Have you ever looked at the world from the top of a volcano? We did and it was breathtaking!
I still remember how great it felt to sip on my coffee and feel the cold wind on my cheeks while waiting for the sunrise. Although this trip was done almost three years ago, its memory is still alive. The photos shown here do not do justice to the beauty we have witnessed there.

Reaching the summit of the Baru volcano (dormant one) was one of the things on my bucket list. Glad I got to cross it off the list! Gazing at the sunrise from up there was an unique experience. It was also a gentle reminder of our insignificant existence and of the tremendous power of nature. We were in awe.

Like any other trip to a volcano , this one started early. We left the city of Boquete in a huge 4x4 pick-up truck and headed towards Volcan. We have driven to the city of Volcan before, but never ventured further. This time we were determined to reach the summit.

The drive up the mountain was a thrill for this adrenaline junkee. Most of the times, I barely saw the path. Luckily the driver knew it as the palm of his hand. Basically, the path is a rocky trail!

Certain parts of the dirt path were inclined, while others were quite steep. To be honest, on the way back, I was surprised to see how steep it was. I thanked myself for not choosing to hike.

It was an adventurous ride and it enabled us to spend the time there without worrying about being cold, tired, lacking snacks or drinks. We loaded our backpacks with all the needed gear and placed in the back of the huge truck.

We could have chosen to hike all the way up, like most of the travellers do. We almost did. Then I changed my mind thinking that my knees won`t allow me to make it to the top. As tempting as it sounded to hike in the dark after couple of rainy days, we could not refuse an invitation to go up by car.

The entire area of Volcan is green and lush. This is the almighty garden of the Panama as the crops grown here feed the country. Boquete and Volcan are well known for their rich volcanic soil where you can literally grow anything. The locals joked around this topic, saying: Drop a seed on the ground by tomorrow it will have roots!

Our efforts were rewarded with the majestic views you can see in these photos. It felt a bit surreal, or maybe it was the high altitude that gave us that feeling. Being above the clouds and not in an plane, was epic!

Baru is part of the Cordillera de Talamanca and has an altitude of 3,475 m, being the tallest peak in Panama. We were used to see it from Boquete on sunny days. Seeing it from Volcan it seemed even more beautiful! Far far away in the distance we saw the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean which was fantastic!

The surroundings were amazing. We were incredibly lucky to get a bright sunny day after five days of rain. Volcan gets a fare share of rain, though much less than Boquete.

Weather /Radio station on top of the Baru Volcano

One of the other things we loved about this trip was that the area where we stayed, Boquete, was really close to both oceans: Atlantic and Pacific.

Actually, Boquete is located right in between. It took us only half an hour drive to reach the Pacific coast and three hours and a half to the Atlantic. In addition, we were only 35 miles away from the Costa Rican border, Paso Canoas.

Baru Volcano seen from far

This close proximity allowed us to explore more in a relatively short time. You`ll read more about our Panamanian and Costa Rican adventures in another post.

A little friend we met on the way

Thank you for coming along in this adventure!

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Lavi Picu is the author of three soulful poetry collections: Whiteless Thoughts, Burden of love and Tales of a moody heart. She is a Canadian writer, majored in Linguistics, with a background in translations and writing. She’s also a ghost writer, a blogger with a focus on arts and health, a Lyme disease advocate, a mother and a self-taught artist.

@2020 Lavi Picu aka Lyme Poet. All rights reserved.