5800 ft, but did not have a good view from that point. I started today off the right side of the photo, and DOWN.
I dropped down a series of steep switchbacks off of a ridge, and arrived at the trailheads.
I then rode up to Bajo Mono, just because.
The sky was darkening a bit, so I decided it was time to start back.
I'm not sure if this tree is a single tree, or a tree with another tree clinging to it, but I thought it was worth a picture.
The river was hurrying down the hill, just a bit faster than I was.
They have columnar basalt here too, but here it is more rare and a tourist attraction.
I stopped at Ramona Falls, for the photo op, ........
....and for the indigenous people's arts stand located near the base of the falls.
Colorful dresses, bead work, purses, earrings and necklaces were offered today. The road on the return trip was more inhabited than the way up. Houses and flowering plants were more common.
The river was still moving down hill relentlessly.
The basalt was doing its best to put on a static display frozen in time.
I was nearing the end of my loop. The road looked remarkably rural from time to time.
I was successful in making the entire loop, and staying dry. When I got back to Boquete I made a slight detour to see if Maria Bonita was open, but I arrived a few minutes before noon local time. It was not open yet, but appeared that preparations were being made to open a bit later. I was soaked with sweat and not really presentable for lunch out anyway. I pedaled back up the little hill, just in time. I was raining hard with a bit of thunder within a half hour of my arrival.
16.44 miles, hardly noteworthy.
........Road Bike........Rollers.......MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ......0.................0..................16....................0............16
Jan.........26................ 0................0.....................0..............26
Feb.........7..................0................0.....................0...............7
March.......5.................0................0.....................0...............5
April.......0.................0...............66.....................0...............66
May.........0..................0..............60......................0...............60
YTD.........38...............0...............132.....................0.............170
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