If the Mountain won´t come to Jason, Jason must go to the mountain

It´s Sunday afternoon here in Boquete. It rains every afternoon (for MOST of the afternoon), so it´s a good time to be hanging out at the internet cafe.

If the mountain won´t come to Jason, Jason must go to the mountain........That was my motto yesterday as I climbed to the highest point in Panama. It´s a volcano (dormant, of course) called Volcan Baru, and is located about 30 minutes away by car. After waiting an hour for my new friend Carlos (man....that guy is ALWAYS late), we headed out from Boquete at 1000. The mountain is over 12000 feet, and I think our starting elevation was at around 8000. The ¨trail¨was actually a road (I use that term lightly) that snaked all the way up the volcano for 8 or 9 miles. After about 4 hours of hiking, I finally arrived at the summit. It was nice to arrive at the summit but a bit disappointing to find the entire top of the mountain covered with monstrous radio towers, antennas, and support buildings. The other disappointment was that every rock, building, and wall in sight was spray-painted with names, messages, etc. Even the cross on the actual summit was covered in spray paint. Why is this necessary?
On a clear day, one can apparently see both the Atlantic AND Pacific oceans from the summit. Due to the clouds and fog, I could see about 25 feet. But Hey, at least it covered the antennas!
As we began our descent the rain began. In fact, it POURED for the entire hike down, so we were pretty well soaked at the bottom. After calling a taxi to come pick us up, heading back to town, taking a super cold shower, and eating dinner, I was pretty much ready to call it a night.
All in all though, it was a great hike, and I enjoyed getting out for a bit of exercise. Also, it was certainly on my ¨to do¨ list for Panama.......a great way to spend the Saturday.

After sleeping IN this AM, eating a late breakfast, reading, writing, being force-fed an early lunch, and visiting my new friends from Israel, I made my way to a Sunday afternoon concert. I ¨thought¨the concert was going to be given by some local local Panamanian musicians, and I was excited to experience a bit of the local culture. I was SORELY mistaken.
I don´t know if I have mentioned it before, but Boquete is home to a very large population of American ¨retirados¨.......retired people. Other than running into them occasionally at the internet cafes as they complain loudly about the world of email and computers (i.e. the magic box), I don´t see them much. They generally live in surrounding gated communities, and as far as I can tell, speak NO Spanish. As I have written frequently, I have really enjoyed my immersion into Panamian culture. Today though, I found myself immersed DEEPLY into an entirely different culture, a culture that I did NOT find so enjoyable.
The concert started with a local ¨chorus¨ (not a choir....I was corrected by one of the members when I referred to his chorus as a choir), made up mostly of individuals in their 70´s and 80´s. They actually weren´t horrible singers, but I thought for sure a few of them were going down at any minute. In fact, I found myself scanning the room feverishly for any type of medical equipment I would, without a doubt, need in the VERY near future. Anyway, they alternated performances with a local choir of indigenous people singing Christian songs (pretty sure these guys were ALL ¨extras¨ from the Night of the Living Dead), a mens quartet (local guys with really nice clothes, perfect hair, and REALLY white teeth.....I just kept thinking ¨Lucy, yu got sum splainin to do!¨), and the ¨chorus¨ director doing his own solos. I hung in there as long as I could, but when the director described his upcoming rendition of Neil Diamond´s ¨Heart Light¨ (cirque 1982) as something ¨crisp¨and ¨fresh¨, I knew it was time to bolt for the door. I got out just in time.

So, it has been a pretty nice weekend here in Boquete thus far. Tonight I plan to study a bit, EAT (of course), do a bit of reading, and enjoy the rain. It´s hard to believe that only one week remains.
Once again, all is well in Boquete.