After finally stamping out of Costa Rica for the third time it was time to cross back over the Divide. A back route alternative was hard to find. I was told of a hiking route but no biking route; that’s not to say there isn’t one.

Huge areas of wilderness in Panama seem to be uninhabited, but they’re also hard to access.

I was heading to Boquete and keen to get off the highway. A friend had suggested that Google satellite map shows an off road route to Boquete via Caldera. After chatting to a local, with a difficult to understand accent, on his way to work, I got the impression from the few words I did understand that indeed it was possible to take the dirt road by the hut on the north side on the dam. I took the gamble, it would be costly to come back since the road dropped away steeply.

I camped with the antennae sharing the fly of my one man MSR hubba tent with a companion I met in the hostel. The stars and views; it was a peaceful and surreal feeling to be up there at night. Most people climb all night for the sunrise. So we had the night alone but a crowded peak in the morning.